Cottman Transmissions held my vehicle hostage KATY Texas

On 6/12/06 my husband took our 2001F-350 into the shop, the overdrive light had begun to blink. The young man there told him that it did not seem to be a "major" problem as the truck was still driving smoothly.

He gave a ball park figure of $500-$1000 dollars but stated he would have to do a more thorough diagnostic check, my husband left the truck and came home to await the call with the exact cost of the repairs, that was at about 130pm. We recieved a call at approx. 530pm stating that the parts suppliers had gone home and that we would have to wait until the morning for the quote.

The call came at about 930am on 6/13/06. He qouted a price of $2890.00. My husband explained to him that the estimate was a far cry from the 500-1000 dollars and that we could not afford that. the man gave us the number to the finance company they use and they denied us.

We called him back to let him know of the situation,he advised us that there was inhouse financing in the form of a lay away plan, he stated they would have to hold onto the vehicle until it was all paid up. My husband told him that was not an option as the truck is used for work.

The man then asked for the last 4 digits of my husbands ssn and stated "let me see what we can do, meanwhile I will call you back with the number to another financing company" In the interim we began exploring other options and called another repair shop who stated they could finance us. This is at about 1015am.

We immediately called the cottman shop back stating that we would have the vehicle towed to another shop. At this point they were already into us for the $475.00 to do the thorough diagnosis. This is where things get really crazy, the man informs us that they have already started the work. My husband asks why would you start without my consent? To which the man replied"you gave your consent when you gave your ssn!" My husband says I gave consent for what I thought was a credit application.

At this point he states they are going to continue the "repair" despite my husband saying and I quote "dont lay another hand on my truck, box up the transmission and the parts ." The man refuses to stop working on the truck even after we have told him not to!

The man refers us to the owner of the location, who pretty much says that they will continue the repairs. I explain to him that we will not pay for anything repaired after the time we asked them to leave it alone.

We head over to the shop, once there I encounter the mechanic, I ask him are you guys still working on that truck even after we asked you not to. "Yes"he replies with a smirk, I ask him If his manager spoke with him, he states "No" I ask him are you going to stop the repairs and let us take our truck, he states "No". I stepped out of the office and called the Harris county police dept. who got there at about 105pm. After the police officers spoke with them they agreed to let us take the truck for $698.00 cash only.

The moral of this story is quite clear, BEWARE. They would have been perfectly content with finishing the work (as they were stalling and trying to get done by tying us up waiting for their phone calls) for $2800.00 with no financing, so they would have kept it in"layaway" and began charging you $25.00 per day for storage, on top of the repair costs.

The truck which we own out-right is worth about $19,000, That would have fetched them a pretty penny with a mechanics lien.

Doris
houston, Texas
U.S.A.