What would you do?

kronus · Dec 18, 2006

I have a bit of a dilemma on my hands. My transmission has been dead for over a month now, and I'm leaving for college in less than two weeks. Less than a week after my tranny died, I contacted an upstanding transmission service, which will remain un-named, and sent a payment of $1,125 on Nov. 27, 2006 for a transmission exchange. The date is now the 18th of Dec. and I still have no transmission.

The first mix up was which transmission I needed, since I requested an exchange for a FM522 n/t transmission. That was said to be corrected and to be shipped to my door within a week. A week and a half, and no transmission later, I called this vendor and was told that my tranny had not been shipped due to inadequate info on the neccesary tranny. So we verified the correct bellhousing size over the phone, and I was then told that my transmission would be there within a 5 days, max. A week later I call up the vendor again, and they stated that my tranny was lost by fedex, and that they would check up on it the next day. The next day I called back and was told that they have my transmission in their hands and will ship it that day.

That was thursday of last week, and upon checking with fedex this morning, they have no information on any package coming to my residence. I have been calling non-stop for the past few hours, but the vendor will not answer the phone.

Now I am at a loss for what to do. I have no way to contact this vendor because they rarely email me back (but I still have emailed them), and they are not answering phone calls. Should I request for paypal to get my money back and get a local shop to rebuild my tranny?

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

WMD · Dec 18, 2006

I would call and say cut the b.s. or you will take legal action. If you agreed upon a price and a designated timeline and he doesn't follow the contract that's fraudulent business and you should sue in small clames for the payment and the lost tranny. :thumb:

twicks69 · Dec 18, 2006

well, you are dealing with a shop that specializes in 4G63 FWD and AWD trannies, not 1.8L non-turbo ones. They are different trannies, and TRE doesn't work on them usually. I have seen way back in the day, that they did do a couple of them, but they are not the company's bread & butter.

It sucks that you are having problems with them, it is not the first time I have heard issues with TRE.

Personally, you are better off doing a tranny exchange with a local transmission manufacurer if it is a comprable price for a 1.8L FWD tranny.

drivemusicnow · Dec 18, 2006

A) keep calling
B) They are not trying to screw you over
C) It sucks, but in the end you should have a well built transmission. If they don't have parts, or can't get parts than that would explain why they don't have it done. If they thought you were asking about a different transmission that they do have parts for, and in fact it is one that they dont' have parts for, than it is really not their fault
D) good luck.

siceclipse · Dec 18, 2006

sorry about the timing problem, but im sure you will get more than your moneys worth in the end.

If it were me (i work in sales), I would call/e-mail, BITCHING about price quotes and timing agreements and try to get something off. You can always remind them that the DSM community DOES read the good guy/ Bad guy forum.

King_Milo · Dec 18, 2006

I gotta agree with WMD, do what you can to settle it out of court, I dont believe they would purposly try to screw you over but if they wont fix the problem then definatly take em to small claims court to get it settled there, do you have any reciepts showing where you paid for it??

Module Unknown · Dec 18, 2006

I replied to this over on dsmtalk and just noticed it here. You didn't mention TRE over there, but from your description I guessed that was who you were dealing with. Why? Because everything you've gone through is the EXACT same thing that I went through with TRE.

I placed my order over the phone; bought a brand new transmission and a couple of other things. I was told that everything was in stock, we discussed a time frame, and I sent payment. That timeframe was two weeks (shouldn't have been a big deal since everything was supposedly in stock). During the two months I waited, numerous excuses were given as to why I never got replies to emails and phone calls, why fedex never had any shipping info. I was told that my transmission was shipped to another address by mistake and then returned to TRE (that excuse was "copy and paste error"). Once it supposedly returned to the shop it still didn't go out to me. It took two more weeks of me calling, emailing, checking in with fedex, etc. before it actually went out. During a couple of my phone calls I even had Jon swearing at me over the phone! What, he didn't think I would be a little irate after spending thousands of dollars and not getting anything in return (yet I was never unprofessional)? At the end of it, I doubted almost all of the excuses I heard. I'd sooner guess that there was never any work done for me within the first month and a half and that my transmission was quickly thrown together and shipped to me to get me to shut up. When it got here and I put it on the car it immediately started leaking from the input shaft seal. Good times.

In one conversation I was also promised a refund for shipping because of all the trouble I had gone through and put up with. ...that refund was never honored.

This is why I recommend Shep to anyone who asks me. Unfortunately I'm not "allowed" to post the information or at least name the shop I had troubles with so I usually can't help direct other away from TRE. But I don't really care any more. I continually hear more and more stories like this.

kronus · Dec 18, 2006

Module Unknown said:
I replied to this over on dsmtalk and just noticed it here. You didn't mention TRE over there, but from your description I guessed that was who you were dealing with. Why? Because everything you've gone through is the EXACT same thing that I went through with TRE.

I placed my order over the phone; bought a brand new transmission and a couple of other things. I was told that everything was in stock, we discussed a time frame, and I sent payment. That timeframe was two weeks (shouldn't have been a big deal since everything was supposedly in stock). During the two months I waited, numerous excuses were given as to why I never got replies to emails and phone calls, why fedex never had any shipping info. I was told that my transmission was shipped to another address by mistake and then returned to TRE (that excuse was "copy and paste error"). Once it supposedly returned to the shop it still didn't go out to me. It took two more weeks of me calling, emailing, checking in with fedex, etc. before it actually went out. During a couple of my phone calls I even had Jon swearing at me over the phone! What, he didn't think I would be a little irate after spending thousands of dollars and not getting anything in return (yet I was never unprofessional)? At the end of it, I doubted almost all of the excuses I heard. I'd sooner guess that there was never any work done for me within the first month and a half and that my transmission was quickly thrown together and shipped to me to get me to shut up. When it got here and I put it on the car it immediately started leaking from the input shaft seal. Good times.

In one conversation I was also promised a refund for shipping because of all the trouble I had gone through and put up with. ...that refund was never honored.

This is why I recommend Shep to anyone who asks me. Unfortunately I'm not "allowed" to post the information or at least name the shop I had troubles with so I usually can't help direct other away from TRE. But I don't really care any more. I continually hear more and more stories like this.

Hmmm. Well I stayed away from naming shops because I wanted to keep it at least somewhat objective. It worked out pretty well over at talk, but not so much here.

The last thing I want is this thread to get closed by a mod, but I have a feeling it will since a shop has been named. But I will agree with you, it is rediculous. And while I do believe the information I've been given, I will be hard pressed to do business with this shop again.

drivemusicnow · Dec 18, 2006

... I knew exactly what shop you were talking about just by reading what had happened, and I haven't dealt with either of the major trans rebuild shops. Guess that tells you about how common that story is.

kronus · Dec 18, 2006

See and that's what I hate. I didn't want to add more bad reps to anyone's name. But I guess that's not my fault, huh?

The one thing that gets to me is not the fact that I've had to wait on my transmission, or hear excuses. I would've loved to hear excuses; more often. I have only 3, at the most, received emails from them since payment was made, and getting ahold of them over the phone is near impossible.

Above all I'd just like to see the cust. service improved. I mean, I know they could be crazy swamped. Word of mouth can make small businesses flourish; while the converse states that it can also make flourishing businesses dissappear.

GVR4592 · Dec 18, 2006

TRE will probably never go out of business from a lack of customer service, but they will definitely lose a lot of business because of it. The only thing you can do is wait for it, and when everything is done, you can start a thread on www.vendors-reviewed.com to let people know about your experience.

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What would you do?

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