ComplaintsforMeineke Discount Mufflers

• Initial Complaint

  07/19/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On July 15th I had taken my car to Meineke to see if they could look at a problem I was having with my van as it was making a motorcycle noise as well as a humming noise. He agreed to look at the car and put it up so he could see under the car. He pointed exactly to the parts that needed replacing and told me that would correct my problems. I had initially thought it was a wheel bearing as I had that problem before with the same sound. He said no that was not it. I agreed with the professional opinion and agreed to have the car serviced on Monday July 17. I went to pick up the car early evening that same day and my van was making the same sounds as it did before. I called them right away and took the car for them to take a test ride and he said well it could be something else but those parts needed replaced anyway. He never mentioned wheel bearings in the conversation. In fact he had told me to look through all my car paperwork and tell him what I have done for car repairs the last few years. I had to get to my second job and when my shift was over while driving home the sound was even louder coming from the car. I had plans to go over there the next morning to see what they could do for me as I had just financed through the company 1000.00 for the car repair and the car was still doing the same thing as I initially dropped it off for. On July 18 I went to ****** **** next door to get a second opinion and he said indeed it was the wheel bearings and that the noise was not coming from the areas in which Meineke had stated. ****** **** said that yes the parts they replaced needed replacing at some point but that was not why the noises were happening from the car and that the parts they replaced did not have to be done right away. I’m fact Meineke had also mentioned to me well those parts had to be replaced anyway at some point. I went over to Meineke and said I wanted them to put the old axel back on my car and deduct that from the bill and he said since I went through a finance company that I had to wait 14 days and that if he took the new parts off and put old ones back on that I would have to pay for the labor. I called the finance company and they filed a complaint and are opening it up on my behalf as Meineke expects me to pay for services that were not corrected and that they replaced car parts that were not relevant to my car problem and the noise is even worse now not only when I step on the gas but also break in which it wasn’t doing that before. The finance company put a stop on any automatic payments to Meineke while they investigate the situation. One last ditch effort I called them in the afternoon on July 18th and said if they do the passenger wheel bearing at no cost that I would let things go. I don’t see them agreeing with this solution. Another thing I want to add is that when they are replacing axels they have to do a wheel alignment as well to ensure that everything is balanced and they never did that. I am not a car professional so I learned that is one of the important steps when dealing with axels on cars. They claim they do not have a machine and claim they told me that I would have to get that done elsewhere and that was not the case. I feel like they manipulated the situation and tried to make me think that I had done something wrong with past car repairs. I want them reported as services were not rendered correctly and professionally and they charged me 1000.00 for services not rendered.

  Customer response

  07/25/2023

  Update as of 7/25.  Meineke agreed to do the original repair of wheel bearing at no cost to make the situation right at no cost.  Although it was inconvenient they came through in the end and agreed to the repairs,  

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