Redlich Transmissions I got ripped off by Redlich Transmissions Youngstown Ohio

On April 17, 2015, I took my car to Redlich Transmissions on Market Street in Youngstown, Ohio because I thought my car was having transmission problems. Redlich Transmissions told me I needed both front (left and right) wheel bearings replaced costing $509.44. I usually go to Firestone so I asked if I could take it there. They told me I'd have to pay for them looking at it and convinced me that letting them do the repairs made the most sense. They implied that they were knowledgeable in performing this job and that they use quality Timken parts and that the job would last 5 or more years. The invoice showed a "90 days or 4,000 miles whichever occurs first" warranty. I knew that when Firestone did the job, their warranty was for 1 year and the job lasted almost 4 years. With them telling me it was going to last well beyond a year, I didn't think it mattered that the warranty on the invoice said 90 days, I trusted them.

On November 14th, I took my car to Firestone because it was making a loud noise when driving. They told me the left front wheel bearing had a lot of play and needed replaced and that the right side is loose a small amount. Firestone told me there was no way this repair should have failed, that either there was a defective part or the job wasn't done right. Since I had Redlich Transmissions do the job and it had only been 7 months and 2600 miles, they told me I should take it back to Redlich and have them replace the left side and check the right side.

I left my car at Redlich Transmissions on Market Street Sunday evening. I called Monday morning and explained the problem. I asked them about the 90 day warranty. The guy said "We stand behind our work" but didn't say anything else. Later that day they called me and told me that a guy looked at it and said it was a little loose but didn't need replaced yet. I thought, are you guys crazy? How could he even say that? I told him that the car was making a lot of noise and Firestone told me that it needed replaced. He said he'd have someone else with more knowledge check it later, that the guy wasn't there right then.

The next day around noon, they called and said the right wheel bearing is perfect but the left wheel bearing was bad and I would have to pay the labor and they would cover the part. It would be $150 for the house brand and $275 for the Timken name brand wheel bearing. He was implying that I had the cheaper part last time and should get the more expensive part this time. I told him that they used the Timken brand last time because I had asked about it. He said, “Oh, it doesn’t show that here.” I told him Firestone will charge the same price and I'll have a 1 year warranty and he'll only give me a 90 day warranty. I would be stupid to have him do it!

When I called back to tell him when I'd be there to pick up my car, he told me he called the main office at 136 Steel Street in Youngstown Ohio and asked if they could do something for me. They told him it was company policy that they had to charge for labor. I told him there's a couple things that do not make sense about that, if your charging for labor, then why are you charging $150 for a house brand and $275 for the name brand when it should take the same amount of time to install either one of them and Firestone only charges $189 for their Moog name brand part. He didn't say anything after that.

Now that I’m thinking about it, since they say the warranty is on the part, even if I had gone back before 90 days, they would have given me the same deal and told me the warranty was on the part and I had to pay the labor. If I hadn’t talked to Firestone before hand, when I went to Redlich Transmissions, I wouldn’t have known what the customary price was for the parts and the labor. I might have believed them and went ahead and had them do the work. They would have actually made money on the job and lost nothing. This is such a scam! They can’t lose!

I picked up my car and brought it to Firestone. They advised me to have both wheel bearings replaced, that once they are loose, they will go bad. I didn’t want to pay for both now, so I just had the left one replaced. Since then, the right side wheel bearing is beginning to make noise when I’m driving.

I realize the warranty says only 90 days on the invoice but if they were reasonable people they would acknowledge, like Firestone told me, that under no circumstances should wheel bearings go bad after 7 months and 2600 miles and should have replaced them for me for free.

Before I took my car to Redlich Transmissions, I looked for reviews. I remember seeing a 5 star review and saw they were accredited and had an A+ rating by the BBB. Since then, I’ve seen many bad reviews, some are at  http://businessfinder.cleveland.com/reviews-redlich-transmissions-youngstown-oh-1.html. Oh how I wish I would have seen these reviews before going there.

I blame myself for being stupid for trusting them. Don’t end up like me, don’t go there!