Cottman Transmission - AAMCO Ripoff Dishonest Deceptive Devious Damaged vehicle to unsafe condition Did not relate damage Will not pay to fix Shoddy workmanship Camp Hill Pennsylvania

This Cottman response is actually quite telling because it addresses none of the real issues that need resolution. My claim is that they are deceptive, devious, and dishonest, they do shoddy work and their customer service is well non-existent.

1) They are deceptive: they returned my car to me knowing that it was unsafe because they had stripped the power plant frame bolts. I repeat they put me and my wife in an unsafe vehicle.
2) They are devious: They are trying to claim they did not do this damage.
3) They are dishonest: They claimed extensive work was necessary on a vehicle when the local dealership told me there was absolutely nothing wrong with the vehicle (different vehicle happened prior to the full happening of this incident).
4) They do shoddy work: They did not fix the transmission correctly the first or second time and it still not %100 correct. They did not put the car back together correctly and they damaged the car and did not inform me.
5) Customer service is bad: While they had my car they never called me with updates, they always had the car longer than they initially promised and they have never attempted to resolve this issue even though they know they had to have caused all these problems. And as I said, I tried to work thru their corporate customer relations department which was a joke.

Note that the Cottman response does not even deny any of my allegations. They simply gave some lame suggestions for me to act on.

It is true that they reimbursed me $168 for the minor repair at the Nissan Dealership, but the actual repairs for what Cottman damaged are well in excess of $2,000, not counting the fact that I could not use the car they damaged while waiting for some resolution and not counting the towing and motel fees for which they are directly responsible.

It is true that the Dealer said the vehicle should not be driven until permanent repairs are made. Realistically, what else would a responsible repair facility say? They knew it was not 100% safe, but they also knew it was good enough to get me home. To have said anything else would have been irresponsible and they might become liable for litigation if something had happened. They also knew it was two days before Christmas, and I was on my way home with a car full of gifts and they knew they could not get the parts to fix it correctly in one day. Yes, they knew their repair was not completely satisfactory they knew that the entire wiring harness as well as the PPF and bolts needed to be replaced. And yes, it was certainly my choice to drive the 200 miles home the day was clear, the roads were dry and I was careful. But honestly, in retrospect, I should never have driven the car home. If I had really understood how dangerous the car was, I would never have driven it.

Now let me address the second paragraph of the Cottman reply in which he says he offered to tow the vehicle from any breakdown point to his center. This offer is so ludicrous that I should not dignify it with a response, but, since he brought it up I will relate why it is so ridiculous.

First, you need to recognize that he was asking us to drive an unsafe vehicle for 430 miles. You see, without the PPF bolted up properly, any accident that might happen, would have been worsened by some unknown factor. As I said before, you have to realize that the PPF is essentially a four foot long I-beam that runs down the center of the vehicle. It provides a substantial safety factor for front and rear collisions and possibly side ones. Remember that this is a sports car only two seats a little car that needs all the re-enforcement it was designed with.

Second, if, while driving this unsafe vehicle, the PPF had come (further) loose, it could have cause me to lose control of the car and harm other drivers etc. Third, the repair to the wiring harness was indeed temporary and as I mentioned, the Nissan facility said the car could easily have caught on fire as a result of that Cottman induced problem. Fourth, is the fact that this was January in Ohio and Pennsylvania which is typically the worst weather month of the year. So what he was asking was for us to take a chance on breaking down in the middle of winter, then he wanted me to call him so he could round up his tow truck driver and have him drive up to 300 miles to pick us up while we waited in a broken down car for 5 hours on the side of the interstate. My wife, who always comes back with me has Multiple Sclerosis and can take very little cold and cannot walk very far. Hmmm what is wrong with this scenario?

Then, of course, there is the fact that any breakdown that occurs on the interstate or PA turnpike can have disastrous consequences on other traffic around the breakdown. In some places the traffic is going very fast and a breakdown or even going too slow causes accidents. In many places, there is little room to pull your car off the road safely. And lastly with regard to returning the car to Cottman for repairs, I must say, that if my car were on fire, and Cottman had the only water in town, I still would not take the car there. I'm not the brightest bulb in the house, but when a merchant has shown, that on every level, that they are incompetent, dishonest and have no customer service, then I would be pretty stupid to trust my car to them again.

And that is why I refused their very generous offer to repair it at no charge if it was related to our work. And of course it was related to their work as I said before, there is no way to remove the transmission (as they claimed they did), with removing the PPF and the wiring harness.

And, one last thing - their response said that they suggested I take the car to the closet (his spelling it should be closest) Cottman. First, HE did not spontaneously suggest that I did. Turned out the closest one is 60 miles away too far in an unsafe vehicle in January weather. Second, only transmission warranty work would be covered at a Cottman facility they would have no vested interest in fixing my car correctly; and at this point in time, I would never trust my car to any Cottman facility although I suspect there are some perfectly good honest ones out there.

The owner of this vehicle is:

Rodger Gordon
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We had reimbursed Mr. Gordon for the minor repair at the Nissan Dealership, site unseen. If the Nissan Dealer said the vehicle was safe for Mr. Gordon to drive the 200 miles home why was it not safe to drive the 430 miles to our faclilty? Is there some magic mileage number between 200 and 430 that would cause a failure? In fact, we spoke to Lloyd Carmichael, the service advisor at Wheeling Nissan and they recommended that Mr. Gordon NOT drive the vehicle from their shop. This infers that their repair was not satisfactory. It was Mr. Gordons choice to drive the 200 miles home.

Also, we had offered to tow the vehicle from any breakdown point on the way to our center or the entire 430 miles from his home in Ohio to our center at no cost to Mr. Gordon and repair it at no charge if it was related to our work. We also suggested that Mr. Gordon could take his vehicle to the closet Cottman. Mr. Gordon refused these offers and we have not seen the vehicle since.

We look forward to presenting our side of the events in any forum (i.e. BBB, Attorney General, etc.)

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