**Update**  We got our van back on Aug. 12, 46 days after the original repair failed.  The mechanic paid for everything, even one item that wasn’t a transmission problem…but 6+ weeks is a ridiculous amount of time.

Gird your loins, mah peeps.  2000 words of complaining coming right up, served with a heaping side of frustration.

This spring, our van started acting up.  Acting possessed, actually.  All of the lights around the gears would come on.  The radio would fade in and out.  The left blinker would blink on the right, and vice versa.  The van is an automatic, and it wouldn’t shift out of first gear.

Sometimes the problems cleared up if we turned on the windshield wipers.

We replaced the battery and tested the alternator.  Husband tore out the dash and using his Chilton’s, traced the wiring looking for a short.

And still, the van wouldn’t shift properly.

So, we took it to a transmission place.  We found one nearby, with a free diagnostic, with great ratings on Google and that had been in business for years and years.

And that’s where the trouble started.  Nothing was simple with these guys.  The business advertised free loaner car, which turned out to be a reimbursed rental.  However, they had no written policy guaranteeing that the rental would be reimbursed.  After several hours of waiting, they managed to produce a rental car for husband and scrawled out a promise of reimbursement by hand.  We agreed to a quick transmission overhaul for about $2500.  (Thank goodness for tax refunds).

Nine days later, after much obfuscation and procrastination, and hearing “it’ll be done tomorrow” 8 days in a row, we got the van back.  The repair shop manager didn’t want to pay for 9 days worth of rental car fees, but he did once I produced the note.  We had a 12 month warranty.

The van ran. 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan, by the way.  With 183,000 miles.  Pay attention to that, it’s an important detail.

Lo, Saturday, June 27, just after Alli was born, scant 8 weeks after the initial repair, the speedometer began to spin, the lights lit up, and it wouldn’t shift.

We took it in for warranty work on Monday, June 29.

We were told that it wasn’t the transmission, and they wouldn’t fix it.  My position was that we brought the van in, told them the lights on the dash were wonky and it wouldn’t shift.  We paid them $2500 to make the lights normal and make it shift.  The transmission people took our money and told us the lights would no longer be wonky, and the van would shift, guaranteed.  The lights were again wonky, exhibiting the exact same behavior, and it wouldn’t shift; therefore, they should fix it.

Manager J got involved, and promised to work on the shop owner.  He told us to call the next day to find out if they would honor the warranty.  We limped the van home.

The next day, June 30, I called the transmission people, to inquire about the repairs on my van.  The nice man, Scott, who answered the phone told me his people had it on the lift right that very minute and they’d have it fixed by the end of the day.

Oh, really?  Because the van is sitting in my driveway.

I got a little… miffed, in my postpartum state, and began spreading the word on every local site I could.  I posted a nasty review on the page of each franchise in the area, not just the one that did our work.  I contacted the Better Business Bureau and filed a complaint, and emailed it July 1.   I typed up a letter to the State Attorney General, but before I could send it – just a few hours after filing with the BBB, the transmission place called.  They would, indeed, honor our warranty.

We were instructed to bring the van into the shop after the holiday weekend, on July6.

July 9, I got an email back from the Better Business Bureau, containing the response of the transmission shop.  It said they would not repair our van.  Weird.  Our van was in the shop at that time.  Shop owner hit Google.  They discovered my bad reviews.  They decided not to fix it.  I agreed to remove my bad reviews and did so even as husband was talking on the phone with them.  Ok, everything’s all good.  They’ll repair it.

They didn’t know what was wrong. Manager J promised to make it right.  He promised that he would make sure to get our vehicle fixed, no matter what it took.

We didn’t have a rental car, and the van had been our only vehicle.  Husband dear tried his hand (and legs) at bike riding to work, but gave that up in the 100+ heat.  He begged for some rides.

The transmission people looked, they thought, they pondered.  Eventually, after consulting two outside experts, they concluded a computer part was bad.

They spent a few days convincing the owner to pay for it.  They sent off for it.  It arrived two weeks later by pack mule.

Lo, the van was fixed.  We did not have use of the vehicle from June 29 through the July 21.  That’s 23 days.

But, the transmission place lost the key. They did not know if the van ran.  They had it towed to a Dodge dealership to rekey the ignition, and supposedly to have the dealership test out their repair.  Two days later, Thursday, July 23, husband dear hitched a ride with Manager J to pick up our van from the dealership.

The lights were wonky, and it wouldn’t shift very well, although it was marginally better than it was before.

Manager J advised us to drive it over the weekend.  He said sometimes the computers just need to reset or something.  He made arrangements to have his best guy take a look at it on Saturday, Aug. 1  (why the “best guy” wasn’t involved from the start, I don’t know.  He did work at a different location.)

July 25, I shopped, I went to a birthday party, and on Sunday I went to church.  I finally arranged Alianna’s baptism.  I drove about 50 miles, total.

I noticed that the headlight remained on (they never had before; now the van had running lights.)  The airbag light stayed on, as did the check engine light.  The RPMs seemed weird – going up to 3500 before shifting sometimes.   It jumped a little if I maintained a 50 mph speed.  The odometer said 116,000 miles.  Somehow, the repair shop had rolled our odometer back 67,000 miles.

Monday morning, July 26, the van would not change gear at all.

Husband dear was livid.  He convinced a friend to pick him up for work on his coffee break.  Manager J apologized and arranged to have it towed to his shop.  He promised to give me some kind of documentation about the odometer so they didn’t try to arrest me for fraud when I renewed the plates.

After a few days of screwing around, I was tired of not having a flipping van.  The transmission people had decided it was now a wiring issue.  A short of some kind, in the wiring harness.   The harness my husband had traced a few weeks before and that he couldn’t find a problem with.  But, he’s not a mechanic, so maybe that’s what was wrong.

On Thursday, July 30, I had a long discussion with Manager J.  He wanted to punish his crew by forcing them to fix our van, but since they were transmission guys, they were taking too long with the wiring.  Manager J told me they had foudn a short or two in the wiring, but in order to get the van fixed faster, he wanted to take it to his buddie’s shop up the road.  They were wiring experts.

It had now been 31 days since our van needed a warranty repair.

Wiring Experts decided they needed a new wiring harness.  The part is a $2-3k new, and he was having trouble finding it used.  Eventually, a couple of days later, a used one was found.  Now Manager J had to get the shop owner to approve the expense.

August 3, Husband dear got ahold of Wiring Experts.  Wiring Experts had asked husband dear if we’d ever had an alarm or anything installed.  Nope.  The only people to ever work on our car had been the transmission people.  They were supposed to be tracing lines and installing a new computer.  Wiring Experts said they could see a new computer had been installed, but the wiring harness was in such bad shape it needed to be replaced altogether.

August 3, I called.  And called. And spoke to Manager J, who was also speaking to Wiring Experts.  Wiring Experts promised me they would get it fixed up.  I was told the salvage part was located.  No one could tell me how long it would take to install.  No one could tell me how long the part would take to arrive.  I couldn’t even get a ballpark estimate of when someone might know something about when my van would be fixed.

I pointed out that my family is losing the entire summer.  We’ve lost out on sales, get togethers, and fun.  We haven’t gone swimming.  I missed Mom’s Night Out and the new writer’s group meet up.  I had to reschedule Alli’s baptism, which was already delayed because of vehicle issues.

Manager J promised to call me by 5 pm and tell me the state of affairs.  I had to give him time, he explained, to coordinate part delivery, work schedules, and get the owner’s OK.  Wiring Experts decided they wanted no part of fixing our van, but did note that the wiring harness was “all chopped up.”

At 5:15 I called him.  He claimes Wiring Experts tried to call me twice, but we have Caller ID and voicemail, as well as a cell phone, so I’m not buying that story.  Manager J said that he hadn’t spoken to the owner, but he would absolutely definitely no two ways about it call my that night.  It might be after 6 pm but come hell or highwater, I would have an answer.

At 7 pm, I called Manager J.  No one picked up, as the staff had gone home for the evening.

As of today, we are on Day 36. There is no end in sight.  The van is at Wiring Experts, who won’t fix it.  Manager J isn’t calling when he said he would.  The van isn’t fixed, and appears to have been damaged even more while in the care of the transmission people, although I don’t know if I can prove that.

I’ll update on any progress.  Does anyone know what we can do, or what might be wrong?  We need a working vehicle of some sort.  I’m begging rides off friends and family, and husband is hitching with coworkers.  When we thought Mr P broke his arm (while the Kirby guys were spraying foam on the floor), I had to call my sister for a ride.  Then, embarrassed, send her back home.  I have fines at the library, and have been unable to take out new books because I don’t know if or when I’ll ever get back there.

We cannot get another vehicle.  There is no room in our budget right now for a car payment of any kind, and we have no down payment or cash available to purchase a clunker, either.  Husband dear was going to get a second job, so we could buy a bigger vehicle, but he hasn’t been able to because we have no transportation.  We’ve lost out on 6 week’s worth of potential part time work.