Red D Transmission

Recently my son purchased a used pick-up from a private owmer. The previous owner had a transmission rebuilt by Red-D transmission which came with a limited warranty. Just over a month since the transmission was installed the pick-up stalled on the highway. The alternator and battery were checked at a local auto parts store. The engine would not turn over and they thought it was the starter. As I knew the starter would not cause an engine to stall, we had the pick-up towed to a GM Dealership in our home town. 

The dealership's first diagnosis of the problem tested to see if the engine would manually turn over - it would not. To the dealership mechanics credit, he noticed that the transmission was new and thought maybe a flywheel bolt or some other bolt may have backed out. To diagnose the problem, the dealer dropped the transmission. As suspected a bolt had backed out of the case and had damaged/locked up the torque converter.In short - the transmission shops poor workmanship was responsible for the engine to be locked up.

The owner at Red-D Transmissions was notified of the obvious error and said he would "make it all good" but wanted the vehicle towed to his Carmichael location. We towed the vechicle 1-1/2 hrs away (not covered under warranty) and the owner replaced the torque converter and fixed the bolt at no charge. Upon retrieving the pick-up, the owner of the transmission shop denied any financial responsibility for the diagnostic charges ($525.00) as (1) the warranty is only good for the original owner, and (2) the pickup had to be towed to a ATRA certified shop and prior approval be obtained from the original warrantor before diagnosing the problem. 

My arguement is not that these items are not clearly stated in the so called warranty, they are. My arguement is with the lack of integrity of the Transmission shop owner/policy in Carmichael. 

Whether or not the original owner still owns the vehicle, a reputable shop will cover all reasonable costs with their warranty and workmanship for the time of the warranty period. In my case the transmission shop owner argued that he did not have to pay for any of the GM dealerships diagnosis costs because he was not notified of the transmission problem BEFORE work was done to diagnose if the transmissin was the problem. According to the owner of the shop and their warranty, before knowing what locked up the engine, we were to have towed the pickup to his shop or an ATRA shop first, so that they could determine if it was his transmission work that caused the problem! Really, before knowing why the engine locked-up? Does that make any sense? 

Is this the kind of shop you want working on your transmission? Do you want to pay $525.00 because Red-D Transmission can't remember to tighten a $2.00 bolt?