They prey on students and don't tell the full story just so they can get you in there. I had looked at reviews online and all were negative for this place. However I figured that if someone has a good experience they are less apt to write about it. BOY was I WRONG. A 500 job turned into 2800 AND when I asked for my car back they wanted to charge me another fee to put it back together. UPDATE: Not only was my car damaged on the outside, my CD player was mysteriously stolen as well. Horrid disgusting people I will never let them touch my car!‎

The AAMCO Transmission shop in Alexandria, LA lacks good customer service. I don't know how their work is, but if it is anything like the customer service, I have recommended that my car dealership, which is footing the bill for fixing or replacing my transmission, take the vehicle somewhere else. For two weeks, AAMCO personnel have been telling me that they will get to the transmission in my 2001 Chrysler Town and Country van before the end of the week. Every time I have gone by the shop, they have not only not even moved my van, but also send a different person out of the office to tell me they will get on my van by the Thursday or Friday of each week. On the following Monday, I have gone by to see why they haven't even moved the van. They keep telling me they are backed up or somebody called in sick and they are short of help. I went back to my car dealer to let them know how poor the service and speed of getting my transmission looked at was going. On Monday, March 29th, the dealer sales person, who sold me the van is going to call them to find out why they haven't even moved the van. If they haven't made any attempt by the time the dealer calls on Monday, the dealer is having the van towed to somewhere else. One other thing that bothers me about this particular AAMCO shop. They have the AAMCO sign on the side of the building, which has holes in some of the building siding. I wonder if they care how their building and reputation looks.

March 10, 2010


To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter concerning the less than acceptable treatment and business practices of AAMCO Transmissions located at 1 Widefield Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80911.

In April of last year, at the recommendation of my father, I took my car to AAMCO because of a problem with my Volkswagen Jetta. After they looked at the car, they discovered the clutch had to be replaced. I agreed since there was no other option. At that time, I was told the repairs would not go beyond $800. The day I went to pick up the car, they told me there was some other parts and labor that were involved and the cost of the repair was going to be over $1100. I told them then that I was not going to pay for that and I would only pay the $800 I was quoted. The manager at the time said he would bring the price down and charged me $959.

This past weekend, I had an appointment to get my rear brake pads replaced, but upon driving my car didn’t feel safe. I also noticed that my clutch felt loose all of the sudden, however, my car was still driving normal. I was able to pull my car into my driveway and move it for the tow truck company. I got a call from Felix on Monday afternoon stating that the caliper, rotor, and brake pad had to be replaced and it was going to cost two hours of labor. The total cost of this came to roughly $400. I expected that amount. He then told me that my clutch had to be replaced. I received no reason why, but he told me that the clutch was still under warranty-that they would cover it and my car would be ready the following day (Tuesday, March 9) or the next morning (Wednesday, March 10.)

On Wednesday afternoon, I received a call from Gus, the owner. He told me that my clutch was 4, 000 miles over the warranty. That they were going to pay for the clutch but he was going to have to charge me for 5.5 hours of labor which would be $485. I was outraged! How could the previous day I be told that the clutch was under warranty, but now I am being charged for labor? I told Gus that the only reason I brought my car there is because they fixed it before, AND I told him that the previous day I had been told the clutch was under warranty. He said “Sorry, but when we looked into it we found that you’re over your miles, so we will cover the part but you will have to pay for labor”. I didn’t appreciate the tone that he was using with me and I told him to call my father and tell him the details. At that time he said “We’ve always taken very good care of your father. I’ve done him more favors than one.” I have to admit, I probably wasn’t very pleasant with Gus, but I told him to call my father and hung up the phone.

I received a call from my father, Michael Hubbard Sr., and he told me that Gus had told him the same thing. My father stated he would no longer be doing business there, as he took a car there to have the transmission replaced and has had to take it back more than twice with repairs that cost thousands of dollars.

I then went to AAMCO personally. I asked AGAIN what the problem with my clutch was. The technician told me that the car couldn’t even make it up the ramp. This is the problem that I was having with the car back in April when they supposedly replaced the clutch with a brand new one. How could I be driving a car that had the same clutch for more than 8 years and now this one doesn’t even last one? Also, the previous day Felix told me I could drive my car for a couple days and bring it back for the repair, but now the car is not drive-able! Gus came in the office and told me he was sorry that they gave me the wrong quote but he has to “pay his guys” and he can’t do the work for free and he had given me discounts on the brake parts, labor, and wasn’t charging me the $200 it was going to cost him for the clutch. I expressed my ill feelings about being told one thing, but then another. That they should have done their due diligence BEFORE calling me and should honor the estimate they provided. I told him about the incident last April, he blew it off as if my concern about that incident didn’t matter.

Upon taking his statements into consideration, if he is being charged $200 for a clutch kit that is the same as what he put in last April and it is 5.5 hours of labor at $90 per hour, then the cost for repairing my clutch in the first place should have been roughly $600.

In both of these instances, AAMCO is in violation of The Motor Vehicle repair act, C.R.S., 42-9-101-113 which states that a repair garage may not collect any charge for labor or parts in excess of the estimate plus ten percent or twenty five dollars. In these instances, they should not have charged me more than $880 for the repair in April and no more than $440 for the repairs currently.

I did, however, tell Gus that I would pay and I will honor MY word. He obviously is not going to honor his word or the word given by his employees and I do not want any of the technicians who are working on my car to suffer for that. Personally, I was completely offended by the tone he took with me, the way he managed the situation, and his constant effort to get me to somehow thank him for the favor that he did for me.

I would strongly discourage anybody from patronizing this business. In both instances to be given some hype about labor charges, and the charges being more than quoted and OUTSIDE of Colorado State law is not ethical and is a complete disservice to any consumer, and I feel for the consumers that have patronized this business and didn’t take the time to let other people know, or didn’t KNOW that their rights had been violated.

I don’t expect AAMCO to try to rectify this situation in any way. I’m sure Gus is still waiting for me to thank him for whatever favor he thinks he has done for me. I wouldn’t expect any kind of service after the way I have been treated. I hope this letter serves as an informational tool for those that are looking for quality auto service and this complaint will be filed with the proper authorities to ensure that they don’t handle their business like this in the future. Due to this complaint being filed, I will also have my car inspected at an outside vendor of my choice to ensure the work has been completed in a satisfactory manner.

Charged $2, 898.34 to rebuilt the transmission that they guarrantied was the problem. I did not get more than 2 miles from their shop before the car had the same problem. They found the alternator and battery was not putting out the right voltage and replaced both. That fixed the problem. I had told them at the time I brought the car in that the radio was coming in and out and that the battery light was also. That I din't know if it was related to the transmission or a seperate problem. They charged me $575.06 for the alternator and battery. They knew I was from out of town and had the expence of 2 extra nights in hotels and food. Both my companion and I lost 2 extra days of work as well. A long deserved weekend of rest and recreation turned into a nightmare for no reason other than greed thanks to Aamco's manager.Shame ! shame ! shame ! on St. Augustine's Aamco.

Called Aamco on Valencia because they offered free towing and they specialized in clutch and transmission repairs. They quoted me around $800 total for parts and labor.

Later that evening I had the Jeep towed to Aamco and they said they would begin working on it on Saturday August 9th.

Saturday August 9th 2008

I called Aamco and asked what they had found out. They informed me that the slave cylinder was out, they needed to replace the clutch, the pressure plate, and the bearings. They informed me the labor would be $490 and the total cost would be $1200. This was a lot of money and more than I had originally been quoted but I agreed as they were the experts and I wanted my jeep to run smoothly as it had done in the past. They said it would be complete by the end of Monday August 11th.

Monday August 11th

I called Aamco towards the end of the day to ask when it would be ready and I was informed it would take longer than expected and would be ready on Tuesday August 12th.

Tuesday August 12th 2008

I received a call from Aamco around 10:00am and they informed me that the Jeep was complete and was running smoothly and driving great. I was pleased although it had taken slightly longer than I was told I was excited to get it back and have it functioning properly. I informed them I would be coming in around 12:00pm to pick it up on my lunch hour. Julio informed me that the line from the Master Cylinder to the Slave cylinder was not a jeep part and was a temporary part but it still worked fine. He suggested that in the future I get it replaced in the future but for now it would be working fine. He said the part was on back order to 6-8 weeks from Chrysler/Jeep.

I picked the jeep up was handed the keys, I paid checked the receipt and everything I had been quoted was on the receipt and correct. I went to the jeep started it and drove away. I was pleased with the results. From Aamco to my work was about a ten-mile drive. Once I got on the highway I started to feel difficulty shifting gears, and I heard a grinding noise. I didn�t think much of it as I thought the parts were probably settling.

Driving home from work which is a 25 mile drive was when I really started to question whether the jeep had been repaired properly as it was almost impossible to change the gears. At the traffic lights I could not get the jeep into 1st gear and when I arrived home my hand was red and painful from trying to shift gears.

Wednesday August 13th 2008

I drove to work in the morning and experienced the same issues I had before so when I arrived at work I called Aamco and explained what was going on and they informed me that the clutch line probably had air bubbles in it and I would need to be bled. They asked me to bring it in and I said I could not take any time off work and it was not drivable. After many times trying to convince Aamco they decided to tow it free of charge to Valencia from my work.

Later in the day I received a call from Aamco saying that after it had been bled, it shifted great, and was driving fine. I was a little bit weary of this considering the problems I had experienced but when I went to pick it up it shifted perfectly and drove nicely.


I had been driving the jeep to and from work for around a week and then everything started acting up again. It started by grinding slightly when I changed gears, then it became stiff to change gears and eventually it became grinded loudly and was almost impossible to get into gear at traffic lights. The main issue I had was when driving on the freeway when I would try to change gears it would be a very loud grinding noise and impossible to get into gear so I would just have to coast along until it finally popped into gear. Along with the danger of traveling at a fast speed and then coasting and having traffic zoom around you at high speed. It also caused my hand and arm a great deal of pain trying to shift gears.

Friday August 29th 2008

I was planning to take the Jeep on my lunch hour to get it sorted today; however, on the way to work the clutch went out completely. The pedal had no pressure and was just floppy and it was 100% impossible to get the jeep into gear. I had to start the jeep in first gear and drive home in first gear; thankfully I was only around 3 miles from my home. I called Aamco to explain what had happened and they blamed me. They said they told me from the start that the line from the master cylinder was bad and the jeep should not be driven. I argued back saying that the line was mentioned to me but why did they call me and tell me it was ready and working perfectly. I told them they needed to fix the problem and basically they refused, they blamed me, and said there was nothing they could do because the part was on back order for 6-8 weeks. I decided to then call around to try and find this part myself even though I am no car expert and didn�t even have a clue what I was asking for. Several places I called were confused with what I was asking for because I had no means of explaining it. I called Chrysler/Jeep and asked if they had any of the lines and if I could possible get one sooner that 6-8 weeks and they informed me that they did not even manufacture this part any longer. This angered me so much that Aamco would lie just so they could install a new clutch system for $1200 knowing it would not even work.

For the next week I had to get rides to and from work; which was extremely difficult, wasted so much gas, caused me to be late to work, and upset me in general. I kept calling around and I found a company called Hose Power who could make a new line for me this was great news; however, I did not know the location for this line on my jeep so I needed Aamco to remove it for me. The only problem being I had no means of getting the jeep to them


Aamco refused to have my Jeep towed to their location so it sat on my driveway immobilized for this whole week. Eventually I had to get my insurance company to arrange to have it towed to Aamco and lose out on my one free towing they offer per year. What if something serious happens now when I am driving somewhere? Well I had to get it towed to Aamco so I did and they agreed to remove the part. By this time I had missed so much time of work I could not miss any more days so I had to have my mother drive to Aamco to pick up the part. They towed my car to Aamco at 9:00am on Tuesday Sept 9th and said the part only took 15 minutes to remove. My mother called them and they said she can follow the tow truck and wait 15 minutes and they would have it ready. She was unable to do this so she asked them to remove it and she would be there at 11:00am to pick the part up. My mother arrived late at 12:00pm and asked for the part and they said they did not have it out. She asked them to remove it so she could take it to Hose Power. They said they could not because there were other people ahead of her. That was completely crazy considering all we had been trough and the jeep had been sitting at their lot all day. My mother informed them that they had to get it done ASAP as she had to be at Hose Power and they agreed, took out the part and gave it to her.

She took the part to Hose Power to show them what was wrong with it and they agreed they could make it. It only took them around an hour and then she picked it up and took it back to Aamco. Once she arrived at Aamco they said it would take 2 hours to install it and to bleed the clutch so she left.

After around two hours they installed the part and called to say it was leaking still and the part was not correct. This was not Aamco�s fault but Hose Power�s fault so I do not blame Aamco for this.

On Wednesday September 10th I took the hose back to Hose Power and they said they knew it wouldn�t work cause this piece inside one of the ends of the hose was missing (why they even replaced the hose or charged me $50 I will never know). They told me of some places who might carry the end that was missing a piece. I called around and one Jeep specialty store had a brand new factory jeep hose. I was so excited, my Jeep finally would be fixed and work because I had had a whole new clutch system put in and now I would have a new line.

On Thursday September 11th I purchased the brand new line and took it to Aamco at 12:00pm. They said that the piece was correct and it would work perfectly. I asked when it would be complete and they said it should take two hours to install it and bleed the clutch line, but give them till 4:00pm. At 4:00pm I called to check if it was done and they said they had not even started on it. I questioned this and they informed me that there were other people ahead of us. How they could have put other customers ahead baffles me considering everything we went through, all the waiting around, all the lies. I just thought they would at least make an effort to try and make the customer happy at the end.

On Friday September 12th I called Aamco at 10:00am and they said it was done, working fine, shifting fine and was perfect. I was ecstatic and finally felt closure after all I had been through I was willing to put it all behind me and have me jeep working perfectly. I picked it up at 12:30pm on my lunch hour and drove it. It did work good��. For around five minutes. Then it started grinding lightly, sticking when shifting, the clutch pedal seemed loose and temperamental. On the freeway back to work it had stuck badly and did a very loud grinding noise and shook my hand badly causing sever pain. I also had several cars and trucks have to slam their brakes on and swerve to avoid colliding with me. Once of the freeway and shaken badly the jeep then proceeded to stall at every traffic light because it did not recognize the clutch was engaged when I came to stop. It was impossible to get into first gear and second, third and so forth. I am now typing this sitting at work because I am infuriated and wondering how I am going to get home from work and enjoy my weekend.