Cottman Transmission My horrible experience with Cottman Transmission in Round Rock, TX Round Rock Texas

Hello again..UPDATE... I finally had some issues with what I thought was the transmission. I had some punching when it went into gears and vibration while accelerating. I heard bad things about B&M Transmission and with Eagle transmission I would have had to wait too long for my car to be inspected, so I took it to A+ Transmission Specialists off Ben White and S. Lamar in Austin, TX. They took a look at it right away with a free inspection and even let me go on the test drive. I practically tried to convince them it was my transmission since I knew it had been years since the Cottman experience. I was ready to shell out for a rebuilt transmission which seemed to be the culprit. To my surprise, the guys at A+ Transmission Specialists are extremely competent and honest. Their specialist told me that my transmission was fine, but I needed to replace some mounts and such. I replaced those and it runs great!!! I definitely recommend A+ Transmission Specialists and I intend to go to them for any future transmission work. It's apparent that they truly value their customers. Have a great day! 

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.

first off--i never heard of a check engine light come on with a code of dirty fluid?--unless it is a light on your dash that says change trans fluid based after a certain mileage--also why wait so long to report this???--in any case--you said you saw the pan and it looked like metal in there-this is normal--but it is not metal--i believe it is converter clutch material-but i am not sure---you will blantly see big pieces of metal if the trans was bad---in any case--i can agree this was a rip off--whether it was done intentionally or just a bad diagnose is unknown--if this story is in fact true-but on a personal note--i see these comments by women all the time that they think they are getting ripped off cause they are women--i just find it amusing that they think they need there big bad husbands protect them from auto shops all the time--fact is-you do look like a weak women and cannot handle the situation yourself--i suggest you be like other women and educate yourself a little, grow a pair of balls and handle things yourself!!

Hello. I hope you are doing well. I took my car to a regular auto shop. Believe it or not, it has been over 5 years now since my bad experience with Cottman and, with regularly scheduled transmission services; I still have had NO issues with my transmission. *knock on wood* I have had other costly mechanical issues, but fortunately my tranny is still going strong.  Unfortunately for you, it is because I have not had to do any work on my transmission that I am not sure who to recommend to you. Most shops should be able to do a service (which is typically just a fluid and filter change), if needed. My mechanic recommends that you DO NOT FLUSH a transmission that has quite a bit of mileage on it, because it can do more harm than good. Also, make sure to get it serviced regularly. If you are having actual transmission problems, he recommends two places: Eagle Transmission and B&M Transmission. Again, I have not used them, so I can not personally say. He says they are pretty reputable shops here in Austin. I did a search for B&M on here and could not find a complaint, so that seems a really good sign. Cottman on the other hand, appears to have quite a few. It is sad, really. I hope that information is of use. Best of luck to you!

So where DID you end up taking your car for transmission service? My vehicle is in need of transmission service and any recommendation would help.
Thanks

You stated,The situation described in the complaint is not something we normally encounter. What situation is that exactly (rhetorical)? As I stated, I was having drivability issues and a code surfaced, the code came back that my transmission fluid was dirty. I became aware of your transmission service special and went to your location to have it done. I would find it hard to believe, as a transmission shop, that you do not encounter transmission codes, dirty transmission fluid or people going to your shop for the purpose of using your transmission special for a service.

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.

If you want specifics, then you are welcome to take your time rereading my report or better yet let me break it down for you. The specific information included in my complaint is as follows:

- 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.

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.

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.