I bought my MCS to an auto shop to get a transmission fluid/change. A week later, I decided to check under my vehicle to make sure everything's okay. I looked at the bolts on the transmission pan and they were not even touched. The rust and moles were still perfectly on the screws. Usually, the bolts and screws would show signs that it was removed and tampered with but in this case it looks the same. The day I bought the vehicle in, they said they are having a hard time looking for the replacement gasket and filter but we will get it and have it taken care of soon. In my opinion, they did not change the fluid at all and lied to me. I notice no difference in the transmission when I'm driving too.

With all that being said, I made an appointment with them next week but before I go in, I'm taking my vehicle to the MINI Service Center to have a few other things serviced. I am going to ask the mechanic to check the transmission fluid because I was told that it was changed recently.

I will ask Mini's mechanic to print out a description of my transmission oil so I can show it to the shop that claims that my transmission fluid is old.

I also called the auto shop to complain about this problem and they said to bring it in and we will take a look at it. They did not denied the situation. Perhaps it happened before.

Has anyone been in this situation? What can I do if they did lie?

Thanks

 

With the mileage you have, I think your ATF is still in good shape (mostly red to dark red). With one flush, the ATF will most likely still have the same color or slightly lighter. the torque converter contains another 4 to 5 qrts and so it would have blended with the new 3 to 4 qrts.

there are few ways to verify if they did the work:
1- ask for the parts receipt. (they might till you, "oh, we threw it or put it in the trash!")
2- ask for your old parts. (make a habit of telling any auto shop, that you want to see your old parts!)
3- ask them directly if they actually performed the job, and HOW they did it. ATF flush isnt that easy. They need to get to a T30 or T27 (dont remember) bolt that sits on top of the sub-frame. They would have either lowered the sub-frame or removed the transmission mount to raise it (and that sometimes requires them to remove the fuse box).

if they did not actually do the job:
1- have them redo it and dont go there anymore
2- sue them! (might be a tough case though!)

 

Thank you.

I called the shop and they said this happened before and usually stuff like this happen to places that are charging less to change the transmission fluid. I set a appointment with them next week so I guess i'll keep everyone posted.

 

wow, they must have missed it and thought it was done.

 

"ask for your old parts"

good luck with that. Maybe if you ask before they start the job, otherwise you'll get pointed to the trash bin and told to go digging.

 

Good habit is to bring the car when they have the parts and have them show you the new parts, have them show/give you the old parts and ask to see the car as it’s being serviced. Usually you can see the car on the lift while they are removing the pan or any other part

 

This is why a good, reliable independent shop is so important.

 

The owner called me on Friday. He said that there was a mistake on the transmission fluid change. We did not drop the pan nor did we change the gasket material and filter.

 

How convenient 😒

 

+1 on the reliable, indipendent shop.

The same thing of job-paid-not-done happened to me at a major, major locar dealer. I was told to "go f999k myself or they would sue my a99"... Needless to say I basically made destroying their reputation sort of a second job for a while

 

At least the fessed up. Nowadays gotta give them some credit for that.
A lot of shops stick to their guns even if they know they're wrong.

 

I made an appointment on Saturday. Ill let you guys know how it goes.

What I want is a full refund at this point. I don't want them touching my car every again.

 

Mistakes happen, it sounds like they fully owned up to it. I wouldn't be happy either, but you may catch more flies with honey than vinegar.


This is why learning to do this stuff yourself is really the most important thing.

 

In Massachusetts (where I live) shops are required by law to provide the used parts on demand. If they tell you to go digging they'll be in violation. And they know it.

 

so they need to track inventory on old pan gaskets.. really, for how long?

 

Only while you are there. In NYC if you ask for the parts that were removed , they will give it to you, but you can turn up a week later asking for your old parts