Lithia Volkswagen of Des Moines

Ok so more than two weeks ago my college daughters 2000 VW Passat will not move out of PARK. I call Lithia to see if there’s anyone in Ames who can fix this. They said better to call the towing company and have it taken there. They got no names or phone #‘s, so the next day I go in. The car was there, I was told it was going to cost $ 135 per hour to look at it, they probably could find the problem in 3 hours, 12 days later I was told they can’t find the problem, I could have a new transmission put in ($ 3,000) and maybe a valve job ($ 1600) owed them for towing and 2 hours of labor as they were generous to take on hour off. I told them a tow truck was coming to take the car somewhere else as I felt they really did not want anything to do with this car. He needed to tell me how much I owed. When the tow truck arrived he called me and I was away from my phone. I called back about 20 min. later and paid the bill. This was Friday. Now (Wednesday) I find out that the tow truck was not allowed to take the car and it’s still at Lithia.
There was absolutely no communication about anything from Lithia. I was there two times and spoke directly with the service people and yet when I called I was told they didn’t recognize who was calling as the bill was in my husbands name. He never set foot on the place and never called them, however, they did call him to see how he liked Lithia. He told them to call me, they didn’t. Why do you think they didn’t call him when the tow truck driver was there and they wouldn’t let them take the car? Why could they not find the problem? Why didn’t anyone tell me that the car had not been taken to the other mechanic? Also, I called and my husband called and left messages, no calls were returned! I was told the phone systems was screwed up and nobody ever received any messages that were left.
What a total waste of my time and $ 500!
DO NOT TAKE YOUR CAR THERE!
UPDATE:
We had the car towed to another mechanic, after Lithia was told they were coming to tow the car they turned the tow truck away as the bill had not been paid. I had called to pay the bill but it was not complete yet. Lithia called me back when I was away from the phone and told me the tow truck was there. I called withing 20 minutes and paid the bill. A week later I called the new place and they said they never got the car! It would have been nice if Lithia had told us that bit.
So anyway, within 24 hours the new mechanic found the problem, which was not the transmission nor the valves, found us a part that was used and we picked up the car and it’s running great! Total including towing and the part and labor $ 835!

There are only so many intelligent things I can say about a car lot/​service center so here it goes.
1.) Swift and very helpful customer service!
2.) no appointments necessary for oil changes — I was in and out in less than an hour
3.) free wifi in the lobby
4.) they clean the exterior of your car and sweep out the two front seats with your oil change
5.) diesel synthetic oil changes will run you around $ 80
6.) prompt and smart customer service (ex. I received a follow-​up email requesting feedback the day after my visit)