“Sorry… It’s Out of Warranty”
ing an aftermarket transmission fluid cooler. The quote for the entire job exceeded the low range estimate only by the price of the converter, u-joints, and cooler, and it was well below the price of the reman unit.
6. The shop offered a written 12-month / 12,000 mile “local- shop-only” warranty on the basic rebuild with torque converter, but also offered a 12-month / 12,000 ATRA Golden Rule nationwide warranty if the customer approved the entire job with the u-joints and cooler.
7. The customer approved the rebuild with torque converter but declined to purchase the u-joints and cooler. He also signed a statement that he understood he was only getting the 12-month / 12,000 mile “local-shop-only” warranty, and it would only be honored at the local shop.
8. Two weeks after the overhaul was completed, the customer returned the truck for the two-week recheck and reported that, from time to time, the transmission didn’t seem to want to shift into high range unless he backed off on the accelerator. The shop was unable to duplicate the condition
32
Two weeks after the
overhaul was completed, the customer returned the truck for the two- week recheck and
reported that, from time to time, the transmission didn’t seem to want to shift into high range
unless he backed off on the accelerator.
and suggested he keep driving it and to bring it back if it continued or got worse.
9. During the ensuing months, but while still under warranty, the customer returned a couple more times complaining of the same issue. The shop never could duplicate the problem, but, just before the 12 months were about to expire, they decided to remove the pan and perform a fluid and filter change service at no charge, as a precaution. At this point the transmission only had about 9000 miles since the rebuild, and there was no evidence of anything
unusual in the pan or filter.
10. The next time the shop heard from this customer was six months later, when the customer present- ed the shop with a bill from a gen- eral repair shop in another state. While the customer was travel- ing out of state, the transmission failed. At that point it had about 12,500 miles since the rebuild and nearly 18 months of driving. The repair order indicated that the transmission had lost high and reverse, and the general repair shop replaced the transmission with a remanufactured unit.
11. The customer felt that the original problem had never been fixed and he wanted his money back for the first repair plus an additional $500 for his inconvenience of having to bring it back “several” times and eventually having it fail during an out-of-state trip.
12. The shop told the customer that the unit was out of war- ranty because he had elected the 12-month / 12,000 mile “local-shop-only” warranty. Additionally, if something had been wrong with their work, it wouldn’t have lasted 12,500 miles or 18 months. Finally, the war- ranty was only valid at the local
GEARS August 2012
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