Alright, so I've been repairing cars for 16 years in Austin, TX. Having recently quit my job in order to start my own shop, I have to do all my work on my back in the driveway. No more lifts for now.
My 1977 VW Bus transaxle failed and, having purchased an engine years before from GEX, I thought to get a transaxle from them. Since my vehicle was on jack stands in my driveway and useless, time was of the essence. Paul at GEX told me they had a unit on the shelf and it might take a week to get here. Not too long so I went ahead and ordered (and paid the full $1600 + shipping cost) thinking I'd get the trans in a week or so, install, and get back my core charge soon thereafter. I asked Paul to call me back if they did not have one on the shelf. Since he never called back, I assumed they were shipping it within a few days.
After a week and a half I was finally told that they did not have one on the shelf and, in fact, they had a third party shop in California that rebuilt them for GEX in Arkansas. The California shop was waiting on syncros from Germany for my rebuild. It was another two + weeks before I saw my transaxle. The whole time I had difficulty getting Paul on the phone, getting Paul to call me back with any sort of update (he said he was at the mercy of the CA shop and couldn't get hold of them), getting any sort of ETA for my transaxle. Keep in mind they already had near $2000.00 of my money the whole time.
The day after my transaxle arrived in Austin I had it installed and the core trans repackaged and shipped back to California. This was no small task on my back in the driveway. The third party received my transaxle 4 days later but it took almost two more months for me to get back my $750.00 core charge. Again, Paul/GEX couldn't do anything because they were waiting those TWO MONTHS to hear back from their trusted rebuilders. Finally, nearly three months after ordering the transaxle, I had installed the part, was driving my bus, and had received back my core charge. It gets worse...
Within two months of installation, I discovered oil on my driveway and traced the leak to the rebuilt GEX transaxle. I still had not received by core charge back yet so I topped up the trans periodically while waiting. After finally getting back my money for the core charge, I let Larry at GEX know that an input shaft seal that was replaced during the rebuild was already leaking. To fix I would have to remove the trans, disassemble some, replace the seal, and reinstall. This labor time on a lift is 5+/- hours. On jack stands it's a lot longer. I opted to have a shop do the work and hope GEX would cover more than just the $20 seal that was leaking. Especially since I had only put 50 miles or so on this new part. Larry had said they would work with their rebuilders to see how much they could help me with repairing their new part.
My local VW specific shop found not only the input shaft seal leaking but also the bell housing gasket. About $650 (parts and labor) later, my bus was back on the road with no more leaks. GEX (Larry in warranty) only reimbursed me $250, and that was three weeks after I submitted a scanned receipt from the VW mechanic that made the repairs.
SUMMARY:
Paid nearly $2000.00 up front for trans and shipping. A month later I received the part and installed immediately. Two more months later I received my $750.00 core charge back but the new part was leaking horribly. Had repairs made and spent $650 more to repair the brand new/rebuilt part and GEX only reimbursed $250. I'd install a used trans next time. Do not use GEX for VW parts. They're inefficient, unreliable, and don't stand behind their work. read more