Suntrup Northgate, St. Louis, MO - upset with situation relating to transmission repair for 1999 Suzuki Esteem Wagon

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on February 22, 2003:

From: Erwin Lozano [Email User]

RE: Suntrup Northgate, St. Louis, MO - upset with situation relating to transmission repair for 1999 Suzuki Esteem Wagon

I took my 1999 Suzuki Esteem Wagon in for a service check to Suntrup Northgate sometime in early November for a whining noise. Mark Davis charged me $50 and said that the transmission would have to be rebuilt or replaced, and that the clutch was ready to be replaced also. He said that his mechanic had "loosened the clutch" to try to make it last longer. He said the clutch and transmission could be repaired for $1200, but that I should be prepared to spend $1500. I brought the car in to be repaired on December 16th, 2002. Mark Davis said that it might be less expensive

to find a used transmission instead of rebuilding the old one. He said that the estimate to rebuild the

transmission had risen to $1700, this estimate came before he had even began work on the car. He spent approximately two weeks searching for a used transmission. He then called me at work to tell me that the parts and labor could amount to $3000, yet again before he even opened the transmission. I told him to begin the work because I needed my vehicle. When the car was completed on January 14th, 2003, I paid Suntrup Northgate $1700 for a transmission

rebuild only, $500 more than the original estimate for a repair to the clutch and transmission. Mark Davis

assured me that nothing was wrong with the clutch, and that it had been looked at and was only 40% worn after the 65,000 miles I had put on the car. The mechanic took 14 service hours to rebuild the transmission, which Suzuki warranty allows 5.5 hours

for, and Motors, the industry standard, allows 9.2. There was also a hefty markup on the parts of the

vehicle, ranging from 20% all the way up to 71%! Mark and Joe Anderson, the service General Manager, both

said that they had charged me less than the usual hourly rate to do the job in the $1700 limit. Joe also said that the reason it took so long was that the mechanic did not know how to rebuild a Suzuki transmission. He said the normal mechanic was out sick. From the day I received the car it would occasionally lose power. I returned the car to Suntrup a month

later to see if the problem was related to the transmission, which was under warranty. Mark Davis called me at work the day after I dropped the car off to tell me that the clutch plate was

completely worn and would have to be replaced. When I asked him how the clutch could be fine one month and 1000 miles before during the repair work, and how it was now broken, he said, "I don't know how you drive". He said that Joe had offered to fix the car at the normal shop rates. This would entail tearing down the transmission again, incurring anywhere from $900 to $1200 in fees (estimate from local Suzuki dealer), about $800 of which would be for labor fees to tear down a transmission that they had torn down and inspected only a month before! If they had repaired the clutch while the transmission was in for service it would have saved me at least $700, I would have only had to pay for the parts and Suzuki and motors pay for less than an hour to repair the clutch if the car if the transmission is already removed. I complained but have had no response.