Meineke Horrible Repair Arlington Texas

1. I drove vehicle to Meineke at 7:30am on 02-02-2015 due to antifreeze leakage. The engine was running fine.

    

    

2. Was told a few days later, one of the mechanics failed to mark the distributor correctly, resulting in more problems when put back into the vehicle. On 02/05/2015, I was told vehicle was ready. I paid $986.87 in repairs. After sitting in the office, waiting for my vehicle, I was told something was not right with it and I was driven home, while they continued to work on my vehicle. They did not offer to give me my payment back, since I was not leaving with my vehicle.

1. On 02/10/2015, Meineke actually towed my vehicle to my home in a non-working condition, blaming it on the age of the engine; even though it ran just fine when I brought it in. I spoke to my brother, an L5 mechanic and learned that not making sure that the timing is correct can cause lots of damage to the engine.

    

    

2. I called Meineke headquarters threatening further action if I wasn’t reimbursed and given a vehicle to drive. I also told them how upset I was that I brought a perfect good running vehicle into their place of business and was given back something completely not working, saying that was just the way it is. They said it could take up to 48 hours to respond. I also spoke to an attorney and he said to start taking notes of all the interactions and excuses, and to wait it out and see what the final outcome is before proceeding further.

    

    

3. The next day, David at Meineke called me and said he felt bad that I didn’t have a vehicle, and was going to tow it back to their garage and repair it at their cost. But, he did ask me if I would pay $500 for labor. I couldn’t believe he said this! If they actually believed the motor problems were not their fault, they would not have offered to pay for all the parts it would take to fix the engine. And I have yet to be offered a loaner vehicle to get to work and such.

    

    

   6) As of 03/03/2015 and multiple calls, my vehicle is still not running, and David insists that it was not any fault of theirs that the engine is not running. I was very vocal, stating that my vehicle, although an older vehicle, always started great, and ran smooth. And I also expressed being very upset not having a vehicle for a month, having to rely on other people to get around. This has cost me to miss 4 straight weeks of study I attend in Dallas. Prior to bringing my vehicle in, I had not missed a week in 15 weeks straight. And I attend band practice every week as well, which has also been very damaging to our schedule. I also let it be known that due to having to get rides to and from work every day, I have been late to work for a month. Also, I have to leave work when the last person leaves so I will have a way to get home. This causes me to lose a lot of hours, resulting in a large loss of income this past month.

   7) Meineke called me on 03/05/2015 and said my vehicle was running great and ready to be picked up.

    

    

   8) A co-worker game me a ride to Meineke this morning (03/06/2015) to pick up my vehicle and take it to work. The engine was a lot rougher sounding and had a clicking sound under the hood I had not heard before.  After work, I decided to take it to the car wash to have it cleaned. Unfortunately, I never made it. A couple of miles from work, the engine overheated and steam was coming from under the hood. I pulled into a gas station and called Meineke to come and tow my vehicle back and to have it looked at. I also called my co-worker to come take me home.

    

    

   9) Later that day, Friday, Meineke called and said it was fixed and asked me to come pick it up. I told them since I have no transportation; it would be Monday morning before I would have a ride to their garage. This seemed to upset the employee, causing him to say he needs my truck out of their garage at this point, that it’s taking up space in their garage. I explained that it wasn’t my fault that it’s still there and offered to walk more than 2 hours from my home to come get it. He said David would come pick me up. A few hours later, nobody had shown up by then to pick me up.

    

    

   10) I was called on 03/07/2015 and was told they sent my vehicle to another shop, since there was something not quite right with the way it was running. Said it should be ready by 03/09/2015.

    

    

   11) As of 03/10/2015, I haven’t heard anything for over 2 days. I am still relying on people to take me to and from work. Today marks 5 weeks since I dropped my vehicle off to have an antifreeze leak repaired, and have yet to be offered a loaner vehicle.

    

    

   12) 03/11/2015 I called Meineke to check on my vehicle. David said it was ready. He drove it for quite some time to make sure everything was fine, and he said he ran great. I had a co-worker take me there to pick it up this morning. Not only is the vehicle running a lot rougher that when I first took it there, but now the check engine light is on, preventing me from getting it inspected. This vehicle isn’t anywhere close to running great.

    

    

   13) 03/12/2015 I called Meineke to inquire about check engine light and to get my truck inspected. David said it was nothing they did to cause the light to come on, yet the light has never been on in the 8 years I have owned the vehicle. He suggested I take it to the dealership, which would be an out of pocket cost to me for something they should repair. He said this was out of their realm of expertise and there is nothing else they can do. They were getting no reading from the vehicles computer, like it was connecting to it at all.

    

    

    

    

    

    

14) 03/13/2015 I took my truck to Auto Zone to see if they could pull the codes, showing

why the check engine light is still on. They tried, but their machine could not get any reading

from my computer at all. It never would connect, which is what Meineke told me.

15) 03/14/2015  David at Meineke called me this morning, asking if I could bring the vehicle to them for a couple of days, saying they might know how to correct the check engine light problem. I let him know that I needed it to at least drive to Dallas on Wednesday for my study group, so I would drop it off that Thursday morning.  I'm still unsure why I was given the vehicle back in this condition to begin with, since it is in nowhere near the condition I brought it in as. Even if the check engine light issue is fixed, the engine still runs very rough and there is a loud clicking noise under the hood that wasn't there when I brought it in. They claimed to have practically rebuilt the motor at this point, so it should sound and run at least as smooth or better than when I brought it in. This doesn't make any sense.

16) 03/19/2015 I dropped the vehicle off at Meineke this morning. David said he would need it for probably a couple of days to address the check engine light problem. He asked how it was running and I told him it was still very rough this morning and that I have only driven it once this week to get to my study class in Dallas, in fear of receiving a ticket for my inspection being outdated. I noticed this morning that it was leaking fluid underneath again. When I left the garage today, it was leaking, so I pointed it out to him as well. I am not expecting to see my vehicle for quite some time now. It has now been 6 weeks since I first brought my vehicle to them, and I have never actually gotten it back in anywhere near the condition I brought it in. I also called an attorney today to have him look at all the notes I made every time something went wrong or when I was contacted by Meineke. He suggested I wait until I get my vehicle back before proceeding with any sort of lawsuit. He thought I should give Meineke the benefit of the doubt and see if they return my vehicle in a good working condition first, even if it has been close to two months since I dropped it off the first time.

17) 03/26/2015 I picked up my vehicle from Meineke this morning. As soon as I left, I already heard a new sound that wasn’t there before. A loud, almost siren sound. And, my turn signals don’t work now. No blinking light inside the vehicle, and when I got to work, I checked and they weren’t blinking on the outside either. I called David at Meineke again and he sounded surprised. When I described the loud siren type sound, he said it was something to do with the speedometer and the sound was coming thru my speakers. But, when I turned the radio off, I could still hear the sound. Also, driving down the road, I rolled the windows down and the sound was clearly not coming from my speakers. Why do I keep getting lied to? At this point, it’s very insulting. What I don’t understand, why is the vehicle not being checked over, making sure everything works before giving it back to me. Now I have to bring it back there to have that problem looked at, and inconvenience another coworker to take me home again. Even if the turn signal problem is corrected, it still doesn’t run anywhere near as good as when I first brought it in. I’m surprised they didn’t offer to refund what I paid in the beginning so I could use that as a down payment on another vehicle. It would have saved both of us a lot of time, trouble and money, and I would have been perfectly fine with that. Once I receive my vehicle from them, I will not be taking it back. And it is basically worth nothing at this point in the condition they have given it back to me.

03/27/15  Meineke called me this morning. Said the blinker problem was a switch that was out under the steering column. I was told it would cost around $100 plus 2 hours labor. The blinkers worked perfectly fine before, so this is yet another thing they messed up and won’t admit to and fix. I told David to park my truck outside and leave the key in it and I will pick it up tonight. I have officially reached my limit with Meineke and this location.