Expert: A. Hall - 10/15/2008

Question
Hello,

I live in Evansville, Indiana.  The question I have is this:  I have a 2004 BMW 530 that was diagnosed by the dealer as needing a new transmission.  I found a place locally that said that they could rebuild it.  I have had the car at the shop for over 5 months on and off.  
The owner told me in August that the car was repaired and could be picked up...after 2 weeks of driving, I had the same problem as I had when I originally took it to him.  He took the car back and had it for another 3-4 weeks and told me it was fixed...after driving it for a week..I had the original issue one again.  I took the car back, he "fixes" it and once again I have the same issue.
I have paid him $4,800 to fix my transmission...not to mention my time and gas spent to take the car to him and the gas he uses up while "testing" my car.
I have also found out that on the repair ticket he charged me this:
$500 for labor
$4300 for parts
I talked to the place where he purchased the parts from and to find out he only spent $600 in parts total for my car.  And also to find out that he doesn't have the proper equipment to be diagnosing my car.

I'm pretty disappointed and am not sure what to do at this point.  He called me yesterday and told me my car was ready to be picked up again...after driving it for 1 hour, it had the same issue that I orinally took it in for.  

I feel like I have been more than patient with this company...I need advice on what I should do from this point moving forward.

Answer
From a practical standpoint, you can negotiate for a refund with the repair shop based on the information you told me.

From a legal standpoint, you can sue him in small claims court or hire an attorney to sue him for you.

You might also consider reporting him to the proper authorities, which may be the state attorney general or county attorney. This would be appropriate if fraud or other criminal misconduct was involved.