AAMCO Transmissions

After coming here for about 2 yrs and spending $ 1700 on a tune up and getting many oil changes, my car is acting worse then before, the last time I received an oil change I checked it afterwards and It was completely empty causing it to act up. I took it to another mechanic and was told that my oil hadn’t been changed in awhile and definitely not the filter like its suppose to each time. The manager Dana is great but I won’t be back after what I found out which is a bummer. Use caution and apparently you can’t trust everyone!

This place will RIP YOU OFF… I took my 2013 Toyota Tacoma truck into their shop on a groupon brake service /​oil change deal and the owner tried explains to me that the work would be $ 700 more money because my rotors needed replaced. I instantly ran up to Toyota and they checked the rotors comparing to factory original spec and stated that my rotors were «2» 1000^th below factory original and that there is NO WAY THAT THEY NEED REPLACED…
Again: THESE PEOPLE WILL RIP YOU OFF!

They almost destroys my car just from a simple oil change. I had my oil changed there and they didn’t tighten the oil pan. The oil light came on and instead of fixing things they just put more oil in it. How hard would it have been to tighten the oil pan?! But they didn’t and so i took it somewhere else when the oil light came on yet again and had to pay $ 300 to fix AAMCO’s screw up. Tried to get AAMCO’s corporate the reimburse me but never heard back. Horrid place. Wouldn’t take a toy car there

They are re-​opened under new management. Honored my groupon under old management. All I got was an oil change so i can’t comment too much on the overall service, but the management has indeed changed. They still honored my groupon which I thought was extremely professional. Maybe worth giving these guys another chance.

Oh my, where do I start? The first time, I was called into the office and told that it would be an additional $ 190+groupon. Turns out when I got my vehicle back, it was an additional $ 350! Thanks for wasting my whole day when this was supposed to be a couple hours. The second time, I made an «appointment». It STILL took all day they «needed» $ 900+groupon worth of work. The second opinion I got was $ 300. Don’t fall into their trap. Rude, dishonest, hasty with diagnosis, and a rip off!

I bought the brakes and oil change deal on Groupon. I set up the required appointment and dropped my car off, asking them to diagnose a couple warning lights on the dash as well. I was called, a reasonably short time later, and told there was a lot more work required.
In that semi-​panicked moment that shops like this specialize in, and thinking I didn’t want to go to the trouble of getting a second opinion, I had them do the extra brake work, but I passed on all the other work. A subsequent inspection revealed that some of what was recommended probably is not necessary. Subsequent research also has revealed to me that what was done could have been done for much less money at many other places.
When I finally picked it up, the warning lights weren’t fixed and there was no explanation on the paperwork, though they did include a list of all the other work they wanted to do for me. I’m not entirely sure they changed my oil. The brakes feel better, so it was not a total loss, just an expensive lesson learned.

I don’t know if this place is still open, but I sure hope not.
I bought a groupon for minor brake work, but before I purchased it I called, just to make sure they had the appropriate parts on hand. I explained very carefully that I have a 1982 diesel and the parts may be difficult to obtain. I asked if it would be extra money beyond the price of the groupon, they assured me it would not. I asked are you SURE you have the parts, and they assured me again that they had them on hand.
Of course once I actually brought it in, it was a totally different story. They had to order the parts. It would be $ 900. Everything had to be replaced, even the calipers! (hahaha) They told me a caliper was dragging and that my brakes were down to metal. I thought it sounded extremely fishy, so I took my car back to my normal mechanic for an inspection. I completely wasted my money.
He told me they were flat out lying. No dragging caliper. No brakes down to metal.
The worst of them was down to 20%, not 0%. My regular mechanic told me I had about a year left of driving before I should switch the pads out, and they were so right.

I took my car in for a water timing belt service on one of their coupon. The tried charging me for a new serpentine belt. The problem is my car does not have a serpentine belt. When I pointed this out to them it took multiple calls and two weeks to get a refund. I also started to get a rattle after the same service. I took the car in to the dealer and found that Aamco and failed to reattach to brackets.

I had a groupon for break services and that included a free oil change. It has been a week and I have been noticing that where I park in my driveway normally there is a huge oil spot on the ground. Driving from Olympia on my way to hawks prairie my oil light comes and I have to pull over. Family gets there and looks under the car and my oil plug is missing! Called Dana, who is the manager, who said that it was tightened to manufactures specifications and then proceeded to laugh. The worst customer service. This is a shady shop. Want your car to break down in the middle of i5? Take it here they will make sure it happens!

Knew I needed rotors turned, so I used a Groupon deal, and as others have described got a phone call 3 hours later saying I needed new rotors at over $ 300 because the old ones were too worn. In reality, I put new rotors on and cleaned the calipers myself for 90 bucks and with 45 minutes of work instead, and I’m an amateur. They could have done it for far less than they quoted, and another independent shop (Firestone) measured the rotors and said they were well within Ford specs.
Anyway, the free oil change pack that came with it (the hook on the deal) can only be used M-​Sa from 8a-9:30am… because no one has a job I guess. It makes the oil changes worthless, and they don’t bother to mention that up front. In fact the oil change card provided instructs you to call for an appointment, and the Groupon «Fine Print» explicitly says «Appointment Required», which they will not make, saying you have to get here early on Saturday. Really?
So I get out of bed early on Saturday, show up at 8:10am, and was already 7^th in line with an hour and a half wait, because only 1 of 6 bays is used to handle oil changes. I mean, why make that a priority when you already got paid for them? Right?
I’ll take my business elsewhere, and report these clowns to the BBB and Groupon, and any other business review site I can find.

WARNING!!! Do not patronize this location or company, specifically this branch. I bought the living social for brake service/​oil change. Well, $ 40 seemed too good to be true, and it was. First, brought it in for service. They called telling me my rotors, calipers and pads needed to be replaced on the front, but the back was ok. I told them to just do the service on the back, (as I wanted to get another opinion). Brought to another place, where I was told the BACK rotors needed to be replaced as well as pads– the front needed pads, but rotors could be resurfaced. AAMCO did NOT perform the service guaranteed by my certificate, as at least one set of pads should have been new. I had the new shop save me parts for proof. Secondly, the customer service was horrible. They called to tell me of their «diagnosis» and never gave me a time table. I call back 15 minutes before closing, when I’m then told by Damien that the shop was closed and he had left, but my car had been done for hours. I never received a time line or call when it was done. HORRIBLE. Do not buy any of their livingsocial/​groupon deals, do not get any service done here. Could not caution you away enough.

Stay away! Liars!
Did the amazon local deal With the brake job front or rear. They said the couldn’t do it because the caliper was frozen on one side FYI (if the caliper is frozen it will pull to the side that is frozen) then said that we would have to replace both rotors and replace the calipers.
they now said they could not do the original brake job because of the condition
of the brakes both LIES!
Then they said the transmission was leaking LIE!
And the rear brake cylinder
Was leaking yet another LIE!
A lie to get me to spend my hard earned money on $h!t I don’t need!
To back up my claim I took the van to Toyota it is still under warranty
THE VAN PASSED 100% with absolutely
Nothing wrong with it!
1. this to worn others
2. Reported them to the ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE
3. REPORTED THEM TO AMAZON
THESE GUYS ARE SHYSTERS!
GO ANYWHERE ELSE BUT HERE!
ALSO I SEE OTHERS CAME FOR THE SAME THING AND THEY USED THE SAME LIES TO SCREW THEM OVER THEY JUST DON’T KNOW IT
SORRY GUYS YOU HAVE BEEN HAD!

Updated 3−12−14
They never held up to their end of the warranty just kept blaming other reasons for not fixing their mess up.
Just got an email from Groupon they are CLOSED, at least I am getting my money back and no one else will get screwed.
Oh yes and Dana tried lightly threatening my husband to take down my review. When they knew that if they just fixed the car like they were supposed to they would have gotten a glowing update.
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Update 12−14−13
So there have been some changes at Aamco and not for the better. Damien is now gone and the shop has gone to hell. All the good stuff I had to say below is now wrong.
Our Saturn had to go back in because transmission work was done, not correctly and it is now worse then it was and it is under warranty and no they won’t fix it. They say they drive our car to replicate the issue but they can’t. Find that interesting since we can’t go to the freeway without the issue coming up. So we don’t believe that they are driving the car. In fact we are taking the car back in taking pictures of the odometer.
While it was in the second time we picked it up after hours and there was a big chip and a small crack… guess who gets to replace the windshield. You’d think them since it happened in their lot; them. You’d be WRONG they told us we must have done it as we were pulling out that it didn’t happen when they had the car. I call BS!
Oh did I also mention that they shredded a check instead of cashing it and wanted me to drive all the way into town from Littlerock because they are stupid! Oh HELL no the car isn’t even fixed!
I have a deal I bought (second one) that I am stuck with and people I don’t trust. DO NOT use them!
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It looks like most I was drawn to the because of a Living Social Deal for Oil Changes. They are quick and efficient. When going in for a pre scheduled appointment they run on time and are always moving.
They have since done more work for us other than oil changes. Our Explorer needed a new transmission and computer. Because we were not in a rush to get it back they took their time finding a good used computer for a decent price. Always updating us on the process.
Our Saturn needed Cam and Crank Position Sensors and it was done in a timely manor and although not the cost we wanted to pain repairs it was decent. I felt good about asking them their opinion as they will tell you how it is and then you decide.
They don’t push you into things you don’t need or want and are super friendly. We will continue to bring in our cars and trucks to Aamco Transmissions.

Lured in with a Groupon. Extremely dishonest. Tried to tell me rear breaks were metal to metal and I needed rotors, calipers, pad all around. Did a dry pad slap on the front brakes. Took it to another mechanic, I had 80−90% on the rear brakes and my brakes looked «stellar» except for the fact that AAMCO didn’t grease the pads that they slapped on the front. They also forgot to do the oil change. Extremely sketchy — DO NOT recommend to anyone.

I will NEVER go back to this location and I hope nobody I knows ever does! Despite the awesome Groupon that lured me in, I will gladly pay double the normal cost of service to never deal with this management staff again! Was told, «If I wanted to be difficult they would keep my car the entire 5 hour service window» by the manager of the store. I don’t know about you… but that’s not a very good way to treat a customer that only wants to know what parts are going to be used. Save yourself the trouble and go somewhere else!

My girlfriend came here she had a coupon from online for a package oil changes 8 for $ 56 i think comes out to about $ 7 for each oil change and u get free coupons for other things, great price. they were all very friendly and did a good job.

i took my vehicle in 1÷8÷13 and asked them to just do the front break service. they called me after inspecting my car and told me that i needed new rotors on both the front and rear and that it would cost me a total of about $ 550. i then proceeded to ask them what the groupon covered and they said it covered resurfacing the rotors and break pads. i wasn’t hearing any squeaking on my brakes so i was skeptical about replacing the rotors. my husband then talked to them and was pretty upset so they said they would «honor the groupon» and resurface the front rotors. my question was, «how can you resurface rotors that need to be replaced?» in the end they replaced the brake pads and resurfaced the «damaged» rotors and we ended up taking my car to my regular mechanic today (1÷9÷13) to do a quality check and to get my rear breaks serviced. my mechanic said that the front and rear rotors were in good condition and they DIDN’T need to be replaced. i just feel like AAMCO tried to get one over on me and nickel and dime me. i do not like being taken advantage of and i feel like AAMCO is just baiting people with this offer.

Went in for brake work, lured by the living social offer. Price was more than reasonable. I called ahead because I wanted to replace the rotors rather than just resurface, and they were happy to accommodate and just apply the voucher towards the extra work. When setting up the service, they estimated 3 hours, never quoted an updated price.
When I got to the shop, they now said 4 – 5 hours. Not a cool change when you’re missing work and don’t have an alternate mode of transportation. About an hour in they called to say the rotors are warped and need replaced. Well that’s great… since it’s the work I already asked you to do both on the phone and in person. Still confused how that never got across. Despite the hiccups, the work was still actually done on time. When it came time for the bill, despite the living social discount my final price was still the same, if not a few dollars more, than I had been quoted over at Gary’s Tire Factory for the exact same work/​labor. Since the living social «deal» was supposedly $ 100+ off a regular price, this kind of shocked me. But the work was done and (so far) seems to have been done quite well, so I just paid and went on my way.
Despite the griping, this does seem like a clean and competent shop. I can’t say that their prices are going to be competitive, but quality comes first when I deal with my cars. Fortunately, I have already found a reliable winner on quality AND price over at Gary’s Tire Factory in Lacey. I’m sure Aamco is great, but I can’t give them as high a rating and I will probably still always go to Gary’s first unless something else requires me to be on the east side of Olympia on a day I happen to need car service.

Your experience may vary with this Aamco– I have had coworkers and fellow Unilocalers cringe and tell me terrible stories after I told them how swell of mechanics the Aamco team was for us over our last chunk of time in Washington State. Maybe I got in while the getting was good, maybe they’re still good, maybe they’re selectively good, maybe they’re bad and always have been and I’m a complete idiot (I’m not. I can guarantee you that)… but take the time to look at all the reviews about them online and decide for yourself. Be an informed consumer.
They cared for my 07 Dodge Caliber, 01 Honda Civic, and attempted to care for my 95 Honda Civic– rest its soul.
I NEVER had any problems. However– I never purchased a living social, groupon, or other third party deal. The only deals I ever came in with were directly from the shop.
The only time I felt pressured was when it was apparent that our 95 honda civic needed a completely new engine (we drove the high mileage babe to TEXAS and back), we were about to move to Florida… Manny and Damien tried to sell me on replacing the engine and taking it with us. We still had our 01, and if we took the 95 we wouldn’t be able to hot swap the seat on our drive… so I decided against it.
We sold them the 95 for parts, and they gave us a BUNCH of work on our 01 in addition to cash as their part of the exchange. They fixed a window, replaced a belt, flushed out a system, and swapped out the radio, tuned things up…
Yes, it was all at a very painfully slow pace, but at this point (May 2013) the shop was busier than I had ever seen it since I started using them.
Anyhow, I got to Florida and it was over $ 400 to register a vehicle. Really glad I stuck to my guns.
When I moved, they let me pass on my frequent customer points and coupon book to a friend.
No bad vibes here.
ORIGINAL REVIEW FOLLOWS
I was drawn in by a valpak coupon offering a 17 buck oil change, and got much, much more than I was hoping to find! These guys are my new all the time mechanics for sure.
They’re courteous and honest. It’s a clean shop, which is great! No icky mechanic like bathroom– if you’ve been to any other car shop, you probably know what I mean. ;)
I never felt coerced or duped, I had two cars worked on– both got oil changes, one got a wheel bearing fixed and the other had its brake and tranny fluids swapped. (I don’t speak car very well, sorry). The prices were fair, and they have an awesome coupon deal you can buy for 90 bux. It has all sorts of things including 8 oil changes– which alone is worth the buying price to me.
The manager even talked shop with my friend about a motorbike she was looking into buying. Good guys.