Midas Muffler ripoff Wasilla Alaska

First off I don't agree with the way the manager treated you. However, what was the brand name of both mufflers?, what warranty did each carry? People cannot make an educated opinion about your complaint with out that information. This would be like comparing a blackhawk wrench to a snap on flank drive wrench, you can buy the cheapest item you can find but don't expect the same performance. I'd also like to say you cannot expect a company not to charge for services or price match an inferior product and to imply such an idea is just outlandish. Maybe I should explain to your boss we can find a temp to do your job for less and maybe even fire you so he/she can save a buck. Families are affected by such senseless complaints, the shop that pays us to work on your rust bucket feeds our families, and no work means no food on the table,... think before you post a needless complaint such as this

I love it when a customer ask for the price of something or how long something will take then states "I can do it for cheaper than that" or "It would only take me a few minutes to do that job" Well....then why are you here..in my shop...wasting my time. why arnt you doing it your self. if you can do it for some much cheaper and faster than we can why did you even go to the the shop .why are you not working on your car right now? oh that rights because if you screw it up your ..well...screwed. Thats why you bring it to us. but you want us to do the job for nothing. sorry we are not a parts store..we are in the business to offer a service and make a profit, just like any business in america.

We keep having this agrument about repair. why is so differnt than the steak house marking up a steak to make money and the auto repair places marking up parts.

Nothing...you dont go into outbakc steak house and haggle over the price of a meal but you want to come in my store and agrue over prices.

This is to the three heros who have responded to this rip off report. Firstly if I want to change a light bulb I do not call an electrician to carry out this job. There are certain small projects that us non mechanics can carry out. I am able to fit a two foot pipe into another then hang it on a rubber mount....would you believe that?

Now I am not debating steaks nor coupons drug addicts fitting brakes here.An educated person who can grasp the English laungauge would have read this report and digested that Midas have numerous bad reports on this site and I suppose they have the golden touch as they are nothing but a "fitter" garage.

Now I know its hard for you three wankers to grasp that, but there you have it. Oh by the way, you will also be interested to know that its so uncommon for certain mechanical or suchlike persons asumming the name of mechanic, that there is now a country and western song about it..I dedicate the song to Thump, Clump and Dump, namely you three clowns that posted .

I too work for an automotive repair institution. We have people come in on a daily basis with coupons up the wazoo. They want double, tripple, and quadruple discounts. Folks look: the auto repair industry is different from no other. It is not immune to inflation, taxes, business expenses, or labor wages. We need to make money just like the rest of you. If the price of oil goes up $10/barrell over the next six months and as a result the price for a regular oil change increases a nickel, please don't rant and rave of bicker and become irrate or demand discounts or tell us we're scam artist. You don't come barging the exxon minimart ready to strangle the the owner because he raised gas prices $0.50 overnight do you? No you except is because hopefully your smart enough to know the vehicle needs fuel. Cars sometimes need exhausts, tires and brakes. Your not out there digging trenches and installing gas stations in the yard to save at the pump are you? Your car is the second largest financial expense you will ever make. We train mechanincs to help you service your vehicles so you can get the most use from it. Sure we get that same muffler for 10 bucks probably even less. But when you bring it in when its blazing hot on a humid summer day demanding the repairs be done with the hour so you won't be inconvienced, pay the $111 and shut the he!! up!

So first the consumer wants every shop to do the right thing by advising them when their car is need of repair but do the repair for cracker jack prices. Then if the job is done incorrectly because of we as a automotive industry cant hire qualified techs for 5.25 a hour you want blood.

Once a automotive center certifies your car is safe they become liable if anything were to happen mechanicaly with your car. Example ..Joe Schmo knows he needed brakes and his wheel cylinders were leaking brake fluid but instead of Joe paying 297.0 dollars to get his brakes fixed he goes to a pep boys where they slap a inspection sticker on the car and away joe goes.

Next wedsday joe is going down a hill at high rate of speed and there is a bus unloading kids ahead. But when joe applies his brakes they fail and he kills a kid and runs into the bus.
Is this joes fault??

What do you think joes lawyers are going to say??

"well your honor, Pep boys just inspected joes brakes and told him they were safe and they knew they bad"

now Pep boys and the store manger are indicted and are being sued by the kids family

All because Joe would not do the right thing and get the brakes fixed.

I am a Service Manager ..Yes we may charge a little more than others ...but the job is done right. I am sorry if you want every brake job to be 99.99 and every oil change discounted. You pay for what you get.

Quality service Quality parts = safe happy customer

price gouging ..come on ..do you think that dvd cost wal-mart 19.99 or that steak at outback??...how much do you think outback for it

but when it comes to auto repair when you mark up a part so that you can make money to pay your techs, pay utilities, insurance, maintenance on the building and still hope you profitable at the end of the month , your ripping of the consumer.

Then the consumer wants to bring in his own parts.

Did you go to dennys this morning and ask them to cook your eggs?

Whe are in the business to take care of the customer but we have to make money so that we are their tomorrow also

Midas is NOT a parts store. Car Quest is one. Midas installs parts. Car Quest does NOT. Get it? Midas will take care of the repair AFTER the fact. Car Quest will tell you to go away. That $15 nothing you bought has a 1 year warranty. Any reputable shop will install a lifetime warranty muffler. The real problem here is you are either too cheap to spend any money, or too ignorant of how a capitalist society works to know better. I am sure you were able to install that muffler(a universal shell-not the correct muffler for YOUR exact application), so it looked like a real professional job. If it doesn't look/sound/drive like it left the factory when new, the vehicle is NOT done correctly. I see them every day...tape, wire, plaster, a dozen clamps and corrugated flex pipe, all to save the cost of getting the job done right. Luckily, my average customer has both brains and money. They know that oil changes cost more than $10, and nothing worth having is free. I do re-do's for people all the time. They have the cheaper shops do the original repairs, and when they get sick of having to go back to have the same thing done over and over, they come to me. I charge them FULL WHACK and they leave with their vehicle fixed. The money they spent on the other guys was just wasted. I had one guy who actually paid a "crack-head" $300 to fix his car. I charged him $332 and actually fixed it. The guy thought he paid over $600 to have the repair done. Nooooooooo. He paid $332. The other $300 was so some addict could get his daily rocks. Good luck with your protest. AAA chose that Midas because they apparently have the "right stuff". That means AAA doesn't have to worry about the job not being done correctly. And no, I do not own a Midas. I am a NAPA Autocare Center that specializes in exhaust and brakes, but does everything else too.

Alaska Daily News April 1st 2005. AAA endoreses Midas shops in Alaska, and what do you know! the Wasilla repair shop has been designted the AAA approved auto repair shop. Now this only gets more interesting and AAA has now to be in question as they really do not gather information like why Midas still will not reply to this situation regarding the vast price gouging in Wasilla!