The Walterland Blog

After faxing my invoice to them six times today... they actually admitted receiving it. This time it was legible... so now they are out of excuses and need to buck up! I am being told that it will take 48 hours to process... Anyone think I will get it this week? Guess I should stop faxing this to them now huh...

Since this is all taken care of it is finally time to begin the consumer complaint chapter. On a side note: Did I mention that my inspection expires today? More to follow...

So I got home from work on Thursday and remembered that I had not called my warranty company yet... I promised them that I would call them every hour, I didn't want to be called a liar... so, I made my first call.

Now, whenever I call my warranty company they put me through the same ritual song and dance... First, they answer the phone and want to know where to direct you. I give them the same answer, "customer service." Next, the customer service person answers. I tell them why I am calling and they ask me for my member number, "I don't have it..." Next, they want the VIN number, "I don't have it..." Finally they settle for my last name. I wish they would just provide my the information they ask me for, so I don't have to keep going through this routine.

Anyhow... I talked to this person who put me on hold for a couple minutes. Upon their return, I am told that they were going to connect me to Holly who will work with me on this... That CAN'T be good. After the third try, they were able to conference Holly in. Holly tells me that they keep receiving my invoices... (I believe at this point it was sent to them about 20 times) but they aren't legible. I gotta give them that one... it really wasn't. So, I called the garage and bitched at them for not faxing it in. Finally I settled on going in and getting a more legible copy so I could do it myself.

Today, the fun begins again. I have a fresh new legible copy that I am going to start sending to them every hour. More to follow...

Well now... like I didn't see this one coming. It seems that my warranty company is claiming that they haven't received a copy of my bill for reimbursement. Some how this doesn't surprise me. They have basically been the instigators of most problems I have has with both garages.

As of 9:00 this morning, Terry is claiming that he faxed them a copy, I can't say he didn't. Penn Warranty is saying that it isn't in their computer yet, I can't say that it isn't... So, I faxed them MY copy about 5 minutes ago.

Shortly after I called to see if they had anything in their computer yet from this morning... still, nothing. I was informed that, get this, all faxes come into a different building and that it can take up to 4 hours to process... OK. So I told her that I will call them every hour tomorrow until they have it. In fact, I think I will go home tonight and fax them a copy every hour until they say they have it. More to follow...

3:45 yesterday I receive a call from the garage... they are DONE! I didn't believe him at first and started to question him with the "are you sure" and "it's really done." He insisted it was in fact good to go this time for sure. Great... I'll be right down.

I was looking forward to getting my car back, but not looking forward to going there... not because I went off on this guy a couple hours before, and just about every day last week... but I knew I was going to get trapped in his long-winded conversation. I'm not much for conversation, especially with people I don't know (and who are looking to soak me for $1,900).

So, I went down there, and finally met the infamous Terry. He's now trying to be my friend (this is what I was trying to avoid). He gives me the entire story all over again... except, he omitted the portions about the drunk because there was another woman there beginning her transmission journey into hell. I wanted to tell her to RUN!!! and go look at the Walterland Blogland... but I didn't. 45 minutes later he hands me the keys and I ran.

At this point, I am going to take a couple non-transmission related days to myself. This is definitely not the end of the story, just the end of that chapter... in the next couple chapters we will explore the land of Consumer Complaints. Our first stop on our next voyage will be with the Attorney General's Office. I believe our first contestant will be my warranty company... Penn Warranty. Just like the rest of the cast in this story... they SUCK too. More to follow...

I asked my friend to give Lee Myles a call again (he seems to get different stories/information than I do). When he talked to Terry, he was told that they are as eager to get my car out of there as I was. Terry said, "if I could get away with it, I'd give him the $1800 to have him take it somewhere else." I can't believe some of the things this guy says... He contined on complaining that he had 4 Explorers in and on there way since mine has been there. Not really helping his case here. I think what I'm going to do is at 5:00, if it isn't done and ready to be driven away... have him stop all work on it. I'll give him a couple hundred bucks, then decide whether or not to take it elsewhere... More to follow...

Just got off the phone with them again... as you may have guessed, they didn't call me. I was told that I now have all my "shift points." The problem is, the computer is only recognizing it going from first, then to overdrive. So, they are going to drop some other damn part out and do something... I hoestly think he is trying to baffle me with bullshit. I informed him of my dissatisfaction as to how long it is taking them to do the work. Again, I was told that it is easier to fix transmissions that they took apart and tested. In my opinion, a transmission shop (and their personnel) should be able to put a tranny back together no matter who took it apart... it's not like a Ford Explorer is an exotic, uncommon vehicle. Not to mention that before I took it there, he told me that he has a guy on staff who can tell be looking at it if all the parts were there. He's probably refering to the drunk... he probably saw twice as many parts as everyone else.

I don't know what else to do at this point. I think it's time to take this one to the higher ups... I tried calling the corporate customer service "hotline" only to receive voicemail. I'm not going to leave a message... I want to hear the reaction when I tell someone live. More to follow...

Just made my second call of the day to my friendly neighborhood transmission shop. The first call (at 11:00) I was told that Terry (the guy I 've been dealing with) was out on a test drive and would call me back. At noon, I called them again... guess who answered the phone... Terry, you guessed it. He told me, "we need to put these servos back in... wait... that's already done... I'm going to take it for a test drive here in a couple minutes." Anyone else think he's lying to me...? In the past, if it wasn't done by noon, I wasn't getting my car back that day. Will today be different? Will he actually call me back after his "test drive?" More to follow...

As it turns out... even when I do get donations, I still end up getting screwed. This time, it's by Pay Pal. It seems that Pay Pal takes a "service fee." I'm not new to this... I know that they need to get their slice of the pie too, but this is a bit much. What I mean by that is... for every time I am donated $1, Pay Pal took $0.33 of it. They took 1/3... for doing NOTHING...

But a big Thank You to the people who have donated to my misery so far. More to follow...

It may be hard for some of you to believe... but, the garage actually called me again. I wasn't home, but they did call. And, guess what... my car still isn't done.

His message said that he just had his "new builder" take my car out... Now to me that means they are done and are taking it for a spin. Apparently that means something completely different to him because he continued on to say, "there are two modulators on the side that we are going to take out and put a reamer in." I feel like I've been getting reamed for the past two weeks from this place, guess it's time for my car to have a turn.

His message ended by saying, "So, knock on wood and if all goes well I'll be delivering this to you on Monday. Everything should be squared away and you should be good to go here on Monday and um, I'm going to make you a happy camper when it's all said and done."

Anyone else a little scared by that message...? This is the first time that someone has actually said to me "put a reamer in" and "make you a happy camper." Now I am grateful that I wasn't here to answer that call... Let's see a show of hands... who thinks I'm actually going to get my car back on Monday? More to follow...

So, last night after work I actually received a call from the garage... only thing is, they called me at home. I told them I wasn't going to be at home and to call me on my cell, "No problem Mr. Walter." I guess they didn't actually want to tell me that my car still isn't done. Honestly, I would have been surprised to hear it was completed.

I was told that they got everything back together again... and that he was going to take it for a test drive Saturday morning and see how everything was working... He then said, "if it's still not working, I'll have to figure out my next step tomorrow."

I just got off the phone with the garage. The guy I have been dealing with was on the phone. Supposedly, he is going to call me back. It can't be good... if it was good... he would have called me and told me to come get my car. More to follow...

OK, I just got off the phone with the garage for the second time today. The first call, I was told that everything was together... all the parts came in on time... and it's out for a test drive now. I was also told that I would get a call when they were done and I should be on my way this afternoon. Sha... like I believe I'll be on my way OR that he'll call me. This was 12:00.

This last call (3:15) I am told that he is not having a good day... HE is not having a good day. Do I give a shit about him and his day? I have been without my car for 3 weeks and he's telling me HE is not having a good day. Now, this is not what you want to hear when you call about your car. So guess what... he's running into ANOTHER problem. What a shock!

Apparently now my car is having a hard time shifting... wait... isn't that the problem I was having yesterday? Along with that, the RPMs are running kinda high... Hang on a sec... THAT is the exact reason why I took my car in for repair. He is going to tear it apart again and see if it wasn't put back together right. I'm pretty sure that a drunk and two picture book mechanics can assembling a transmission correctly... it must be something else (yeah right).

He's supposed to call me back when he discovers the root of this problem. I'm going to have to come up with a plan B I think. More to follow...

I don't even know where to begin... The transmission saga continues. So, I just got off the phone with the transmission shop again. I called them at 1:00... I didn't get any new information, except I was told that the mechanic has a concussion. Does he not realize why I'm calling? I kinda felt like I was getting brushed off... so, I called back. I'm told, "Hey Todd, sorry... I couldn't talk to you before... I had a cop sitting in front of me and I couldn't say too much." I wish I was making this up. He proceeds to tell me that the mechanic had his accident last night at 7:30 and he was drinking and that he can't keep a guy like that.

So, let's recap:

The mechanic... and apparently the ONLY mechanic who can put my transmission back together injured himself in a drunk driving accident last night... and lost his job today. Who's going to fix my car now? I was told that there are now 2 guys working on it... and there is still a problem with the valve body. Instead of rebuilding it, they are just going to put a new one on. I'm told, that the new one will be in at 9:30 tomorrow morning... and it will take a couple hours to install. I should be on my way in the afternoon. OK, watch me hold my breath.

OK, now that we're all caught up to speed. My friend who recommended this shop to me just got off the phone with them. He was put on hold because apparently... the cop was back. Now, my friend was told the same thing, that the mechanic has a drinking problem and they couldn't keep him on staff. As it turns out, the mechanic started drinking at work yesterday after this guy went home... which was around 6:00. So, after drinking at work... he gets into this accident on his way home. I'm not totally convinced yet that he wasn't driving my car and now they are stalling. I mean, why else would the cop go to his employer. We'll see how this one plays out.

I'm not calling anymore... tomorrow... I'm making a trip down there whether my car is done or not. More to follow...

I'm beginning to come to the realization that this is in fact really happening. When I got the news yesterday from the garage I started to think that I might be on TV. Because of my endless strings of bad luck I am reaching out to the people. I am setting up a donation center.

One year from the date that my car is finally finished, my warranty is going to expire on the repairs I'm paying for. The way my luck has been going with this, the day after it expires... the transmission will fall out (I'm pretty sure of that).

One year from the date that I get my car back, I will take whatever money is donated and put it towards that new repair... or if there is enough, I will hopefully be able to purchase a completely new vehicle. If you would like to contribute to my cause please click on the donate button and share this site with friends. Give a dollar... give $10... whatever you can spare. More updates to follow...

So, as it turns out... the shit box I'm driving needed a new (rebuilt) tranny. So, it started its voyage out at Beasley Ford. Well, it turns out that they not only suck, but they blow too. From there I had towed to this shady place call Lee Myles Transmissions. Another word of caution... if you are ever in the York, PA area... and are having transmission issues... don't go here either. Allow me to explain.

6 days ago I was told that my car would be ready. That was a Friday... well, they didn't meet their deadline. Things happen, no biggie. I called them on Monday... they needed a couple of brackets. Whatever... an oversight, no biggie... they'll miss that deadline too. I called them on Tuesday... they need more parts. I'm losing my patience now and I vocalized that to them on the phone with the stipulation that I don't want to pay more for this transmission than I did for the car. No problem, accepted their apology... it'll be ready tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. I just got off the phone with them an hour ago (3:30 PM)... this is the story I was told... are you sitting down?

The guy that was working on assembling my transmission was in an accident last night. I think to myself, that's unfortunate for him... I ask if he's OK even though I couldn't freakin care less... the guy I've been working with tells me that he thinks there's more to this and doesn't totally believe he was in an accident. He next proceeds to tell me that he recently found out that his wife (the guy is 50, and the wife is 46)... I'm thinking he's going to say has been cheating on him... not even close... the wife has been doing crack!!! No shit... And because of it, he has developed a drinking problem... Ya think! He's been coming into work reaking of booze and stink, but I was told it hasn't been effecting his work, so no one sees a problem... But, he tells me they got their second string transmission guy working on it now... but he's running into problems. He's been having to go off of diagrams and pictures and can't seem to make things work. I'm never going to get my car back...

Let's recap...

My car's transmission is still in pieces. I've got a drunk, married to a crack addict assembling it... and currently they have picture book mechanic running into dilemas (apparently he can assemble a tranny he's taken apart, but can't put one back together that he didn't take apart... this is what I was told on the phone). This is like a bad friggin dream...

If ever you were thinking of buying a car, truck or SUV... DO NOT buy a Ford... especially a Ford Explorer. If by chance you happen to own one of the shit boxes... DO NOT take it to Beasley Ford for repair. Beasley will take you for a ride to places neither you or your car have been to before. If you do decide to not heed my warning and take your shit box to Beasley, make sure you pay with a check so you can stop payment on it the next day. More to follow...