Midas
reviews and complaints

These guys told me that a MAPP sensor would cost me $150. The NAPA truck arrived to deliver the part as I waited. A quick call to the NAPA dealer revealed that their RETAIL/ Joe Customer list price
on the part was $30.
When I called the manager to complain about being charged this much, his response was "When you go to 7-11 to buy a gallon of milk, you pay more though, don't you?"
My response? "Everyone in America knows the price of a gallon of milk- I bet the less that one percent know the price of a MAPP sensor for a four-cylinder Chevy Cavalier!"
His crafty little response was- "But if you go to 7-11 because it's the only place open late at night, you have to pay more for the convenience."
I told him, "Had I known I was "inconveniencing" you guys to the tune of $120 for having a part delivered, I would have picked the damn thing up myself!"

My car was having trouble starting. It took me about 5 times to try and start the car before it would go. So I took it in to Midas and they claimed it was faulty spark plugs. Ok, so I got those replaced, along with rotors and brake pads. Next day, same exact problem. I go in again, and this time they tell me it won't start because of the fuel pump. They claim they need to replace the entire fuel pump, fuel tank, and filters. After spending over $1, 000 there, I tried my car again the next day. SAME problem. Only this time, my car is flashing the "battery" light. Which, by the way, supposedly they checked at Midas and told me it was fine. They never fixed the problem, charged a huge sum of money, and now I have to find someone who can actually do their job.

What a rip off!

I went in to get my car's front brakes changed. The manager suggested the basic change of pads with what seemed a reasonable price. However, shortly after they disassembled the wheels, they came back indicating that the car needed new rotors due to heavy rusting. The manager used the computer to prove that they could not be resurfaced. When I asked him for the price, he said quoted a number that seemed high and I asked for the car's factory parts. He then indicated that it would cost significantly more as the dealer charged very high prices. So, I authorized the used of after market rotors and pads. Paid over $500 (which included an oil change for $19.95). During the "inspection, " the manager claimed that there was a fluid leak in one of the rear seals. I told him to leave it as the car was under warranty.

After the breaks were done, I took the car to the dealer to get the warranty repair done on the differential seal. Much to the dealer's and my surprise, there was no leak where MIDAS said there was and the dealer found that the oil drain was loose and leaking the freshly changed oil.

I took the opportunity to ask for a quote to change the front brakes and to include brand new, factory authorized rotors. The quote was $329. Not the nearly $500 I paid MIDAS.

When I called the manager at the location where that provided the service, he basically talked bad about the Jeep dealer and referred me to a MIDAS 800 number which does not get you to a human being.

MIDAS is simply dishonest! It's a rip off. KEEP AWAY BY ALL MEANS.

DAMAGES:

So far it cost me nearly $200 more than necessary to change front brakes. Hopefully these brakes will function properly for a while.

Also, my car could have had significant problems had the oil cap issue not been noticed.

Hopefully this MIDAS location did not fool around other parts of my car just to break them and cause me to bring the car back in.

November 3, 2009.
To whom it may concern:
Hello, I am sending this letter in regards to the service I received on October 26, 2009, at approximately 6 o’clock pm. I entered the shop and asked the gentleman at the front counter if there was a charge just to check to see if my back tire on the passenger’s side had a slow leak. He informed me that there was no charge to check the tire, and that they would be more than happy to do so. I waited in the shop for my tire to be checked and about thirty-five to forty minutes later a mechanic came back in and asked me if the blue ford escort zx2 belong to me, and as I nodded my head yes, he then informed me that the total was $21.77. With a look of confusion on my faced I asked the mechanic, “Why am I being charged for something if all I asked for was for it to be checked?” The mechanic replied to me, “Well ma’am there was a nail in the tire and that’s what you’re being charged for. If you like I could get my manager for you, or we could just put the nail back in the tire if you don’t want to pay for it.”
As a senior attending the University of Cincinnati, Vice President of Communications for the National Pan-Hellenic Counsel, Financial Chair of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Incorporated and a Major Mentor for incoming freshmen, I was offended. In my three years attending this Midas shop, located at 2612 Reading Rd, Cincinnati, OH. I have never been spoken to in that manner. I am a valued customer who has spent well over $3, 000 with this company, and I have admired the staff who has worked at this specific location for the past three years, with the exception of this one incident. I will not spend my hard earned money with a business whose employees speaks rude and sarcastically to paying customers. October 26, 2009, was the last time I will spend my money with any Midas companies and I will be sure to share my experience with friends, family and colleges because this type of service is unacceptable.

I went to Midas in Federal ways, WA for the brake pads change for my car. Midas told me that I have to change the new Rotor too. I told them ok which cost me $XXX. I don’t know much about car but the “New” rotor look rusty. Midas told me that is normal for new break rotor. 2 month afterI needed to sell my car. The buyer want to have the car inspect at the dealer in Renton, WA. The dealer told me that My “New Rotor” was in fact old and thin. The dealer showed me the Actual “New” one also. I went back to Midas and complained to the Manager. The manager agreed to get me the Actual New one but don’t want to talk about why Midas Ripped Me off earlier.
JHG
Federal ways, Washington

I went to Midas for just a oil change for 19.99, I was told I need a new air filter and I
know what a air filter cost so I said they could change it. When I got the bill it was for
46.20. They have charge me 19.99 for a air filter and 2.00 for service. Come on, even
I know that a air filter is a lot less then 17.99 and the labor in is nothing. I know this
because I went to Advance Auto for wiper blades and ask how much a air filter for my
car is. Three customers in the shop at the time thought that what happen to me was
really bad and one left without service.

Do you have a Midas coupon? It's probably worthless if you do.

No matter what it says, Midas is smarter than you and they'll prove it on your final invoice. Say you need brake service, typically a $210 service to get new pads and the rotors turned (smoothed out). The $210 is an industry standard and - for example - my invoice said the brake pad service cost $124.95 (parts and rotor turning not included), but then they slip in their own sneaky little line that says "Savings-$25 Off". Guess what, the total STILL adds up to $210.

Did you catch the trick, the dishonest little scam? Try to figure it out before reading on, because I missed it at first...

Well, their sneaky coupon bars you from using ANY advertised coupon (only "one per visit, " per the fine print)! This means you get the same competitive price as say, the OEM dealership which I would prefer due to technical expertise with the brand's own vehicle, but Midas reels you in with coupons that will NEVER, EVER work. How's that for savy and yet entirely unethical business? Ugh. And if you try to use your own coupon, they sound really generous and state they gave you an even better coupon and discount which now you know, is a complete lie that they expect you to fall for. Use a credit card if you know what I mean and never use cash at Midas "just in case".

Note: Watch out for the bogus "Shop Costs" they slip in. It's for that $12.83 roll of paper towel they used.

I have always taken my vehicle to another place for oil changes. Well I was in a hurry and thought Midas would be a little less time consuming. I was wrong. I went in for a $55 synthetic oil change and left without my oil change and a $150 tow bill and $550 for a new oil pan.

When Midas on the corner of Hilliard Rome Road and Nike Road went to take out my oil plug they ended up striping my oil pan and then tried to blame it on the place that has changed my oil for the last 4 years. Then then manager had the nerve to bad mouth the other company and say that they did it and that the manager of the other place didn't know what he was talking about. Honestly if the other place did something and messed it up then 3 months ago I would have had problems.

I feel that Midas just hires people who are off the street and maybe fresh out of automotive school.

I will never go there and I will be sure to tell everyone not to ever go there!

On August 7, 2009, we took our Toyota Corolla to Midas Pikesville for an oil change and asked them to look into oil leak problems that we were having. They did the oil change and reported they couldnt tell what the problem was since the engine needed to be cleaned. On August 12, we brought the car back in for them to clean the engine and tell us the problem. They told us the problem was there were multiple leaks and gaskets needed to be replaced. We told them to go ahead and fix all the problems. They assured us that all the work that needed to be done was done. Less than a month later, we were driving on the highway when the engine seized up. Maven Motors, a local auto shop, towed the car to its facility for $75. They told us there is almost no oil in the car and that is why the engine seized up. We went back to Midas, Lynn Armstrong, General Manager of the Pikesville location. Midas sent a mechanic to Maven Motors and checked out the car and claim that the engine seizing up was due to an internal engine failure. When I asked what that meant or could she be more specific as to what the problem was, she was unable to do so. The engine in the car is dead and needs to be replaced (est $3000). There should be lots of oil in the car less than 30 days after an oil change and supposedly fixing of the oil leakage problems, but the mechanic at Maven Motors said it barely registered anything on the dipstick. Midas refuses to take responsibility.

I hate the service at Midas Auto Service Center. They are the ultimate rip offs. They have no idea what their job is I am really disappointed with the experience I had with them. I a sure that I will never return there to get anything done not even to fill gas. I really ate them and make sure tat no one from my family or any of my friends ever go there. I don't want them to waste their time and money there. My wife had taken her car here for a service. She had no repairs to do. Everything was fine. When she went to pick her car up they told her that the repairs were done and gave her a bill that really shocked her. She called me up I went there immediately and asked them to cancel the charges of the repairs as we did not ask for it and if they wanted they could take the part back and give us back our apart. But they did not agree and were very rude. It was pointless arguing with them I will not go here again. Stay away from Midas. It is the worst there is.

MIDAS MUFFLERS' treatment of employees is unbelieveable! MIDAS make you feel that you are just so valuable. When the time comes for advancement, MIDAS chooses the "kiss ###" non-honest employees and the honest/non-"kiss-###" ( the one MIDAS made feel so valuable) gets stomped on!
The "ruder" ya are & dis-honest with customers = advancement is in line for you!
Always keeping tabs on paychecks ~~ no matter how many years 15+ you have in & cutting your pay saying " you make to much money" over so-so" whos been with the company for LESS THAN A YEAR! Have you ever heard such insane reasoning!

Considering a career with MIDAS ? == If you are HONEST & DEDICATED ======THINK AGAIN!

I went to Midas for a routine oil change, which I had been getting done with them for a couple of years now. Nothing major, it's just an oil change. So imagine my surprise when I received a call from Midas stating that my car needed a new front Hub Assembly ASAP and that if I didn't get it done soon my wheels would fall off!

I will admit, I am not expert on cars, so needless to say I was worried. I was given a quote over the phone that was in excess of $650 (before taxes) for them to do the job.

Since it was so much money I decided to give my father a call to get his opinion, as he is a real 'car guy' and can usually tell if something seems fishy. Due to the relatively low number of kilometers on my car he thought it seemed a bit strange for the front hub assembly to be going already.

Later that day my Dad took my car to a friend who owns a repair shop for a second opinion. The owner of this shop took the car for a drive and said it felt great, but just to appease us he also jacked the car up so that he could take a good look at it and he said that everything was tight and in great shape. In short, absolutely no reason to do any work on that part of the car.

My Dad's friend (the one who works at the other shop) said that he'd seen several such cases in the last little while where people were coming to him for a second opinion about work that their mechanics said needed to be done that seemed suspicious. In all of these cases, he found nothing wrong with the parts that they were worried about.

I am writing this report because this seems to be an ongoing problem and one that will likely only get worse as the economy worsens. Shops need to make money to stay in business, and if they can't make it off of 'real' repairs, there is a greater chance that they will find things that they claim need work.

Car repairs are expensive enough when they're legit, and it is extremely disheartening to think that I nearly had to pay over $650 for a repair that wasn't even needed...it's pretty hard to say 'no' to a repair when the mechanic tells you that you're wheels will fall off if you don't get the work done!

My advice, if something seems fishy get a second opinion. It doesn't take long and it could save you a ton of cash.

On 08/02/08 I took my 2001 VW Jetta to Midas because I had the check engine light on and the engine would shake when idle. I was greeted by Michael Jaskowiak, he said they were gonna run some tests, I left the car and went to work.

Later I called several times and I spoke with Michael and he kept telling me he'll call me back in 5 minutes, hours later I would call back. This is not the issue, when he finally told me what was wrong with the vehicle, he gave me several reasons why and recommended about $1200 worth of repairs. I told him that by no means I could afford that and asked him what would be extremely important to get the car on the road safely, otherwise I wouldn't repair it, he told me a tune up and install a new Oxygen sensor, this would take care of the problem(check engine light would go away and car would run ok), and later on I could come back to get the rest of the work done. So I agreed on $731.22 of repairs, $345.80 (highly inflated prize tag) for an Oxygen sensor, and $139.28 for sparkplugs (also highly inflated prize), $68.02 of Engine diagnosis plus $205.88 in labor costs.

When I picked up the car, it seemed fine (the problem was on and off, so this didn't mean the car was fixed), so I drove it home and the next day when I started it, it had the same problem, check engine light on and the engine shaking a bit while idle, SO i took the car back to Midas, this time I was greeted by Chris, and he told me he'd check the car and call me, when he called me later he said he had to replace the oxygen sensor they installed and that now I also need a different sensor it it would cost me around $400, on top of the $731 I already paid!

So, basically, I paid $731 for sparkplugs and an oxygen sensor, and now they want more money to fix it. I want my money back or the car fixed, and they won't do either unless I pay more. He told me I can call corporate if I'd like, which I will, good luck with that right?

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.

Do not do business with this company.

November 11, 2008
4302 Newbold CT
Woodbridge, VA [protected]

Mr. Craig Trump
6151 A Fuller CT
Alexandria, VA 22310

Dear Mr. Trump,

First, I want to apologize for losing my temper when I called and left a message earlier today. You did not deserve that. You’ve been wonderfully accommodating and understanding.

There is something terribly wrong at your facility in Woodbridge. Rickey is a terrific person but there seems to be a serious problem with the other workers skill levels, attention to detail, pride in their work, and consideration for the customer.

I think it is necessary to itemize everything that occurred to me:

1) Antwone worked on my car with a cell phone in his ear the entire time.
2) He never checked my tire for leaks after he “repaired” it the first time.
3) His plug/patch failed – it must have been done incorrectly
4) One of my lugs snapped off undoubtedly because the nut was cross-threaded when he reinstalled my wheel after “fixing” the flat. He obviously did not start the nut onto the lug with his fingers ensuring the nut was threaded correctly. Instead he used the air wrench and forced the nut regardless of the cross-threaded difficulty.
5) In the morning the tire was flatter than flat.
6) The lug snapped of clean at the base when I went to remove the nut to put on the doughnut spare tire.
7) Rickey decided he had to replace my tire – it wouldn’t hold air – he called for a tire and came within 10 seconds of installing some unknown tire but I caught the mistake only by due diligence and observation.
8) My tire was unavailable and on indefinite backorder – I personally had to find the correct replacement by making one call to Tire Rack.
9) Rickey had an interim replacement installed and the mechanic put over 40 psi in the tire instead of the 35 psi I specified.
10) The correct replacement tire was delivered at 2:11 pm Monday afternoon. Nobody called me. I found out the tire had been delivered by calling Tire Rack just before Noon on Tuesday, November 11, 2008. I had specifically asked Rickey to call me when the tire was delivered. He signed for the tire on Monday.
11) I discovered the directional replacement tire was installed backwards. I had to go back to the shop – again.
12) I have aluminum alloy rims on my car – the same rims I’ve had for close to nine years. I bought this car on February 24, 2000. In those nine years nobody has ever scratched, gouged, or in any way damaged any of my rims – until I took my car to your shop. The rim in question is gouged and scratched.

This is too much to be isolated. There was a woman in the waiting room who had tire work done by your shop. She too had had to come back. The nuts had not been tightened on her lugs.

You’ve got a problem there Craig.

Rickey bent over backwards to make things right – but over and over and over and over – all this trouble just to fix a flat.

Obviously, the muffler work is out of the question.

Sincerely,

George C. Collins