Muffler Man

I just went to Muffler Man on Lake Michigan drive to get an alignment. After 15 minutes they told me that they couldn't perform an alignment because of all the problems that I had with the vehicle. The mechanic told me that all of my upper and lower ball joints were shot and were just flopping around, all 4 of my 2 year old shocks were shot, my rear stablilizer links were bad, and my CV boot had a hole and was leaking grease. He informed me that it was unsafe to drive the vehicle the way it was. The estimate was just a few dollars shy of $1000 for the ""repairs"". Seeing as how my shocks had a lifetime warranty from another shop and I just had work done on the front end, I took it back to the shop I trust for such repairs: Suspension Pro on S Division. They showed me everything, while it was on the hoist. All the ball joints were fine. They even put a 3 ft pry bar on them and barely could wiggle any play out of them at all, the shocks had no problems and were just dirty, and the rear stabilizer links were issue free. The only thing they found wrong was the CV boot actually was leaking and it looked like someone had cut it with something sharp. I can't guarantee that it was the mechanic from Mr Muffler who cut it but, with all the lying involved, I wouldn't be surprised. Suspension Pro had problems getting the CV boot off so, they replaced the entire axle (which includes 2 CV boots) for the price of just the CV boot replacement. Total cost for the repair was only $70. If I ever go to Muffler Man again, it will be to flip them the bird and call them names. more

I brought my 1999 Dodge Caravan to Muffler Man in Standale to have an estimate because of a grinding noise I heard in the brakes. I only had the van for about a year and was unsure of the condition of the brakes. I had my 5 month old daughter with me and we walked through the neighborhood while they inspected my van. Holly called me back and told me that my vehicle needed a ton of work and was unsafe to drive. She said that my back brakes were not working at all, that I had a restricted hose, I needed cylinders rebuilt, and she just went on and on. She said the minimum repairs to make my van safe to drive would cost me $543.03. She had me convinced and I told her that I would walk back to their garage to sign a ""work authorization"" so they could get started. On my way I called my husband to tell him about the estimate because it was so much more expensive than we were anticipating for a routine brake job. He advised me that we should get a second opinion, and I explained that to Holly and another man that was behind the counter. That is when they really turned up the heat. The bullying and scare tactics they used were heinous and disgraceful. They should be ashamed of themselves. They told me that my vehicle is so bad off that there used to be a law that would have required it to be towed to get a second opinion. They said that a piston could blow at any time and that I would be without any brakes and could get into an accident. They told me that if I killed someone in that accident, the police would impound my car and when they saw how bad the brakes were that I could get charged with negligent homicide. I told them the garage I planned to drive it to was right around the corner and that I wouldn't have to go on any major streets and could drive at 10 mph. They also tried to use my daughter as leverage against me and told me I should at least have someone pick her up so that I am not putting her life at risk as well. They told me that the van was still up in the hoist and that all the parts were already ordered and the more they pushed me to not get a second opinion, the more I didn't trust them. They made me sign a waver saying that they advised me not to drive so they wouldn't be liable if I got into an accident. I ended up driving away with my daughter and felt like a criminal. I was embarrassed for them to see me buckle in her carseat and drive away. I drove about 2 miles to Leonard Heights Garage and his estimate was $129. He said the back brakes looked great and that they had been replaced fairly recently. He assured me that all I needed was routine brake pads and rotors. That's $414 less! As much as Muffler Man trying to take advantage of me financially bothers me, all of the harrassment torments me more. I was in tears and felt like such a terrible mother for driving away, because there is nothing I wouldn't do to assure my child's safety. more

We've used this location for the past few years. We took our car in for a rear suspension estimate & they wanted $1200 for struts etc. Took it to a dealership & they charged us $330 for the same work (although they noted that some things on Muffler Man's estimate didn't need to be fixed). Later the brakes went out on the same vehicle, unrelated to the other work done. Muffler Man is down the road so we returned for an estimate. They told us that BOTH rear cylinders blew & we would need shoes, drums & hardware kits. Cost $375. I asked for an itemized estimate & wasn't given one. I asked why it was so expensive and found their parts were almost 3x that of parts stores. She snapped ""If you want to go somewhere cheap like AutoZone I'm sure you can get cheaper parts"". Where does she go for parts? Germany? I took the car home & took it apart w/ my father-in-law (mechanic). We needed shoes & a cylinder for one side only. Cost $47. We went to speak w/ the owner about being lied to (thinking she would care that her mechanic had lied about the extent of the work that needed to be done). She blew up & got mad that we didn't have the work done w/ them, saying that she had to guarantee the labor & parts, & everything she had quoted needed to be done. When we confronted her about lying about the cylinder (the one that was fine) she told us she looks over everything herself. I guess I (not a trained mechanic) know what a blown cylinder looks like better than the mechanics there. Also, the parts that I picked up have a warranty so I'm still not sure why the parts they use cost 3x more. Thinking she would like to hear a customer's complaint to better her business, I am very disappointed in her customer service. She was very rude, defensive & didn't seem to care that she lost a customer. I was lucky that my father-in-law had the time to look at it with me, but I feel bad for those out there who are taken advantage of & lied to by Muffler Man -- SHOP AROUND!!! Pros: hard to think of any right now... Cons: bad customer service, lied to on estimate, etc more

I had taken my car in to check my check engine light and found transmission and egr codes. Never had issues with Trans ever! I determined that the EGR needed to be fixed first. I dropped my car off at lunch and within 20 min of dropping my car off they said that all it needed was cleaning. I got charged 1.5hr for labor for diagnosis and an 1hr to clean because I was quoted 3 hrs. I picked my car up the check engine light was still on after I requested that it all codes were to be reset. the tech and clerk saidit was from the tranny not the EGR. I took my car to Penzoil and paid 85 dollars to have the code checked the transmission mechanic told me there was no transmission code just EGR. I took this info back to the Muffler Man and told the clerk everything that had happened. He was hesitant to look at it becasue they were so busy attending to another unhappy client. I insisted he verified the codes so he did. The EGR code showed up and his response was. Its not a gaurantee that cleaning would fix it. My response - it did not fixed it and we both knew that the light was still on when I picked it up and your tech said it was something that wasnt true. He offered to have it diagnosed AGAIN for a FEE! Well after the charges I paid to have it diag in the first place and the actual time it took I wasnt so agreeing. I tried to talk to the owner but she insisted on interupting me as I was giving her the facts of the repair that it was only a 25 percent chance that cleaning it would fix it. in labor could have allowed the mechanic to test drive the car- see the engine light on after it was reset and to verify with another test on the scanner to even see if the cleaning would fix this issue if not move to plan b and replace the unit. I couldnt get a full sentence out to before she started telling me to shut my mouth and listen to her. I told her there was no need to be rude and to tell me to shut up and to talk down to me. I used No profanity I wasnt even yelling. Pros: Origanal service clerk wililngness to assist and get to the matter Cons: neglect to follow up in determining if the repair was finished more