Aamco Transmissions

Here’s one I have been torn on for over a year now. I went in to have them look at my transmission in April of 2012 because it wouldn’t shift out of first gear. They told me if I could get it to them by noon Monday they could look at it that day and let me know whether the issue was a mechanical issue or something stupid like no tranny fluid or a bad solenoid. I couldn’t get the car to them until after work on Monday evening, but they took a look at it Tuesday morning and they informed me it was a mechanical issue. Best case scenario it would cost me about $ 1800, worst case it would be knocking on the door of $ 3000. I told them to crack it open and take a look. They later called me and told me it was pretty bad. Twenty eight hundred dollars bad. I believe the response was «it looks like a grenade went off in there». I asked about their payment plan, which is advertised on the TV (at least at the time they were advertising the payment plans). The deal was $ 1100 in cash and the rest in post dated checks, $ 100 a week. I’m not a big fan of post dating checks, as it burned me bug time several years ago, but apparently that was the only way they do the payment plan thing. So the following Monday I went over to pick the car up and give them my money and the checks. I was reminded several times that the checks would be cashed on my payday, which happens to be Tuesdays, and if the checks bounce they would prosecute me for check fraud. A bit much, I think, and I was really starting to get concerned with who I was dealing with. I realize they are helping me out by doing this, but c’mon, easy on the threats. I got it the first time.
Now on to part 2, the payment part. Aamco takes their damn time cashing those checks. I keep a close eye on my banking matters, so I know just how much I have in there, and what is going on with the checks, but they would take over a month to cash some of those checks. I would call them to ask what’s going on, and I would get numerous odd responses, like the owner is out of the country, or I need to talk to my bank, they must have messed up. Whatever the reason, they took too long in my opinion to cash the checks. The kick in the ass came with 6 weeks left on my payment plan. I got a voice mail from them on a Thursday afternoon telling me «we can’t wait anymore on the checks and we are letting you know we are cashing the last $ 600 in checks we have». I called them back as soon as I got the message letting them know all $ 600 wasn’t in there (I lied, it was, but it was for my rent). They told me they can’t wait any longer and I asked why they agreed to a payment plan. They replied they wouldn’t cash the checks and I should be a little more grateful for their willingness to work with me and then hung right up on me. Having a bad feeling, when I got home I looked at my bank account, and wouldn’t you know they cashed those checks 2 days earlier on Tuesday. I called my bank to see what could be done and Citizens was less than helpful. They could freeze the money but wouldn’t be accessible to me until their «investigation» was done. They were also kind of rude when they told me I shouldn’t be post dating checks. Well, thanks, pal, but I was kind of in a pinch here. I called Aamco back and let them know I wasn’t too happy about what they did, but I got nothing but «that’s business».
What is also totally awesome is that my tranny is now messed up again, when it gets warm it wont shift without me using the shift lever to force the tranny to shift out of first. When I called them to see about honoring the warranty I supposedly had on the work, they started spewing all sorts of «fine print stuff» I didn’t do and the warranty was null and void. OK, so that was my fault for not reading the fine print, but I was assured when I picked the car up all I had to do was come back for my 10-​day inspection and keep it full of tranny fluid and the warranty would be good for 36 months. That’s 3 years to you and me.

So, do your own investigation if you want to consider these guys. You might just be better off taking the bus to work while you save up enough to go to another repair place.