Where do we go to make a complaint?

Hi everyone,

Our cars transmission died on us 6 weeks ago. We found a transmission guy that was willing to arrange to get the car picked up and he would work on the car for us.

Anyway, we ended up having to phone the tow truck guy and organise the pick up ourselves. We were then quoted over $4k to fix the transmission or they could find us another transmission, put it in and go from there and it would be about $700 for the labour and whatever the transmission & freight cost. We ended up sourcing our own transmission and paid for it & freight. The transmission guy told us that was great and he would pull our transmission out in preparation for the new one. Apparently it takes one day to take it out and one day to put it in.
So, the transmission arrived last week. DH called and they told us that we would have the car back this Friday (tomorrow). Awesome! So DH called again today to find out what time we can pick the car up and was told that the car won't be done as the old transmission is STILL sitting in our car and they don't know when they will have time to get around to getting it out or putting it back in. They said maybe next Wednesday but they're really not sure!

So, my issue is that they have had our car for 6 weeks and they have really done nothing. WE sourced the tow truck to take the car to them. WE sourced the new transmission and now we have no idea when we will have our family car back! Seriously, we were told it would be 2 days or so after the transmission arrived and here we are 6 days later being told they have no idea :( It is getting me down as our 2nd car is a 2 door hatchback that does not fit the kids car seats across the back, let alone have enough anchor points :(

Does anyone know where we go from here or who we can make complaints to? We're scared to do much right now in case it annoys them and makes them not do anything to our car. If we were to send it to another transmission place, we then have to pay more money in towing which we simply can not afford to do right now, so it is not an option. I just want my car back :(

Oh honey, that is a really sucky situation! :hug: can you speak to a manager/owner of the place? (If that's not who you've been speaking to until now?) Maybe you could be a little more honest/blunt with them in the sense that you *need* this car, as it's your only method of transport, and with 3 little ones, and 2 big ones, its fairly imperative for you to get around? And also point out to them the time frame they said to you? If it were me, i'd be saying this (not in a "happy tone", but not in a nasty tone either, quite flat and "informative") and ask them for a DATE that it will be done, reminding them again that it has been over 6 days since they received the transmission, and they said it would only be TWO, AND, when you called last time, that they said the old transmission would be already out of the car, but for some reason, its not, and now you're left in the lurch for even longer!

Failing that, if they say they can't do anything, ask for a loaner car which is of a similar size, and failing that, ask to speak to a manager/owner, because its getting beyond a joke that they're taking so long for a straightforward job where you've done pretty well all the work so far!

The ridiculous thing is that the main guy we have been dealing with IS the owner and apparently he does not allocate the jobs. So, he was the person who told us we could pick the car up today. He is the one that promised us 2 days. He is the reason we chose to go through them rather than one of the other 3 nearby transmission places. The guy who does allocate the work, I guess he is a manager type person is the one that said it has not even been looked at. I'm about to call fair trading and get their advice. It should have only taken 1 day to be fixed as we were told the old transmission would be out in preparation for the new one.


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wow! thats atrocious! i'd definitely be calling fair trade then too! or tell the owner to get off his a** and do the job himself! or grow a pair and allocate the job! he owns the shop after all!

Any chance you can give him a deadline and then tow the car back out of there if it's not done? Then he has a transmission sitting there that nobody is going to pay for, so surely it's in his best interests to get it done.

When we had our camper repaired earlier this year, they had it from the first week of Jan to the middle of Feb, with no communication as to when it was going to be repaired. We started to hassle them every day in the end and they were so sick of it they got it done. But then they took our money and wouldn't issue an invoice. I went to consumer affairs and found them to be most helpful. Got my invoice the same day as the call to CA.

GAH! It is just so freaking frustrating. I have been in tears here since 9am.

So, firstly I got the most unhelpful person ever at Fair Trading who basically didn't want to hear what I had to say and just kept rattling off the web address. Grrrr!

I then called the transmission place to find out what the status of the car was today. I was informed by their receptionist - this poor old lady :( - that there was not going to be anyone in the workshop until 9:30-10am.

So, I began writing up my complaint for Fair Trading when the manager guy named J called me. He was asked to call DH but obviously decided to call me. J told me that it was in everyones best interest for us to find someone else to do the job and that they were willing to contribute towards the towing to get it to the next place. He was so disgustingly rude that I actually had to pull him up a few times and ask him why he was getting so nasty at me! I am still stunned! He was ridiculous. He was trying to tell me that DH told him that he might get rid of the car - That was never said. This is our family car. Getting rid of it was never an option. He tried to tell me that he told DH to have it towed there so that DH had somewhere that he could go to to pull the car apart - Ummm what the?! DH did not even speak to this guy in regards to towing, he spoke with T and why would my DH want to pull the car apart, let alone find the time to do it when he works until 4:30 most afternoons and in traffic, it would take him almost 1/2hr to leave work and get there. The transmission place closes at 5pm!
I just don't understand why they have to lie?! It is just crazy. They also told us that we didn't know what we wanted to do with the car until a week ago. That is just bull as we called them on April 18 and told them the transmission was paid for and on it's way. We also gave them the tracking number of the transmission.

ARGH!!! So, I called another business and they asked me where the car was. When I told them that it was currently at the transmission place, they did not want to get involved. Nice. I told them that it was all fine and tried to play off that they were just too busy etc etc etc but they didn't want to know about it. They gave me the number of someone else who may. By the time I spoke with W, I was so mad and when he asked me how long the car has been at crappy transmission place for, I started to cry! He was so lovely and he is going to have the car done asap. DH has spoken with him since and is happy to go ahead with this guy, W.

This is just craziness. Who runs a business like this?! I'm just stunned. So many people DH works with are now coming out and saying that they're a terrible place and they wish they'd known as they would have told us to steer clear. I will be telling any locals I know to never go there.

Oh it just keeps on getting better. The towed my car to W's workplace and didn't send the new transmission. So now DH has to finish work early to go and pick it up and take it over to W. This is absolutely crazy.


This post was brought to you by Lisa's iPhone. Keeping Lisa sane since 2011.

That's crazy! I hope you haven't given the transission people any money!

Nope, not one cent nor will they be getting anything off us.

The other places that we called today told us that they could get it in on Thursday and it would be ready for pick up Friday morning for $200 less than the first place quoted us!!! Insane. The guy who has it now told us it will be ready for us Thursday and is less that then first place quoted us.
I'll be so glad when this is all over.

My feeling is that because you sourced a transmission from elsewhere, they are going to be difficult as they've missed out on the large markup they probably were planninng on adding to the part themselves.

OMG Lisa what a NIGHTMARE!!! :( :( at least you've saved yourself $200 if nothing else. Would that cover towing the car?


Sent from the land of "iSomethings" so forgive me for any spelking misstaks ;)

Huge hugs x

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OMG Lisa what a NIGHTMARE!!! :( :( at least you've saved yourself $200 if nothing else. Would that cover towing the car?


Sent from the land of "iSomethings" so forgive me for any spelking misstaks ;)

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Because I had spoken to Dept of Fair Trading they told me that there is no way I should have to pay for the towing to the first business or from the first business. So, the $200 we saved is our $200. My gorgeous DH put it toward a hire car for me for mothers day. We pick the car up tomorrow and I have it until Tuesday afternoon!!! :)

Double yay!!

Yay for the Dept of Fair trading actually doing something, and yay for your gorgeous DH hiring you a car!! What a sweety :)


Sent from the land of "iSomethings" so forgive me for any spelking misstaks ;)