Complaint Review: Monroe Muffler

sounds to me like they were going to tell your father he needed a wheel cylinder, hence the opening of the valve....." see here mister smith, how all your brake fluid leaked out, because this wheel cylinder seal is cracked or blown and needs replacing at a cost of 750.00 dollars....." I wont ever go there myself....when I went for the muffler I was actually using them to determine where the hole in the exhaust pipe was because they have a lift...lol and now I can ask MY mechanic how much to replace it at his cost and not the 300% mark up of Monroe.

ohhh even better having a repair shop tell me over the phone it was going to cost 280 dollars in labor to replace the alternator in my mitsu eclipse. They had to remove the wheel, the plastic wheel well cover and undo the suspension to move it out of the way, then remove the alternator. I took the car to them and showed them the gap between the frame and the alternator in which I had previously used to remove and replace with the current alternator (rebuilt didnt last) oh they said ...ok regular labor fees applied. Too funny. I am not a mechanic by any means, but I am informed which in most cases is always helpful and useful for not getting ripped off. Yeah Chevy brake pads are so easy to replace, the hardest part is taking off and putting on the tires....yup a C-clamp and a T50 is all you need...lol


Chris

Here in NY if you take your car in on the last day of the month in which it expires, the inspection center has the right to scrap the sticker off. They dont give you a temp sticker for any amount of time, and the DMV will only issue you a ONE DAY sticker after given the date and place in which its going to be inspected. Thats it or your done, and your car is now illegal to drive on the road. BUT and a big BUT here, if you take your car to be inspected PRIOR to the end of the month, THEY cannot remove the sticker, this is to give you time for the repair, either by doing it yourself or taking it to another garage. I myself always request they not remove the sticker as there is usually a week till the expiration date when I take it in. But that might soon change because if you notice on your inspection sticker there are now punchout places for the four weeks in the month. I dont think they have gone to that yet, but it looks like its coming. Again just wait till the the last week of the month and you should be fine if they do. And your right Monroe is a big ripoff....I recently took my car in for a hole in my exhaust pipe that was somewhere from the manifold to the catalytic converter and they quoted me a price of 500.00 plus dollars just for the replacement pipe, not including tax and labor. I said no. After some internet surfing I found the same part at autozone for around 167.00.

Chris

Why would I insist they tow it back and inconvience me more when I know what was wrong and repaired it in about ten minutes?? It's the principle that they did it in the first place. I still don't know why. I replace pads all the time and don't have to open the valve. Only when replacing lines.. Just shady people

Wait you did acknowlege it wasn't me driving my dad's car.. Sorry.. Everything else holds true. They encourage premature replacement of parts. Not "preventing problems down the road". Pure immature replacement of parts. Plain and simple. It's a rip off

You have no time period to come back for a free inspection. If you fail it's $21.00, and when you come back it will be another $21.00. They are just trying to rip you off on wiper blades because they can. It's shady. I personally do ALL my own work on my car and it's an insult that NY makes me visit some grease monkey boces drop to certify my car OK. The vehicle with the bleeder valve was my dad's if you read it properly. I have no idea why it was open!! You absolutly right makes no sense. But it was I saw it.. It had decent pressure until 3/4 of the way home. I don't know how but hey I wasn't driving. Oh another thing. Just for giggles I asked how much they would charge to replace front brake pads on a cavalier. Almost $300! They are $24.95 at Autozone and take 20 minutes to install. They clearly try to rip you off on anything. The wipers just piss me off! No reason for that. They know that inspection is $21.00 for they charge you $17 for a new wipers. It's a scam! While I was there I even heard the manager telling employees to recommend replacement on pads below 50% wear. That is rediculous!! It's a pure rip off plain and simple!

First let me start by saying that here in Massachusetts it is $ 29.00 for an Inspection if you get a rejection sticker you have ( I Think ) 21 days to fix it and get a reinspection at no charge if you return to the same station and show that what it was rejected for has been fixed. If you decide to go to a different station you will have to pay the fee again.

Secondly you stated that when they replaced the pads that they opened the bleeder screw and didnt close it and on the way home lost the brake fluid and brakes, ( I dont understand why the bleeder was opened up anyway to replace pads ) why did he drive off with the car because if the valve was left OPEN the vehicle would not have brakes when the pedal is pressed, why did he not go back inside and inform them that something was not right before driving the vehicle off the lot.

Certainly not the end of the world. In Virginia, they put a "Rejection" sticker on the car and you have 15 days to remedy the problem. Then you return for re-inspection which is a $1.00 charge.

I always say "Don't fix anything, just reject it." when going in for inspection. Also of course I've just inspected the car myself first. It's easy for anyone to check the obvious stuff like tires, bulbs, horn, wipers, and exhaust.

Does it cost anymore money to take your vehicle back and have the failed parts re-inspected? Most states that I have lived in and an vehicle inspection is required, do not charge for re-inspection on failed passing. If there is an additional charge, then it is in your best interest to make sure that you take care of some of the issues before taking the car for an inspection. It is not a scheme for the shop to charge that much to put a blade on. The price of $4.99 is the cost of most of the yellow packages of Anco blades at Auto Zone. Auto Zone also sells Bosch Icons, that cost as much as $ 24.95 each.

There are some vehicles that take specialty blades (Dodge vans/ newer Camaro and Firebirds). The Dodge Vans usually take 28 inch blades that cost several times more that a standard blade. You do not tell us which type of blade was put on. Also, you should have a general idea of what is needed to pass inspection.

Replacing blades, bulbs, and brakes are all normal required maintenance on vehicles. I would make sure that all of those were working correctly before taking a vehicle in for inspection. As far as the brake issue, I would have insisted that they come get the vehicle, take it back to their shop and repair it.