Mechanic Keeping My Truck

My transmission went out on my 2001 Tahoe. The shop I took it to replaced it immediately, yet it took me about 6 weeks to pay him in full. I got it back one month ago today, and the transmission went out again! He keeps telling me it will be fixed tomorrow–no he’s saying there is an electrical problem. What gives? What can I do? I need my truck back! Please help!

You’re kind of stuck. He probably isn’t too eager to work on it since it took so long to pay him but you really need to give him the reasonable opportunity to fix it first. Then you have the option of taking it somewhere else to fix which will cost you money again. Probably going to have to pay either way though. If it is faulty workmanship, then you can try and recover the damages from him either directly or through small claims court but you absolutely have to give the guy the chance to fix it.

Now I decided to save $200 by having a guy do a trans overhaul on my Riviera. He got it apart and there it sat in pieces. I would drive over there about every other day and had an excuse each time. I finally got it back after 7 weeks with a supposedly 2 year warranty. Cost me another $400 to have another shop fix the 4th gear switch and then the trans went out in a year. I just took a deep breath and took it to a third shop that had done great work before. Cost me another $1500 and lesson learned.

I think one month is reasonable to fix it, and I do understand his lack of eagerness, yet the transmission was not fixed! Here’s what I’ve done: I sent another mechanic over there from a shop down the street to check and see what’s going on. When I told him about this (he’s a friend of mine) he laughed at the “electrical problem”.

What is the lesson you learned?

By the way, I only had the vehicle for 24 hours before the transmission went out.

My lesson was not to cheap out. I should have just gone to the trusted shop in the first place for an extra couple hundred dollars and saved myself 6 weeks time and an extra $1500 a year later. If the guys name is Rollie, run, and get it towed out of there.

First question. Was the transmission that was installed a rebuilt/remanufactured or used?

Second question. You’re on good enough terms to where a mechanic from another shop will go over there to investigate so that begs the question of why didn’t you send the work to your friend in the first place?

Name of shop?