City Wide Transmission Automotive Lied, Mislead, Bait and Switch, Over Charged, Run around, Beware Austin Texas

PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION!!!! BEWARE DOING ANYTHING OVER THE PHONE WITH THIS SHOP.

    So, thus far, this shop has caused me nothing but grief. I will redact this post if things get resolved satisfactorily.

    So the tranny goes out in my vehicle, on a friend's suggestion, I have CW tow my vehicle to their shop "free of charge" for a "free diagnostic." Allen tells me he will call me first thing in the morning and let me know what the computer says and if I decide I want to take it somewhere else, no problem, there is no charge. This is Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday, I have not received a call, by noon, my friend calls Allen and asks him what's up and did they have a chance to check the codes. Allen says their computers are down and he will call back.

    Thursday comes, Allen doesn't call. At the end of the day Thursday, trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, I call them. Allen says the computer in the vehicle is throwing too many codes to tell what's wrong and go about fixing the problem. Allen says that they need to drop the tranny and open it up to see what's going on. Allen says that CW will drop the tranny, inspect it, clear the codes from the vehicles computer and be able to tell me what's wrong with the vehicle by Friday morning for $395. Allen says if I get the work done to fix the vehicle with them after, they will deduct the $395 from the total bill. Allen apologizes for not calling and says they are real busy.

    Friday comes and goes with no call. Trying to be patient, I wait till Monday, call Allen and ask him what's up. Allen says he can't find my paperwork and he will call me back in 15 minutes. An hour goes by, I try calling Allen again. Allen seems to have no idea who I am or what vehicle I am talking about. Allen then says he has some people waiting for him in the shop and says he will call me back in 30 minutes. An hour goes by, I call again, Allen answers again, my baby is crying in the back ground because it's his lunch time, Allen seems to be unable to talk and asks me to call him back again. I get kiddo fed, put down for a nap and call Allen. It's now 3p. Allen goes into depth, explains that the torq converter is toast, the tranny needs to be rebuilt and usually their rebuild with 3yr/50k mile warrant is 1695, but due to the difficulty of getting ahold of them and CW not meeting the times they said they would get the work done, Allen says he will take $650 off the price. Allen says they can have the vehicle back together by Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning.

    Tuesday comes, late afternoon I get a call from Allen. Allen proceeds to go through what the allegedly found wrong with my vehicle, almost verbatim to our conversation Monday. Allen then says the tranny can e fixed two different ways. 1 is for $2400 and the other option is for $2100. Very confused and now 1 week with the vehicle at CW, I am irritated and ask Allen if he's joking or what's going on. Allen says he apparently mixed up paperwork, they have another vehicle that is exactly the same as mine with the exact same problem and he got the paperwork confused. Confused and frankly doubtful of Allen's excuse, I ask him to verify my vehicle is at his shop and he is getting the correct vehicle and correct repairs. Allen says he will call me back. We go back and forth on the phone till Wednesday.

    Now Wednesday, Allen says they have already started working on my vehicle and it will e ready Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. See a pattern yet? Thursday I call, CW will not answer the phone if I call from my cell phone. Once at work, I call from a land line, CW answers the phone. They say Allen has left for the day. No one knows anything about my vehicle and no one can find paperwork for it.

    Friday, I go into the shop and see my vehicle at the back of the lot parked. I ask to speak to Allen and am told by Wayne Ray, he is not there. Wayne Ray tells me my vehicle is ready and they have been trying to call me. I have not received calls from Allen since Wed. Wayne Ray tells me my vehicle is ready and that all I need to do is pay $1695 and I can have it back. I detail what's been going on and Wayne says he'd like to talk to Allen and get this worked out. I asked to see an invoice and ask what was done to my vehicle, because of the confusion, Wayne says she can't find my vehicle's sheet and I will have to call them back or come in on Monday. At one point Wayne offers to let me test drive my vehicle to see how well it runs now, but later refuses to even let me see the vehicle drive, saying that I might try to car jack my own vehicle.

    Wayne initially appeared interested in resolving pretty serious issues; however, once I failed to "give him a chance" and was not happy about calling back on Monday, he basically became non cooperative and said I could pay the blanket $1695 for unknown work and take my vehicle today or I could wait till Monday, after he had a chance to talk to Allen.  Wayne then tells me he is going to call me Monday and I can get my vehicle.  Well Monday morning Wayne actually calls, but he tells me Allen had a heartattack and that he is coming into town from Houston and will call me at 1pm.

   At 1:30p, I have still not received a call.  More run around and nonsense stories.  I WALK down to the shop in 95 degree afternoon and go into the shop.  Wayne is visibly angry at my presence and only acknowledges me by saying, "What's up?"  I tell him I am here to get my vehicle and leave.  Wayne says it will be $1695.  I ask to see an invoice, or a worksheet, or a parts list or anything to see what was done to my vehicle.  Wayne says his "computer guy" is eating lunch, tells me to sit down and wait, when his guy finishes lunch, he will print me a receipt.  Wayne then says he needs to get my information for my 3 year 50k mile warranty.  I tell Wayne again, I am not interested in a warranty with his shop, I have no intention in bringing any vehicle of mind to his shop again and that I want to get my vehicle and leave. Wayne becomes furious, raises his voice and becomes confrontational, demanding to know why I don;t want his warranty.  He then says that if I am going to be like that, he thinks that I am going to refuse the charges to my credit card and he now wants cash for my vehicle.  I tell him I am not going to pay cash, he is going to take credit and I want my vehicle back.  Wayne, thinking I do not have the cash money available, then gets smart and says that until I have 1695 in cash, I can't have my car.  I explain I have the cash, and will pay, but if he wants cash and won't give me the vehicle, I am calling the police.  Wayne then says the price is now $2000 in cash and I am never going to get my vehicle back.  Wayne obviously was unaware I recorded our conversation and plan to file reports with the BBB and Attorny General...

   I called 311, requested police and exlained what happened.  Wilco sent a deputy who was pleasant and advised that he took 911 calls at this business frequently.  After explaining the story and advising that if he refused to accept payment for my vehicle, I would like to file a UUMV (stolen car) report, the deputy advised that this happened to numerous people.  He also advised that Wayne kept one customer's car of over 3 months!!!  The deputy went inside and less than 5 minutes later came out, asked if I would be willing to pay $996 with a credit card and take my vehicle.  I stated that is exactly what I asked to do when I came in.  Upon going into the shop, Wayne was again visibly angry, did not make eye contact with me and only printed out a bill listing 9.6 hours @$110/hr.  I paid with a credit card and was still never given an invoice, work sheet, parts list or any indication on what was done to my vehicle.  It drives, but is not running well and I am having to take it into another shop to figure out what, if anything was done to it.  Once that is done, I will possibly be filing a suit with the County Court.  After making several postings online for Yelp and the YPs, I was contacted by another victim of Wayne's who told me to watch my credit card, that he was charged in full for work he did not approve on Memorial Day, while the shop was supposedly closed.  If you go to the Attorny General's website and search for common scams under their automotive section, everything listed on the website is standard operating procedure for Wayne, Allen, Mike and the rest of this crew at City Wide.