Just an hour ago, I went to Midas for a typical oil change. When I arrived, no one but the mechanic was in the shop, so gave him a replacement headlight bulb that needed changing on the driver's side. (I would have taken care of this myself but the car's battery is against the headlight housing and I don't have the tools to do this.)
When the manager came into the shop area, I was surprised to see there had been a change in management (from Russ to Wayne) since I was last there but I have been a regular customer at this shop for at least 10 years so didn't think twice about it. I presented a $5 coupon for a $24.95 oil change. I also asked the manager for the cost of a tire rotation and was told $20 which I OK'd. I told him I had given the mechanic a headlight bulb and explained I would have done it myself, etc. He told me it depended on if the battery needed to be taken out and so on, what the charge would be.
As I waited, the manager came to me and told me I needed my rear brakes done, which is odd since the brakes were just done by the dealer in June and I've only put maybe 12K miles on them.
I told him I would have to think about it and he gave me dire warnings about brake failure and so on but I wanted to check with the dealer before I agreed to repairs for work that was done only 8 months ago. I felt he was pressuring me to spend another $250 - $270 right then and there but I politely refused and told him I would let him know on Monday.
When Wayne told me the work was done, he gave me a total for the oil change, tire rotation and bulb change as $74!!
WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? $20 oil change $20 tire rotation = $40 so he's charging me $34 for a five minute bulb change? When I protested and said that he never gave me an estimate for the bulb change and that if I'd known it was going to cost me $34, I would have had a friend do it for FREE! He asked me what I thought was fair and told him I figured $10 and that my total cost for the entire 30-minute job would be $50 give or take.
He knocked off $7.24 from the total.
I am never going back there again. I wish Russ was still there - he never would have charged me at all for changing the bulb.
I filed a complaint on Midas' website but all they'll probably do is give me coupons so a fat lot of good that's going to do me when I have no intention of using their shop again.
So for a $24 or $34 overcharge, they've lost me and my family as customers there and I will tell my friends not to go there as well (I've recommended this shop to several people over the years because of Russ' professionalism and customer service.)
Midaslocator.com/store. Aspx? ShopNum=4969
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