Select Transmission and Automotive

8/14/16: My transmission broke down in downtown San Antonio. I was visiting from Las Cruces, NM. Needless to say, I was in a bind. It was Sunday and I had no wheels in a strange city far from home. I called a few places with 24/7 towing and Gary from Select Transmission was the first to get back to me. Beggars can't be choosers, so I had the truck towed to their shop.

8/15/16: The parking lot at Select is jammed with vehicles. This might be a sign of them being in high demand because of their excellent service, but it's really because they are slow and/or overbooked. I'd be fine with slow, IF the work is done properly, but that was not to be in my case. They were super nice and cool as they talked knowledgeably about automotive repair. I ended up ordering an upgraded 4L80E with a nationwide 3 year warranty and was able to get financing for the whole cost of the repair, approximately $3800. I told them it would be about 3 weeks before I could arrange to get back out to SA to pick up the truck. I caught a flight home for $350 since I had to work the next day.

8/29/16: I called Select to get an update. Gary said it would be ready by Wednesday, the 31st. I let them know I'd be coming out at the end of the week, which would be the start of Labor Day weekend.

9/2/16: I took an afternoon flight to SA (another $350) and got to Select at about 5pm to pick up the truck. They had apparently been rushed to put it back together...so much for being done by the 31st. Gary told me there was a noise and they couldn't figure out the source. I knew of a noise coming from my front transfer case every now and then, so I told him that was probably it. He also told me that the transmission would make some noise for a few hundred miles as it broke in. Not knowing any better, I drove it for about 90 miles while there was this loud scraping sound. I ended up parking it at a friend's place. Underneath the truck there was evidence of fluid leakage and the skid plate that protected the transmission was missing. The shop was closed for the weekend so I couldn't take it back until Tuesday.

9/3/16: I called Select and got Gary the lying rat on the phone. He was at some Labor Day weekend tailgate party and the shop was closed. He told me to check the fluid level. No help there, the fluid level was fine.

9/5/16: I wasn't going to drive the truck 700 miles making that noise and I wasn't going to leave my truck there for another three weeks so I arranged to have it shipped back to a transmission shop in El Paso for $500 and rented a car to drive home ($120).

9/10/16: My truck arrived at the shop in El Paso. I owe the guy there $400 for the balance of having my truck shipped.

9/22/16: I make it into the El Paso shop and pay the $400. He had already inspected the truck and pulled the rear transfer case off the back of the transmission. It had not been filled with oil, the filler plug on top was missing and the drain plug was loose. The inside was full of metal shavings. Total cost to replace with a rebuilt unit: $1241. Thanks a lot, Select Transmission! To be fair, the transmission itself was fine and installed properly. But PROPER removal and replacement of the rear transfer case is an integral part of the job and this was not done.

My honda Pilot died so I had them come pick it up to give me quote, and called for 2 days only to get a list of possible problems but no dollar amount. Going to make a long story short. They never return calls. I told them to bring it back and pick up my truck which took them 4 days to get it back and they were not going to get the truck with that type of service then when they did bring it back. When offloading they dropped it over three feet off the ground if i would not have had a tow hook under the bumper it would have taken my whole bumper off and crushed my tail pipe. Do not take these people's word. They said my timing belt was broken but it was only at 10k miles. When i got it back the case was open and coincidentally the bely was broken right at the opening. It doesn't happen that way so perfectly. Crooks!

I recently had my 1999 f150 taken to Select Transmission, everyone was helpful especially Nick the manager.. They quoted me a fair price and we're prompt with the repair of my transmission. Would definitely recommend anyone to use Select Transmission..

We took my Car to a garage to have some work done. My wife found an advertisement on KENS5 site that support “Select Transmission & Automotive” I called them to get some information about them and to find out if they could fix the transmission on my car. The person ( Crystal ) on the phone assured me that they could fix my car. She said that they would even send a tow to pick up the car for free. We agreed to the repairs and they sent out a tow to pick up my car from the garage where I left it. 

The car had transmission problems and this is what I told them. Crystal assured me that team of efficient techs would look over the car and diagnose exact what the problem was and fix it. She called me a day later and told me they diagnosed that it was the clutch so they were going to replace the clutch. We agreed on the repair and the proceeded to fix it. 

After they did the work they called me and told me the work was done so I went to go pick up my car. I paid 1215.00 for a clutch job replacement. I got in my car and drove off and noticed the same exact nose that I had brought it there for in the first place. I turned around immediately and took it back to them. I told Crystal that they did not fix the problem. In fact if they had driven the car any mechanic would have heard it. She went in and asked if a tech even drove the car and they said “no” that they had not driven the car. On my request I asked her to have a tech drive the car. He looked upset but took the car for a test drive. When he got back, we asked him if he heard the nose. He responded with “yes” and walking into the shop, with nothing else to say. 

I expressed my dissatisfaction with Crystal and let her know that this was totally unacceptable and that they charge me for a repair on something I did not need. She then told me that she was going to call the owner to find out what he would do about it. She let me know that she talk to the owner and that he was going to get back to her. They left me waiting outside the shop, but being so frustrated and unsatisfied with the level of service and support, I decided I did not want them to touch the car again, and just left.  I called Crystal back, multiple times, and asked her to have the owner call me. He has yet to return my call.   

I called to get the name of the owner. His name is Jeff Thames. I am totally dissatisfied with the level of support and the service provided by “Select Transmission & Automotive”. I strongly suggest that anyone looking to have any type of automotive repair done to completely avoid taking their vehicle to this place. 

What is sad . . . we just found a picture of Jeff Thames on YouTube, and he was a guy who looked like he was going to get involved and speak up, while Crystal and I was talking, but then this guy just walked away.  Wow . . . hard to believe the Manager was there at the shop and did not have the curtesy to talk to an unsatisfied customer.

Jeff Thames at Select Transmission Automotive is a rip off and has very poor customer service skills!

J.M.