​Attempted scam by Flower Jeep dealership in Montrose, Colorado

June 7, 2018

Summary:  Flower Motor Company said I needed an $8,000 transmission without inspecting my existing one.

My 2013 Jeep Wrangler was exhibiting a very hard shift from 1st to 2nd gear.  I made an appointment to have it diagnosed by Flower at 8:00 am on June 5, 2018.  I arrived a bit before 8:00. Perhaps 15 minutes later I noted that the vehicle had been moved from where I parked it out front.  I do not know where it was moved to. After a couple hours Paige, the service adviser I was working with, told me the mechanic thought it might be a valve in the transmission, but he did not have time to look at it that day.  I made an appointment to bring it back on June 7 at 8:00.

I arrived at Flowers about 8:00 am.  I again noticed that the Jeep had been moved after a short time.  At 10:30 I wandered by the service counter and Paige said she had the paperwork, but was waiting for the other service adviser to talk with me because he was more experienced.  She then said she was new at the job, but would talk with me anyway. She said the mechanic had found dirt in the transmission and that I needed a new one for just under $8,000.

I told her to put the Jeep back together and I would take time to think about it.  I stood outside the front door to wait. Perhaps 20 minutes later the mechanic that worked on the Jeep brought it to the front parking area and walked toward the front door.  I asked him what the prognosis was and he replied “It might go 50,000 miles or it might not. Sometimes the (do not remember the name) valve needs to be changed. There are a lot of O-rings and stuff in there.  Could be anything. I found metal in the transmission.” Paige stated his name was Darcy.

Page charged me $138.13 for the diagnosis and I left.  I soon looked under the Jeep and discovered that the transmission pan had not been removed, and wondered how he had known there was metal in the transmission.  I returned to the dealership and asked Paige how Darcy knew there was metal in the transmission. She said “Let me go get him” and went out in the garage. Many minutes later she returned and said he had removed a magnetized plug and discovered metal on it.  I did not remember a plug being there so asked her to have him come out and show me the plug. She again returned to the garage and came back to tell me he was involved in an intricate project that he could not stop in the middle of, but that he would be available in about 20 minutes.  I went outside to wait. Paige came out in perhaps 15 minutes to say Darcy had left for a 12:00 to 1:00 lunch break and that she would have a 1:00 to 2:00 lunch break. She said I could come back at 2:00.

I returned at 2:00 and Paige took me to the garage to talk with Darcy.  I asked how he knew there was metal in the transmission and he stated he had a scope to look down the transmission fill tube, and he had seen metal down there.  I asked if the scope was magnetized or only a viewing scope. He said it was viewing only. Since this was different than both things I had been told before, I asked him to show me the scope.  He said it was in a different bay so he could not show it to me. I again asked him to show it to me and he said he could not leave the job he was working on. At this stage I was raising my voice and Paige said she could not allow me to argue with a mechanic in the garage and that I would have to leave.
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On our way back to the service counter Paige said we could talk to a manager, or she could give me a refund of the diagnostic fee.  I decided my best bet was to get my money back and leave, so that is what I did.

This was certainly a scam to sell me a new transmission citing metal on a non-existent magnetized drain plug and a borescope inspection that never happened.