Joplin Transmission & Auto Center

"Joplin had an extremely hot and early summer in 2012. As could be expected, there were many A/C issues with vehicles. We take appointments and we also gladly take drop-ins. Unfortunately we cannot work on all A/C repairs simultaneously. We do try to get the vehicles back as soon as possible. When their vehicle was brought in, they had ‘pre-diagnosed’ the problem as being a bad compressor. There was a many doubts and questions on their behalf in regards to us performing their work. We do stand behind our work and always have. The customer was told that if they had reservations or did not feel comfortable with us doing their work, maybe they should take it somewhere else. The member failed to mention that their vehicle has a dual (front/rear) A/C system. There are many components to such a system. After we performed our diagnostics, it was determined that, without a doubt, that the condenser was bad. We were authorized to make the repair and we retested the system appropriately after the repair was made. When the husband picked up their vehicle, the husband ran their vehicle and A/C in our parking lot for approximately 10 minutes to verify that it was working properly – as instructed by his wife. When the vehicle was brought back after approximately ten days, the wife said that the A/C was doing the same thing – while the husband said it was something different. Our diagnosis at this point indicated that the ‘expansion valve’ for the rear A/C system was probably at fault. Customer did not want to leave vehicle for the weekend because they needed it to transport their grandkids over the weekend. Customer was not charged any fee. They were suppose to bring it back for the repair when they could – we never heard from them again until this complaint. Curious to know if dealership made the ‘second repair’ with the expansion valve that we diagnosed. If so, they paid approximately $450 for a repair that could have cost approximately $200. Customer seems to believe that this was the only ‘fix’ that they needed, which is not the case. I am truly sorry that your member is dissatisfied with our business and customer service. I take such complaints very seriously and try to resolve them when I can. As you say – there are two sides to every story – unfortunately you primarily only hear about bad encounters. If we had misdiagnosed the customers problem and they had allowed us to make the appropriate repairs – all would be fine. Customer chose to take the problem to a third entity – while first repair was still under warranty, further complicating any kind of resolve. We never refused to work on their vehicle."