Shop ruined my car, what should I do?
 

Alright so its my first real post and RS, I need your help.

I've got a 1994 Euro-Spec Mercedes SL500, lowered and with every AMG option available in 95 in Germany.

At 118,000 KM's I noticed the reverse gear started having a delay in the transmission when it was engaged, however all 4 forward gears were perfect. I knew going to Mercedes would have cost me several thousands to correct this problem. I went to a Mr. Transmission shop seeing it was a chain and probably might know what they are doing, a friend of mine had taken his X5 for a rebuild and it was perfect so I thought why not.

I went to the Mr.Tranny shop and they told me a 2,500 dollar rebuild should be undergone instead of just repairing the reverse gear. So I did, and 3 weeks later my car was returned to me with a 12 month/20000km warranty

Within 2 weeks, the car started to slip in all gears and lost alot of power, I went back and again was without a car for 2 and 1/2 weeks and the transmission was rebuilt once again.

4 months later, on the way to school, I noticed the car slipped in a shift which was strange as it had been perfect till then. I pulled over, put the car into park and I heard a squeeling noise and a thud. Shut the car off and had it taken back, and again at 121,000km it was rebuilt once again.

Once again, 1:45am I'm driving home 8 months later, with 129,000km's, car slips in all gears again, squeeling noise and thuds from the transmission. Its been 3 weeks the car has been sitting in the shop.

My warranty is about to end and the car is still without a proper functioning box. The transmission shop I dont really think cares if the car is repaired at this point as long as it never comes back, when I returned for the 4th rebuild, I was told they were hoping I had sold the car off.

I dont drive like an idiot as I have to pay for my gas and tires, and going to school and doing all this just is very hard for me..

Also not forgetting to mention, my car was damaged on two occasions where a window was left open and alot of water got into the seats, and that the car was parked on a curb and the front bumper was damaged.

What do I do? My transmission warranty is about to end and its obvious that the box is not going to be repaired and will go in several months. Selling the car isn't a viable option considering how much I've done to it, only this transmission is driving me insane...Do I go to court, Do I just throw another 2,500 at it??

HELP!

take it to another shop man

it if messed up 3 times from Mr. Transmission they obviously arent doing it right

and court and legal fees are probably gonna be more than 2500 so keep that in mind unless you got hookups with a lawyer

should of switched shops after the 1st mess up IMO.

If you are not getting anywhere with the staff, and they refuse to help you, I would be contacting the head office to see what they can do.

Phone them, tough guy typing is lame, call them and be up and be straight up about the issue.

Don’t be confrontational, but let them know that the service you are receiving is terrible, the constant rebuilds are having an effect on your ability to get to and from work, and you had certainly expected more from a Canadian Chain.

Then ask them what the head office can do to rectify the problem.

Have all your information BEFORE you call. Get your drop off and pick up dates, get any invoices together than may have any information, and the names and the location you dealt with!

http://www.mistertransmission.com/contact-head-office

You try a different Mr Transmission to start. The one you're going to is either not giving you a straight answer, or just doing a losy job...

OR have you googled if there are any known problems with these transmissions? ie even a rebuild isn't going to fix it, that there will be more and more failures?

My buddy had a Lexus RX that experienced transmission problems. The best advice he got was to abandon the car, the transmission sucked and even a rebuilt tranny will eventually fail again.

All excellent idea so far thank you!

The 722.3 Transmission in my car does have a known fault with reverse, which can occur on some cars, but now after tons of research which I should have done before, that only goes bad after 120,000kms of use.

The gearbox in my car is one of the older "bulletproof" hydraulic systems and should be expected to last for 350,000-500,000 on one service life.

If the box fails again and I will still be in warranty I'll try another shop but I will be contacting head office

I wouldn't take a 17 year old Mercedes to Mr. Transmission period

They probably have zero training in high end German cars -- just asking for problems.

:stfu: :failed:

In BC, any claim less than $25,000 automatically goes to Small Claims Court where legal representation is not required. The process is extremely straight forward and easy to do if it gets to that.

With that said, resolution is still a lot less painful so if you can talk with them and they'll do something for you, it makes a lot of sense. The option of going to a different Mr. Transmission is a good one as well.

Mark

write a letter to Mr. Tranny head office. Someone will contact you and offer they fix their car at a "Corp-owned" location. There is one in burnaby. It will be done for free and you will receive personalized since the order is coming from uptop. If i find the person i wrote to i'll pm you.

woops learn new things everyday

Lesson here? Dont buy Euro when your trying to pose and front. Simply put unless you have rich parents or sell drugs you can't afford it.

What would be the point of warranty then?

wouldnt the warranty be reset from the time of each rebuild? I dunno how Mr Tranny works and I know its a PITA but when Ive had furniture repaired or replaced on warranty its always restarted.

Id totally take ur car to another Mr Trans. and see if they are more competent.

How much is a used tranny for one of those?

definitely, contact the head office and voice your concern over this.

12 month/20k km warranty should apply to each rebuild, since it keeps failing you should be within the warranty period of each subsequent visit.

you'd think there would be a roller over warranty :fullofwin:

try to sue them or complain to them and get your money back and just go to another shop. But. its super rare they will give the money back. Might as well go to another shop.

Thats what I said to myself before they ASSURED me that they have rebuilt many Mercedes boxes and that mine should be no harder regardless of being a Euro-Spec

I'm pretty sure this will be the only real option once I contact head office, but please if you find the number I will be quite thankful!

It was either a "strong" european car according to the parents or no car at all. And older German cars have always been in my family so it was a given. Daddy isn't going to buy me a new SL63 for my first car....

Although some 17 year old girl down the street from me got a new SL65(maybe a 63?) for getting her N...

Used trannys go for from 500-2000, its a consideration I guess? Mercedes for a refurb box with install wants $10,958.00 excluding taxes and transmission fluid (like really, a free fluid fillup would be nice after 13K...)

No. Electronics are the same, once repaired the warranty does not reset. In fact, I don't know anything where the warranty resets - good to know it does for furniture.

I actually laughed when I read your post. :fullofwin::whistle::hotbaby:

Tell them not to rebuild it and to buy you a used one from a wrecker or something.

$40k up front.

More on delivery, whenever that is.

i see what you did there :fullofwin:

i would have only trust mr. transmission with domestic cars, but even that they cant handle.

I had my dad's ford explorer transmission rebuilt there. later on it needed a new valve body, then it was leaking from the drain plug because they didnt put a crush washer. The transmission seems fine, but sometimes i just feel like going to fail again because of shotty workmanship.

for euro cars... i only trust stan's transmssions on kingsway. they specialize in euro. I took my sisters audi there for a full presurized transmission flush and the service was great, they provided all technical details, and the job was done well.