George...
I just figured my comback rate for last year and it was 3.2%. Most years it
is about the same. I do about 250 trannys a year but work by myself and
don't really feel comfortable doing any more than that. Rick has been is
business longer, but he is an old fart like me..old school. I know of
genaric transmission shops that do mostly automatics who are pleased with a
20% failure rate...that don't cut it for me. I for one have increased my per
trans costs to keep these 20 yr old tranny's on the road without raising the
price for the last 5 years.
Most of us will work with any customer who has a problem. I have done full
warranty repairs and found out afterwards the customer was not forthcoming
about how & what happened. As with other quality companies, my reputation
superseeds all warranty claims and I would rather take it in the checkbook
than get a bad rap. I think RickLong has the same attitude.
Daryl of AA Transaxle
Duvall, WA. (Seattle area)
1-877-377-0773 toll free
425-788-4070
aatransaxle.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "george packard" <georgepackard@MCTTELECOM.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 12:44 PM
Subject: Re: Opinions on tranny rebuilds from Long Enterprises?

> Back to the thread I started last week about reputation of Rick Long in
> Sebastapol, CA and his tranny rebuilds. Tolga posted that he'd had a
> problem with a Long tranny and was not happy with his treatment.
>
> I called Rick a few days ago and asked about that, and he looked at his
> notes and said the transmission was out of warranty, but he had offered
> Tolga a fix for a nominal fee, and also offered to pay $32/hr shop fee
> for R and R of the bad transmission.
>
> I don't have Tolga's side of the story.
>
> Anyway, Rick does do a 2 year warranty, not as good as Daryl
> Chistenesen 3 year promise, but Rick seems to be willing to negotiate a
> fair deal on unusual situations.  He says he has done 6000 trannys with
> a three percent return rate. Not bad, in my opinion, for rebuilts.
>
> I'd be curious to know what Daryl's replacement rate is, and what is
> considered standard for the business...Daryl, if you are reading this,
> let us know!
>
> George in NH
> 82 Westy, 86 Westy Weekender, 87 Vanagon GL