On 9/29/03, I took my car into Meineke Car Care in Liberty, MO (Store 1379) because my check engine light was on in my 2000 Dodge Durango. The store ran a computer diagnostics, and it was determined that the speed sensor was bad. The store did not have any available in their inventory, so the manager of the shop I was working with (His name is Darrin.) said that if I went out and bought a speed sensor, he would install it for the cost of an hour of labor.
I then went out and purchased a speed sensor and brought it in to have it installed. It was determined at the shop that I had gotten the wrong part, so the Meineke store (Store 1379) went and purchased the right part for me and installed it. When picking up my truck, I found that the check engine light was still on. Darrin at the store 1379 reset the light and advised me to drive it over the weekend and then bring it back on Monday if still has an issue.
The light came back on before I got back home. I talked to Darrin and told him I was relocating to the Atlanta area and would not be able to take it back to him for further diagnosis. He said that was fine and that I could just take it to any Meineke and they would be able to do further diagnosis and that the work that has already been done is warranted. The cost of this visit was one hour of labor at $68 plus the cost of the speed sensor $30.04 for a total of $98.04.
On 10/11/03, I took my vehicle to the Meineke Car Care in Woodstock, GA (Store#1660) for further diagnosis on the check engine light. The mechanics ran a transmission diagnostics as well as the computer diagnostics again, and they were still getting the speed sensor failure. They then determined that the Power Tran Control Module was defective, and the estimate on replacing that was around $1000. They also stated that Durangos were notorious for problematic Power Tran Control Modules. The Cost of this visit was $11.51 shop fee, $5.00 for some transmission adhesive, and Labor Fee of $110 for a grand total of 121.85.
After being told that Power Tran Control Module needed to be replaced, I called Darrin at Store 1379 and asked for a refund since they put a part in that did not fix the issue. Darrin agreed to refund my money. He told me company policy is that I need to go though store 1660 to get it.
On 10/18/03 after working with Meineke Store 1660, I went to get a second option before going and spending $1000 to get the Power Tran Control Module replaced. I took the truck to the Woodstock Dodge Dealership. While my car was being diagnosed at this shop, I went back to Store 1660 to see about getting my refund, and they got me back in contact with Darrin, and I was advised that the refund was going to take a couple of months because it needs to go back through corporate.
During this time, I advised Meineke (Store 1660) that I was getting a second option about the Power Tran Control Module, and the technician told me that the Dodge Dealership was going to tell me the same thing - that the Power Tran Control Module needed to be replaced. The Dodge Dealership diagnosed that the speed sensor needed to be replaced again, and I went ahead with the replacement again. Having the speed sensor replaced again seemed to resolve my issue, and my truck was running fine and has been since that time.
The cost of getting the speed sensor replaced again was $137.59. A few days later I then went back into Store 1660 because I had been charged for unneeded diagnostics as well as transmission fluid. I was flat out told that they were not going to refund my money and that I should be talking store 1379 since they did the original work.
I then contacted Meineke customer service department at (704) 377-3070. I spoke with AJ, and she explained to me that my truck still had problems and the Dodge Dealership did not know what they were doing and were not equipped to diagnose my car properly. Like I stated above, my truck has been running fine since I had the speed sensor replaced a second time.
A couple months have passed, and I have not seen my refund that Darrin said I was going to get. I called the Meineke customer service number again to inquire about the refund, and they passed the message back to Store 1379. Lewis from Store 1379 returned my call and said that he is taking over the store and that he is not going to refund my money and that Store 1660 should be the one that should be refunding my money. He referred me back to AJ at customer service.
I then contacted AJ at customer service, and she stated that Darrin flat out lied to me about giving me back my refund. She was then going to contact Store 1660 about giving me back my money, saying she would give me a call back the next day. Another month has passed, and I have not heard back from AJ. Last week I called the customer service number and was prompted to leave a message. I left a message to please return my call.
On 2/4/04 I called back to the customer service number looking to speak with AJ since she has not gotten back to me and got voice mail again left another message. I then called back later yesterday afternoon and spoke with another lady, and she was going to pass the message to AJ to get back to me. She said she would, yet to this day I still have not heard anything back.
Todd
Woodstock, Georgia
U.S.A.
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