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| - Hopefully my headache can save another poor soul the hassle, and the money.
My fiance's 2010 Nissan Murano broke down in the middle of John Nolan on a Friday afternoon. We suspected the alternator and had AAA tow it to this Midas location, as it was the closest partner option with our coverage. Midas confirmed the alternator needing to be replaced Saturday morning. Jonathan shared with me the cost estimate for repair: $940. My father in law informed me an alternator repair wouldn't be that expensive so you could imagine my shock. But we only have one car between us both and need it for work, so the repair had to be done. I gave the okay to Jonathan for the repair and hung up. I immediately called my father in law, then two other auto repair shops and was reassured each time that $900 was way too much for this repair. The most expensive quote I could find was for $700. I called Jonathan back and said thanks but no thanks, I found the repair cheaper elsewhere and made plans to tow the car from his garage on Monday.
I received a call back from Jonathan no more than 20 minutes later. He had done some "price matching" and could offer me the repair at $650 instead of his original $940 quote. When I asked why the reduction, he said he found a cheaper part with a shorter warranty but it would still do the trick. I appreciated his honesty and agreed to his garage doing the repair. I even agreed to 2 new tires for the front because they needed to be replaced and Jonathan had been a pretty straight forward guy to work with so far.
The main issue (because initially quoting me at $300 more than the actual price isn't my main issue, ha!) came when we paid. I asked if our AAA 10% discount had been applied to our over $900 bill with tires now. Caleb informed me that the discount probably wasn't applied because Jonathan did so much "price matching" to get me a competitive price. I told Caleb to chat it over with Jonathan because calling overcharging (or gouging, whatever you want to call it) "price matching" is a joke. Caleb said Jonathan would call and follow up.
Four days later we had heard nothing and tried to reach Jonathan 3 separate times but he had "alot of meetings that day". After threatening to contact corporate, I got a call from Jonathan. He said no discount would be given because he price matched so low. He said his manager supported his decision and there was no wiggle room. I asked for his managers contact info and after following up I was basically told the following: yeah I don't know why you were priced so much to begin with. My research has the average price at $700 tops. We will be refunding you the 10% on the parts of the alternator, so $35 total. After bringing to his attention the hoops I had to jump through to get the money rightfully mine back, he extended the 10% to the tires as well.
Thank you Midas for your dedication to customer service and doing the right thing. You will never get my business again, not even if all four wheels of my car fall off in front of your building and no other repair shop is ever open again. I would rather walk and take the bus than be lied to and robbed from a corporate business.
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