Transmission Destroyed By Python 871xp

Again, Circuit City can NOT take responsibility.  Circuit City will NOT be the ones paying you if it is determined that it is their fault.  In order for them to even consider paying you you MUST file a claim with their insurance company.  I'm not sure what they have been telling you, but that is how it works.  Also, they can NOT stop you from filing a claim, you have every right to do so, and it sounds like it will be done sooner or later, so you might as well do it sooner.  Even if Circuit City accepts responsibility the insurance company will still do a full investigation and may decide differently. 

As far as statistics go, I agree that is unlikely that your tranny just happened to fail minutes after leaving.  But, in my experiance, I've seen strange things happen:

1. Installed a radio in a Dodge Stratus.  Less then a week later they nocticed the cruise control wasn't working.  They took it to the dealer and the dealer told thim that the stereo installation broke their cruise control.  They brought the car to my shop.  I popped the hood (something we never did when we installed the radio) and visually inspected the cruise control servo to find that a vacuum line had melted against the exhaust manifold.  They took the car back to the dealership, had the line repaired, and the cruise control system was fine.

2. Installed a radio in a Honda that was driven by a younger female.  About a year later, her and her Mom brought the car back because the sunroof wasn't working.  We, being the nice people that we are, took a look and found that the switch had came unplugged (you can't make this stuff up). 

3. I was installing an alarm in a Buick Riviara.  I turned the ignition switch on to test something and the turn signal module started smoking.  I quickly turned the key off, inspected everything, and didn't find anything wrong.  The car was taken to the dealership because the turn signals didn't work.  The guy fought with us (my shop and our insurance agency) to get us to pay.  He lost the case because the mechanic at the Buick dealership said they replace 2-3 of those modules per month, because they randomly go up in smoke.  They could also find no link between our alarm and the turn signal module.

4. A coworker installed a radio in a Nissan and the parking lights quit working.  Replaced the fuse and it blew again.  I removed the radio to find the ground wire had been screwed in to the back metal support of the radio cavity.  I reached behind it to find a relay.  I removed the screw, regrounded it, replaced the fuse, and everything worked fine - This is a case of obvious installation error - hard proof of what went wrong. 

5.  My boss (yes, my superior) installed a remote start system in an older Dodge Minivan.  He wasn't very good at installation, as his background was sales.  He ran the tach wire up to the coil, through the doghouse.  Well, he didn't tie up the tach wire, or protect it in any way.  The van died less then 1.5 miles away and they actually pushed it back to our shop.  I pulled it apart to find the melted tach wire still stuck to the exhaust manifold.  I worked with our 'super tech' until about 1AM troubleshooting it and replacing parts.  It turns out we burnt the coil up.  Once the coil was replaced and the tach wire was secured the vehicle operated as normal - another case of hard evidence.

These are a few of the more memerable moments I had during my 5+ years as a professional installer.  As someone else had said, when a tranny is going to go, it is going to go.  I'm trying to stay unbiased and give advice based on facts only, but I still believe that your tranny is primarily a hydraulic device that only has electronic solenoids.  That being said, it would be impossible to electronically destroy it.  But, every tranny is different and I don't know anything at all about yours.  If the tranny was in the 'wrong' gear it would put more stress on your motor, not the tranny, and if the tranny was grinding gears it would be a clutch issue, something that is NOT electronically controlled to my knowledge.  I believe these two points will be the basis of the insurance companies investigation.

Chevy trucks, for quite a while, have needed the second ignition powered up or there could be possible tranny damage.....not the same situation here though.

After having reached the limits of my patience with the stalling tactics by Circuit City (e.g., the service manager was “off” Monday and Tuesday and didn’t return the calls from AAMCO voluntarily today but reluctantly promised to review the actual installation sometime Thursday when the AAMCO manager finally tracked him down this afternoon), I went to the retail outlet to discuss this situation with the operations manger. Again, after a number of stalling tactics with various people running interference (lasting about an hour), the operations manager emerged and essentially let me know that Circuit City assumes no responsibility for this incident. Of course he would put nothing in writing, including spelling his name, and he didn’t have any business cards. (I have his fingerprints on my clipboard.) And he was very paranoid when he saw a cell phone in my pocket (recording the conversation?).

There are a number of individual components to today’s events, but to keep the discussion focused I’m going to introduce them one at a time. You already have the bottom line, so I’m not trying to keep you in the “dark.” But there are a few twists and turns you might find interesting as the discussion progresses and at least one directly involves this online forum. If the discussion remains active, I’ll post additional points across the next couple of days to help keep it lively. Meanwhile, I’m making my own detailed notes for impending litigation and other approaches to dealing with Circuit City’s refusal to accept responsibility.

Point #1: The operations manager would not give me the name or contact information for their insurance company. Let me repeat that in case you think I mistyped it: “The operations manager would not give me the name or contact information for their insurance company.” Which hand would you like for me to remove from his throat (metaphorically, of course) as I write that down for you in case it’s not clear --  “The operations manager would not give me the name or contact information for their insurance company.” Next suggestion?

(He did add that he had to file the claim with the insurance company which he would not do.)

Thats complete BS.  The 'operations' manager doesn't know anything about car audio.  Have you asked the car audio manager about the insurance contact information?  I will attempt to get it for you.

If you feel as strongly as I assume you feel....get a lawyer. We here on this web site can only give you "suggestions" The lawyer can give you the facts. It's a VERY intriguing story, and a very sad one as well. And boy can you type. I feel that all of the energy you have sharing your information with us might be better pushed in a different direction. None of us here can help you. I feel bad for you to have to deal with a wiz poor installation. But look....you have hardly gotten going on trying to resolve your issue and you have run SMACK into the corperate F ing brick wall. You cannot do this alone.

Please don't take what I have written here, the wrong way. I hate "the man" And you are dealing with him right now!

Good luck brother....I'm pullin for ya!