AAMCO is unwilling to honor lifetime warranty.
I am still stranded in Los Angeles, CA with my transmission not being repaired due to AAMCO franchisee being unwilling to pay for more repairs. The current owner of Franchise in Roseville says it is costing him too much money and he does not feel it is fair for him to continue to honor the warranty. He has stated that it was crazy for the previous owner to have issued a lifetime warranty on a vehicle with front wheel drive as the transmissions are known not to last. He stated he would never issue a lifetime warranty on these vehicles and is unhappy to be stuck with decissions that the previous owner had made.
Note AAMCO's national policy is to still issue lifetime warranty for these vehicles.
See below.
From:
To: mpekula@Americandriveline.com
Subject: RE: Contact us - Regarding AAMCO Services
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:28:15 -0600
Good Evening Mr. Pekula,
I am sorry for your statement. I did not contract any business with Mr. Johnson. I entered into a contract with AAMCO corp. The local franchise that represented AAMCO was owned by Kim Kichang, State of California - Department of Consumers Affairs - Bureau of Automotive Repair - license #219399. Mr. Kichang is no longer in business. His license was cancelled December 31, 2004.
Mr. Johnson your current franchisee located in Roseville CA license #241242 was not in business at the time I entered into an agreement with AAMCO.
AAMCO is a corporation that claims to stand by their customers even though your actions do not imply that is true, "Every AAMCO center is ready, willing and able to honor your warranty... with no problems or delays". Able would be the key word here and this is obviously false advertisement.
Mr. Johnson has refused to further honor your AAMCO warranty pledge and is only willing to refund what he sees as being the fee for the life time warranty $610.00. This is down from the amount two days ago of ~$650.
Your Los Angeles AAMCO franchisee can do nothing since Roseville has refused to pay. "Each center stands behind your Warranty, committed to giving you prompt, courteous warranty service, should you ever need it."
Is this how AAMCO honors their pledge to customers?
I have already given you the acceptable options which you have not acted upon and you claim to be unable to honor the warranty that you still nationally advertise.
You are leaving me with few options.
Thank you,
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"When you become an AAMCO customer, you're entitled to a Warranty that
matches the quality of the service that you receive. So when it comes to Warranties... bigger isn't just better, it's the best! And nobody has more centers throughout the U.S. and Canada than AAMCO. Each center stands behind your Warranty, committed to giving you prompt, courteous warranty service, should you ever need it.
If you need service, just dial toll-free 1-888-FIND AAMCO (1-888-346-3226)
to find the AAMCO center nearest you. Every AAMCO center is ready, willing and able to honor your warranty... with no problems or delays.
Depending on your needs, AAMCO offers a variety of Coverages: •The AAMCO 90-Day Limited Warranty for Minor Services.
•The AAMCO 90-Day Limited Warranty for ElectronicComponents.
•The AAMCO 90-Day Limited Warranty for ManualTransmissions.
•The AAMCO 12-Month/12,000 Mile Limited Warranty for Automatic Transmissions.
•The AAMCO 36-Month/36,000 Mile Coverage for AutomaticTransmissions.
•The AAMCO Lifetime Coverage for Automatic Transmissions."
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Subject: RE: Contact us - Regarding AAMCO Services
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:31:52 -0400
From: mpekula@Americandriveline.com
To:
Dear Mr. : I have forwarded your request to Mr. Johnson who owns and operates the independent AAMCO franchise in Roseville, CA. Inasmuch as you contracted with his business, any offer to resolve your dispute will come from Mr. Johnson. We trust that you will receive a prompt respose from him. Mike Pekula
From:
Sent: Monday, July 18, 2011 10:38 PM
To: Pekula, Michael
Subject: Re: Contact us - Regarding AAMCO Services
Good evening Mike,
It has been 16 months since you sent me the attached email. I had to take the vehicle to Roseville from San Luis Obispo to have the repair work done. Tom “Roseville Owner” stated the transmission had to be completely rebuilt. It took about 6 weeks total for the rebuild. It did not last long.
Since then the transmission went out earlier this year (February or March 2011) (correction to statement it was April 29, 2011 and returned again end of next week - first week of May 2011)and was again rebuilt at Roseville. When I picked it up it did not make it across town from Roseville AAMCO that Friday to my office in Rancho Cordova without locking up in low gear and being tow back to AAMCO for more repairs. About another week out of service.
Well it did not last long, transmission went out again last Tuesday, July 12, 2011 on interstate 5 about 60 miles north of Los Angeles. I had it towed to my hotel in Los Angeles, Tuesday night and towed to your local AAMCO first thing Wednesday morning, July 13, 2011. I called at least twice daily asking for status reports. Today when I called your Los Angeles branch, I was told the person handling my repairs was out to lunch but would call me back later. I did not receive that call back later and called again late this afternoon. I was told that the repairs had been put on hold by the Roseville owner last Friday and that he had told them he was going to call me last Friday. He never called me.
I called Roseville this afternoon and spoke with Tom, He started out explaining that the parts are no longer available to rebuild my transmission and he would have to use used parts so he would not be able to honor the warranty. I asked what he was stating and he said he wanted to reimburse me for the warranty and not repair the transmission. I stated that if he was saying to reimburse me for the total cost I spent with him the first time I had it towed in not working. I would accept that. He said no – only the warranty of about $650. I objected. I paid the full price for having AAMCO rebuild the transmission twice in 13 months plus the lifetime warranty. I will only accept either AAMCO actually rebuilds the transmission to OEM original standards as you claim or reimburse my total expenses to AAMCO given to Roseville. I have had the car towed multiple times and have suffered the loss of use multiple times.
He than started talking about the bottom pan being scraped or impacted which it had been scraped not this visit but last visit. The Golden One Credit Union in Rancho Cordova has a step exit to the street and my car scraped the bottom a couple of time before the last time it was repaired. He started stating that that should void my warranty anyway.
The scraping did not cause the damage to the transmission. He than stated that the Napa Service Garage I used in San Luis Obispo who was doing my transmission fluid and filter services was using a cork gasket which is not the proper gasket for the transmission and that would void my warranty.
I check with Dodge Chrysler today about the availability of new OEM parts to rebuild the transmission. They are still available. Though part numbers have changed and not all the package kits are still available meaning the cost will be higher since you have to purchase several items individually but still available. They offered to rebuild my transmission.
I am giving you three options.
1. Honor your lifetime warranty and actually rebuild the transmission to OEM standards which I question has been done. Do not just repair the current item that has failed.
2. Reimburse my total cost from AAMCO for the transmission rebuild/repair and lifetime warranty upcharge.
3. Pay total charges for a remanufactured OEM transmission to be installed at a Dodge dealer garage of my choice in the Los Angeles area including towing since I have already had vehicle towed twice last week due to transmission failure.
I await a response to my request.
Thank you,
______________________________________________
From: Pekula, Michael
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 2:33 PM
To:
Subject: RE: Contact us - Regarding AAMCO Services
Dear Mr. Guidotti: Tom at the Roseville AAMCO would like to assist you with your current transmission problem. Contact Mike Pekula at 1-800-523-0401 x221 for more information or assistance or email me at this address. Thanks. Mike.
From: webmaster@aamcoupdates.com [mailto:webmaster@aamcoupdates.com]
Sent: Monday, February 08, 2010 10:47 PM
To: aacr. mail@rcn.com; fbu@pwmedia.com; cr. mail
Subject: Contact us - Regarding AAMCO Services
The Topic Area of the Message was: Services
The other Topic Area of the Message was:
The Customer comments were: Good evening, My wife's (Lori Guidotti) 1996 Dodge Stratus has been sitting at your San Luis Obispo Franchise for two weeks now awaiting life time warranty repairs. Might I mention for the fifth time. Transmission repairs have yet to begin. I am told by San Luis Obispo that Roseville will not return their calls and as yet they have been unable to get authorization from Roseville to start any repairs, and I am told by Roseville that they gave authorization a week ago. San Luis Obispo had stated to me a week ago that the fluid was black and that the transmission slips badly and will need a major rebuild. This is only seven months and a few thousand miles since I had been lead to believe by San Luis Obispo branch that they had done a major rebuild. Today I was told by the San Luis Obispo franchisee that they had only replaced the seal last time because it was all that Roseville would authorize??????? Does this mean that AAMCO sent a vehicle back out with a known transmission problem so I the customer who has already paid AAMCO two times for rebuilding a transmission could again have my wife and children stranded somewhere?? May I state that ~ 9 years ago, I had her car towed into AAMCO in San Luis Obispo, CA and asked that it be rebuilt and covered by a Life time warranty? 13 months later the transmission failed in Citrus Heights, CA. I had the vehicle towed into your Roseville, CA franchise expecting to have it repaired under warranty only to discover that your San Luis Obispo franchise had talked my wife out of the warranty as being an unnecessary cost when she went to pick it up. I paid a second time for a complete rebuild of the transmission and insured that this time a life time warranty was in place. We received 5 years of service from this rebuild without issue, except the standard transmission tune-ups or servicing. Than the transmission fails out in the middle of nowhere and I have to have AAA tow it to AAMCO in San Luis Obispo. San Luis Obispo had to get authorization from Roseville to repair the transmission and we waited paying for a rental car. Transmission is repaired and fails again about 1 year later. Transmission is again repaired at San Luis Obispo after a long wait for authorization from Roseville. Now approximately 7 months and only a few thousand miles later I am again paying for my wife's rental car for two weeks with no action being taken to professionally repair her transmission. Does AAMCO franchise corporation care about their customers? Or is your web site advertisements just propaganda to help generate revenue. I am very concerned about the quality of work being performed at the San Luis Obispo franchise and very concerned that I am being given false information by either one or the other franchisee as to why my wife's transmission sets on top of a cart under her car with no action being taken. As I stated a moment ago, I was told seven months ago by San Luis Obispo that the transmission required a major rebuild with major internal damage, now after confronting the franchisee in San Luis Obispo this morning I was told by him that they only replaced the seals because that was all that Roseville would authorize them to do seven months ago??? We will have now over the course of the five times AAMCO has rebuilt this same transmission paid more in car rental fees than the two times we have paid for the rebuilding of this transmission and there is no end in sight. Are you unable or just unwilling to stand behind your work and provide professional transmission repair service??
The Name of the customer was:
The Customer e-mail was:
The Customer phone was:
The Customer Address was: San Luis Obispo, CA 93406
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