Meineke Car Care Center NY 12401

B

Brad Patton

I had to give one star because I couldn’t give zero. AAA towed car to Fitchburg, MA Meineke in an emergency for a bad clutch. Diagnosis was bad clutch and it was fixed, along with several other issues on the brakes. After picking up and driving approximately 100 miles, the transmission failed completely in the middle of MA. As I live in NY, I had to tow the car myself and started working with Meineke in Fitchburg to figure out what to do because there were no problems with the transmission when it was taken in for service and the transmission was dropped to replace the clutch. Their recommendation was to tow it to Meineke in Kingston, NY, closer to where I reside, and if it was a workmanship problem, any Meineke would honor the warranty. Meineke in Kingston couldn’t find an issue but were quick to give me a quote for a new transmission at over $3,000. When I declined, they were even quicker to call me back offering me a used transmission they found for $1,500. They assured me even high mileage transmissions are bullet proof in these cars and wouldn’t be a problem. That seemed odd because the one I had was now garbage after Meineke worked on it. I then asked if they could again look at the broken transmission to see if it was a workmanship problem and they said they could, but that would cost around $400 in labor to do that work. I declined and went back to pick up the car on the U-Haul, one-way rental car carrier that I held onto because I was unsure if anyone would repair the car. While loading the car, Kingston Meineke handed me the bolt that fell out of the transmission bell housing from the work that was done by the Fitchburg Meineke. I was assured this was not an issue, but they recommended I call the Fitchburg Meineke and tell the owner about it and see if they will do anything about it. I was under the impression that was why I brought it to “any Meineke” that would honor the warranty. I promptly took the car to a local shop because it needed to be repaired. After less than a minute of observation, the mechanic noted exactly what was assembled incorrectly without taking anything apart or charging any money. Bolt falling out, bolt shimmed with ad-hoc nuts, dowel pins missing...all obvious things that cause transmissions to fail. Photographs were taken and I told the reliable mechanic to just fix the car because: (1) I can’t trust that Meineke would do it right even if I went through the pain to fight it and (2) I highly doubted they would do anything anyway. I was exactly right! Because this was such a mess, I called Meineke directly to file a concern. I told the entire story, and it was documented, with photographs, seen below. The person taking the information was good and certainly understood this “sounded like a problem.” Meineke does have a line you can call, and they open a case. It seemed really legitimate like they were interested in helping. Well, it turns out that is a useless endeavor as well because all they do is call the shop owners and then call you back and tell you there is nothing they can do. They do say they “are sorry” a lot, but that does nothing. I shouldn’t be surprised they’re doing nothing to cover for their poor workmanship, but this situation was truly egregious. Neither the owners nor the company stand behind their work or their warranties, no matter which location you go to.

M

Marion Barringer

The service was excellent. Mechanic did a full inspection of what needed to be done to my automobile. Prepared it for me to examine and approve before doing the job. Everything was professional finished in a timely manner. I was totally impressed with the quality of the service. Looking toward my next appointment.

P

Peter Garfield

Alec and his crew saved my ass! My power steering failed while up in the snow and ice in the Catskills with a minivan packed with my family of 6 (just days after my mechanic in Brooklyn claimed to have fixed it). It was just before the New Year's break and they fit my car into their busy schedule. They had to totally redo the work my (now former) mechanic had failed to do correctly. They were honest, efficient, and communicated very clearly about my car's problems ... and they got it done! Thank you Meineke of Kingston, NY!!!!!!