Meineke Car Care Center #338 BUYER BEWARE! Middletown Connecticut

As of 5/10/10, this franchise continues to have an "F" rating with the BBB.  I wish I had known that before I went there.  I called them after this experience.  My car had a loud noise, which I thought was the muffler and I only went here because of close distance to my home.  BIG MISTAKE.  I took it in on Saturday, 1/9/10.  The service Manager there, Reynald, told me it was the catalytic converter.  I asked if it could wait until Monday and he said, oh no, it could fall off & you won't be able to drive the car.  I also asked him if this was something that could have been prevented, as I take care of my car & he said no, that @ this mileage (158,632), this happens.  At that time I knew nothing a/b catalytic converters.  So I gave him the go ahead to replace it.  Since this experience, I have done my research on catalytic converters & their purpose.  Reynald said something quickly & he had an accent & he walked out of the room.  I said to another customer present, "What did he say?" & the customer said "I don't know."  I sat down and another employee ( I believe), who was sitting & eating said that he didn't understand why I didn't understand his brother, because he speaks English.  He then proceeded to bad mouth America & Americans, stating that he thought they were racists.  I thought to myself how ironic this was that I was giving this place my business & an employee was trashing the U.S.  I thought of walking out completely, but FOOLISHLY,  I didn't.  I just went outside & told Reyanld that I would go to Dunkin Donuts & wait there.  My cat.cvt. was replaced & the total cost was $480.84.  Several months later, the o2 sensor came on & my brother took it to his Honda Mechanic.  The car is a Honda.  The mechanic immediately diagnosed an exhaust problem.  Meineke cut both the front & back pipe to fit a generic cat. cvt. by welding it, causing the harness for the o2 sensor to be badly stretched & the cat. cvt. was in a different area, further than the oem design.  Both pipes & the cat. cvt. needed to be replaced ; cost of parts was $1,375.  After speaking with the Honda mechanic, it dawned on me that no sensor code came on when I brought the car to Meineke.  There is a particular code for the cat. cvt. for this car (P0420), and this never came on @ that time.  He also thought maybe I just had some loose bolts that were causing the loud noise I heard.   The Honda mech. stated, "You've been taken".  I went back with my brother to speak with the service manager @ Meineke, Reynald, and he took NO responsibility for what happened & denied any wrong doing.  I asked what was wrong with the cat.cvt. as there was no explanation on the invoice and he gave me no answer.  I didn't expect him to remember but he could have looked it up as it is supposed to be well documented, but ofcoarse he didn't.  I asked him why the P0420 code didn't come on and again no answer.  Again, he stated that at this mileage, the cat. cvt. will go.  He then bragged about how he has replaced 1,700 cat. cvt's. (I believe he said within 1 year), and nobody has complained.  He stated he has the same customers return to him & I am his first complaint.  I told him that wasn't true as I called the BBB & he has several complaints & an "F" rating.  Again, no answer.  Obviously, "At MEINEKE, your satisfaction is very important to us.", which is on their invoice is totally UNTRUE in this case.  Since I've spread the word a/b this place I've had 2 co-workers, both females tell me their experiences there.  One said she's been there a couple of times for an oil change, & each time Reynald told her she needed breaks, along with other things and she would go for a second opinion & the second place told her she didn't need any of that.  The other woman said her brother had put in new breaks in her car and she heard a funny noice, brought it in to this Meineke and again Reynald told her she needed new breaks.  She told him that she just got new breaks!  Again, I wish I knew of this before I went there.  A very expensive lesson learned but hopefully I can help others not to go through what I went through.  This Meineke damaged my car!