Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  10/09/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  About a month ago I bought my truck into the transmission shop that rebuilt it because of hard shifting. They had it about a month and the owner kept me informed on everything they were doing. I got a message telling me it was ready and went to pick it up. I took a test drive with a mechanic and pointed out a problem with the column shifter and was told it was a pin that wears out and it wasn't a big deal. Then we went to get gas the truck wouldn't start in park and the mechanic said it was just out of gear. They said it was good to go so I drove it about 4 miles to dinner at *************** in ******** and went to put it in park and turn off the engine and it lunged. I ate with my Girlfriend and her Mom and came out to leave but the truck wouldn't start. Not even a clicking sound from the battery and I had plenty of power (1994 **** Bronco XLT). So I went out and opened the hood and got a screwdriver to see if it's the battery or starter from the Solenoid on the fender. It clicked showing the battery was fine and so It showed it would start. Knowing the truck was in park or so the selector said, I jumped the Solenoid and it started and took off backwards and hit the parked 4Runner behind me damaging the entire passenger side of both vehicles. I called the owner of the transmission shop and he came out and met us a few businesses away and crawled under my truck and was upset because someone left a $500 piece of diagnostic equipment still plugged into the side of my transmission. Then the owner started to make excuses that it was a cable that was stretched and then he said he had to manually put it into Park and then he said it was in the steering wheel column and then he said he would figure out what to do. I told him that he had to pay for all the damages to both vehicles. Now he sends me a text message to my phone saying that he's not going to turn it into his insurance. The Owner had me bring my truck back to be fixed from a prior incident of Hard Shifting

  

  Business response

  10/16/2024

  I am sorry to have to respond to this and the error's stated.
  
  The transmission was not rebuilt and was never stated to be rebuilt. This started with when Mr. ******* vehicle was brought to my shop when I was out of the office for medical reasons. The vehicle had to be towed in because it didn't move. As best I can tell by the *** and what Mr. ***** explained, it was most likely a stripped input drum....I'm also going by experience and knowing that no movement at all is usually caused by this part. 
  
  I found out about Mr. ******* bad experience with my business by a postcard that was sent explaining that I was going to be sued. I called Mr. ***** and the story he told was not a good one. Since the people that were in charge at the time were no longer employed by my business, I couldn't confirm or get any other explanation for what took place. I told Mr. ***** that I didn't care for the way the invoice was written so I erred on the side of safety and went with his side of the story. I then met him at his home and gave him a full refund.
  
  He explained that he had it rebuilt by another individual but when it quit moving whoever this individual was that made the initial repairs was no longer around. This is why he came to us and we made the necessary repairs. After the refund, when I offered to try to take care of the left over transmission issues, he stated he no longer trusted my shop even though the previous employees he dealt were no longer there. Now, keep in mind, we couldn't drive the vehicle to see how it operated before it quit moving so we were unable to verify how it operated prior to repairs. My goal wasn't to argue it was to resolve his transmission issues and make him happy. From that day on we would text each other, call each other, and discuss life. I believed that we were becoming friends because when the weather cooled down he was going to take me on a tour of his mine. In time **** said he would bring his truck in to let me try to figure out his concerns. I was so happy that I would get my chance to win him over and show him that there are still people that put others needs before their own. 
  
  When he decided to drop off his vehicle, we went over his concerns and we got to work. We started with diagnosing a code which ended up being a defective torque converter. This item was replaced by us during his previous visit. We also did some pressure tests to try and figure out his hard shifting. In completing these pressure tests we verified it was electrical and not mechanical. We had to remove the transmission to replace the torque converter so we thought it'd be best to check the pump (which was also replaced in the initial repair) while it's out and see if it might be the cause for the hard shifts.
  
  We removed the transmission and had the converter warranted. When we checked the pump, we found that the pressure regulator valve bore was worn enough that it was barely out of spec. I bought another pump and changed over the ** valve. Because the value from his rebuild was modified, we swapped it over from pump to pump. We then retested the valve and the reading was awesome. We reassembled and installed the transmission and now with the valve holding pressure it was shifting even harder. I informed **** and told him I was going to pull the valve body. When we took it apart we found that the line modulator valve was oversized but there were no other modifications. I sent him pictures of the valve and a shift kit that I would like to use because it's what we use on rebuilds and we love the results. This solution is very elaborate and labor intensive but I wanted to do it. He said ok so we started. We also explained that as we were removing the valve body bolts the threads from the case were coming out with them. I told him I was going to helicoil all of them instead of doing them one at a time. This also was very time consuming but I wanted it right when it was done. We completed the kit and then my mechanic and I talked and said "what if it was a problem with the solenoid pack?". So we decided it was best to change it while the solenoid pack was off. I hate taking the shotgun approach but because there was so many issues I wanted to eliminate every possibility for the cause of the issue. We had a hard time finding one but once we did we replaced it at the same time that the other valve body work was done.
  
  When everything was completed and we road tested the vehicle, it drove excellent. Since Mr. ***** lives so far away I made a video of the road test and pointed out his high idle on first start up. Because of the high idle, it would engage firmer than normal. I explained that once he gets the idle corrected that issue will be resolved. We tried adjusting it down and it helped a little but it was still higher than it should be on first start up. At this point he asked if I would do him a favor and install the ignition tumbler that he purchased which he said we damaged on his last visit. Of course I said I would and I also asked him permission to take it to Quality Bumper to have them wire and install a new trailer connector that had also disappeared on his previous visit. He said ok so I took it to them. Quality Bumper called at the end of the day to say it was completed and I picked it up the next morning.
  
  I was so happy that we were checking each item off of the list and I knew he would be pleased. I was very **** about his truck, making sure it was kept inside the shop every night instead of in our locked parking lot and as a matter of fact when the work was being done I wouldn't let them push it off the rack like we did with all vehicles so we could keep working so it stayed on the rack even though it cost the shop in productivity because I was over protective with it. To emphasize the point we have a check list before and after work is performed. The after check list includes road testing, rack checking which includes making sure everything is tight, no leaks and linkage lines up....on his vehicle I had it done 4 times because i didn't want him to get all the way home and have any issues. When it was finally ready I told him when he comes down I wanted to go on a road test with him to make sure he was happy. He said he was coming in the afternoon and I wasn't going to be there so I wanted him to go for a drive with ****. When he arrived he went with **** and when they went to get gas Mr. ***** said that the linkage felt sloppy. **** told him as **** as I was that I wouldn't have told him to come if there was any issues with the transmission. Mr. ***** showed **** the movement and **** showed him the pin on the shifter and how it was loose in the hole and that was probably the cause. When he went to take the key out it was stuck. **** suspected that because Mr. ***** was moving it around to show him the slop that he may not have gotten it all the way into park. He asked him to push the shifter toward park and the key came out. There was no starting issue, each time he turned the key it started, just like when he took **** back to the shop and then left to go home. 
  
  That afternoon I received a text from Mr. ***** as he was leaving the restaurant that he took his wife and mother in law to. He said the battery in his vehicle was dead. I immediately responded saying there's no way this could be possible because I had started it 20 times since the work was completed and never experienced anything that would lead me to believe there was any charging system issues. I also tried to call him immediately so that I could have him check a few things. His phone would answer but I could only hear his wife talking in the background but no one could hear me. It was like they had no idea their phone had picked up. I tried a few times and then waited. The next call I received was Mr. ***** saying "you better get your f-ing a** in the car and get over here" then he hung up. I called back right away to ask where he was. He said Texas Roadhouse, I asked which one, he responded stated he was at the location on Grand then proceeded to tell me that he tried to jump it because it didn't even make a click when he was trying to start it. Before I could tell him that it sounded like a different issue, he told me that after he tried jumping the battery unsuccessfully, he took a large s**** (not s**** driver, as he said he had no tools) and jumped the starter solenoid. In my mind I was already screaming "NO ****!". With the high idle issue his vehicle had, once it started up, it must have taken off rapidly. At that point he said he had to go because the owner of the vehicle he hit had walked out.
  
  I got ready to leave and he shortly there after called back and when I asked if he was still there he said he was heading home. I said no wait, please pull over and let me come see what happened so he did. I was on my way and he told me where he pulled into and while I was on my way I tried explaining what I thought might have happened. I told him obviously something went wrong with the linkage and the neutral safety switch was doing its job and keeping you from starting the truck while in gear. So for future reference never jump the solenoid without someone in the seat with their foot on the brake because you are bypassing a safety feature built into the vehicle. As a mechanic we never do so without the vehicle on the rack with the wheels off the ground or without someone in the vehicle with their foot on the brake.
  
  When I arrived, I asked him to get in the truck while I went under the truck. As far off as the linkage had to be to do what it did I expected to find the bushing at the end of the shifter cable crumbled and gone (we didn't replace the cable) but to my surprise it all looked good. I had him move the linkage into drive and back to park. Once the shifter was in park, I grabbed the lever on the transmission and I could push it a full detent into park (it was stopping in reverse). Since I couldn't see a problem below I asked him to get out and I climbed under the dash to see the other end of the cable expecting to see the same bushing at the other end gone. Nope, everything looked good. I had Mr. ***** wiggle the slop and I watched the cable. I asked him to wiggle it more and he said "I am" and yet the lever coming out of the steering column wasn't moving. I then grabbed the shifter with my hand and moved it enough to make the cable move and *** did it take a lot of shifter movement to get the cable to move. 
  
  I explained that the column decided to fail and that's where the problem was. He said "I don't want to fight but it wasn't that way before.". I reminded him that it wasn't that way when he left the shop either because it started each time he'd turn the key as well as the 20 times I started it personally. He was sad and so was I because all I wanted to do was make him happy. I asked him if he wanted me to take it back to the shop and see if I could find someone to fix the column (we don't do work inside the cab) because if it went this bad this quick I don't want him to get stuck somewhere. He said no that he was going to take it home and park it. I tried to explain it could have been so much worse because he was at a busy restaurant and if someone was walking behind his truck they could have been killed. I said Thank God no one was injured to which he said God wasn't there. I was feeling terrible for **** because I cared enough for him that I didn't charge him anything for the work I performed. My shop would have charge over $2000 for that same work in the normal course of business but again, my only goal was that he was happy when he left. I was feeling so bad that after he said his insurance was going to go up I said let's talk in the morning and I was going to see how I could help. Shortly after he left to go home, the phone calls to the shop started and horrible, ugly things were said on his part. Then the texting threats and pictures of online complaints with the BBB, 3 on Your Side, and the ******** General began. All of this started before I could look into anything. Things were said that caused me to contact ******** services. After explaining everything that took place, he said it might not be wise to contact him because it sounded like I could make things worse. For this reason, as of today, I still haven't contacted Mr. ***** any further. This is not what I wanted.
  
  In a perfect world, that 30 year old column would have failed while at the shop so I could have taken care of it prior to all of this occurring, but it didn't. Any other customer would have called me and said hey **** I just picked up my car and now it won't start and I would have either come out like I did to find out what was going on or towed it back to the shop to look at it. Making the mistake to bypass the neutral safety switch on the transmission by jumping the solenoid was a costly one but not something I did. I tried so hard to make sure his truck was as good as I could make it but I can't make it a new car and things go wrong with 30 year old vehicles. I hope I made it as clear as possible that I wanted nothing but the best for Mr. ***** and I wish he would have answered the phone before attempting to do the things he did, but that didn't happen and again Thank God no one including Mr. ***** was hurt because it could have been so much worse.
  
  If you have any questions please don't hesitate to call me.

  Customer response

  10/20/2024

  I have the Real correspondence from **** tomorrow owner of **** five star transmission from June all the way up to the accident and the day after. He accepted responsibilities I have every text message showing everything that he just said is pretty much a lie he can't dispute what he wrote in text there's not enough room here put all of the information copies of the text messages screenshots. He did not pick up my truck from the bumper place because he was sick instead he had his Mechanic **** picking up. And I have that in a text message the $2,000 that he gave me prior incident from last year that was for me to remove the Better Business bureau complaint not for anything else he paid me to remove and he even told me what to write. I've kept every single message and I also have audio recordings of the conversations between the two of us that he'd never knew that I took. I don't care if it's legal to record someone in ******* that's for my own personal protection. Plus I have witnesses my wife and her mother-in-law and the person whose vehicle I hit the truck was in park so I jump started because it was in park and it took off backwards because the linkage was in **************** and it wasn't a pin on the steering column. He climbed under the vehicle took out a piece of diagnostic equipment that **** left there and was upset that it was still plugged into the transmission which probably caused all the problems. I even have that in text message and then he sent me a hard luck story the next day saying ****** wife found out that she had cancer and he can't talk to **** because he's in a bad place. That hat and I told him friendship doesn't have a place in business and he says he would remember that very sternly. None of this has taken place the way he said he's just making it up. All my text messages and all of his texts 

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩