Aamco is terrible, I've been screwed.

I have a 1996 Chevy Cavalier.A few weeks ago, the car wasn't shifting correctly and finally would not even go into drive, and only sometimes would shift into second gear. My regular oil change guys recommended a place, but they wouldn't be able to look at it for a couple of weeks. They suspected it was the valve body, but couldn't be sure. I was quoted $800, which at the time seemed like a lot of money.

My boyfriend and I decided to take the car to Aamco because he had called them and they disagreed with the other place. Aamco said they could run diagnostics on the car for $49.99 and would then quote me a price. I left the car on a Monday afternoon and was assured that it would be looked at that same day. When I didn't hear from them I thought it would only be fair to give another day, things happen. Right. So I call back the next day and they tell me that they haven't been able to do anything because the car will not move. The guy supposedly put it in reverse and the car wouldn't go anywhere. This was just the beginning. I asked why the car worked fine on the way up there and why I had never had a problem with reverse at all, but now it wouldn't move. Richard told me he understood completely my concerns and would personally check. He called back after an insanely long amount of time and said yes, I was right, the car did in fact move. He said the transmission needed to be rebuilt, which would cost $1100, and then the torque converter would need to be replaced at $315.

I am a 21-year old female, and a college student. I work full-time but still don't have that kind of money to throw away. I told Richard not to do anything without my authorization, and that I would talk to my dad and my boyfriend before making a final decision. He called back in a couple of minutes telling me the price had dropped from $1100 to $950. I asked him what the difference was and he said "Ma'am, we're just trying to run a business here." I had reluctance from the beginning, but my dad thought I should just go ahead with it. He offered to help me pay for it, so I decided to go for it. Richard said it would take 3-5 days to get it done. It was impossible for me to go without a car for that long, so he offered to have me speak to someone about a rental car. They made a decent offer, so I accepted.

This was probably a mistake. I don't think they even looked at the car, because they were making money from the rental. The rental car, a Ford Taurus, had a gas gauge that didn't work (when they gave it to me it registered as full, 20 miles later the fuel light was on) and every time I stepped on the brake, the car shook terribly. Finally, after a week I told Richard that I was bringing the rental back so that they would start working on my car. He assured me that they had been, and that I would have my car back that day, that it would be done by 2pm. I still hadn't heard from him at 3, so I called to ask him what was going on. He said they had replaced the valve body (which they began as telling me was fine, and which I had not authorized them to do anything with) and it was the wrong part so I didn't have second gear. However, he assured me that the wrong part looked almost exactly like the right one! He said his technician had been calling around for the part all day and couldn't locate one. (When I was done talking to him I called an Auto Parts store. Of course, they had it in stock.)

At this time, it has been two weeks, I still don't have my car, and he's telling me it will cost $1800. School starts on Monday and I have no car. I have no idea when they'll really finish it, if they have actually done any work at all, or how much money they will try to charge me in the end.

I realize that they think I'm a "dumb girl" and to some extent they are right. However, they have no right to treat me this way and I am not going to stand for it. If anyone else is interested in standing up to this company, please contact me. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to stop other people from dealing with this dishonest, unprofessional, and unethical company.