oneal transmission in clinton,indiana.took my 61 newport in for a rebuild,he told me $1200-when i picked it up it was $2500.00.he charged me $ 500.00 for a stock convertor,140 for a netural saf.switch.i was pissed,but could do nothing.i had nothing in writing,just verbal.never again without something in writing.sorry,just venting.
got ripped off on trans rebuild
- Thread starter jdsduster
- Start date
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That sucks. Must be going around. I got ripped on a repair too.
kiss
Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear, I've been ripped off before too, it sucks. Can't trust most people these days...
gorent
Well-Known Member
It seems every time i send something out to supposed experts I get shafted anymore , so I try to do as much as possible myself . It's a different world out there !
fishy68
Tyr Fryr's Inc.
That's absurd. I've been rebuilding engines and transmissions for over 30 yrs. and there's been times I've ran into issues that caused the rebuild to go over (sometimes way over) the quote I gave them but as soon as I spot a problem that will raise the price a bunch I notify the customer. There's just no excuse for not taking 5 minutes to give someone a call
transman
Well-Known Member
I'm not going to justify the price you were charged, but parts for a 1961 Cast Iron torqueflite are probably not the easiest parts to find, mainly because not many people are making parts for 56 year old transmissions anymore. The parts catalog I have here lists no transmissions built prior to 1962. I know a company called Fatsco specialises in old transmission parts and maybe you should contact them and see what they have and what they would charge you for the parts the shop put in your transmission. For all these old girls you ain't going to find these parts at your local NAPA store.
On the converter, your converter would have been sent out to be custom rebuilt. When I worked in the industry, all older converters were custom build only, and if the hub was worn out or badly damaged, one had to be made in the machine shop. Again, not cheap and a one off build.
I also wonder if the shop did not know it was a cast iron TF, but thought rather a normal aluminum TF. Just a thought.
I just did a quick search on the W.I.T. website. They're a major transmission parts supplier and they HAVE NO parts available for a cast iron TF.
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Charrlie_S
Well-Known Member
Don't know about your state, but many states (mine, Florida) have a law that requires a work order signed by the customer. It will state that
1) you want a written estimate, and the final bill will not exceed this amount without written approval.
or
2) you do not want a written estimate, as long as the repairs do not exceed $***.xx
or
3) you do not want a written estimate.
or something similar.
I would check your local law
Regardless, I would never over run the estimate any more then a small amount, without notifying the customer. Most of the time I estimate on the high side. I would rather lose the job, then have a mad customer, when I have to go over the estimate. My customers love it when I come in under the estimate.
1) you want a written estimate, and the final bill will not exceed this amount without written approval.
or
2) you do not want a written estimate, as long as the repairs do not exceed $***.xx
or
3) you do not want a written estimate.
or something similar.
I would check your local law
Regardless, I would never over run the estimate any more then a small amount, without notifying the customer. Most of the time I estimate on the high side. I would rather lose the job, then have a mad customer, when I have to go over the estimate. My customers love it when I come in under the estimate.
I feel your pain. Trans went out when I first bought the car (go figure) so my buddy knew a guy with a transmission shop who would rebuild it for $650. I got it back and it seemed to run fine for a couple of years. When I built my stroker, I had member VOETOM go through my transmission just to be sure. He said that he'd never seen a bigger POS mish mash of parts in all his life. Nothing was in adjustment and he wondered how the car even moved?!?! Plus the other guy kept my MP 2500 stall converter and put in some cheap aftermarket stocker.
and on top of that,when i went to pick it up,it took off across the lot in nuetral,when i hit the starter,good thing no one was standing in front of me.so much for the nss,and the linkage adjustment,left it there.he called and said all is good, went to get it ,same thing,wtf?he said you have to really push hard on the neutral button,didnt have to before.driving it home it goes from second to third way to fast,almost immiatly(sp).should have taken it to a&a transmission in indianapolis.
jeffnmo
Just another Mopar Maniac
Wow, just another reason why I distrust most everyone and am learning to do everything myself. Sorry you had to go though this. People Suck!
Jeff
Jeff
Dartswinger70
Well-Known Member
There are no quality people in the business anymore, its a hard way to make a living especially flat rate. It is economy based. The aptitiude needed to really be an effective auto technician is above the current pay scale. Really good people arent doing it for peanuts. You end up in a situation where you are dealing with incompetence, and that costs $$$.
j par
Well-hung Member
If the word ever really got out on how extremely easy these are to rebuild you'd really be pissed. After rebuilding my first automatic transmission last month these stories pain me...
SLOPAR72
Well-Known Member
I am not familiar with your transmission but I just had a Cast Iron ford tranny done for a car and the case was cracked internally. It cost 500.00 for a good one and a core that could be repaired. You may have gotten caught up in a scenario similar to this. However, that's alot of coin for a basic rebuild. In the end the cost of the rebuild was almost double from the original expectations but the owner wanted it done right and here we are....
I didn't question the cost and neither did the owner of the car. My tranny guy is good guy and felt bad about the additional cost.....
I didn't question the cost and neither did the owner of the car. My tranny guy is good guy and felt bad about the additional cost.....
Charrlie_S
Well-Known Member
I don't take issue with the cost of the job. It might have been justified. My issue is the shop just went ahead with the job, without getting an OK for the additional money. What if the owner, didn't have the additional funds? He might lose the vehicle to the shop owner, by way of a mechanics lien. 10 percent over, maybe, but not double, without an OK.
SLOPAR72
Well-Known Member
No doubt. Dealing with older stuff as said is finicky at best. In the case of my current project on the lift the owner is helping out and getting his hands dirty so when something comes up he sees it first hand and we get the parts needed. Not everyone can do that....
JW
TrailBeast
AKA Mopars4us on Youtube
You should check your State laws on that because in some states not having a signed work order is grounds for refusal of payment and you still take your car.
I did exactly this for a living (in a trans shop) as the service writer in two different states, so I know the laws are different.
Examples:
In Cal. there MUST be a written estimate of work and cost, and it cannot be charged over that estimate unless at the very least you get a phone call asking for more money and the reasons why.
This phone call MUST be noted by person talked to, amount the work order has changed, why the order has changed, who was spoken to by the shop person along with the time and date written as an amended cost on the work order.
If this procedure is not followed, the owner of the vehicle is not required to pay any more than the original work order estimate.
If everything is followed correctly by the shop and the owner of the vehicle does not pay the bill, the shop can keep the vehicle until the bill is paid or they auction or sell the vehicle to cover the costs to the shop.
Now Arizona:
All the same applies in AZ except the shop cannot keep the vehicle if the bill is not paid.
Here they have to sue for the bill, but the law says a person is allowed to take the vehicle without paying a dime, as they may need the vehicle to make the money to pay the bill and it may cause hardship on the vehicle owner's part to nat have use of said vehicle.
Now being who I am and what I did for a living I knew all this when I dropped my Wife's car off for a replacement transmission and was given a written estimate of expected cost.
BUT when the Wife picked up the car they told her the bill was almost double what the estimate said.
She paid them and took the car home, but when I got home she told me what happened and I promptly called the bank and canceled the check.
Then I went down to the shop with a new check for 200 over the original estimate and told them how they dropped the ball legally, and I was not paying the total they told my Wife.
They told me the trans and shipping cost more than they thought and that was the reason for the higher bill.
I told them since I didn't get a call to authorize that higher cost that it wasn't my problem, but I did understand how it could happen and was willing to add 200 to the original work estimate and if they didn't take that they could sue me and only get the amount of the original written and signed estimate.
In ANY case they could not legally keep the car even if it hadn't already been picked up.
Might want to check your laws by calling your State's Labor commission.
$140 for a NSS !?? that tells it all right there!
Charrlie_S
Well-Known Member
Maybe. Have you tried to get one, lately? Those are different then the ones for the aluminum TF's. The shop might have had to pay $90 for a NOS piece. They are entitled to a profit on parts, and what about the time spent looking for it. We really can't beat the shop up on their charges, as we don't know all the details about the repair. But they were totally wrong about the surprise to the customer, when presenting a invoice for double the amount quoted.
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