Meineke Beware of Ray the sweet talker East Brunswick New Jersey
I was having a problem with the struts on my car, a 1991 Ford Escort, so after getting a few estimates from people I decided to go to Meineke. I also found an internet coupon for the struts so I figured it would be somewhat helpful on my wallet.
Boy was I wrong. On August 13, 2005 I went to this location at 9 am and spoke to Ray, the con artist so called customer service rep at the desk. I told him about what was going on and within minutes the mechanic looked at my car and showed me and explained to me what was wrong.
My rear springs were cracked, and I needed new struts. He also said that he couldn't see any damage with the plates and said he'll try to save them. Ray then approached me and said that he had to make phone calls to get the parts and give me an estimate.
He told me everything should cost around $488. I confirmed with him that's including the labor, the coupon and all taxes, he said yes. About 4 hours later I get a call from Ray saying that the plates they were trying to save were broken, and now it's going to cost me more money...a lot more like $700. I told him I did not have that kind of money and all he said was well what are we going to do?
He asked for a check and to even sign up for their Meineke credit card, but I refused. My mother later spoke to him and all he could do was talk in circles and get off the subject.
All he kept saying was what a nice person I seemed to be and I'm like a child to him, this is not about my character it's about you fixing my car for the price I was quoted. Ray then said he'll see what he can do. Around 5 pm I got a phone call from Ray saying that the total price was going to be $590, he said this is the $488 plus tax.
That was a total lie, because earlier he said that the $488 was everything included. I went to pick up my car at 6 pm and demanded something on paper showing how he came up with his figures. But before this he started to cry me a river about how big a job it was and that he's taking a big loss by charging less than seven hundred.
He then went on to insult my car telling me not to drive it for long because of the problems it has. He also said that the mechanic worked on my car for seven hours. Ok and, so what? that's what he gets paid to do. When he gave me the print out, my final cost was $578. And with a labor charge of $74 an hour their total for labor was only $148, that is NOT seven hours of labor. As he was about to give me my car keys, they could not find them, and the mechanic came in and said that he didn't have my keys so they used a key from another Ford Escort (which I didn't see there) to start my car.
I looked through my purse and it turned out they gave them back to me when I dropped the car off. Now my question is, how did they manage to start it up with a key from a car supposedly identical to mine that wasn't even there? I paid the $578, because I am the only one with a vehicle at home and I need to get back and forth to work but now I am absolutely broke for the next two weeks. This is the worst experience I have ever had with my car and I will surely let everyone know to NEVER go to Meineke.
Kelly
New Brunswick, New Jersey
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
monica new owner of mieneke east br
east brunswick,New Jersey,
United States of America
sweet talker ray
#4REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, July 19, 2011
hello i am writting this rebutal to let everyone know there is new ownership of meineke of east brunswick new jersey to quote kelly sweet talker ray is no longer here and we strive to give the very best customer experiance and to kelly we ask if you would please give us a try we are sorry ato hear about your past experiance but we would like the chance to take care of your automotive service needs thank you
abdelrak
hillsborough,New Jersey,
United States of America
Meineke EB not a ripoff
#4Consumer Comment
Tue, November 30, 2010
Sounds like a case of "bitter customer" I actually am a regular customer of this location, and its a very hands on approach by management. I have had nothing but good experiences from these guys. In fact, this shop is so busy that they dont have time to rip off anyone, and are so busy that they dont need to rip anyone off. My suggestion to anyone getting their car repaired - understand that cars, especially older cars, always have surprises. A car from 1991 is probably full of surprises, and probably isnt even road-worthy. Just my $0.02
Ray A
EAST BRUNSWICK,New Jersey,
U.S.A.
Not A Rip Off
#4UPDATE Employee
Wed, June 24, 2009
Assuming all the customer complaint is true, this does not come anywhere near the definition of a rip off. The car was more than 14 years old and had extensive body rust. What we did not know before we started work on it was that the rust had affected the body frame. As we took out the strut the frame on the strut mount disintegrated from rust. We ended up changing the strut mount and welding extensively the body frame. We still charged the customer the same labor and parts we quoted despite this not being our fault. The customer had made clear she was very limited on funds so we absolved the cost of additional repairs that took over 6 hours. Our endeavor was to put her back on the road as safely and as quickly as possible.
On picking up the car we advised the customer that given the state of the rust and other conditions in the car she was better off disposing of it as soon as she could as it was likely to turn into a money pit. The advice was made in good faith. I doubt if with all intensions the customer was able to drive that car beyond 1 year.
In all my years doing this work this was one of the least memorable customer service situations. The customer was very angry mostly because she was not able or willing to appreciate what the situation involved. I hope with the benefit of hind sight and distance of time and proper perspective that she is able to realize that we treated her more than fairly and probably took a loss on something that was entirely not our fault. Any one that carefully reads this complaint will come to this conclusion and should want to do business with a shop like this. We care about people. Kelly if you are out there please take sometime to reflect on this event and I hope you do what is right.