[Talk Host]

We have all been in a situation where we were either really ripped off, or almost ripped off.

The one that comes to my mind always was a long time ago in Monaca, Pennsylvania. I was a young guy driving a 1964 Dodge Polara. There was a problem with the transmission. (I think it was leaking fluid, or at least was always low on fluid.) Anyway, I took it an Aamco transmission shop where the guy pulled out the transmission fluid dip stick and sniffed it. He said, "you need to have this transmission completely rebuilt." I foget the price, but it was hundreds more than I could afford.

I was rooming at the home of an elderly lady whose son was a city cop. He took me to a mechanic friend of his who had a repair shop in a back alley. The guy got on a creeper and went under the car. He came out with a gasket between his fingers. He said, "your backup light switch gasket is leaking. It's gonna cost 25 cents to replace it."

[sschuler1]

This happened to my next door neighbor....There was a local oil change place that had a coupon for an oil change out in the mail. She took her car in for an oil change, then the next day she took her husband's car in, and the day after that she took her son's car in for an oil change. Each time they told her that the belts in the car were getting old and did she want them to change them for her because they were having a special on replacing belts also. She said no, just the oil change today. A week later...the belts on all three cars broke. They had cut the main belts on all of the cars.

Where the gas station attendant said that my tires looked like they were out of alignment. They took them off and did whatever they said was necessary. I am not much into cars so took him at his word.

I had a lot of trouble driving to Denver from Salt Lake City especially the last 50 miles into Denver. When I finally pulled the car into a station outside of Denver they told me that the rod or rods had been in backwards which had also ruined my two front tires.

I got the impression that nothing had been wrong when I pulled into the Salt Lake City gas station after I explained my experiences on the road from Reno to Denver to the mechanic who fixed the car after my very anxious drive. He seemed to think I was lucky to have even driven it that far.

This was when I was just started at library school at Denver University for my Masters around May 1983. Anyway, my Dad took over the fury that the mechanic in Denver had expressed and eventually the station in Salt Lake City went under for this kind of fraud.

[texasfal]

See my post re The Battery Doctors.

[Hawkwind]

[QUOTE=Talk Host;204067] Anyway, I took it an Aamco transmission shop where the guy pulled out the transmission fluid dip stick and sniffed it. He said, "you need to have this transmission completely rebuilt." I forget the price, but it was hundreds more than I could afford.

QUOTE]

Aamco is noted for that. Years ago my sister had a car that was not shifting from first to second. She just happened to be near an Aamco shop so she pulled in. They also said that the transmission needed to be completely rebuilt and they could do it right then. She did not have the cash for the repair and no one had Master Card or Visa back then.

She slowly drove the car home and I took a look at it. There was a small rubber vacuum line that went from the trans to a steel line that went to the intake manifold. The engine heat caused the rubber to become hard and brittle.

I went to the garage and found a similar size hose that was left over from another job and I cut a 4" piece to match the original. Problem solves and a lot of money saved.

[cybrgeezer]

I've never had any work done by Aamco but I did have an unusual experience with one shop.

I had been having some trouble in my automatic transmission shifting from first to second. I had the car in to my regular mechanic for other work and I mentioned it. He said his shop didn't do transmissions, but the Aamco shop was just two blocks away.

So I took the car over there, explained my problem and let the manager there drive it. He came back in about 15 minutes, told me he didn't find anything wrong and wouldn't do any work on the car. He simply advised me to watch for it to get worse.

I kept that car for about two more years, it didn't get any worse and I never had any transmission work done.

[paulandjean]

beware of this ford dealer. had problem with front end of 18 month old ford explorer. they said work not covered by warranty. thought about buying new car. heres the kicker they offered me $11000 for my car. 18 months before it cost $31000. they said nobody down here drives ford explorers.had to have ford dealership in another state verify work would be covered under warranty. took my car to keys ford in leesburg and they where great. offered 50 dollar,gift. cert. by ocala ford turn down there offer.

[gratton]

I had a friend who's son worked at a National Muffler shop, He said that whenever a person came in for an inspection or minor service that they should at least find 600-800 dollars worth of repairs or they weren't doing there job. He also said that one time a young girl came in for an inspection, one of the mechanics took out the bulbs in her tail lights and told her that she had an inspection problem, The girl said that she had to check with her parents to get the money to fix the problem, her dad came to the place and took the car and found the bulbs under the matt in the trunk,Needless to say they were reported to the local authorities who could not do anything because nobody saw them do it, so beware of these kinds of guys. His son quit working there. Has this happened to anybody out there

[BritParrothead]

When my son was at college he drove an old Honda Civic. He was always 'heavy' on the brakes! He took it for service and was told they could rebuild the whole brake system for £2,000 about $3,500. I said no way. Asked a friend who works for VW to take a look. He rebuilt the whole lot and charged my son £35 / $65
We never went back to this Honda garage!