Meineke Car Care Center
Reviews and Complaints

If you live in the Cincinnati area and need a home electronics component fixed such as a TV, receiver, vcr, etc, don't waste your money or your time with this establishment.

They charge you an up front fee of $35 just to take a look at your stuff, whether they fix it or not. Thats fine if they at least can provide you with a diagnosis or some other sort of useful information. But if they hand it back to you and say 'we couldn't figure it out', that's something different all together. They were able to duplicate the problem too. If they had not, well then I could see where you simply can't fix what is not broke, but this was clearly not the case. Would you pay money of any kind to anybody to look at somthing (your car or otherwise) and tell you they have no clue? I had no clue either. Thats why I paid you so-called professionals to figure it out for me. I don't have to pay someone $35 to tell me what I already know.

Their best advice was to send it back to the manufacturer. Now why would anyone need to pay someone $35 to tell them something they already knew they could very well do themselves?

To add insult to injury, the owner (and chief troubleshooter) told me what he thought MIGHT be the problem. Now I'm no electronic specialist, but I do know some things about this stuff. What he told me didn't sound logical and related to my problem. When I questioned him about this line of reasoning, he then backpeddled and said that 'it was just a guess.' I don't pay people $35 to guess. Knowledge and professionalism are what I pay for. This conversation has led me to believe that either they are not very good at what they do, or they are just plain inept.

In any case, the proper and honest course of action would have been to refund my money, which I did ask for. Instead, the owner insisted that his time was worth money, and that he would not do so. Evidentally his time is much more valuable than mine. What a wonderful way to justify your incompitence with your customer.

To Mr. Meineke I say: There is a cost to doing business. Though you may have expended some of your valuable time attempting to provide a service, the fact is you did not provide anything of tangible value to the customer. How do you do this and maintain a clear consious? The right thing to do would have been to simply bite the bullet on this one and accept the fact that you didn't do anything that could be accepted as useful to the customer and worth paying $35 for. Instead, you kept my money. I hope it was worth $35 dollars to you. The long-term repurcussions of this will far outweigh that amount in your future business.

My car was scheduled for new spark plugs and wires at 4:00PM Saturday 02-02-07. Everything in my car was working fine at that time. That bill was $204.16. Is that the usual for a tune up on a 4-cylinder car? By Sunday afternoon I had no heat in the car. When I called on Monday I was told that the mechanics were nowhere near the thermostat for the heater and the car was "old and things wear out." I then left my car to have the heater repaired. Repairs were expected to take two days as a part had to be ordered from Hyundai. Meineke had my car for 3 complete days, one of which the car was not worked on at all because of days off and personnel problems. I was not given the courtesy of a phone call telling me it would be an extra day. I had to borrow a car for my own transportation. I finally picked up my car on 02-09-07. That bill was $583.20. The driver's side door lock is now broken. When I called about this problem I was told again that the mechanics were nowhere near my door lock. Is this a pattern? The door lock was not broken when it was brought in for repair on 02-06-07 and now it is. The car was looked at on 02-10-07 and I was told that the door had to be removed and the spring replaced for an extra $30.00. I did not damage my car and I expect to be compensated for the broken door lock.

After paying Meineke $350 to replace front rotors and brake pads, the new pads wore out in 2 months. I went back to Meineke and they said this was not normal...I was driving too hard (these were 1 year warranty brake pads). After a lengthly debate they agreed to turn the rotors and install new pads. 2 months later...same problem. Now they say the calipers are sticking and rotors are cannot be turned again. I said no problem, I will pay for new calipers if you cover the pads and rotors under warranty (the calipers were the problem all along). They laughed at me. Not what you would expect from a National Chain that rides itself on brake expertise and customer service. Their website states "Our brake repair technicians will inspect your car brakes and tell you exactly what the problem is". Yeah Right!

I took my car to Meineke car care center at 1261 N Delsea drive Vineland NJ. where I was charged over 80 dollars for an oil change with no Filter, and a balance and rotation of my tires, or should I say UN-balance. since it was worse after they were finished. I did return today and was able to get a refund for the so called oil change, but not for all the other crappy service. According to the Meineke franchise website, it says that No experience is Necessary and I believe it now. Don't waste your time or money with this company.

. I want to complain and explanation about my bitter experience with Meineke, Colmbia, Missouri (2001 Rangeline St # C, Columbia - [protected]).
I went there with a leak in my AC. I knew it for sure that there is a leak and asked them to fix it. The manager (I knew it later ) said he need to hook up a machine to check the system to see where is the problem or leaking and gave me a price of $130. I asked if there is any other way (comparatively cheaper) to do it as I know there is a leak and asked if it is possible to put some die in to check from where its leaking. He said “no, he won’t do that”. --- Understandable …. He wants to follow his policy…
After 2/3 hours he said he filled gas and die and asked me to come the next day so that they could find the leak. I went there next day and they said the “O-ring is bad”… and charged me $60 to fix it… then let me go with Freon filled up….. I drove for 30/40 minutes and AC stopped working ….. went to their shop again 2 day later and they said the clamp the hold the joint of 2 pipes (where the O ring is) is bad and need to be replaced... so come next day since they don’t have it in stock like that O ring ….
So I went there next week and after spending a long time they said the evaporator need to be replaced – reason is – the outer end of the pipe got deformed … WHEN THEY SHOWED ME THE PIPE I HAVE NOTICED SOME SCRATCHES AND MARKS OR ABUSE THERE.. I asked if they did it as it was covered and did not happened by me…. They said NO offcourse … but who did that .. if it was deformed why they could not notice it any earlier… they did it and ignoring their responsibility.. The mechanic also left a pliers on my wind shield that caused a small chip on my wind shield as I started my wiper and it bumped on and dropped on my glass. Next day he was asking for the pliers and I gave it back to him .. but when I mentioned the incident he said that chip was from a stone came off the road….. …. What you could say …
Anyway, to fix the AC they asked for $500 as the outer end of the evaporator got deformed (and I claim that they did it but I can not prove it as)and they want to replace the whole evaporator which is $500 plus $60 for labor….. when I said I found one in ebay for $80 … they said they wont accept it and asked me to leave the shop as I am asking too much of questions…. Regarding if there is any other cheaper way to do it. He also gave me an example – “as if I go to the same restaurant and ask for if they can give me a burger for less every time” …. Is this how a manager should treat a customer even if he asked for alternatives (cheaper)….
I spent over $200 and 15 hours waiting in their shop without any result ….. without knowing my rights on misbehavior, mistreat by the employee…. Money back issue due to job has not been done (I went there 5 times and everytime they came up with a new thing how could it be sure that this time spending $500 would solve the problem)…. Who is going to pay for fixing the chip on my wind shield as it happened due to the carelessness of the mechanic ….

Issue Resolve For Meineke - Farmington

Incident occurred 15 Aug 2008 at Meineke Muffler * Farmington Missouri. My wife Linda Farrow arrived at this store around 10:20 AM for a front end alignment on a 2000 Chevy Blazer.
The car ran straight and true when purchased yet needed an upper control arm bushing afterward (drivers side) to pass Missouri State inspection. Parts were replaced by the dealer as promised and he also recommended to get the front end aligned. The repair was good and the car did pull moderately to the left.
Linda drove to Meineke Muffler in Farmington Mo. after dropping me off at work that Friday AM.
After the “alignment” at Meineke Linda was charged $49.99 - a $5.00 off coupon = $48.65 with tax. And immediately noticed the car was pulling harder to the left than before. She decided to wait until I went on break at 12:15 PM and met me at my work. I drove the vehicle through the parking lot to verify the alignment was not done properly. I left work to go with her back to Meineke to see if there was a mechanical issue or if the job was not done properly. The car was driven by their employee and immediately returned to the service rack in the garage. The Counter person “Sam” (name was overheard not given) immediately started giving excuses as to why the car pulled so hard, the tires were bad, there was something else wrong with the front end, or the dealers repairs were done incorrectly. Inspection for the State was performed by;

I took my car to get a simple oil change, which I thought any auto shop should be able to handle. Well, after waiting nearly 2 hours, my car was done. I started driving and a couple miles down the road, my check oil light came on. I thought this was odd since I just got the oil changed.

A few seconds after that, the check engine light and battery light came on, my car completely died and I barely made it to the shoulder of the busy highway. As I sat on the shoulder of the highway with tractor trailers speeding by, I wondered to myself how in the world did they screw up an oil change?

I had my car towed to Toyota, since Meineke was obviously incompetent. Toyota advised that Meineke had put on the wrong size cap- it was not screwed on properly so the oil leaked out all over the place, leaving none for my car to run on.

Thank you Meineke for blowing up the engine on my car that was fully paid for. I don't know how you guys stay in business if you can't handle a simple oil change.

If you are considering taking your car to a Meineke- STAY AWAY!

Ridiculously strict on auto inspections and then they try to cheat you out of your money. Failed me for dirty headlights and imperfect windshield wipers. I had replaced the wipers only a month prior. They also failed me on alignment. The car has always run smoothly so I was baffled. Suspecting Meineke was cheating me, I took the car to another shop and showed him my inspection papers. He thought Meineke was being a bit shady all around. Particularly since Meineke had not written down what the reading on the alignment was. The new shop checked the alignment themselves and said it had a reading of 13.4 feet pull. You need a reading of 40 to fail. The shop called Meineke to ask what the deal was. Meineke stated that the front control arm was bent and needed to be replaced otherwise it would continue to pull out the alignment. But on the inspection papers, Meineke had passed the control arm, now they say it has be replaced before it can pass? DO NOT go to Meineke in Glen Burnie. They're the kind of mechanics who try to cheat you out of your money.

I took my van in to Meineke, on June 8, 2007, to have an ongoing oil leak repaired. This wasn't the first time I took my van in to Meineke for a leak. Meineke had already replaced every hose you can imagine, water pump, radiator, manifold gasket set, and now they recommended I have my oil gasket and transmission gasket replaced. I took it in to have this done on June 8, 2007. Paid 678.46 for the repair. The next day had a worse oil leak. Took it back To Meineke on Monday. They said the oil gasket wasn't seated correctly and repaired it at no charge. The next day I still have a leak. Meineke said it is back splash, just give it a few more days and it will go away. That weekend I put a card board under my van. Sunday the whole card board was covered with oil. Took it back to Meineke on Monday. They kicked me off the property and said never to come back. I was forced to take my van to Alpine GMC. My van makes my living, because I too have a repair company, but I repair residential appliances. Alpine had to repair Meineke's mess. It is printed on their invoice why I was leaking so bad. Meineke had: Put the incorrect material for oil pan gasket, they used the incorrect torque and cracked the oil pan. The oil filter adapter and oil cooler O ring they replaced was leaking. Meineke over tightened the Idler arm nut and damaged the threads. Meineke sealed the transmission gasket improperly.

I filed a complaint but Meineke denies all of it. Meineke has not tried to compensate me for any of the damages done.

I had brakes put on my car at the Meineke at 3861 North Druid Hills in Decatur, GA. The shim came off the driver’s side brake. Mr. Brad Augutus refused to replace the shim despite the fact that it was within the warranty on the receipt. He then threw the shim in a garbage can behind his desk. I asked him to return the shim to me. He refused and told me to get it myself. His arrogance was beyond belief on a personal level and shows that Meineke does not promote professional behavior or customer service.