Aamco Transmission in Oakland California does not seem to care when you get your car back and will not allow you to have it back until they are finished charging you what they feel like. Class action anyone? Oakland, California

First let me say Each AAMCO Transmission Franchise is individually owned and All Franchises are not the same. 

We strive on getting the job done right and customer satisfied. Unfortunately the customer in this case was not satisfied.

When the customer first came in to the AAMCO transmission Center we checked the 2002 Ford F450 Diesel Super Duty truck and found that it had only First and second gear only. We scanned the trucks computer and found No CODES for any fault. We then checked the transmission fluid and transmission fluid was burnt. This led us to conclude that there is an internal failure inside the transmission and notified the customer the Basic overhaul price for the Rebuild of $2395.00 (included in the Basic overhaul is removal tear down, rebuild labor and installation of the overhaul kit which includes All Clutches, Seals, bands, Metal clad seals, filter and gasket sets.) normally called soft parts and also notified him that if there is any hard parts or electronics would be additional. This was explained to the customer before the work had even begun and also gave the customer similar transmission jobs prices on prior repairs. Prices ranged from the 2800-4500 for the transmission rebuild depending on the excess damage inside the transmission. Customer was notified the transmission could be completed in 2-3 days. When he authorized the repair to begin it was Monday. I notified him after we remove the transmission, disassemble it I will let him know the extent of the damage. Which I did the following day and gave him the final price of $3443.94. I also threw in an internet coupon which he was not aware of for $100 off. He gave us the go head and the transmission was rebuilt on time Wednesday afternoon around 3 PM as promised. Unfortunately during the road test we found that there was a shifting problem. The customer was there and he witnessed at the time the whole thing and was not happy which was not unreasonable.

When we diagnosed the cause of shifting malfunction we detected a Code from the computer of the truck a Computer code. A P0603 Internal Control Module Cam Failure code. As we were trying to diagnose and research the code the customer was getting irate and was calling Ford Dealership and getting information on the code. Which he notified me then he had used a Programmer and cleared the code prior to bringing the vehicle to the Shop. This crucial information would have helped in the initial diagnostic. After following the steps for the ECM code we came to the conclusion that that Computer was the source of the failure which caused the transmission to fail. By this time the customer did not want to believe it. The customer was there to witness the whole process and still was not willing to accept it out of frustration. Another reason for the customer's frustration was also that he was out of town and wanted to go home. I notified the customer we are working as fast as we can but we wanted to make sure the Vehicle was working properly before delivering it.

At this point we knew the vehicle's transmission was not the problem but the Computer failure. We tried to get a computer delivered but could not find any locally. The fastest we could get one from the Dealer was in 5-7 business days which frustrated the customer even more. By this time he had received false information from some Dealership telling him it is not the computer and it was a minor code, which aggravated the situation. I told the Customer I would call all of my vendors and try to locate a computer that could get here over night. By this time it was close to 5pm and customer was given a ride to the Hotel where he was staying. The next day we were able to locate a computer to be rushed next day delivery. Customer was ok with that. On Friday I was not in but the customer dealt with Customer Service Manager, where he was told for some reason the new computer received had an error due to bad reprogramming and another Computer was not going to get there until the next day Saturday. At this point customer was so furious that he called the police to get the vehicle out of the shop with out paying for the work done. The manager refused to release the vehicle with out payment and that he could void his warranty by driving it with a bad computer. Manager talked to the customer and was able to calm him down and customer left. On Saturday we received the Computer and installed it and the truck was fixed. I called the customer and notified him that the vehicle was complete. 

Customer picked up the vehicle on Monday and drove off. Later that day we received a call from another AAMCO Transmission in DavisCalifornia that the Ford truck was there due to transmission overheating. We immediately notified them to diagnose and if the problem was the transmission to remove it. I personally dove to DavisCalifornia which was 1 1/2hour drive to check the diagnosis. It was deemed to be some kind of line clog on the transmission line. I picked up the transmission and to it back to Oakland AAMCO and had the techs stay late to fix it. After replacing the clogged line and double checking the internal transmission parts we had the transmission delivered back to DavisCalifornia the next morning for installation by 8:30am. The transmission was installed and was free of any more defects. The customer was on the road the same day. How is that for customer service?

 We strive to make our customers happy and we stand behind our work 100%. We are conscious of any time constraints that our customers have and we do our best to complete the repair at hand in a timely manner. Sometimes not getting parts in time causes repair time to be longer which causes customer frustration. We try to explain and accommodate to the best of our ability but you cant please every one.