Monro Muffler / Brake Ripoff prices charged for parts and labor, then lies to justify. Rude attitude Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
I took my car in to have a noise from the BACK wheels checked. A short time later I received a call that I needed FRONT brakes. The manager never told me anything about the back wheels which is why I took the car in for service. I doubt he ever even looked at the back wheels. He quoted me a price of just under $400. I told him I thought his price was outrageous.
Basically he was charging me $114 each for rotors that have a RETAIL price of about $40 and $100 for pads that have a RETAIL price of $42. He was adding about $70 to $80 dollars for labor. His justification was that my car comes from the factory with ceramic pads. I told him not to do anything I would be in to pick my car up. He continued to argue with me and was very rude.
Before picking up the car, I checked and found that my car DOES NOT come from the factory with ceramic pads. I checked the RETAIL price of the parts at the parts store across the street.
When I arrived to pick up my car the manager continued to argue with me and continued to be very rude. He handed me my "customer copy" on which he had written the prices that the same parts store had given to him. The prices he told me the parts store quoted to him for the rotors were more than triple the price I was quoted. In addition the price for the pads was much higher than I was quoted and they were still less expensive than he tried to charge me.
So I received an outrageous estimate, was lied to about the parts that come on my car from the factory, was lied to about the prices quoted by the auto parts store nearby, and all of this was with a rude and argumentative attitude.
This whole experience smells of an organized rip-off with a bad attitude on top of that. Monro will charge you hundreds of dollars more than you need to pay. You will even do better at your dealer.
L
P, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
7 Updates & Rebuttals
Robert
Jacksonville,Florida,
U.S.A.
Stop trying to compare prices and you'll be better off
#8Consumer Comment
Mon, November 14, 2005
Comparing what a shop charges for a GOOD part, to what you'll pay a store like Advance, Autozone, Kragen, Chuckys, or any of the crap jobbers is meaningless. The Zone and all the others sell at "jobber" prices, not retail. NAPA, Carquest, Advantage, Bumper to Bumper, and the like sell retail, not jobber. The real difference is QUALITY. Repair shops use GOOD, not CHEAP.
I always love how you guys NEVER put down year, make, model, engine size, etc on a complaint dealing with car repairs. $1000 for the converter assembly and muffler assembly on some cars is CHEAP. The muffler alone for some Benz models is nearly $1500.
As for the incorrect analogy, Les is right. A true analogy would be that the restaurant also did not pay retail for the food it cooks. They also bought it alot cheaper than you can.
Robert
Jacksonville,Florida,
U.S.A.
Stop trying to compare prices and you'll be better off
#8Consumer Comment
Mon, November 14, 2005
Comparing what a shop charges for a GOOD part, to what you'll pay a store like Advance, Autozone, Kragen, Chuckys, or any of the crap jobbers is meaningless. The Zone and all the others sell at "jobber" prices, not retail. NAPA, Carquest, Advantage, Bumper to Bumper, and the like sell retail, not jobber. The real difference is QUALITY. Repair shops use GOOD, not CHEAP.
I always love how you guys NEVER put down year, make, model, engine size, etc on a complaint dealing with car repairs. $1000 for the converter assembly and muffler assembly on some cars is CHEAP. The muffler alone for some Benz models is nearly $1500.
As for the incorrect analogy, Les is right. A true analogy would be that the restaurant also did not pay retail for the food it cooks. They also bought it alot cheaper than you can.
Robert
Jacksonville,Florida,
U.S.A.
Stop trying to compare prices and you'll be better off
#8Consumer Comment
Mon, November 14, 2005
Comparing what a shop charges for a GOOD part, to what you'll pay a store like Advance, Autozone, Kragen, Chuckys, or any of the crap jobbers is meaningless. The Zone and all the others sell at "jobber" prices, not retail. NAPA, Carquest, Advantage, Bumper to Bumper, and the like sell retail, not jobber. The real difference is QUALITY. Repair shops use GOOD, not CHEAP.
I always love how you guys NEVER put down year, make, model, engine size, etc on a complaint dealing with car repairs. $1000 for the converter assembly and muffler assembly on some cars is CHEAP. The muffler alone for some Benz models is nearly $1500.
As for the incorrect analogy, Les is right. A true analogy would be that the restaurant also did not pay retail for the food it cooks. They also bought it alot cheaper than you can.
Robert
Jacksonville,Florida,
U.S.A.
Stop trying to compare prices and you'll be better off
#8Consumer Comment
Mon, November 14, 2005
Comparing what a shop charges for a GOOD part, to what you'll pay a store like Advance, Autozone, Kragen, Chuckys, or any of the crap jobbers is meaningless. The Zone and all the others sell at "jobber" prices, not retail. NAPA, Carquest, Advantage, Bumper to Bumper, and the like sell retail, not jobber. The real difference is QUALITY. Repair shops use GOOD, not CHEAP.
I always love how you guys NEVER put down year, make, model, engine size, etc on a complaint dealing with car repairs. $1000 for the converter assembly and muffler assembly on some cars is CHEAP. The muffler alone for some Benz models is nearly $1500.
As for the incorrect analogy, Les is right. A true analogy would be that the restaurant also did not pay retail for the food it cooks. They also bought it alot cheaper than you can.
Jamie
Rochester,New York,
U.S.A.
I was screwed by 100% price markup also
#8Consumer Comment
Mon, November 14, 2005
Terry H. you are so wrong! Monro ripped my wife & I off so bad. Please! Please! don't take your vehicle to Monro Muffler, unless you want them to rip you off! We were charged double the price of all the parts on our muffler and catyltic converter. The total bill was over $1,000. This is not good business! I don't think they practice good business after reading all the reports in here.
Les
Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Poor Analogy -- Does Monro pay retail for parts?
#8Author of original report
Fri, August 06, 2004
Poor Analogy -- Does Monro pay retail for parts?
First, the employee was very RUDE and ARGUMENTATIVE. He should be fired in my opinion. The bottom line is I am having need pads AND rotors of OE quality INSTALLED at a total price of $200 including parts and labor. Basically Monro was charging me for the most expensive parts possible for my vehicle and then adding a HUGE markup ABOVE RETAIL.
The rebuttal basically is saying if he was a restaurant he would go to a grocery store and buy food at retail and then mark it up from there. A restaurant buys at wholesale not retail. His very analogy is flawed! When I go to a parts store I am not buying at wholesale I am buying at retail. If Monro does not get their parts at a cost equivalent to the wholesale cost to the parts store, they are doing a very poor job of procurement. The bottom line is customers can potentially save hundreds of dollars by avoiding Monro -- I DID!
Terry Haschmann
Rochester,New York,
U.S.A.
Unfair Comparison
#8UPDATE Employee
Thu, August 05, 2004
First, I agree with "L" in that rude behavior should not be tolerated from our employees or from customers. If what he says is true, we certainly apologize and we have spoken to our manager to be sure this will ot happen.
As far as "L"'s price comparison, we feel that it is totally unfair. He is comparing the prices from a parts store with those of a full service repair facility. We are confident that our prices are very comparable with other major chains like ours.
I wonder if "L" calls the food distributor for his favorite local restaurant to see what they are paying for their "parts" or if he just pays the menu price for the full service he receives there.
We are a full service facility. If "L" wants the grocery store price for his parts, he would have to do the repair himself.
We offer a 30 day price match guarantee against all comparable chain shops and dealers. I can assure you that this not an "organized rip off".
Director of Customer Service
Monro Muffler Brake