Help Me Howard! Mechanic Scam In Progress!

filed under Crossover · 8 comments in the original

Sorry for the off-topic post, but I’m sort of curious what the blogging world has to say and what it can do. I’m in the process of being scammed and need some help.

Last week I was having a grinding noise coming from the engine. I was hesitant to stop off at a place in the city but I was scared that there would be bigger problems if I didn’t pull over sooner than later. So I made my way over to the West Side where the mechanics harbor.

I pulled into a place on 29th Street and 11th Avenue, Brownfeld Auto Service to be precise. The place was quite busy, but I wandered in and met with Alan, the owner of the garage. We went out to the truck and he started it up and drove it quickly. His first instinct, and what I was suggesting, was that it could be the transmission.

Alan popped the trunk, checked the transmission fluid, and made a face when he smelled it. He gave me a whiff to confirm that it smelled burnt. I did. Since the garage was full, Alan said leave it here with me and I’ll get it on the rack later. I called him back at 6:30 and he said it was definitely the transmission (something about the torque road chewing up the transmission). He quoted me $3000 for a new transmission or $2400 for a re-manufactured one. I definitely wasn’t expecting that. I told him that I would have my brother get in touch with him as he takes care of these things usually.

I spoke with my brother and he had located someone that he works with that could do the job for about $800 less, but still more than I could deal with right now. I called Alan back on Friday afternoon around 5PM and told him that I couldn’t afford to do the work right now and that I wanted to tow it to my brother’s place. Alan told me he was in the airport but that I should call him first thing in the morning on Monday and we can arrange to pick up the car.

Monday morning rolls around, but I was ever suspicious over the weekend. I called Alan on Monday at 9AM. I was told that on Friday, when I called him, his guys had already FIXED my transmission. Mind you, this would be 3 days ahead of schedule (by his estimate). He said there was a “miscommunication” which resulted in him inserting a repair order. I told him I was coming by to pick up my bag which was in the car. He told me to go in about 5 hours.

I showed up later that afternoon and my truck was parked outside. I approached Alan and asked him what the situation was. This time he said everything was screwed up and that he had to replace everything (clutch, etc). He said that in order for him to get me back my car he would have to find a “bad transmission” to put back into my truck. Then he makes me a “wonderful” offer. He says, “Hey, I know times are hard. What I can do is set you up with a payment plan. You pay me a part now and a little every week until you pay it off.” He said come in the next day to work out the payments (which I didn’t due to the snow storm).

I left again without my truck. I went over today and we tried most strenuously to resolve the situation. I was presented with a few options:

Accept the truck the way it was, Alan’s admitted mistake, and pay him $2650 for the repairs
Have the truck towed to my brothers with no transmission
Wait an indefinite amount of time for Alan to find a “bad transmission” to put back into my truck

Mind you, none of these options allows we to actually have back MY OWN transmission. Apparently, Alan has his own transmission shop which makes it convenient for making these sorts of repairs. When we asked him about getting back my transmission he said that it was impossible since I came in yesterday and “agreed” to payments he had that rebuild it since then. Of course, he didn’t offer to let me have my old transmission yesterday instead specifically saying that he needed to find a bad transmission for my truck.

So that’s the dilemma. All evidence of what is actually wrong with my truck has been removed. The work has been completed without my consent (illegal in NYC) and now I am left to take back my truck with a definitely busted transmission that will need to be repaired or pay the ransom.

So what can anyone tell me to do. I’m looking for legal, technical, procedural, mechanical.. whatever. This sucks!

For anyone looking to find Alan or drop some eggs, send some faxes, or place some calls:

Brownfeld Auto Services, Inc. 298 11th Avenue (Corner of 29th) New York, NY 1001 Tel. 212.239.7037 Fax. 212.947.3303