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We have been doing business with Midas Muffler on Canal Street in
New Orleans for over 10 years. Since Hurricane Katrina we have
continued our patronage, but that has come to an end as of today.
We took our car in because recent repairs to the muffler system have
apparently broken down as evidenced by increased noise. When
we took the vehicle in, it was mentioned that we felt that we had
been overcharged on the last visit. At that visit the owner or
manager had told us that charges were now higher due to his needing
to recoup the cost of repairs to his business. As we dropped
the vehicle off at Midas, we noticed that the place was virtually
empty. The owner of the store called on our arrival home from
dropping off the car and mentioned that we "had gotten some things
off our chest." Once again the owner claimed that prices were
now higher due to his needing to rebuild. The car was
ready shortly, and we went to pick it up. Johnny at
Midas engaged us once again. Additionally, this store does not
accept credit cards due to lack of a phone line but this was not
terribly evident as there was only a small sign on the ext; when we pushed
that, we were accused of not wanting to pay and were forced to come
up with over $150 in cash which we were lucky to have on us.
The entire situation was bad. First earlier repairs were
apparently inadequate and necessitated multiple visits and probably
increased cost. Routine maintenance was also much more
expensive than previously and elsewhere in the city (we called
around to compare.) Then management was physically
threatening, argued with us about costs
and implied that we were attempting to avoid payment because all we
had was a credit card.
Resolution
We will no longer
patronise this business and we would not recommend this business to
anyone that desires low prices, the use of credit cards, and/or
polite customer-friendly service. Johnny apologized for his
behavior during a subsequent phone call, but this is too little and
too late. This business is probably doomed.
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