- Report: #338887
Complaint Review: Cottman Transmission
| Cottman Transmission 1405 N I H 35
Round Rock, Texas U.S.A. |
|
Cottman Transmission My horrible experience with Cottman Transmission in Round Rock, TX Round Rock Texas
*Consumer Comment: I recommend A+ Transmission Specialists
*Author of original report: Any gender anger issues? I mean, really?!?
*General Comment: to the author
*Author of original report: Thank you for your curiosity...
*Consumer Comment: Just curious
*Author of original report: One more thing...
*Author of original report: The specifics and making matters worse
*REBUTTAL Owner of company: Report does not sound correct
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I was driving along when my car started having some driving issues and the light came on. I pulled over, turned off the car and restarted it without incident. I went somewhere to have them check the code, which came up that the transmission fluid was dirty.
I went to Cottman with the intention of using their special and having my transmission serviced via fluid change, etc. I was taken into the shop and shown the car transmission pan, which did indeed look to have dirty fluid. The guy explained to me that although it may not be much or hard to see, there were some small bits of metal in the fluid and that meant the transmission needed to be replaced. I started to panic. What I thought was going to be the cost of a simple service, turned out to be a major transmission job to the tune of $1600 min.
The guy seemed real nice while explaining all the financial aid/payment options, etc. ,but his tune seemed to change after I called my husband. My husband told me that it did not sound right and we would get a second opinion. I informed the Cottman representative of what we intended to do and then it started.
He apparently tried to warn me that my transmission could go out at any time, leaving me and my children stranded, and that I may be taking a huge risk unnecessarily when they had it on the rack and could have it done for me in a few days. I insisted that my husband was now going to be handling it and I asked that they put my car back together so that I might leave. They told me that they would clean the pan and would add some fluid so that it might help make it less likely that it would go out on me within the next few days but no guarantees.
I left devastated and panicked. My husband and I went to another shop that we trusted and we were told the pan had not been cleaned, it was low on fluid, but more importantly all that was needed was a transmission service. We had the transmission serviced (and regularly since then) and have not had any issues out of our transmission nearly 3 YEARS/ over 100k mi. later.
Based on my own perceived experience, I would never go back to nor advise anyone to go to Cottman transmission for any automotive repair service. I truly hope this saves someone the same bad experience I had or could have really had. Thank you and GOD Bless!
Mrsintergity
Austin, Texas
U.S.A.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 06/10/2008 11:41 AM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Cottman-Transmission/Round-Rock-Texas-78664/Cottman-Transmission-My-horrible-experience-with-Cottman-Transmission-in-Round-Rock-TX-Ro-338887. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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Search Tips#1 Consumer Comment
I recommend A+ Transmission Specialists
AUTHOR: MrsIntegrity - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Thursday, October 11, 2012
#2 Author of original report
Any gender anger issues? I mean, really?!?
AUTHOR: Mrsintergity - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Dear Bill d,
I posted my
experience when I first learned about this wonderful site and it greatly helped
that enough time had passed that it ruled out any transmission issue. If I had
written the post a week after and then my transmission went out, the review
would be unwarranted and inaccurate. As it stands, when a shop declares your
transmission shot and you continue to drive on it three years and 100K mi.
later, the odds are they were wrong.
Also, I have educated
myself about cars to an extent, but I am not an automotive expert and it is
unreasonable to expect me to be since that is not my profession. We all have
our areas of expertise and I just wish that shops would be honest and not take
advantage of naive customers for monetary gain. Even auto mechanics that have
worked on cars their entire lives can tell you they don't know much about or
wouldn't dare work on transmissions, especially automatic transmissions. It
tends to be a specialized field and that is how these shops can justify
charging thousands of dollars for one transmission job. So knowing that I did
not have much transmission expertise, I would have had to trust and rely on a
shop that, in this case, was obviously attempting to rip me off (intentionally
or not). I might have paid for it
(because of the hard sell and scare tactics employed by the service rep) if my
husband had not insisted on a second opinion. I suspect I am not the first or
the last customer to fall prey to this kind of business practice - REGARDLESS
of gender.
In short, I reject
that I should have been educated about transmissions before going in since it
is not my field and many lifetime mechanics are not. Consulting with my husband
and following his advice to get a second opinion was NOT weakness (female or
otherwise). Given my treatment at the hands of the shop rep. I do not believe I
could have easily stopped any continued transmission job negotiations and,
frankly, it was nice that it stopped once he knew my husband had settled it
once and for all. At that point, I just wanted my car put back together and to
leave. Am I weak because my husband got it done? Perhaps, but being married
means not having to handle these kinds of things myself. Thats what is great about
spouses, as they can often succeed where the other may fail. One would have to
ask the Cottman rep. if it was because I was a woman that he was trying to hard
sell me on a transmission job. Regardless of what other posts you may have read,
I never said I thought they were trying to rip me off because I was a woman. I
only stated what made me believe they had attempted to rip me off and I based
that judgment on the stated events. Ultimately, I put my post up so others can
read and decide for themselves and be warned. .Balls had
nothing to do with it. Good day.
#4 Author of original report
Thank you for your curiosity...
AUTHOR: Mrsintergity - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Thanks
#6 Author of original report
One more thing...
AUTHOR: Mrsintergity - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Saturday, April 25, 2009
You also stated, We only recommend transmission repairs that are necessary The fact is, your tech instead of merely doing a service, advised me that I needed a transmission replacement based on the dirty transmission fluid. I took it somewhere else to get it serviced and the car transmission has lasted years later. So apparently my transmission did NOT need the Cottman heavily insisted upon replacement and your shop DOES recommend unnecessary repairs. PERIOD.
Look, I am not a malicious person. I didn't just wake up one day, get on here and decide to make your company look bad for the fun of it. It would have been less time consuming and stressful for everyone, especially me and my family, if Cottman had just done a competent transmission service and sent me on my way. That is not what happened. I really don't expect you to come out and say, Yeah. You caught us. We really deceive people to make more money, but you cannot rewrite history because it is inconvenient to your cause or reputation. Others should be made aware of my experience, so they may not experience the same or at the very least get a second opinion.
#7 Author of original report
The specifics and making matters worse
AUTHOR: Mrsintergity - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Saturday, April 25, 2009
- I took my vehicle to Cottman
- Was told I needed a transmission replacement.
- Before leaving I was told by a Cottman representative that my pan would be cleaned and fluid would be added before leaving.
- I later learned from a trusted shop that it had not been cleaned and was low on fluid.
- Also learned my transmission did not need replacement but merely a service.
- Transmission was serviced and regularly since with no issues 3 yrs./100k+ later
I believe, based on said accurate information, that Cottman (in Round Rock, Texas) intentionally misrepresented the condition of my transmission for monetary gain, not just out of mere incompetence.
Now... regardless of whether "Jim N." feels my report sounds correct or not, those are irrefutable facts. It is also my right to express my firsthand account of such. As I stated previously, and now apparently must repeat myself, I have no desire to ever contact you or Cottman based on that experience and I would again warn others to only contact Cottman at their own risk.
I would also like to add that it seems further disheartening that instead of considering the possible validity of my complaint, and put effort into improving customer relations or Cottman as a whole, you apparently refuse to acknowledge the likelihood of any wrong doing and seemingly chose to regurgitate some gimmicky scripted slogan, "Here at Cottman we take all complaints seriously, and do our best to remedy all problems immediately. We believe that our reputation is most important and work to maintain it every day." IF your words were trustworthy and reliable, sites such as these would be rendered invalid and complaints regarding Cottman would not be as numerous.
To those reading this, I hope you take his response into account and reflect on whether you want to do business with someone who may or may NOT be open to hearing concerns or complaints despite the company slogan.
Jim N.... Perhaps the real problem is that people such as yourself refuse to admit that there is any and then hence take no action to correct them. You may fool yourself, you may fool unfortunate others, but you cannot fool me.
#8 REBUTTAL Owner of company
Report does not sound correct
AUTHOR: Jim N. - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, August 26, 2008
This complaint, however, is difficult to respond to because it does not contain any specific information to which we can follow up on. The only specific information included is that the customer calls themself Mrsintergity, and they live in Austin, Texas.
The situation described in the complaint is not something we normally encounter. We only recommend transmission repairs that are necessary, and we have no problem working with second opinions.
We will be happy to respond to the specifics of the complaint if Mrsintergity would contact us directly or through this forum.

