Blumenthal's customer service department head, David Blumenthal. Number one son working his magic fingers. This flat on the O/D control shaft was 180 degrees out when Blumenthals installed the O/D. This spring was just floating loose inside the case instead of installed on the O/D control shaft. The mystery is solved. Bring your own Vaseline! Blumenthal’s Customer Service won’t provide it! Warning to all! Avoid Blumenthal ‘s Transmission in Oklahoma City. Avoid them like that bad case of gonorrhea. Your not so innocent fun can turn ugly! Our fun started with a busted gear in our 1949 Ford three speed OD transmission. Broken tooth on first/reverse gear. We pulled the transmission, separated the overdrive unit and replaced the gear. Simple enough? No! Had nothing but trouble mating the OD unit back to the transmission itself. Armed with only a basic owner’s manual we battled the overdrive unit off and on for a couple days. Frustrated, we sought expert help. Needed someone with vintage transmission experience. Unfortunately, we landed, transmission in tow, down at Blumenthal’s Transmission on South Western in Oklahoma City. Should have known better after all the stories I’d heard. They pressured us for an entire and costly transmission rebuild. Again, I said it was rebuilt and we only wanted simple tech help ***embling the overdrive unit. With no broken parts, it was just an ***embly issue. Simple right? Against my better judgement , I handed over a couple hundred dollars for the job. Ouch, that hurt! “Sure, we can help you”, he said. Bolstered by their ***urances we headed home. Remember, “a fool and his money are soon parted”. Picked it up couple days later and hauled it home. Ready to stab it back, but it wouldn't shift out of overdrive or into reverse! Wow! Blumenthal’s hadn’t even fixed it! WTF! They took the money but didn’t fix it! I called back in a polite manner and asked them to please check it again. Sounded easy enough. Especially since we paid their exorbitant fee but had nothing to show for it! This conversation quickly left the rails!! That testosterone fueled goon demanded another steep fee! Without it, he refused to make their work good! Didn’t matter to him if it worked or not! I pressed the issue as he ramped up the excitement. Yelling and cursing , he swarmed like a hive of killer bees! His rant left no idea why they screwed up! “Well, do you provide free Vaseline for your victims”, I asked? That's just good customer service, right? He didn't like my smart *** remark. Not surprisingly, we find Blumenthal’s Transmission is not accredited by the Oklahoma City Better Business Bureau. There are six closed complaints against them reported for the past three years! The number of unclosed complaints against them are not reported by the BBB, so we just don’t know? With such a track record, ya wonder how these *** clowns stay in business? We go to plan B. Found a couple vintage shop manuals and finally got the unit back together. Not so hard if ya have the right tech books? That bad case of Gonorrhea, if treated, may heal over time. But Blumenthal’s, like Gonorrhea, is best avoided !
If you decide to just go ahead and replace it, take the old transmission, slather it with dog **** and toss it through their office window.
Sorry to hear that.Off the subject a little bit.I just bought a gas tank for my old station wagon and its wrong.Now to see if the guy will do me right.Bruce.
One could do many things, some of which may include: find a dead skunk and throw it in their lobby or go to an outdoors store and buy yourself some good ole deer piss (for masking human scent for hunting) and conveniently squeeze droplets throughout the lobby and restrooms
Six complaints in three years? Man... Better average than at least THREE local transmission shops hereabouts... All my years in the trade I heard more ****** shop and brake shop woes than any others. (Well, there were always the compe***ive engine overhaul shops...) There was an old red-faced guy that had a shop out in Santa Clara, years ago...it was an old framed building sheeted with corrugated steel. This old jerk would drink all day, f@#k up job after job, verbally guarantee his work, then refuse to honor it. My bud Tom had enough the second go-around, so he went out and parked across the road, and before the old geezer locked up, Tom sneaked up to the old guy's 4X4 Dodge clamshell fendered power wagon and chained it to one of the stout 6" X 6" posts at the corner of the main building. The old drunk hobbled out and climbed up into his Power wagon, fired up the big 6 and let 'er have it, like always. He pulled the main building with its frontal lean-to 60 feet down the street before it all collapsed, then he stopped. There was tin dragged 75 feet, the yard looked like Hurricane Elmer came through with a hangover. Tom said the geezer got out of the power wagon and roared some obscenities, then kicked the old Dodge 'til he broke his foot. Tom left the chain there.
Sometimes satire is the best revenge. But I like the chain idea - kinda like in American Grafitti. Don't they put you in jail for such things??
The OKC BBB gives them an A rating. It also says this about accreditation: "Blumenthal's Transmission Shop is not BBB Accredited. Businesses are under no obligation to seek BBB accreditation, and some businesses are not accredited because they have not sought BBB accreditation. To be accredited by BBB, a business must apply for accreditation and BBB must determine that the business meets BBB accreditation standards, which include a commitment to make a good faith effort to resolve any consumer complaints. BBB Accredited Businesses must pay a fee for accreditation review/monitoring and for support of BBB services to the public." In other words, in order to be accredited by the BBB, a business has to apply for accreditation AND pay a fee to BBB. Obviously, they don't know how to fix antique transmissions and I wouldn't use them for that reason (plus the fact that they are several hundred miles from me!) but the comment about their "accreditation" is meaningless since many business don't want to waste the money paying a fee to BBB (and I've dealt with shops that ARE accredited by BBB with A+ rating that did horrible work for me). BBB is pretty much meaningless any more.
If you really want to frag the guy and IF he leaves his vehicle unlocked, press the "juice" out of a sal****er fish and pour it on his carpet. The smell will permeate all the interior fabrics and is impossible (not almost impossible) to remove. As a minimum the carpet must be replaced. Karma can be a real *****.
They say when you go looking for revenge, take two shovels... The way this guy got angry seemed out of order, so he's probably in a bad place already, maybe he's got a meth problem. I'd say he's digging his own hole, watch from a distance, his downfall may come sooner than you think, without you lowering yourself.
FWIW Approximately 20 years ago, I had a bad experience at Blumenthals too. I think the owners name was Dunnie. Cost me approximately $900, back then. They refused fix the transmission or refund the money. Would not recommend them to anyone. They later operated an engine, and drive line shop including drive shafts. Jack
If you try to wreak revenge on them it can blowup in your face and you can be the one in trouble with the law, not my idea of a smart thing to do.
you knew about them beforehand... you gave them your money anyway... you figured out how to do it yourself...
you gave them your money anyway... you knew about them beforehand... you figured out how to do it yourself... (3w larry) funny but also sad
Another lesson to be learned is that patience and research will usually get your solution in hand. Often that's not feasible for a daily driver, but most of our cars can wait. Often when I'm frustrated just leaving it on the bench for the next day makes a difference. I personally love revenge fantasies but karma is a ***** and being the agent of karma does not release one from the effects of karma.
Years ago,I had a Karma experence that I still laugh about...When I was still in the parts business,I had a customer in another city,he had an account with us,but it finally got to 120 days past due...He called for a certain part one day,I told him that I would need to send it C.O.D as his account was past due,,He OK'd that as he was really in a bind for the part..I packaged his order with old bricks about the same weight as the part he ordered...Sent it C.O.D. for the amount of his past due account..Got his money for C.O.D and cleared his account..Never heard a word from him,,I guess he figured out what had just happened to him
Protest the credit card charges as the job they were "paid" to do was not completed correctly. Short of that, take them to small claims court. A judge not knowledgeable about cars would understand your photos and explanation. Sure it's "only" $200, but guys like him thrive on knowing most folks won't pursue small dollar amount repair claims because it's "not worth their time and effort". Drag him and his mechanic out of the comfort of their shop and down to court for the day.
Ortho Fish Emulsion. P.U.!! Its fertilizer and has to be one of the nastiest compounds. A film can, (remember those?), down the vent intake and keep walkin on by. However, as you knew beforehand,,,,,,,,eeehhhhhh,,,,,uuuhhhhh,,,,uuuuummmmmm,,,,,,,,,, Dont spit into the wind.
Pour a few trails of ****** fluid going down the street from the parking lot. Then some big puddles with pieces of clutches, gears, other ***orted chunks. Should give potential customers the message.
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