Submitted by: Dan
Date of Incident: November 2001
Type of Car: '96 Geo Metro

Coming home from college for Thanksgivng Break, I found myself working back at my pizza delivery job at Papa Johns Pizza. It was during a day of work this week in which my car overheated. So I brought it into Midas to get checked out.

They told me that the water pump needed replacing (a $500 fix). I told them to proceed with the repair. Even though it was rather pricey, I didn't really have a choice. My car was fixed and ready to go by Friday evening.

I picked up my car and headed straight to work. All was well, until I went out on my first delivery. After delivering the pizza, I noticed that my car had problems accelerating and shifting gears. The more I drove, the worse it got, until I couldn't drive over 20 miles an hour. I coasted back into the Papa Johns parking lot, pissed at the fact that 45 minutes ago I spent $500 on repairing my car, and now it is no longer driveable.

I immediately called back Midas and told them the situation. He sent out a tow truck and towed it back to Midas. But of course, by this time Midas is closed, so they couldn't look at it until tomarrow morning.

Saturday morning I got a call from Midas. They informed me that the transmission had gone. It would cost $1000+ to fix (not really worth it for a '96 Geo Metro). On top of that, they had to send it to a special shop which would not be open til Monday. Keep in mind I have to make a 4 hour drive back to college, and be back in class on Monday morning.

The short of it is that I went out and bought a new car that day (which I really couldn't afford) and I did make it to class on Monday morning. My poor Geo sat in the Midas parking lot for a month, left for dead. I never went back to the Round Lake Beach Midas, nor should you!

Submitted by: Freund
Date of Incident: October 2001
Type of Car: '95 Honda Civic

I had one of my worst experiences ever for any kind of service work done to my car!!!! I went into Midas wanting a problem fixed because my car was having a hard time starting. Midas led me to believe that a tune up was all that was needed.

Chuck (the store manager) specifically said that he had this problem with his car, and changing the spark plugs/wires was the way to fix it. After Midas changed the spark plug wires they found that wasn't the problem. Right before I was about to pay, the mechanic helping me ran back into the parking garage leaving me standing at the counter without any explanation.

I stood there for 5 minutes waiting for someone to explain to me what was going on. I eventually sat down, and Chuck came out to me 30 minutes later saying the spark plug wires were not the problem. He said the problem was with the ignition switch (lame man terms = where you insert the car key to start the car). When I was leaving another mechanic told me if there were any problems starting my car, to give my steering column a nice hard bump.

It was at that moment that I was thinking to myself, “what kind of monkeys run this place!?” That evening coming home from work my car just died. Guess what the problem was? Yep, you guessed it, the ignition switch. Luckily one of my co-workers was home, and was able to get the connections cleaned up so I could temporarily drive it. I was able to get more driving time from what my co-worker did with the ignition switch, then what Midas did, and I didn't have to spend $296.40 to do it. I took it to the Honda dealer and they fixed it for $470. I haven't had any problems since.

I talked to Chuck, and he absolutely refused to work with me. He started yelling at me on the phone about how their work done on my car was kosher. I emailed a complaint to the corporate headquarters website, and they never responded. To this day I refuse to take my car to any Midas, even ones outside of Round Lake because of the absolute lousy service I received.

Submitted by: Dan
Date of Incident: December 2002
Type of Car: '98 VW Jetta

I was back in town on Christmas Break and, as I always do, deliver pizzas during breaks. So one day I was driving in a snowstorm, made a turn and slid on some snow and ice. I plowed right into a rather high curb and it bent my wheel back in my wheel well. My car was not driveable. I called a tow truck (from A-Tire) and I decided why not just get it fixed at the same place that was towing my car.

To make a long story short, I had to constantly call this guy probably about 7 or 8 times to see what was going on with my car. First he had to order a part that wasn't going to come in until next week.

Then (since I was going through the insurance company) there was a problem with the insurance adjuster. He has to personally make a trip out there because A-Tire wasn't on their list of approved mechanics. Then when A-Tire found out that my car would require additional repair, the insurance guy had to make another trip out there before they could start working on anything.

Of course by now it is Christmas time and everyone is on vacation. A-Tire had my car for three weeks! That's almost the entire duration of my Christmas break. Finally, the 8th time I called the guy he said that my car was finally finished. Keep in mind he said many times that he would call me, but he never did. I ALWAYS had to call him.

So I went to pick up my car and he said that they were finishing up putting on the new tires that I requested. Come on people! You had my car for three weeks and you waited til now to put the tires on?!

So I had to wait there about 20 or 30 minutes while they finished. And finally the old bag behind the counter was ready to ring me up. I paid by credit card, but she couldn't figure out what was going on with the credit card machine because she's a mindless idiot. Then they couldn't find my car keys. I was in there about 45 minutes total. A-Tire is run by a slow old man with no sense of urgency who should have retired in 1975. And his wife at the counter should not be responsible for car keys or operating any type of electronic devices.

Submitted by: Susie Haze
Date of Incident: 1997
Type of Car: '97 Dodge Neon

This was sometime in 1997 when I was in the Navy. Everyone I knew was so sick and tired of coming down to Great Lakes to pick me up nearly every weekend so I went to Wilde Dodge in Waukesha and purchased a white 1997 Dodge Neon. That was my first mistake. This is when the problems began.

Just about every other weekend or so I had to take my car in for some issue or another…. Brakes, steering issues, check engine light, some weird noise in my vents, transmission, you name it and it was screwed up. So after the 10 th visit or so the service guys would run and hide every time I pulled my car into their service bay.

I decided I would talk to someone higher up and went straight to the General Manager of the dealership. After getting nowhere from him, reaching over his desk screaming and trying to choke him while this one service guy had to literally pull me off of his desk, they tell me I'm going to get a different Neon as soon as they get one.

So after 2 weeks of waiting they call me and tell me I can come and get my new car. When I show up, they show me this disgusting pinkish purple car that they claim is just as comparable to the one I have. I refused to take it because if I had to look at that hideous color every day it would force me to vomit. So there solution was a purple-blue colored one which I had no choice to take since I almost drove through my parents garage door with the white one only minutes after they told me the brakes had nothing wrong with them.

Service people at that dealership have shit for brains and couldn't fix a problem if their life depended on it. And to get anywhere with them you had to use physical force. Absolutely the worst experience I've ever had with any mechanic and dealership EVER!!! Words to the wise: NEON stands for Never Ever Own Neon!!!

Submitted by: Dan
Date of Incident: December 2004 / January 2005
Type of Car: '98 VW Jetta

Problem #1: My car died in a car wash and refused to start back up again, so I had it towed to Great American Tire for repairs. They informed me that I needed a new battery, which I agreed with because my current battery was a billion years old. But they also said it looked as if I needed to get my spark plug wires replaced ($200+). I said okay and I picked up my car the next day.

On my way to work, I noticed that it was driving weirder than usual. The RPM's would go all the way down at random times, like the engine was going to die. I brushed it off and waited to see if it improved. It only got worse...my car stalled out several times while taking turns on side streets. Taking it back to Great American Tire, they told me that the distributor cap was cracked and that there were sparks shooting out of it! How do you miss something like that the first time?

They agreed to fix it free of charge, which was good. However, I think the real reason my car stalled in the car wash was because my distributor cap was broken (cheap fix), not because of the spark plug wires (expensive fix).

Problem #2: There is a guy named Sam who works there. I've delivered pizzas to him a couple times. He's cheap AND he's an asshole.

Submitted by: Dan
Date of Incident: 4/6/04
Type of Car: '98 VW Jetta

Never finished anything when they say it will be finished. Always "waiting for a part". Took them 4 days to do a simple $90 fix that they said would take one day. You would think that being a VW dealership, they would have commom VW parts in stock. But I guess not. Should change name from Lujack's to Screwjack's.

Submitted by: Dan
Date of Incident: 6/24/03
Type of Car: '98 VW Jetta

My "check engine" light was on so I wanted to get it looked at. The people at Liberty Auto Plaza told me that there were wires of some sort that were "arking". They went ahead and fixed it (which wasn't that cheap) and I picked up my car the next day.

I got to enjoy my car without the "check engine" light for ONE day. Then it went back on again. I ended up taking it back sometime later. They checked it out again and said that now the problem was some sort of cylindar that had to so something with emmissions....a $400 fix. But they said that the this part didn't really do much of anything anyways.

So I declined service, and never returned. My check engine light was on for the next 2 and a half years.

Submitted by: Dan
Date of Incident: 1999
Type of Car: '96 Geo Metro

I was never really impressed by the service from Pep Boys. But I'd like to bring more attention to the quality of their auto accessories. More like lack of quality.

I purchased a replacement window crank handle and within a week of use, it fell apart. I also bought a compass for my car. When I opened up the packaging there was...this is no joke...a dead fly inside the packaging right along with the compass.

I should have taken this as a sign, but I did not, and put the compass in my car anyways. It never really worked right and never told me the right direction. What a piece of crap that was.

Submitted by: Dan
Date of Incident: 9/15/03
Type of Car: '98 VW Jetta

Wanted them to investigate a rattling coming from my wheel well. They said it was the parking break cable that had come loose. They fixed it, but it had little to no effect on the rattling noise.

Also had them investigate a strange sounding noise when I was in reverse. They recommended a new transmission (not cheap) and that my car could "go at any time". I have since driven my car another 20,000 miles with no transmission problems.

Submitted by: Peter Kupfer
Date of Incident: August 2003
Type of Car: 2002 Toyota Echo

I got in a car wreck and this is the place American Family Insurance told me to go. They had my car down in about a week and it seemed to be okay.

The following summer I had some overheating issues and I took into the Toyota dealer assuming that my AC needed a recharge. Turns out that Dwight's wired my fan backwards and there were 2 other wires randomly dangling in my engine.

I called Dwight's (this is a car shop that is shown in the movie Groundhog Day) and they told me to bring it in. They have a lifetime warranty on their work. They fixed it and refunded me the money I spent at Toyota. So, overall, I am okay, but it was a minor inconvience.