Portland Import Transmissions

The automatic transmission in my 1991 VW Vanagon lost it’s ability to shift from 2^nd to 3^rd a year ago. I removed the transmission and hauled it over to TriCounty Transmission for a rebuild. Tom, the owner asked me to bring the van by for an inspection once the tranny was rebuilt and i had reinstalled it into the van. I did so and their team performed an inspection to ensure my work was sound.
A year passed and the van began to fail to shift from 1^st to 2^nd when cold. I dropped it off describing the symptoms to Tom. The van stayed in the shop being worked on for a week during which time the tranny was removed and the failing bits rebuilt. I called in to request status updates during the time they had the van and Isabelle was always friendly and accomodating.
It’s unfortunate that the initial rebuild required attention a year later but i want to commend the shop for honoring the work and warranty and making good on a repair.
Brent

This is the 4^th transmission shop i went to for an estimate. I am giving this shop a poor rating because 1) he misidentified the transmission in my car 2) $ 400 more than the next higher priced quote. 3) two of the other shops give longer warranties for less money AND they have better BBB ratings. I would never have bothered to go to this shop for an estimate if i hand checked the BBB ratings first.

This business is also called Tri-​County Transmission.
BEWARE: You will notice that the bad reviews often have a similar theme to mine (no warranty work, car held hostage, Tom being a psycho, lots of lies) and the good reviews are vague. («Best place in town!»). The reason is that this business writes its own fake reviews on City Search, Google, OregonLive, and other sites to try to counter the bad reviews. (See photos for screen shots above.)
Seriously, you don’t have to believe me. But DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE you make a significant financial commitment to these crooks. Their Better Business Bureau rating is awful, with several unresolved issues. Call the Attorney General and ask about their history. Check the Department of Consumer Affairs. Check every review site you can think of. And remember that Google makes you show your real name to create a review, so I have a major concern about retaliation from them. I’m sure others would too.
Anyway…
What a nightmare. When my transmission died, they screwed up the repair– badly.
They installed the new parts incorrectly, and declared it fixed. I picked up my car and in a few weeks it was dead again. Thank goodness there was a warranty, right?
Tom didn’t admit to the error. Instead he said that the new parts messed up other parts, and it would be done in a week. I waited two weeks then called to check on status. This was when I started getting a gut feeling that I was dealing with unstable people. Simple phone calls regarding status just felt creepy. This dumb dance started where every week Tom gave me an excuse why the work wasn’t done as promised. Then he gave me a new promise of when it would be done-​you know– for real this time.
I knew I was being lied to. But what could I do? He already had my money. I didn’t have another $ 2200 bucks, and at this point I worried about him doing something retaliatory to my car if I complained too much.
Every time I called, they acted like they had no idea who I was for the first half of the conversation. Then as soon as I said anything about how long it had been, they suddenly remembered that they had done so many «favors» for me.
Other times my phone calls would go un-​returned, but they swore they did call me. Obviously my call history was defective just for their phone numbers.
After almost two months and still no vehicle, I had to look at legal options that I could NOT afford.
I talked with Oregon Consumer Affairs, plus some friends and other auto shops. I came across a good lawyer out of pure luck and a cool co-​worker.
An inspection of Tom’s work showed that Tri-​County installed the parts wrong and ruined them. The car needed a whole new transmission rebuild. My lawyer had to threaten to sue for everything under the sun to get Tom to agree to pay for the repair and warranty from a capable mechanic.
The best part is that Tom completely freaked out on me and my husband, as if we somehow hurt him. I don’t even understand that. I paid him a real $ 2200 bucks. I didn’t give him fake money. Or money that disappeared after a couple weeks.
But here he was screaming at us, like he was somehow the one getting screwed. I just stood there baffled while he worked himself into a rage. I have no idea what kind of mental gymnastics this anger-​management drop-​out did to convince himself that a paying customer deserved his abuse and lies… (or that a paying customer did not not deserve the promised repair.)
When your transmission dies, you expect it to be expensive and inconvenient. You don’t expect months of drama and to be at the mercy of the Jerry Springer cut list.
Stay away. RUN away from this «shop». At best they are extremely unhealthy. At worst, the place is a scam.

I used these guys for having my brakes done. They replaced all pads and rotors and also checked the transmission to make sure it was in good shape. I could not be happier with both the price and service they provided. The owner even came in on a Saturday to help. Great job, will return~!

Want to be given completely vague ETAs?
Want your car essentially held hostage without being worked on?
oh! How about they loan you a shoddy car that breaks down on you… you want that?
and don’t let me forget, the car that was starting and running fine when i dropped it off there, no longer started when i finally demanded that they return it.
These guys are rude, uncommunicative, and downright shady. They gave me a diagnosis entirely different than that given to me by a VW DEALER… wow…
Do NOT take your car here…
while this may have been sufficient for the other reviewer to get her «breaks» worked on, and an oil change as well… (note: not sure what either of these have to do with transmissions, or how it would validate them as a place that ‘knows their Trannys’ [what???]) i would stay far away from this place.

Great work. These guys know their Trannys! I needed an oil change and new break pads… they hooked me up.
I will go back when servicing needs to be done, on my Element.

Not only do these guys do terrible work. They go by several different names, which should be a clue. Check out their reviews on Portland City Search – under TriCounty Transmission – BEFORE taking your transmission here.