Several days ago I finally received what looked to be a good transmission from back east. I had planned on installing the transmission myself, but thought maybe I should not try to tackle this job. it seemed bigger than I was really prepared for. I should have done it myself. Instead I had the idea of finding a local shop who might want to help me just get it installed. What transpired was beyond what I had imagined, not in a good way.
Day one, it took the 2004 Ford Freestar Van over to Paul. It was the weekend, and they had called me that Friday wanting to get it in to do the job, so I had it towed over. They quoted me $1,050 to do the labor on the job plus stuff like fluids and such. Ok. For a '04 was in pretty good shape except for the transmission which had finally died. I know it is silly, but it took a long time for me to feel anything but dislike for that van. It has served me very well, and my mom had bought it brand new. She later gave it to me, and I felt like I needed to treat it very well and take good care of it. I did, and yet besides my best driving skills, I was not able to keep the transmission from failing. That is the history of it. I did end up liking the van, and it was actually pretty clean.
Day two, Saturday 10:01am - Called to check status. 38 second call. It was just 'in the works'. I was told it might be Monday, no one knew anything for sure. Don't count on it. Ok. Fine.
Day three, four - no problem - just talked with Paul on Saturday and it wasn't really started yet, but they would call me with a status at some point.
Day four: Got the call... Tuesday 4:07pm.... 45 seconds. From the call it seems like there was no big problem. He mentioned the oil pan of the replacement transmission was looking pretty bad, with lots of metallic debris, but they would go ahead and give it a shot. For some reason they did not stop me, and I figured, sure. Let's try to get this van going. I just wanted it running again. I was trusting their expert judgement. He mentioned that he had to add tie rod ends, which were really unsafe. I agreed. The bill would be about $1,650 at this point. Ok, Ok. I will pay that if I can have my van back and running. I was fully expecting to be driving this van with new life in it the very next day...
Day five. I got 'THE' call about 9:15am / 5 minutes - and it wasn't good news. The van was not working, and was no surprise to him. He seemed really upset. Kind of like he was mad at me that it didn't work out. He seemed to be putting it on me that 'I made him do this'. That is completely not the case. Yes, I wanted it fixed, and didn't really want to do the job myself, but if he had advised me to ditch this tranny I got.... I would have.
At this point there were very few options. He was basically demanding that I pay him - 'before anything else happens'. So I went directly down there and paid the bill. Since it was not a successful repair, he kept reminding me of how bad it was that 'I made him do this' and 'it was not likely to work', and 'the oil pan had so much metal in it' and 'it's such a shame' ... bla bla bla, but he was still happy to take my money. $1500 was the 'Discounted' price for this disaster.
So now there seemed to be only one option. Donate the vehicle to the local charity which happens to be in the front of the same building. That's what I ended up doing. I also got a full refund from the guy on ebay who sold me the transmission - that was $825. At least I got some money back. I could have gotten a replacement, but it was clear after Paul told me that he would be charging me another $1500 again if I had him do it. (and it had to be a $2000 rebuilt unit) No thanks. I will just cut my losses, and turn the beast in for a good cause.
It seems to me there was one right way to do this entire thing. According to his best advice - he should have refused the work, and told me to get my money back for the 'bad' tranny I bought on ebay. (turns out some guy from NJ has more integrity than someone in my own backyard in Roseville, CA) Who would have thought that. Anyway - had he been honest with me, I would have done exactly that, and probably donated the van anyway. It was not worth fixing that that is the bottom line. Sometimes you just can't find a way financially. It made no sense for me to try to fix this beast. I would have been ok with that. What I am not ok with is being taken on a $1500 ride, just because this guy didn't want to be honest with me. I am pretty disappointed. read more
