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Midas Hugely over-inflated repair cost... The Woodlands Texas
My tire were wearing on the inside of my 1996 Honda Accord and I knew I had a front suspension problem and went to Midas for diagnosis and possible repair. Midas called me stating that I needed "inner tie rod" replacement and that they would do the job for the fantastic price of "$851.00". They said the parts (inner tie rods) were "$650.00". I am not a mechanic but I am mechanically inclined and know enough about cars to realize that that price sounded hugely inflated. When I went in to pick up the vehicle the man working the counter kinda under his breath as if to keep me from going elsewhere wrote down "$575.00" and said "we can get you out for that".
I told them "no thanks" and went to the auto parts store where I purchased two new tie rods which were exactly like the ones on the vehicle with a lifetime warranty for $50.00 and put them on myself.
Dont do business with this company.
Captainkbt
Conroe, Texas
U.S.A.
5 Updates & Rebuttals
Captainkbt
Conroe,Texas,
U.S.A.
Correction
#6Author of original report
Sat, January 03, 2009
I stated the quoted price wrong above at $895.00. It was $851.0.
Captainkbt
Conroe,Texas,
U.S.A.
My reply to the owner
#6Author of original report
Fri, January 02, 2009
First and formost we opperate as a retail business,we gave Mr.Traylor a fair and competive estimate for the service his vehicle needed,
(770.20 parts,labor,alignment,sales tax).As with any service you can always buy things cheaper at the store and do the labor yourself,an example of this would be like grilling out versus eating out at a steak house,we all know the the N.Y.strip will cost you 10-12 dollars at the store,however the strip at the steak house is 28-35 dollars,plus appetizer,bevarges ect.The point of this is that we operate as a retail business,just like the Steak house,we sell parts at a retail list price,if that was Mr.Traylor issue(the cost of the part) why didn't he simply bring us the parts to Install(something you couldn't do at a Steak House,bring your own steak)
It appears to me that MR.Traylor used our expertise to diagnose his vehicle's condition,as he went home and did the work himself and did not even go to another repair facility.
My store service's between 5-6000 customers per year avearging 14-15000 repairs per year,we average less than 2 compliants per 1000 customers through Midas International Consumer Relations,we have 2 complaints logged and resolved with the BBB in the last 10 years.We work hard to take care of people and there car's,that is what our record shows.
First of all, the price wasnt "$770.00", I was initially quoted $895.00 and I was never told that I could purchase the parts and bring them to your store to have them installed. Second, why would I want to? Your team just got through attempting to jack me up with a markup of 13 times the cost of the part at a RETAIL auto parts store. Why would I trust your store to do anything fair at this point? Do you actually feel that $650.00 for parts I can get for $50.00 at the auto parts (O'Rielly's) store is a reasonable and fair consumer price? Thats what...a 1200% markup! And furthermore, yes, I did want the probelm diagnosed, I am not an experienced mechanic, and repaired if the cost was reasonable. Thats why I brought it into your store. $895.00 for tie rod replacement IS NOT REASONABLE! For $895.00, I can learn how to replace the tie rods myself, which I did, and learned its not that difficult. A few days later, I went to Ripleys Automotive right down the street from this Midas location and they stated they would have done it for $250 parts and all. I didnt go to them that particular day because they were closed.
Bottom line....if you dont want rip off reports posted about your business on Ripoff.com dont try to rip people off to begin with. I think anyone would agree that charging a "retail" price of $650.00 for the same part a consumer can buy RETAIL at an auto parts store for $50.00 is a rip off.
DEC458@MSN.COM
Cleveland,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
Midas
#6Consumer Comment
Tue, November 25, 2008
Midas tried to do something similar to me about 10 years ago. They're about as bad as Sears used to be in telling you need this extra work done when the problem is perfectly fine. I took my 1983 Regal turbo into the in town here where I live for a front end alignment. They come back and tell me I need $400-500 of front end work done first so they can't do the alignment. I got the same story from Sears. We have an honest front end and alignment shop in town and I took the car to them. They said all you need is an alignment. There wasn't a thing wrong with the front end parts. I didn't have to have any work on them until years later. It pays to always get at least an opinion from another place before you go to Midas. Sometimes they do good work, sometimes they don't.
Flynrider
Phoeix,Arizona,
U.S.A.
Kinda pricey
#6Consumer Comment
Sat, November 01, 2008
Bet it the $770 you claim, or the $851 that Captainkbt claims he was quoted, that's pretty darned steep for a tie rod job. I agree that you should expect to pay more to have a shop perform the work, but this is more like paying $150 for the $10 steak. Unless you give massages or spa treatments in your waiting room, I don't see it.
Tom H.
Spring,Texas,
U.S.A.
Retail Business
#6REBUTTAL Owner of company
Fri, October 31, 2008
First and formost we opperate as a retail business,we gave Mr.Traylor a fair and competive estimate for the service his vehicle needed,
(770.20 parts,labor,alignment,sales tax).As with any service you can always buy things cheaper at the store and do the labor yourself,an example of this would be like grilling out versus eating out at a steak house,we all know the the N.Y.strip will cost you 10-12 dollars at the store,however the strip at the steak house is 28-35 dollars,plus appetizer,bevarges ect.The point of this is that we operate as a retail business,just like the Steak house,we sell parts at a retail list price,if that was Mr.Traylor issue(the cost of the part) why didn't he simply bring us the parts to Install(something you couldn't do at a Steak House,bring your own steak)
It appears to me that MR.Traylor used our expertise to diagnose his vehicle's condition,as he went home and did the work himself and did not even go to another repair facility.
My store service's between 5-6000 customers per year avearging 14-15000 repairs per year,we average less than 2 compliants per 1000 customers through Midas International Consumer Relations,we have 2 complaints logged and resolved with the BBB in the last 10 years.We work hard to take care of people and there car's,that is what our record shows.