Midas

Midas Price Gouging, Lives in Danger Arnold, Missouri

14th of Aug, 2011 by User310701

I was vacationing in Missouri visiting family and noticed some shaking and rattling in the front end. I took it to Midas where I spoke with Jesse (service manager) and he told me that after someone looked at it, I would be called. A few hours went by and I received a call from Jesse and he tells me that the rotors and the control bar needed to be

replaced, as those 2 things control the steering on my vehicle. The price quoted to me was $1300, I agreed. I was then told that it would be about 4 hours and that I would be called when my car was ready. About 2.5 hours later, Jesse calls me again to say that when they were taking the front end apart that the ball bearings fell and needed to be

replaced. Because of the size of that piece on my car, it would need to be sent out to a machine shop. I asked if that would be done that same day (Thursday) or if it would go to the shop on Friday. I was told that my car would go on Friday morning and that I would be notified before it left. I said ok.

Friday morning I wait until about 12 noon to call them since I had not received a call. I spoke to a young lady named Lauren who tells me that my car is already gone and that it has been at the shop since Thursday night. I inform her that I was told by Jesse that I would be called before my car left, she tells me she is not sure about that. I then ask

her about the price. She tells me that she is not able to give me a price until it comes back from the machine shop. With an attitude, I tell her fine and hang up. She calls me back 2 hours later and tells me that the total price including the machine shop is $2085.37 I ask her how does the price almost double in less than 24 hours. She replies that

she does not know what I am talking about. I ask her to break down the price for me. She tells me $1865.37 for the repair work and $220.00 for the machine shop. I ask her what is the $1865.37 for, the original price that I agreed to when I spoke with the service manager was $1300. She tells me that all she sees is that Jesse put down that I agreed to

$1865.37. I tell her that is incorrect and that I need to speak with her manager. She informs me that he is off today (Friday) so I ask for his manager. She laughs and gives me the name Brian Keturakis and his contact number. I hang up and call him.

There is no response so I leave a message. He calls back and I describe the situation to him. He asks me if I was aware that when I was told that my car had to go to a different place that I knew there was going to be a cost, I said yes and that was not what I was disputing. I was disputing the fact of the matter that the original estimate that I was

given was $1300 and then the staff was told to charge me an additional $585.37. He says that Jesse is off today and that he will need to speak with him before anything can be done. I continue to tell him that price gouging is wrong and that if I agreed to $1300, why am I being charged and additional $585.37? He is beginning to talk over me on the phone and tell me that I knew that there would be additional costs and that all he can do is credit the amount of the machine shop which was $220. I agree to that.

It's pouring down rain when my mother and I go to pick up my car. She tells me that she wants to drive it to make sure that they fixed the items that were broken. We return to her home. The car sat in the driveway until Saturday afternoon when I packed it so that my 3 children and I could make the drive back to Maryland. We, my 3 children & I,left the state of Missouri at 10pm Saturday night. As I get on the highway, I notice a slight shaking in the steering wheel. I assume it

may be a wheel alignment and continue to drive home. The more I drive on the highway, the more violent the shaking becomes and a loud knocking noise begins. I cross the border into Indiana and once in Terre Haute, the shaking in my vehicle is so bad that I can not drive any faster than 45 mph. It is now 2am and I call my mother and explain the situation to her, she tells me to call my cousin who knows about cars. I call him and explain to him what has happened. He tells me that I am going to have to try my best to get back to Missouri because Midas either broke something or did not fix something correctly.

I buy gas and get back on the highway. I make it maybe 1 mile from the gas station on the highway, driving 45 mph when something breaks, the back end of my vehicle starts fishtailing and I am trying to get control of my car. After 1 minute or so, I am able to get control and pull onto the shoulder of Highway 70. I call my mother again and let her know

what has transpired. She tells me that she is on her way to meet us and to try and find a tow service to tow the vehicle back to Arnold, Missouri. I then call the police department as there are no lights on the highway and we are in a dangerous spot on the shoulder. The dispatcher gets all of my information and sends an officer out to help me.

About 35 minutes later, an officer arrives and asks what the problem is. I explain to him about getting my car fixed at Midas in Missouri and that now something has just broken and that the car makes a loud grinding noise and shakes violently when driven. He asks me to start the car and drive forward a few feet so that he can hear the noise. I comply. He then yells for me to stop the car. Once stopped and the engine is off, he walks up to the passenger window and says "Well, I see what the problem is, your back wheel is about to fall off." I get out and he shows me. The back passenger wheel is tilting out, the bottom half is in and top half is leaning out. He asks me if there is a jack in the car so that we can lift the vehicle and put a lugnut on from another wheel. I am looking frantically in the back for the jack and after about 10 minutes, I find it. The officer asks if I have have money on me, because he will see if he can get another officer to go to the local walmart and buy a a set of lugnuts to put on. At the same time he is lifting the car, the other officer pulls up. He looks at the the other wheels and takes a lugnut off the back driver side and places it on the back passenger wheel.

Once they are finished, the officer hands me the broken lugnut that is partially attached to the front part of the stud that broke off and almost caused a fatal accident. I ask him if he can write up something so that when I contact the shop, I can let them know which officer came out to help me. He gives me a business card. His final piece of advice

to me is not to drive any faster than 50 mph because the remaining 2 lugnut/studs have been weakend by the vibration and shaking and could potentially fall off down the road if I drive any faster.

I place a call to Brian Keturakis before I get home to let him know that there was a problem and that I will be returning my vehicle to his Arnold store for them to fix it. It takes me 5 hours to get back to Missouri, at which point I have to sit around because Midas is not open on Sundays. I take my car back to Midas at 8am Monday morning. I ask for

the regional manager's name and number and I am told that if I have a problem that I have to speak with Brian, I say ok. I describe what the problem is and that my car needs to be repaired. Jesse tells me that they will fix it but he is unsure why the problem occurred because they only fixed the front end. I tell him that they charged me for 4 rotors

so that would be why they were working on my back end. I also tell him that I need a ride back to my mother's residence.

Once I return to my mother's home, I call Brian again and explain that my car is at the Arnold location and what happened. He tells me that he is on his way to the Arnold location and that after he gets there he will look at it call me back. I ask him since all this occurred, what is Midas prepared to do for me since their lack of attention almost got my

children & I killed. Brian informs me that he will have to discuss things with his bosses and he will get back to me.

About 4 hours go by when I get a call from Jesse and he tells me that my car is ready. He tells me that he test drove it and that all the issues have been resolved. He also tells me that he sent out an email and the response that he received was to give me a refund of $250. I asked him if I heard him correctly and repeated back everything that he said to me

about all the issues being fixed and that he was only authorized to offer me a refund of $250. He response was yes. I told him that was not good enough. He informs me that he can only do what he is authorized to do and nothing more and that if I have a problem, that I will need to call Brian again. So I do.

When I call Brian, he is already on the defensive with me. I tell him that I spoke with Jesse and that he was only authorized to refund me $250. He says that is correct and the reason why is because when they pulled my car into the shop, it can in with the emergency brake on. I told him then one of his employees drive it into the shop that way. Yes I

did put it on when I parked, but I parked on the side of the building so that means that someone working there was not paying attention and drove with the emergency brake on when they drove it into the bay to be looked at. He tells me that they would not do that. I tell inform him that $250 is not good enough because, my life and the lives of my

children were placed at risk because my car was not put back together correctly, if I had been driving any faster, we could have been killed. Secondly I have missed 2 days of work, my children have missed 2 days of school and my time and money have been wasted by this whole ordeal. He tells me that is the best he can do. I hang up with him and call the

regional manager Darrell Fisher.

Once on the phone with Mr. Fisher, I explain who I am and why I am calling and ask him for his help. He informs me that all he can do is listen and offer me advice since most Midas locations are franchises and that Brian Keturakis is the owner of that particular location. I explain the situation to him beginning with the almost double the price in the beginning to the ending of my car not be put together correctly almost resulting in a catastrophic event. He apologizes for the events

that took place and informs me that I will have to work it out with the local manager because that location is a franchise. He also instructs me to contact Midas' customer relation department and explain to them what happened and what I want and maybe they will be able to help me.

This entire experience was a night mare and I will never trust another Midas location. I and my 3 children were almost killed and all Midas offered me was a $250 refund.

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