This spring 5th Gear went out on the tranny in my Jeep. I took it to a local AAMCO shop to have it checked hoping it might be a small internal part that was causing the slipping. They found the entire 5th gear was toast. They showed me parts and everything. The cost of rebuilding the tranny was going to be more than a remanufactured tranny. AAMCO wanted around $1,200 for the AX15 I needed. I did some digging around and found a place called Phoenix Hard Parts ([url]www.phoenixhardparts.com[/url]) that had them for $650 plus about $130 shipping. Gave the money to the AAMCO manager and he ordered the tranny. It was ordered on March 5th and did not arrive till March 13th. AAMCO installed it and I was on my way the 14th. Total cost was around $1,800 with labor and new clutch parts.
All was well until May. On the 8th of May my Jeep got stuck in 5th gear. I started looking at my warranty and saw that the one for the transmission did not cover shipping and labor. The next day I called AAMCO. They said their warranty did not cover the tranny since I got it someplace else. They did agree however to pay for the towing ($100). I called Phoenix Hard Parts, and the guy explained that had I purchased the optional ($150 extra) Platinum Warranty, everything would be covered. AS it was, they were only responsible for the repair to the tranny. He said he felt bad though, and offered to pay shipping for me.
At this point, I was kind of unhappy, but figured I had screwed up, and the end cost of having it re-installed would be around $300. The transmission was shipped back tot hem UPS on the 12th.
After a week I started calling and checking on it. It still had not arrived, and nobody knew where it was at. I would call AAMCO and Phoenix every other day. After about two weeks I started getting angry. I wanted a tracking number from UPS so I could find out where it was at. Neither AAMCO, or the Phoenix place would give me one. By the end of May, I was furious, I called AAMCO's regional headquarters, and then called Phoenix Hard Parts and told them, that if I did not have a transmission shipped within 24 hours, I was going to start calling consumer advocacy programs.
This whole time, I was supposed to be in California. I was supposed to start a new business venture with a friend out there. He was getting angry, and I was running out of money.
The transmission arrived and was installed by AAMCO on the 2nd of June. I picked it up, Paid AAMCO for the install, and left.
This morning, as I was driving up to Minnesota, I found it would no longer go into 1st or 2nd gear. I was near the AAMCO shop, so I drove over and had them look at it. The mechanic said the tranny was bad. I called the place in phoenix (being as polite as I could, and told the guy the tranny they had just sent me was bad. He did not remember me. I had to explain to him, I was the guy who waited nearly 4 weeks the last time.
End result was, he said they would cover nothing but the transmission rebuild. I had to pay shipping, and AAMCO to remove and re-install it again.
I asked him if he thought this was fair. He brought up the Platinum Warranty again, and thats about it.
I then told him my plans were to register a domain name (www.phoenixhardpartssucks.com) which I have. I was going to write my customer "service" and satisfaction story and put it on the net. Then allow others to send in thier stories. I was going to add the site to all the search engines, and write about them at any "Bad Business" sites I could find, such as [url]http://badbusinessbureau.com/results.asp?q1=ALL&q5=Phoenix+Hard+Parts&q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0&submit2=Search%21[/url].
He chuckled, asked the name of the site again, and asked if once I got it running, if I could E mail him a link. He would like to see it.
My question is, do I have any legal recourse here? What kind of lawyer would I need. I hate the thought of suing someone, but this company has me pissed.
And second, is it legal for me to have a site like that?
Thannks.
Aviator