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View Full Version : Problem with American Powertrain



fastrods
07-02-2014, 04:17 AM
I am a newbie here, so I will keep this factual and to the point. I ordered a "swap kit" from Bill at American Powertrain 9 weeks ago for a f-body project I am building. I was talked into a T56 Magnum and told this kit would include everything to swap a manual tranny into an automatic car. I was told the kit would ship in 3 to 4 weeks and a 50% deposit was required to get this ordered. I was charged $3,000 for the 50% deposit, the total purchase was $5499. After placing the order I realized I never received an order confirmation or any type of correspondence from this vendor. So at four weeks and still not receiving anything, I began to make phone calls to American Powertrain. At the end of week five, I threatened to dispute the deposit with my credit card and was told that my order was shipping that day. I received my order the following week, it was missing half of the items I was charged for, but American Powertrain charged my credit card the $2,499 balance the day they shipped my order. I called way too many times to discuss here, but ultimately it is now 9 weeks and I still do not have everything I ordered. I did receive most of the items, but have never received the white lightning shifter and the clutch alignment tool, the driveshaft and yoke. I was told the white lightning shifter that I never received was shipped several times over the past 3 weeks, every time I call they are just getting it from the machine shop. I do know I am to measure for the driveshaft after I install the tranny, but after going through this with them I do not trust them to ship it in a timely fashion and consider it missing from the order!
Anyhow, I don't know how much patience you guys have, but when someone takes $5,499.00 of mine and cannot ship me in full by 9 weeks, it is time to cut bait. Unfortunately after two more unsatisfied calls yesterday and no call back from them, I was forced to call my credit card company and file a dispute. This is very unfortunate for me as I have had this car tied up in my garage for 9 weeks and have to start all over with my tranny swap! I did speak to the owner a few weeks ago and was baffled at his carefree attitude, not to mention I was called a liar last week by a Michael, who told me they have a picture of the clutch alignment tool I did not receive in a box for my shipment. Like I told him, if I was trying to rip them off I would not pick a $6 item.
This is not a rant, it is just fair warning to anyone looking to do business with American Powertrain.

parsonsj
07-02-2014, 04:36 AM
Moved to Feedback.

broken1234
07-02-2014, 09:04 PM
Try Bowler...

Donovan
07-06-2014, 01:42 PM
Thank you for sharing. I'm looking into this kind of purchase as I type.... makes me feel ill. There are a handful of vendors to choose from. I was going to talk to APT but I'm hesitating now. They all have to sell the transmission at the same price so no leverage there. The rest seems to be convenience... I'd rather do the legwork than get ripped.

Sorry to hear your troubles. Hope something works out right!

fastrods
07-07-2014, 06:50 PM
Unfortunately, I am not alone. I have found several other undesirable posts regarding APT. The more I search, the more I find. It seems the crossmember they sell with this kit is advertised as a complete bolt-in with no tunnel mods necessary, something I questioned when I was ordering and was reassured it would bolt in with no tunnel mods. What I found on some of the forums is the crossmember itself does not "fit" too well and the driveline angle is off. I guess if you mount the tranny low enough, they are not lying about no tunnel mods, they just forget to mention you will have some nice vibrations due to your tranny/rear end mismatch!
Also seems like there are major leak issues with their white lightning shifter, perhaps that is why they have never shipped me mine! Would be nice to get an honest answer instead of being told it is being shipped today every time I called.

I did speak with Hurst, they seem to be pretty good and pretty honest. They do say the tunnel will need modified with their crossmember, something I thought would be necessary with anyone's crossmember.

I also spoke with Spraker about the LGT 700 tranny. It is a 5 speed with similar torque specs in a smaller case, so it should bolt right in and will work with factory or Lakewood bellhousings. The only drawback for me is the 12 week lead time to get one of their trannys.

I am really in a bind, I have to wait to see what happens with my credit card dispute before I order another transmission from someone else. They are waiting for a response from APT, so my credit will not be final until they respond. It is a shame it came to this, but I now know they are one of those companies that cannot be trusted, too bad I learned the hard way!

I never have heard back from them and obviously never received the rest of my order!