Complaint Review: Cottman Transmission - Omaha Nebraska

Cottmans don't repair diff's or final drives,it's all in there warranty,sweet deal for them because you won't here about this is until you pick your car up even though all these are self contained in one case,as with the front wheel drive 604 or the ever diff's that blow up in the gm-4t60e's,a 604 transmission,has a aluminum input drum that would blow up before a diff, why don't you tell people the truth, you don't warranty final drives or diff's, but you will pay the same price everyone else pays for warrantys, the consistant abuse by some crazy driver, is bull crap and i also heard your boss is selling his shop is this true? 3-diff's replaced??? as a former mechanic i would have bought a core and started again,this is about the worst rebuttel,by a cottman i have ever heard,you should go back to selling shoes at least you can't go too wrong !

Here is the link to it if you want to check it out. http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff134588.htm Cottman's will lie though their teeth to get away with these things. It is pretty interesting that we both had problems with Cottmans in the Omaha area it tells you what kind of Company it is.

First I would like to identify myself. My name is Jason Martin. I am the General Manager for Smith and Smith INC. This the company that owns the above Cottman Transmission in question. I oversee all day to day operations for both Cottman Transmission stores that Smith and Smith INC owns. I have the following insight to which I feel the readers of this site deserve and are obligated to have. Gary has left the following VERY important details out of his "report". 1.) Three differentials were installed in this vehicle from the first authorized repairs. This is at a cost of approx. $250 per differential. 2.) For a young man, who in his fathers words paraphrasing, IE: My son is a fulltime student and a fulltime worker who had to pay for the repairs out of his own pocket, his son has put over 4,000 miles on his vehicle in 2 months. Now I dont know about you but unless I live in Lincoln and work and go to school in Omaha it is unconceivable to me how a young man can just go to school and work and still manage to rack up 4,000 miles in 2 months. An Omaha to Lincoln round trip is an average of 120 miles. 3.) Gary says that "From the inception, the repair had problems. Initially, the vehicle leaked and we were requested to bring the vehicle back." Gary omits that his son was told that when the original repairs of the transmission were being done he could either A) Pay for a case for his transmission becuase there was a crack in the differential housing that houses the differential or B) We could get a welder to weld the crack. Now ofcourse the difference in the two has everything to do with money. A = $400 and B = $50. Now for a young man in a position such as his it was easy to understand why he chose to do B. His vehicle leaked becuase the weld that his son requested did not hold. Now not only did we AGAIN go through his transmission but it just so happened that we felt for the young man and we found a case locally that we were charged only $50 dollars for the case. His son was charged ZERO!! Gary says that the vehicle was looked at a third time for a leaking problem. The leak that he is talking about was a leak from the dipstick tube. It was obvious that the tech that worked on his vehicle did not properly tighten it down. To be noted the vehicle was approx 1/2 quart low in fluid. It was not a severe leak but it was noticable and Gary's son was congradulated for seeing it and getting it in in a timely manner. 4.) Gary states "In the fall 2003, the leaking started again. Following a couple more trips back to Cottman, we were informed that the transmission would need major work." The first trip in the fall of 2003 Gary's son stopped by with no apointment or any phone call. An effort was made to look at his vehicle in a timely manner even without the above. It was determined that his son had a pan gasket leak and that they would quickly take care of the problem. Again this was done free of charge although a pan gasket only has a 90 day warranty. The second trip Gary's son did call and make an appointment. Now to his credit he did have to wait an unnormal amount of time for us to look at his transmission. This was an extremly busy time of the year for us. Every effort was made to ballance day to day operations with his immediate needs. 5.) On this second trip the vehicle was determined to have again broke the differential pin and again cracked the case. Now the odds that a pin was bad on a brand new differential are very slim. The manager at the store in question noticed that there was some damage done to the vehicle also at this time. The manager was told that this was there since its first arrival at his location. Then manager questioned this due to the distiction of rusted old scrapes and new unrusted scrapes. The manager did not want to warranty the vehicle based on this information as it was his opinion there was an abuse factor. I was called and asked to view the details and make a decision as to what to do. I inturn called a couple of local "friends" in the business to help guide me in my decision. I ultimately decided to cover the repair becuase I wanted to keep a good name and possibly gain this customers respect. When the overhaul was completed it was observed that the damage that was done to the vehicle was not only consistent with what was wrong with it in the initial repair but that it was also consistent with someone who liked to spin the tires or had an uncanny ability to get "stuck" and spin the tires to get free. It was suggested to Gary's son that due to this "bad luck", becuase he swore that he was not a "tire spinner", maybe he should find a different vehicle. It was not intended to suggest any defects or "used parts" as Gary suggest. It was merely a suggestion based on our experiences and with what Gary's son was experiencing with the vehicle. 6.) Gary states "In early April 2004, my son was driving on Interstate 80 traveling east. When approaching his exit, the vehicle began making terrible noises. In looking in his rear-view mirror, substantial smoke was visible. He pulled to the side of the road and noted a stream of transmission fluid and the transmission would not even engage into park. Cottman was again contacted and towed the vehicle." First of all I would like to point out the the sudden terrible noise that his son heard was the differential coming apart. This simply does not happen, atleast not the sudden part. An A604 transmission with an upgraded pin does not all of a sudden break off cuasing the differential pin and a spider gear to tear out of the carrier and thru the differential housing. With the rest of the differential welded together. The truth of the matter is that this noise was happening for some time. More than likely with the extent of the groves that the new "upgraded hardened" pin caused in the differential carrier it had been doing it for most of the winter. The stream of fluid that was seen was the result of the pin and spider gear breaking thru the case. 7.) Lastly, Gary is a dedicated Father. It is clear to me that Gary loves his son and would do anything to help his son out. His son is actually an "adult". I believe that it is time that Gary allows his son to live with his "adult" decisions. It is clear to me without a doubt that Gary's son is either a "tire spinner" or worse he does not have the common sense that when a vehicle is stuck in snow not to rock it to get it unstuck. Either way this is abuse and Gary cannot expect a business to stand behind an abused vehicle. Gary is encouraged to take his claim to small claims court. Also Gary has been contacted everytime he has called from my company. He may not have liked what he was told but he was called back.