- Report: #306763
Complaint Review: MONRO MUFFLER/BRAKE & SERVICE - Bryan Ohio
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Author Confirmed
Why?
MONRO MUFFLER/BRAKE & SERVICE
1385 SOUTH MAIN STREET Bryan, 43506 Ohio, U.S.A.
Phone:
419-636-7949
Web:
N/A
Categories:
Business Rating:
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MONRO MUFFLER/BRAKE & SERVICE Brake job parts overpricing Bryan Ohio
I went to Monro located in Bryan, Ohio, knowing that I needed to have my brakes worked on. I have had work done there in the past and have found their service/prices to be fair. I was not expecting to be ripped off.
I took my 1997 Ford Aerostar in for a brake inspection, knowing that it needed brake work done. I expected to pay at least $350-400 for the repair work, knowing the time it takes and a vague idea of the price of parts. I know that I will pay a little more for parts at these type places, and I had taken that into consideration.
His inital verbal estimate to me was about $850. This included replacing the front rotors, front pads, rear cylinders, rear pads, and turning the rear drums. I expressed to him that was way more than I wanted to spend. He suggested to me that we do the front, and just turn the rear drums, replace the rear cylinders, and reinstall the rear shoes as there was still about 1/4 of the shoe left, and with a discount, he could do that for $650. I could then do the rear shoes at a later time.
I had him do the work, and I have no issue with the work that was done. The work was completed acceptably, and all was replaced/reworked as agreed, and I have brakes that work well again.
The rip-off is in the prices charged for parts.
First is the front rotor, part # 52-60663 Monro price $148.99, available at rockauto.com (Guardian part # 5260663) for $26.89. That amounts to a 550% mark up. Even if Monro purchased this part for the $26.89 price, I would expect to pay $75.00 for it making it a 270% mark-up, in comparison, a similar part is available at most retail parts stores for about $60.00, even more reasonable and fair.
Second the Heavy Duty Brake Pad, part # ZX249 Monro list $78.16, net $39.99, available at rockauto.com (Wagner part # ZX249) for $21.79. Reasonable and fair I would say, but why over inflate the list so you give the illusion you are providing a better value than you are.
Third the Rear wheel cylinders, part # WC131372 Monro price $49.99, available at rockauto.com (Wagner part # WC131372) $8.73. Again a 570% mark up. Similar part available at retail parts store sells for about $9.00. Reasonably I would expect to pay $15-20 for it at a service shop.
Here is a breakdown of the bill:
Brakes:
Misc. Brakes: Parts $ 29.99 Labor 0.00 Total $ 29.99
Front Brakes: 344.92 117.40 462.32
Rear Brakes: 99.98 105.00 227.98
Sub Total 474.89 222.40 720.29
-Discount -94.98 49.08 -144.06
Total Brakes: 379.91 173.32 576.23
Miscellaneous:
Shop Supply fee 34.99 0.00 34.99
Total Bill $611.22
The discount totaling $144.06 that was shown as given for the brake sections reflects about 20% of the Brake portion of the bill. Very generous considering there are Miscellaneous items totaling $64.98, and that is equal to about 10% of the total bill.
In all fairness, the job only took 2 1/2 hours, and when you breakdown the labor charged, it comes out to about $70.00 and hour (after the discount) again reasonable, knowing that the Owner/Manager/Technician has overhead and expenses to cover.
Examining the bill, it is my opinion that the parts that were used were overpriced by at least $240. That being the case, that would put the work done at about $370, which is a lot more reasonable for the work that was performed.
I work in retail and understand the concept of mark-up and pricing things so you can make a living, further more I understand that Monro is a service station, not a parts store, and being such, they are not in the business of storing parts and that means they charge a little more to have parts when/where they are needed.
In conclusion my advise before anyone were to consider having work done at this business, get a written estimate done first, then take the estimate and vehicle to a couple of other places for estimates and see where you will get the better value.
John v.
Edgerton, Ohio
U.S.A.
I took my 1997 Ford Aerostar in for a brake inspection, knowing that it needed brake work done. I expected to pay at least $350-400 for the repair work, knowing the time it takes and a vague idea of the price of parts. I know that I will pay a little more for parts at these type places, and I had taken that into consideration.
His inital verbal estimate to me was about $850. This included replacing the front rotors, front pads, rear cylinders, rear pads, and turning the rear drums. I expressed to him that was way more than I wanted to spend. He suggested to me that we do the front, and just turn the rear drums, replace the rear cylinders, and reinstall the rear shoes as there was still about 1/4 of the shoe left, and with a discount, he could do that for $650. I could then do the rear shoes at a later time.
I had him do the work, and I have no issue with the work that was done. The work was completed acceptably, and all was replaced/reworked as agreed, and I have brakes that work well again.
The rip-off is in the prices charged for parts.
First is the front rotor, part # 52-60663 Monro price $148.99, available at rockauto.com (Guardian part # 5260663) for $26.89. That amounts to a 550% mark up. Even if Monro purchased this part for the $26.89 price, I would expect to pay $75.00 for it making it a 270% mark-up, in comparison, a similar part is available at most retail parts stores for about $60.00, even more reasonable and fair.
Second the Heavy Duty Brake Pad, part # ZX249 Monro list $78.16, net $39.99, available at rockauto.com (Wagner part # ZX249) for $21.79. Reasonable and fair I would say, but why over inflate the list so you give the illusion you are providing a better value than you are.
Third the Rear wheel cylinders, part # WC131372 Monro price $49.99, available at rockauto.com (Wagner part # WC131372) $8.73. Again a 570% mark up. Similar part available at retail parts store sells for about $9.00. Reasonably I would expect to pay $15-20 for it at a service shop.
Here is a breakdown of the bill:
Brakes:
Misc. Brakes: Parts $ 29.99 Labor 0.00 Total $ 29.99
Front Brakes: 344.92 117.40 462.32
Rear Brakes: 99.98 105.00 227.98
Sub Total 474.89 222.40 720.29
-Discount -94.98 49.08 -144.06
Total Brakes: 379.91 173.32 576.23
Miscellaneous:
Shop Supply fee 34.99 0.00 34.99
Total Bill $611.22
The discount totaling $144.06 that was shown as given for the brake sections reflects about 20% of the Brake portion of the bill. Very generous considering there are Miscellaneous items totaling $64.98, and that is equal to about 10% of the total bill.
In all fairness, the job only took 2 1/2 hours, and when you breakdown the labor charged, it comes out to about $70.00 and hour (after the discount) again reasonable, knowing that the Owner/Manager/Technician has overhead and expenses to cover.
Examining the bill, it is my opinion that the parts that were used were overpriced by at least $240. That being the case, that would put the work done at about $370, which is a lot more reasonable for the work that was performed.
I work in retail and understand the concept of mark-up and pricing things so you can make a living, further more I understand that Monro is a service station, not a parts store, and being such, they are not in the business of storing parts and that means they charge a little more to have parts when/where they are needed.
In conclusion my advise before anyone were to consider having work done at this business, get a written estimate done first, then take the estimate and vehicle to a couple of other places for estimates and see where you will get the better value.
John v.
Edgerton, Ohio
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Robert
Irvine,California,
U.S.A.
How is this a RipOff?
#2Consumer Comment
Wed, February 06, 2008
You had work done at this location before that you said was fair. You said that the labor they charged and the work that they did was fair. So on the surface there does not seem to be a Rip Off, except that you think they charged too much for the parts. "First is the front rotor, part # 52-60663 Monro price $148.99, available at rockauto.com (Guardian part # 5260663) for $26.89. That amounts to a 550% mark up. Even if Monro purchased this part for the $26.89 price, I would expect to pay $75.00 for it making it a 270% mark-up, in comparison, a similar part is available at most retail parts stores for about $60.00, even more reasonable and fair." But even this does not sound like a Rip-Off. You quoted prices from a web site that would have taken at a minimum of 1-2 days to get you the part. You also quoted prices at a local store that YOU could get them for. However, YOU were not the one who went to order the parts and have them delivered to the service station in probably a few hours. If you really wanted to save money you could have supplied the part yourself. They would probably have installed it for you with no problem. However, what if the part is bad. They will charge you additional labor to remove and replace it. But if they supply the part they will cover this under warranty work. In reality you have no idea what this service station was charged for the parts. You don't know if they are charged extra by the company to have a part runner deliver the part? If they are just a small service station they are not going to get the same discount that a bigger repair place gets. Think of it as your local Wal-Mart beating out prices of the local Mom&Pop store that had to close down because they could not compete. By the way on the front Rotor you said that paying the $75(270% Mark-up of the Web Price) was fair. If we figure they could only get the part locally for $60(which is what you said most stores had it for), then $148 is only 250% Mark-Up. So what makes this a Rip Off, it is actually a 20% less Mark-Up percentage of what you thought was fair.
