A month ago, Thani Al Mazrouei heard an unpleasant noise coming from his 2008 C6 Z06 Corvette's engine, and took it to the closest Chevrolet dealership to have it checked out. It turned out to be a problem with the crankshaft, so the dealership replaced the engine under the car's warranty.
Al Mazrouei picked up his car from Lassen Chevrolet in Albany, Ore. and drove away. A few miles later, the car's transmission failed, and he was stuck with a $6,000 bill when Kendall Chevrolet Cadillac in Eugene, Ore. determined that the car's transmission had been run out of oil.
While Al Mazrouei's 'vette was at Kendall Chevy getting a new transmission installed, he says got a text from the Lassen technician who'd done the engine replacement.
Thani. I need you to bring your Corvette back by for a few minutes so I can get the serial number from the new motor please.
A few days later, Al Mazrouei says he got another, more urgent message, and another a couple of days after that.
Thani. Please call me about your corvette imediately. It is extremely urgent.
Keep in mind, this is allegedly directly from the mechanic. No service department involvement here. What could have been so important?
Al Mazrouei said that Kendall Chevrolet Cadillac is holding him responsible for the transmission repair bill, because he can't prove that it wasn't his fault the transmission was run out of oil. Lassen Chevrolet has denied that they had anything to do with the Corvette's transmission running out of oil. Al Mazrouei is adamant that he kept up on the car's maintenance, and that there's no way his car could have been out of oil. He points to the technician's texts as evidence that refilling the car's transmission oil after the engine swap was overlooked at Lassen.
We reached out to both Lassen and Kendall, neither of which responded to our calls. We also called the technician, whose personal cell phone number was recorded in his text messages to Al Mazrouei. He hasn't called back yet.
Whether or not the transmission oil problem was his fault or the dealerships, or just a freak occurrence is anybody's guess. In the end, Al Mazrouei had no choice but to pay the $6,000 and get the car fixed. Not that you should feel obligated to feel sorry for a 21-year-old college student with a newish Corvette, but a guy's car is a guy's car, and nobody likes to feel like they've been cheated.
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