WORST TRANSMISSION SHOP EVER!!!! I towed my 2002 Dodge Grand Caravan there when the transmission took a turn for the worst. After three or four days in the shop, the finally call me to tell me that all the fluid was gone, that there was metal shavings in the pan and that my transmission needed to be rebuilt. Then a couple days later they call me back telling me that the whole transmission needs to be replaced and that it could either be a used transmission or a new one. We agreed to the used trans. They quoted me a price of $2200 plus the cost of fluids. Once the transmission was "fixed" they called my husband, not me (its MY van) and pressured him to come and pick up the van because they could not have the van sitting on their lot. (Also, now the price was $2700!!!) We were in the process of getting a loan to pay for the transmission and it was not yet finalized. My husband told them that we were not yet ready and to give us a couple more days. Needless to say she (Heidi) called him two to three times day to pick up the van. Once we got the van, it proceeded to revert to the original transmission issues that we originally towed it there for. The problems make the van not even go anywhere. My husband was broke down at 3:00 in the morning the very same day we got the van from them! He didn't even make it 50 miles away! They did tow the van back to their shop to "fix" the problem, but now after having the van back for a couple weeks (only drove it about four times) now and the van slipped into neutral on a hill with all my kids in the van! We were stuck there for 10 minutes and every time that I tried to press the gas to go up the hill in our neighborhood we started rolling backwards! This just happened tonight!!! NO MORE!!!! read more

If I could give ZERO stars I would. This is the worst transmission shop. Duane Todd charged me 2x for $3000+ for one repair job after he billed my warranty company. Over a year later I still have not been refunded. After many excuses, broken payment plans, broken promises his shop has closed and I still have not been reimbursed. I also had to take my car back to the shop at least 5x for running poorly and after 12 months I finally bought a new car. Terrible employees, terrible shop. AVOID at all costs. read more

I will be as objective as possible in this review. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt whenever possible, but I cannot do so with reviewing this transmission shop. I was planning on taking my 2000 Honda Odyssey to Portland to have a rebuilt transmission put in. The total cost around $1,600, and would be completed within 24 hours. I saw an ad for free transmission check-up and diagnostic at American Transmissions in Longview, WA. Since it was close, I went there. They had it for most of a day, but did not call me back. I finally went back in and Duane Todd, the owner/manager, pulled a bait and switch on me. I said the problem could be fixed for around $600-800, and that I wouldn't need a complete rebuilt most likely. since that was at most half of what I was going to pay for the replacement, I made the mistake of leaving it with them. My experience with this shop would take an entire book if I gave all the details, so I'll summarize. Once the transmission was taken apart, I was told I would need $2800 worth of services. I told him to throw it back together and I'd take it down to Portland, but he refused to do so. I was getting upset about the bait and switch, so he started coming down on the price. We settled on $2100. The next three weeks held continue frustration with dishonesty, and blatant lies, particularly when the owner would promise to get right back with me, and generally would not. Repeatedly I had to come into town to get information and elicit specific time goals. None of which, not a single one, were ever met. Now admittedly, the shop had too much work, too few mechanics, and a horrible shop environment. The employees were unhappy, and made no bones about it. One threatened to quit and go home right in front of me when the lady in the office told one of them my transmission had to be put together within 24 hours. In fact, since then, three employees have quit, including Mr. Todd's brother. One employee quit after not even one day while my minivan was there. Ultimately, after 3 and a half weeks, I finally got my vehicle back. It promptly leaded transmission fluid for the next 3 weeks. When I reported the problem back to Mr. Todd 3 times, he said it was normal to have overflow out of the overflow valve. I am quite sure every transmission job does NOT lead fluid for weeks on end, so I finally came in to the shop of horrors with dread. One of the mechanics, no longer there, checked the fluid and said it was several quarts overfull, even after 3 weeks of leaking. He said that after filling it, he had left the cap off and the spout in, and the other mechanic must have filled it also, putting double the fluid into the transmission. I know that would be very bad for an engine, but I'm not sure about a transmission, but I can't be good to have that extra pressure. The mechanic pumped a bunch of fluid out and sent me on my way. It kept leaking, so I brought it in again. Now there was far too little fluid...he had pumped too many quarts out. They finally found that the plug was in crooked and that was the source of 4 weeks of staining everyone's concrete where I parked. Since then, there have been some issued with the shifting, but not enough to ever walk into that shop again. It was the worst, unbelievably bad automotive service shop I have ever seen in my 35 years of driving. Please save yourself grief and money and go to another shop. A+ Transmissions were recommended as a good shop, but I have no first hand experience with them. Good luck! read more

My dad had his transmission rebuilt a week ago on his 95 Chevy Silverado V8 with a 5 speed manual transmission. Started out they were going to do a clutch but when they opened up the transmission they found the main shaft was broken. All in all the rebuild cost about $1600. When my dad went to pick up his truck he arrived in the afternoon and waited about 4 hours to take it because they said a plastic part had broken and was leaking fluid. They fixed that and then found the starter was not working, so my dad ended up driving 70 miles back home because they were unable to give my dad his truck even though they had called him and told him he could pick it up. So after he drove home they called him saying they would deliver the truck each day but something always came up. My dad ended up having to drive back down to Longview 70 miles to pick up his truck because they never delivered it. A day after my dad picked up his truck he gave me a ride in it and I noticed it would not shift into or out of gear easily or at all. My dad told me they said the gears would be tight for awhile until it was broke in. I told him that they probably hadn't bled the clutch and there were air bubbles in the line. I went to bleed the clutch for my dad but found out the bleeder valve was stripped so we had to purchase a new clutch slave. After this was done it shifted in and out of gears just fine. Then the truck wouldn't start. They had stripped one of the bolt holes for the starter. So my dad had to take it to his trusted mechanic in his hometown. Turns out they put a strater in for an automatic transmission not the manual, which is why the bolt was stripped by them because it didn't line up right. That cost $600 to correct the problem. American Transmission even admitted to stripping out the bolt but said "we didn't believe the bolt would fall out driving down the road." They also refused to pay the bill to correct the problem they caused. AVOID this shop at all costs. read more

2-28-14 BEYOND THE WORST TRANSMISSION SHOP I have been to ever. I didn't know where to take it because we were from out of town. Had it towed to 949 15th, in Longview WA. Duane Todd said they could fix it but it would take a week to do. We were quoted $2,000. Two days later he called and said might take a little longer because he had to take off the front clip. I didn't understand that, but said ok. The next day I called and he said he was having problems with getting the muffler clamps off? DIDNT understand that at all. SO it takes all day to get a clamp off!!!!!! The very next day he called me and asked me for the money to buy the new parts. WHAT THE HECK IS THE PROBLEM I ASKED? He told me he had too much money out on other jobs. So being a dumb ass I gave him half of it. He was upset that I only gave him half. that is when I knew we were in TROUBLE. GOT IT ALL IN WRITING and said I would give him the rest when the job was done. It took a total of nineteen days to get the job kind of done. The price changed to $ 2.800. We paid the $2,000 that we were quoted in writing. Things were still wrong when we got the car back. It was out of alignment for one. We drove to Seattle. It was raining and very hard to drive. I called Duane Todd (Owner of American Trans. in Longview) he said they didn't mess with the alignment I SAID HOW CAN YOU TAKE OFF THE FRONT CLIP without disconnecting tie rods or something, his answer was it all comes out in one piece. So I had to take it to Les Schwab in Seattle WA. They said we were lucky it was raining because American Transmission had put the wrong nuts on the tie rods, they striped the bolts on the tie rods. SO THEY DRILLED HOLES IN THE BOLTS AND PUT ZIP TIES IN TO HOLD THE WRONG NUTS AND WASHERS together! Les Schwab fixed it and it cost us another 300.00 bucks. We got home to AZ and had problems with it shifting again. According to Am Trans we need their ok to have the warrantee work done. But they won't return our calls. The transmission shop in Kingman said they will fix it on the warranty of 18 mo or 18000 miles. SO NEVER TAKE A TRIKE, CAR or WAGON TO AMERICAN TRANSMITION IN LONGVIEW WA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I gave him one star because that is the lowest rating the web site would allow. read more

This is possible one of the most corrupt, horrible, and and inept transmission shops that I have ever experienced in my life. This shop is borderlining on the criminal. I took my 2002 Ford Explorer to this shop, because the O/D Off light was flashing. The technician tested it and stated that it could be one of three possible problem. I almost had to pull an estimate out of the employee, but after having to confer with his boss he said that it could possibly be $30, $400~$500, or $2500. Needless to say they said to drop the vehicle off on Monday. Now there was no other problem with the vehicle other than O/D Off light was flashing and it was driving just fine, when I dropped the vehicle off. On Monday at 2:30 p.m. I called the shop as I had not heard anything from them about how much it was going to cost, I had never recieved a written estimate. After being on hold for almost 15 minutes I was told by the employee that it was going to be the $2500 dollar scenario, and that they had already tried the $30 solution. By this time I had started to see the shadiness of this businesss and told them to not do any further work and I would pay for the work that was done up until this point. When I picked the vehicle up that evening, now the check engine light is on and the transmission is now not shifting properly. This shop actually made the problem worse! Stay away, stay far away from this shop! read more

My experience with American transmission: Back in March 2014 we dropped of a transmission with Duane in June of 2014 I was told the work was completed and to come pay it off so I could come pick it up I paid him $2500.00 and have documentation to prove it. When we went to pick it up we were told he was having problems with it shifting smooth (it shifted fine when I dropped it off it just had a chip in 5th and 3rd gears so we wanted it fixed) he then told us he sent it to Portland but would never tell us what shop. So here I sit today out $2500.00 cash and a NV5600 transmission for a full size dodge truck valued at $4700.00 and all I can sue for in small claims is $5000.00, we have months worth of excuses and text messages. By the way he moved his business to 15th and shut that one down and is now planning on moving to Kelso so watch out. read more