Just had our minivan in for a complete transmission rebuild. When I first called Dave at Seatac Transmission, he was very helpful and was willing to give a quote over the phone. He said it would likely be $2500-3000 and said it would only take 4-5 days at the most. I did my due diligence and called around, and he was right in the ballpark of what everyone else was saying and the fact that he is a member of the Better Business Bureau and has a great record with them was the clincher for me. He even sent a tow-truck over to Vashon Island to tow our van to his shop for "free" (although I'm sure that cost is built in to what I paid).
He received my van on a Monday afternoon and told me he would call me on Tuesday morning after he'd had a chance to test it out and look at it, before he pulled the transmission out so that we could get more of a firm estimate of what we're looking at. Come Thursday morning, he still hadn't called me so I called him around 9am to see what the scoop was. He said he wasn't in the shop at the moment but that he would call me back in a little bit. He did mention though that the transmission was out and his guys were halfway done with the repair. I asked him why he did that when he told me that he would call before he did anything and all he said was, "Yeah, I probably said that."
Later that day, just before 5pm, I still hadn't heard from him (and now I was getting nervous) so I called him again. This time he was in the shop and told me that my van needed an expensive part that was about $800 (his cost) so that I should definitely plan on the $3000 for the repair -- plus tax and fluid. Now perhaps this is a bit naive on my part, but when he gave me the quote for the estimate, he never specified whether or not it included taxes or fluid charges. My mistake was assuming it did.
He told me that it was almost done and that there was a chance it could be done the next day (Friday), but most likely it wouldn't be done until Monday. Depending on whether you start the count on the day he received the vehicle or the day he first looked at it, this would be either day 5 or day 6 of his original 4-5 days time estimate (and assuming he wasn't counting Saturday or Sunday).
Friday came and went without any communication. Monday came and went without communication. Tuesday came and went without any communication. Finally, Wednesday morning (Day 7 or Day 8, depending on how you want to count it) I called to find out what was going on. I called at 9:15 and he told me the transmission was back in the van and that it was just waiting a final road test, but that should be done in the next 2-4 hours. I told him great and that my wife and I would begin making plans to come over from the island when he said to make the plans but to wait until I heard from him before we actually got on the ferry, just in case it wasn't ready yet.
So I waited. Again.
It wasn't until almost 3pm (almost 6 hours after he had said I should hear in 2-4 hours) that he finally gave me the go-ahead to come pick up the van because it was ready. My wife and I had to scramble in order to catch a ferry that would allow us to get over there before they closed at 5:30.
So here's the deal: did Seatac Transmission rebuild and repair my transmission? I certainly hope so. It drives nicely and obviously better than it did before, but I can't climb underneath and pull it a part to see what they did. Instead, I have a final bill of $3400 as my "assurance" that they did what they said they did. But make no mistake about it, these guys aren't maestros or magicians. They rebuild, replace, and repair transmissions. There are so many transmission shops out there that even though this is what they do, it's almost irrelevant. They aren't reinventing the wheel or walking on water. They simply conduct business that provides a service that many other mechanics can do.
What should set them apart is the *way* they conduct their business, and in this case, I believe it was lousy. When you give someone an estimate, explain it clearly. If you're not going to include taxes and other fees in it, then explain that to the customer so they aren't shocked. When you give a range of $2500-3000, most people will automatically hear and cling to the lower number in hopes that that is what it is. Luckily for us, my wife and I did not. Instead we planned on the $3000 and even anticipated extra fees because we understand that things don't always work out as planned. But based on my many years in the sales and service industry, I know that is far from what the general population does.
So Seatac Transmission, I doubt you pay attention to Yelp, but if you do, here is some of the best advice I was ever given in my career:
Under promise and over deliver.
You probably would have earned at least 2-3 more stars on this review if you had. read more
