On 2/22/08, I had the transmission rebuilt in my 1998 Ford Windstar at AAMCO of Nashville, TN. On 5/5/08, I also purchased an extended 3 year, 36000 mile warranty. On 7/21/08, I moved to Dillsburg, PA. Around the end of September 2008, I noticed the transmission was leaking fluid, so, I brought it to AAMCO of Camp Hill on 9/29/08. I had stated that the transmission was leaking, and there was also a clunking noise on occasion, coming from the front suspension, when I would drive the vehicle. On 10/2/08, I received a call from Arthur, the manager, stating that the leak was a faulty front transmission seal and the transmission had to be removed to perform this repair. He also stated that the clunking noise was coming from worn drive axles and sway bar links. I explained that drive axles had been replaced previously some 25, 000 miles ago and couldn't understand how they were faulty again? Arthur assured me that the aforementioned items were the cause of the clunking noise, so I authorized him to replace them. He also said there would be no labor charge to install the new drive axles, since they had to be removed in order to remove the transmission. What he didn't tell me was that when he purchased the parts from Advance Auto, he marked the price of them up 300% when he sold them to me. I personally went to Advance Auto to confirm this. I picked the vehicle up on 10/6/08 and paid $530.79 in cash for the items not covered under AAMCO's warranty. I contacted AAMCO of Camp Hill a few days later and told them that I still heard the exact same clunking noise from the front suspension, so obviously the axles and sway bar links were not the cause of the noise. I asked for a full refund, but was refused and was told to bring the vehicle back in to be further looked at on 10/14/08, which I did so. The mechanic checked the front suspension again and now told me that I needed ball joints with control arms and radius arm bushings. The owner, Shawn Lilley worked out a verbal deal with me that since they made an error on their diagnosis, they would install these additional parts, if I purchased them (and I did) and there would be no additional labor charge to me.

I had also noticed that the mechanic had bent the body on the bottom of my vehicle on both sides near the front wheels when he improperly placed it on the hydraulic lift. I made an appointment to bring the vehicle back to AAMCO on 10/16/08 to have the work performed and decided that I would discuss the body damage with Shawn the owner at that time as well. On 10/16/08, at about 9:30am I received a telephone call from Arthur telling me not to bring the vehicle back in to have the additional repairs made, because he claimed he owned me nothing and had fixed the initial problems. I explained that this was untrue and that the owner, Shawn, had worked out a deal with me. He told me Shawn shouldn't have done that. After a few unpleasant conversations with Arthur during the course of that day, he said he would get back to me and discuss it again with Shawn. On 10/17/08 Arthur called me again and told me that he now felt he owed me something and would call me back later that day. He never did.

On 10/19/08, I took my vehicle to Firestone in Mechanicsburg and they did a thorough inspection of the vehicle and charged me $21.19. I was told that besides the additional parts that were needed, it also needs a right front strut bearing, which is what is causing the clunking noise and that the exhaust gasket behind the catalytic converter is leaking, that Arthur told me he had also fixed as a favor. I personally also checked the old drive axles returned to me that were supposedly faulty and found absolutely nothing wrong with them. On 10/20/08, I obtained a body shop repair estimate from Dellinger's Auto Body in Mechanicsburg for the damage done by AAMCO to the underside of my vehicle and the cost to repair the damage is $710.87 total.

I then dropped a copy of the Firestone diagnosis, body shop estimate and pictures of the body damage off to AAMCO of Camp Hill. The owner, Shawn, hid in the back and left me to deal with his mechanic, who had caused the body damage and outright denied it, even though I witnessed him cause it personally and told him so. I then purchased the additional parts needed to correctly repair the vehicle and it will be repaired at GOODYEAR of Camp Hill on 10/23/08.

We took our car in because it wasn’t shifting correctly. At first we were assured it could be fixed, and were charged $1500. Two days later we were informed that the problem they “repaired” wasn’t the problem, and it would cost an additional $900 to “fix” it this time. We refused to pay this additional cost. When we asked them to put our car back as it was and refund our money they refused. Long story short, it took them 24 days to reset our computer (resetting a computer takes approx. 1 hour). Our car went to 3 different locations in AZ (9723 E Southern Ave., 5026 E Main, and 2341 S Val Vista). Every day we had to call and speak to managers. In the end, though we DID pay for many frivolous repairs, I will admit, it seemed to be shifting correctly. The HUGE crack in our windshield when we got it back though was not Aamco’s problem, since we couldn’t PROVE it wasn’t there when we brought the car in. What a nightmare!

I called Aamco corporate to ask why my lifetime warranty was not being offered to me and I even gave them my contract number. They say that the Santa Monica store said they never saw me so I was obviously a liar and the contract number is a bunch of bull. I am being held responsible for the complete ignorance and incompetence of Aamco who do not have a clue how to do business nor can any of the five branches keep customer records. I can not believe that all the Aamco's I have taken my van to are that stupid! They are just a part of the obvious fraud scam Aamco runs on people. Avoid Aamco at all cost. As stated above with the contract number and invoices showing I have been there they deny I have ever been there. Fraudulent businesses like Aamco need to be put out of business now!