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Meineke Complaint - Buyer Beware - Transmission fluid change
Transmission fluid change - Complaint
EL PASO, TEXAS -- The Meineke located at 1500 Redd Road in El Paso, Texas is the absolute worst place to take your car for service of any kind. Buyer beware!!! My wife took her Ford Focus into the shop to get the transmission fluid changed. She was told that the service would cost $95 over the phone. When she arrived to the shop and the price was changed to $75 per hour plus parts with an estimated amount of $130 for the service. I told her go ahead and get it done. After the service was done, the total amount to have the transmission fluid changed came to approximately $250. I went in to speak to the owner about the high price. He charged $135 for labor, told my wife that only synthetic transmission fluid could be used (very expensive)in the 2005 Ford Focus which came to $87.48 and the filter that was replaced cost $33.88. When I asked him how the price jumped from $130 to around $250 he said that it was all explained to my wife and started to walk away. This owner is extremely unprofessional and you will never know what the final bill is until the service is completed and the invoice is printed. The shop is extremely clean, but there are absolutely no customers there, so the shop is empty as well. What else are his employees going to do but clean the shop. I cannot tell you how frustrated I am at this owner named Futz. He takes advantage of customers that do not know any better and has absolutley no remorse about it
Comments:
Posted by At Your Service on 2011-08-10:
If this was the case, I would have suggested sticking to my guns and asking to see a signed statement that you were aware of such costs.
Meineke sure has taken a black eye lately. I'd be careful of taking anything to them.
Meineke sure has taken a black eye lately. I'd be careful of taking anything to them.
Posted by GenuineNerd on 2011-08-11:
A transmission fluid change can be involved; a "cheap" change would mainly involve just dropping the pan, draining the fluid, and replacing the filter, which results in only 1/3 to 1/2 the old fluid being drained. Many shops use machines that connect to the transmission lines off the radiator, and the old fluid is drained while new fluid is introduced at the same ratio, removing more than 98% of the fluid. If a filter change is also done, then the process is repeated again, thus resulting in a $250+ bill for the transmission service. However, be careful. If a transmission has over 100,000 miles, and the fluid was never changed, there could be sludge, metal shavings, etc. inside the transmission that would get dislodged by the fresh fluid, which may result in the transmission either shifting rough or failing, resulting in an expensive overhaul or replacement. Some people with high-mileage vehicles don't change the ATF for that very reason.
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