Meineke, Meineke Car Care Center They sell low quality parts that fall apart, refuse to honor warranty, overcharge for work, and have rude customer reps. Norwich Connecticut

I have had some exhaust work done to my car over the course of about 1.5 years at Meineke, because the exhaust on our car was over 10 years old at the time and was starting to rust out.

First, the exhaust pipe leading out of the catalytic converter was replaced at a cost of about $80-$100.

Then, the resonator fell off and was replaced at a cost of over $200.

These parts were replaced at the Vernon, CT Meineke.

Finally, a few months later, the muffler rusted off and had to be replaced at a cost of over $250. The muffler has a lifetime warranty, as stated on our paperwork.

Well, about 1.5 years after the muffler was replaced, the pipe leading out of the muffler that Meineke replaced rusted off. I was very upset this happened since the original exhaust system lasted over 10 years, while this muffler was already falling apart from less than 1.5 years.

The welding job and quality of steel from Meineke are extremely sub-par. You can tell what parts were replaced by meineke as they look older and more rusted than the original factory parts. All of the welds they made look like they are about ready to let go as well.

Well, we brought the car to the Norwich location, and they tried to slap us with $600 in bogus repairs, and refused to honor the warranty, saying that it was not the "muffler" that rusted out, but the pipe leading out of it (which is part of the muffler!)

I refused to pay these charges, as I felt they were just trying to scam more money out of a repeat customer.

I called customer service, where the guy I spoke to told me since I had the car repaired at Meineke, I "had no idea what I was talking about since I brought the car to be reparied by someone else". I guess the fact that I do not have access to a pipe bending machine or welding tools means I cannot see meineke's parts rusting and falling off in front of my eyes, while the older factor parts are in better overall shape.

I have fixed many things on this car myself like the alternator, spark plugs, wires, speed sensors, front disk brakes, etc, so I know my way around a car and I am no idiot. Had I know more about Meineke and the fact they do terrible work with cheap parts, I would never have gone there.

He was insulting, rude, and said they would not fix the muffler covered by the lifetime warranty. I asked to speak with his manager, with whom I left a message, and she never returned my phone call.

It is obvious they only care about scamming money and are not willing to make their customers happy, but woul rather nickel and dime people and use the cheapest parts and quickest crappy welds to get the job done.

Not only that, but they will pro-rate all of their parts and labor charges. For example, if you get your brakes done at meineke (which we did), they will pro-rate an amount of time it takes. They will charge you for 4 hours of labor, even if the job only takes 2 hours to do. The manager said they had to do this no matter how long the job took.

So even if it takes 1 tech 1 hour to complete a job, they will charge you for 4 hours. They will also pro-rate the parts required, even if they do not use all these parts to fix your car.

Now that I know better, I could buy a high quality stainless steel mandrel-bent aftermarket exhaust from reputable vendors for half the cost of all of these low quality repairs.

Meineke's parts are not mandrel bant, are low grade steel that will show heavy rust within a year, and they will charge you whatever amount of parts and labor their computer tells them to, without any consideration for the individual job.

Their customer rep said they do not pro-rate their labor, even though the shop manager told me they did.

STAY AWAY FROM MEINEKE, they are simply a large coporate conglomerate who feel no responsibility to make their franchises honor warranties, and have no qualms in kicking the customer to the curb.

You will be sorry with the quality of parts and labor demonstrated by meineke. You are much better off buying reputable aftermarket parts that are better quality, cost less, and you can pay a local independent shop who cares about repeat business, or just install the parts yourself.

I repeat, DO NOT SHOP AT MEINEKE. Their parts are the lowest grade parts you can find, their labor rates are either equal to or more expensive than a local shop or even the car dealership, and their franchises and corporate headquarters would rather save ten cents in denying a warranty in writing with some bull-sh*t excuse than make a customer happy. They will deny your claims, and try to get more money out of you. If you try to contact corporate headquarters, they will insult you.

People need to stop giving places like this their business, and instead give the business to an honest local shop who is willing to stand behind their work and their products.

If you read on, you can see there are many problems that other people have had with Meineke.

Hondas2000
34 Wrights Way, Rhode Island
U.S.A.