Meineke Car Care Center

Address:	392 W Main St, Meriden, CT 06451, USA
Phone:	+1 203-599-0788
Site:	meineke.com
Rating:	2.8
Working:	7:30AM–6PM 7:30AM–6PM 7:30AM–6PM 7:30AM–6PM 7:30AM–6PM 7:30AM–4PM Closed

Location

Photos 10

Reviews 5

Coral Karrass

I really hate to be a negative Nelly but I feel the community needs to know this information. About a month ago I brought my car into meineke on west main street. Its convienent because its about a mile from my house. I had inner and outter tie rod ends on the two front tires replaced and struts replaced on my car. On Saturday I drove my 3 kids to an Easter egg hunt. Dropped two of them home with my husband and took my 7 year old to Shop Rite in Wallingford. Stopped at my sisters, went to citgo on West main street then went home. When I pulled up to my house and went to take the turn to park suddenly my front passenger side tire wouldnt turn. I called my husband to come out and look and my tire was NOT fully attached to my car. We managed to park my car in my lawn and called Meineke on Monday. They offered no tow service and said theyd reimburse me if it turns out to be their fault. Thankfully I have triple A. I called triple a and when the driver arrived I talked to him and he showed me a nut or pin was missing from the strut assembly. The tow driver put a nut on temporarily so he could get my car onto the flat bed and I followed him down to the shop. I explained to the manager what the tow driver showed me and he identified it as the strut assembly and tried to tell me they didnt work on the struts and didnt need to disconnect that to do the tierod ends...Well I have an invoice that says you worked on the strut assembly so that lie was squashed. Then he insinuates that someone may have tampered with my car. About 4 hours later he tells us that a cotter pin was missing from the strut assemebly and they will replace it and repair the car under warranty but he still thinks the car was tampered with. Now Im no mechanic but I worked for several years as a maintenance dispatcher which included typing up technical information from all kinds or service technicians and being able to help customers understand what the work was. Relaying information and keeping proper notes to be used in case of court orders etc. I looked up how the cotter pin works, how to install struts and how a cotter pin might fail and how to remove a cotter pin. At the very least the mechanic was trying to bullshit me. If he honestly thinks that someone got behind my tire parked next to a curb with needle nose plyers and a hammer in the middle of the street and unbent the cotter pin tails and hammered the cotter pin out of my strut assembly then hes the stupidest technician on the face of the planet. If some was wanted to tamper with my car why wouldnt they smash a window, slash a tire or key my car before they came to my house with tools to damage a part of my car I just had worked on....thats a stretch at best. the probability that the pin was faulty because they bought cheap part, that the pin wasnt installed properly or the wrong size cotter pin was used causing failure it much more likely. If I was on the highway myself and my family could have been killed. Yet this mechanic/manager decides to lie to me and my husband and make up some baloney excuse to keep us from taking legal action...they did make the repair and I will be having another mechanic look at the work that was done to make sure the repairs and all my cotter pins will hold up. this is the safety of my family. I would not bring my car there if it was the last shop on earth. I am not stupid and do not deserve to be treated like an idiot. Ps I ran the scenario by a couple mechanic friends and they agree that his story to straight bullcrap. I hope this review saves someone time and suffering and maybe their life.

Teresa Pagan

Horrible! Went in for pads (since I had a coupon), car started screeching after they were done. When I went back, I was told because I just asked for "pads," they dont oil/lubricate or do anything else but put in the pads. I took it to another dealership who did lubricate them but my car still screeched. I took it back to Meineke. This time, the tech calls me to my car and says that I need to resurface my rotors. I asked why this wasnt made aware to me the other 2 times & again, they said because I came in for pads. Took them somewhere else since they werent nice, got my rotors resurfaced and it STILL screeched. I gave up, went to my dealership where I bought the car & come to find out, wrong pads were inserted! I contacted BBB asking for a refund for the part, not the labor since work was done & Im a fair person. I just wanted the money I paid for the brake pads and Mieneke refused! The pads werent even expensive (since I used a coupon) and they still refuse to reimburse me. After all said and done, taking my SUV to multiple locations and trying to fix their mistake, I was out $1,000 for BACK BRAKES and time out of work!! So much for that "coupon." After sharing my experience with others, I was told that they too had bad experiences there and if they wouldve known I was going there, they wouldve told me to go elsewhere. Place needs to go out of business!!

Big Will 3600

High way robbery is an understatement. Took my car there for two of the cylinders back firing. Paid $347 for a tune up in which only spark plugs were changed. All it needed all along was a new coil pack and spark plug wires. In which Nate attempted to charge me another $232 plus tax. So thats $600 for a tune up?? What a joke! I ended up taking the car to a close family friend so him and i could replace the part for $65. Big difference from money hungry meinike. He must not of believed i knew much about cars. Nate and the mechanic in the back who resembles albert Einstein obviously didnt do anything. Stick with mannys auto repair on Britannia. He does excellent work and is not starving for money like this place is.

Anonymous User

Scam Artists. Terrible customer service. Beware of franchises, no one holds them accountable so they can rip people off. My elderly parents had their breaks done here. They went back to have them checked several times because they just didnt feel right. The tech said they were fine but dont expect them to last forever. A few months later the back breaks sounded terrible. We brought it to another mechanic. He said the only one set of brake pads had been replaced. He gave us the old ones. It was obvious. I then contacted Meineke customer service. They said that there was nothing they could do since they are franchises. He was totally unhelpful and rude. Beware!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Barbara Denker

service for my exhaust leak was excellent and honest, at least i think it was.This Meineke lost all my respect though when they charged me $254 for a car battery. It was an interstate battery so i did expect to pay a little more. Looked up the battery in question on Interstate web site. Suggested Retail price $134.95-$153.95. I do expect a mark up, but not $100, then charged me .4 of an hour labor to put it in.Who takes 24 minutes to put in a battery, better yet Ive never been charged for installation a battery. Offered me free oil change, kind of admission of guilt. No thanks, wont be back.