Complaint Review: AAMCO Transmission / American Driveline CEO President Jim Gregory - Horsham PA

I am the kind of customer that any well established and decent business loves to have. Do me right, and I am yours for life. AAMCO in Auburn, WA was right down the street from my office in Auburn, WA. As such, I would take my vehicles there for any and all work I needed done.

I own 3 cars myself, there are a total of 7 in my family. I had 8 employees that all took their cars to them, my clients which number in the 2000's were at one time or another told about them as I wholeheartedly believe in "word of mouth" I do not believe in wasting $$$ on advertising, when I can either tell people about good companies or I can hear of them from them also.

I had literally spent thousands of dollars on things from tune ups, to tires, shocks, oil changes, etc... So when my 1996 GMC K1500 needed a transmission, I didn't think twice about having AAMCO replace it. Now, I had built a relationship with the then manager of the shop and after a discussion about price, time, warranty, yes waranty, I decided to spend the just under $4000.00 to have a rebuilt trans.

installed on my truck. Cool. HE told me it would take about 4-5 days, and there would be a lifetime parts and labor warranty along with it. How can one go wrong with a lifetime warranty?

Now, I'm going to try and give you the short version here. A week later, I get a call and I am told by the manager that their supplier had sent the wrong trans and they needed to re order it. Oh, OK.. Thankfully I have several other vehicles I can drive, so no real big deal. Meantime, my employees are all taking their cars to them, my friends and even some of my clients would use them all with no complaints.

Another week passes by and I go to pick up my truck. All seems well and I pay the remaining $2500.00. My fault, and as such I will NEVER trust any automotive shop without reading the receipt and making sure the warranty is what I was told it would be and that I got what I paid for.

A few months go by and I have a family Emergency in Vacaville, CA. I drive my truck down there. Once I get there, my transmission starts slipping and won't go into 1st gear. I called the AAMCO location where I had always gone and where I had replace my transmission to let them know what was going on and for them to call their shop down here to let them know I needed help.

Well, turns out the Manager is no longer there as he was fired for doing things he should not have been doing. The new manager looks up my receipt and tells me I only have a year warranty. Well fortunately it was still well within the fist year and so I was directed to a location in Fairfield, CA. Come to find out, each location is owned by a franchise and they are in no way linked. Fortunately with some help from their corporate HQ my truck was covered. I took it to the shop and was told it might take about a week.

A week later, I am called and told my truck is ready. So, I go to pick it up nd all seems well. Within 30 days and a few hundred miles, i must return to WA, at which time I put the truck in storage. 

Three years later, I come back to CA and after a few weeks i pull out my truck. A few hundred miles later and the Check engine light comes on. The transmission is shifting really hard, almost like there was a shift kit installed. I have an OBD II Trouble Code Reader and there is 3 seperate codes all of which have to do with, yup, the transmission. I don't even have 900 miles on the second transmission.

I immediately called the shop in Fairfield and get the manager. Now, apparently their managers are not technicians and have no clue as to what the codes mean, how to identify issues and only really do the paperwork. Anyway, this guy tells me that my warranty is up and it's my responsibility for all out of pocket expenses.

I about blew it, but kept my composure... I called their Corp. HQ and spoke to a woman by the name of Melanie Brighton... She was great. Very appologetic and sorry for my experience and told me that because each location is a franchise, it's ultimately up to them as to how it might be handled... Keeping my fingers crossed and not wanting to alienate her quite yet, I played along.

SHe asked me to email the paperwork I had. Fortunately I had kept it all and then fax'd it to her. She told me that she would call the shop and do what she could and then get back to me next week. It was late friday afternoon and so I was fine with that. Monday, Tuesday, Weds, Thurs then Friday comes and goes... No word from Melanie... I waited until that following Friday and called her. No answer.

I emailed her, no response! Several weeks have now passed and Ms. Melanie obviously couldn't bring herself to keep her word, act like a professional or even act like she cared in the least. As such, I even emailed the top 4 Officers of the Corp. hoping that maybe just one of them might call to smooth things over.

Now, I had owned a collection agency for 15 years. At which time I spent not one dollar on advertising and relied on "Word of mouth to turn a small mom and pop agency with less than $50,000.00 a year in gross annual revenue into a major corporation with Millions of Dollars in Gross Annual Revenue in matter of 7 years.

I certainly did not do this by telling people I would do something and then forget about them as if they never existed! Frankly, I find that to be the epitome of unprofessionalism and had Ms. Melanie worked for me, she would have been job seeking shortly after my finding out she had treated anyone the way she had treated me! God forbid she use myself or anyone in my company as a reference! 

So, what I've come to learn after this chicken s**t way of running their business is that I am far from one of a few customers AAMCO has screwed! Seems this is common practice and they have been revelling in the hard earned money people like me and you have been giving these clowns to keep their doors open. Frankly, I feel guilty for allowing others to trust in AAMCO before I had a chance to tell my story!

Fact is, that these companies that rip people off are allowed to continue their low life behavior becasue people that get taken don't bother to pass along the word so that they are no longer able to continue their activities! It's imperative for us to not only pass along the information to our brother and sister consumers but to refrain from using them so that they are able to continue ripping us off!

I did very well with my company, but I'll be damned if I did well enough that I am willing to hand AAMCO and all the other RIP OFF companies any more of my hard earned money! I'd like to think you are fed up and sick of it also! We owe it to ourselves and to those out there who have not yet been taken by these scumbags an opportunity to hear our stories so that they may make up their own minds as to whether or not they want to take the chance!

So, I paid $4000.00 for a transmission from AAMCO. In less than 500 miles it went out to the point that it needed to be completely replaced. In less than 900 miles after the first had been replaced, the second transmission goes out. AAMCO has refused to take any level of responsibility for thier products or even try to make it right.

Hell, they couldn't even be bothered by calling to tell me to F Off! Nah, they took the Chicken S**t way out and left me hanging! I swore to them that I would use my last breath to make sure everyone I knew, heard about how they treated me.... Now, I no longer own the agency, however, I am very close friends with the new owner and the employees.

We used to speak to 68,000 people a month and to spread the word of mouth as to the way AAMCO does business would serve no other purpose than to help educate the consumers that might at one point need an auto repair shop stay the hell away from AAMCO!

They screwed me, it's only fair I do my part to reciprocate the deed! Even if I am only responsible for helping one potential customer to go somewhere else, I'd be happy! Spread the word, AAMCO are a bunch of thieves and will only screw you one way or another if you use them... Even though they are independantly owned, they are overseen by their parent company "American Driveline Corp." We need to make sure these guys never get the chance to screw anyone else, ever again. Spread the word, "AAMCO, you messed with the wrong people"

Thank you for your support!