I originally took my Nissan Titan to Valvoline just for an oil change. The truck was not having any…read moretransmission problems at all when I brought it in.
While I was there, one of the employees recommended that I have the transmission serviced and told me they could do it. They tried several times to hook their equipment up, had problems doing it, and transmission fluid ended up coming out. They added fluid back, but I still have not been given anything showing how much fluid was lost, how much was put back in, what exact fluid they used, or how they confirmed the transmission had the correct amount in it afterward.
I was there for over an hour. In the end, they told me they were unable to complete the transmission service and basically said they weren't charging me for it. Unfortunately, it feels like I've been "paying" for that attempted service ever since.
The transmission started having problems after that visit.
I spoke with the store manager, Ben, and at his request I took the truck to Auto Clinique. I actually took it there twice. They told me they could see a transmission problem, recommended that I take it to a dealership, and relayed their findings back to Valvoline. After that, Ben recommended I take the truck to Fifth Gear Automotive.
Fifth Gear pulled a small sample of the transmission fluid and said it smelled burned and had metal in it. They also told me they could not really determine how much damage there was without doing a transmission service and fully evaluating the fluid. Valvoline would not approve that service. They later called me and said they considered the problem normal wear and tear and were not taking responsibility for it.
What makes that hard for me to accept is that the truck had zero transmission symptoms before the Valvoline visit. Also, while the truck has around 145,000 miles on it, the transmission itself does not. Nissan replaced the transmission at around 95,000 miles, so this transmission only had about 45,000 miles on it when this happened.
The communication afterward has also been frustrating. Prior to September 4th, Ben was great, apologetic, and determined to make this right for me. On September 4th, he called, said that he and the area manager determined it was normal wear and tear, and were not accepting any responsibility for the transmission symptoms or damage. I was told the Area Manager, Brittany, would contact me within 48 hours or two business days. Five business days went by with no call. I followed up again and still did not hear back.
At this point, I'm disappointed with how the situation has been handled from both the service side and the management side. I'm still looking for a reasonable explanation of what happened and a fair resolution.