American Transmission Center ripoff Reading Pennsylvania

My son purchased his car on 6/28/2003, a 1996 Volkswagen Jetta from Vision Auto on route 183. It had a 6 month, 10,000 mile warranty. In December, the car had approximately 13,000 miles on it when the transmission went bad.

My son called a place named American Transmissions located at 600 Lancaster Avenue in Reading. Phone number is 610-376-4800. The manager at the time, Shawn, offered free towing to check the transmission, told my son's girlfriend, that it would be approximately $1,000 to fix the transmission once he towed it to his shop on December 16.2003.

On Wednesday the 17th of December, Shawn called and said that if Jason didn't have the money, he could secure a loan from American General Financial Services where he usually refers people. It would be a 90 day same as cash loan.

Later that afternoon of the 17th, Shawn called and said that there was more wrong with the car and that it would cost approximately $2,500.00 to fix the transmission including the drive shafts that needed to be replaced, there was two of them, at $600.00 a piece, which made the bill go up to the $2,500.00. He had already called the finance company and told them it was going to be more than the $1,000.00.

Jason went and secured the loan, paying the amount in full on 12/19/2003.

Jason got his car back about a week later, he had to wait for Shawn to take the car to Vision Auto to have the computer reset because he didn't have the correct computer to reset the car's computer. I had asked Shawn to save the parts so that we could go to Vision and try to recoup some of the money on 12/18/2003. When my son picked up the car and asked for the parts, Shawn said he didn't know he wanted them and he threw them away.

When I called on the 24th of December, Shawn said not to worry, he could always scrounge up some parts so that I could take them to Vision.

The car ran okay until march when the transmission started acting up again, on 3/23/2004.

Jason drove his car over to American Transmission to have the transmission checked, because the car was skipping first and second gear. And when Jason had asked if Shawn was working at American Transmissions, Larry who is the assistant manager at American Transmissions now, had said that Shawn was fired about a month ago because of complaints of his work on customers cars. Larry had said that this time he was going to fix Jason's car so that way the transmission does not skip anymore. Jason had his car there from 3/23/2004 until 4/07/2004, and when Jason picked up his car on 4/07/2004, his car was running okay, but when he wanted to accelerate, the car would hesitate. It was not running like it should.

And finally on 4/27/2004, Jason's car was hesitating when it was on hills, and when he wanted to put his car in reverse. The car would not reverse, it would only go forward.

I called American Transmissions and spoke first with a man named Tony, who then said for me to talk to Larry and gave me his number (610-376-4052). Larry said that the man's name was Jim, Not Tony. I let them know that there was something wrong with the car, that it would not move in reverse. I said that I was tired of the problems that my son was encountering with his transmission and that I was going to call Senator O'Pake to see what recourse we could pursue. Larry said he would try to send a tow truck to retrieve the car, but he could not promise when it would get there before 5 pm. I was concerned because my son's girlfriend Courtnee was with the car. I left work to pick up courtnee, and the tow truck had already towed the car (within 1/2 hour).

On 4/28/2004, Larry called and said that the transmission control module went bad and that it had burned the new transmission that was just rebuilt. His shop does not do the computer parts, we would have to have someone else fix that.

I then called a repair shop in Stony Creek, Pa and spoke with a mechanis. The shop was refereed by a friend, because they specialize in Volkswagens. I explained in full to the mechanic what had transpired. He said that it was highly unlikely that the transmission module burned the transmission, that it was probably the other way around. He said I would be better off contacting the Better Business Bureau instead of Senator O'Pake.

Tina
Reading, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.