Merlin 200,000 Miles Shop

AVOID THIS PLACE LIKE THE PLAGUE !
I stopped at the Merlin Muffler in Midlothian and told the guy all I wanted was to have an exhaust noise checked out on my wife’s truck. That’s it. «Just tell me why it’s loud and how much it’ll cost to make it quiet again.» I clearly said to him, (in perfect English) «I don’t need anything else.» While they put it up on the lift, I went outside to use my phone. After a REALLY long time, the guy finally comes outside and calls me back to the counter. The first thing he says to me is, «How long has it been since you REALLY serviced this vehicle?» Oh boy, I thought, here we go. Let the BS begin! He lays a bill, a page that’s literally printed full from top to bottom, upon the counter. He starts pointing at stuff working his way from the bottom up toward the top. Remember, I only went in there for an exhaust noise, not for a full printed page worth of unwanted repairs. He starts talking gibberish about some five-​hundred-​eighty-​some dollar, «Full Fluid Service». A full service WHAT?! I’m thinking. While he’s describing this whole apparently gold-​plated fluid procedure, I wasn’t following along as he traced his finger, one line at a time, along the long list of fluids and filters and stuff. I’m just staring right at him. Halfway through his fluid spiel, he suddenly stops, looks at me and says, «You’re looking at me like you think I’m crazy.» In response, I say, «No, I don’t think you’re crazy, I just think that anybody who agrees to pay for your little, „full fluid service“ scam should have THEIR head examined!» He continued to try and convince me to buy this, «fluid service» until I got a little loud and made it clear to him that I was having nothing to do with it. He eventually forgets about the «fluid service» nonsense and moves on to the next thing up the list which appears to be my dire and immediate need for four brand new shock absorbers, something ELSE I hadn’t come there for. He begins going on about the, «manufacturer mandated shock replacement recommendation» so I started waving my hand back and forth and saying, «Ix-​nay on the ox-​shay! Why don’t you get to that muffler situation instead?» But no, instead of him taking the direct road to «Muffler Town» he instead continues heading further down the path to, «Unrequested Repairville» by telling me that one sway bar link is broken so the other one’s not far behind and they’ll have to replace both of them for $ 175.00. By then, I’ve had it up to HERE with his BS. I loudly asked him, «Is there any chance in hell you’re ever gonna get to that muffler?» After a few more false starts about other unwanted repairs, he finally gets to the muffler. He tells me a new muffler is gonna set me back $ 350.00. WTF?! OUCH! As it turned out, the entire bill came to close to FIFTEEN HUNDRED FREAKIN’ DOLLARS! I swear to God! He’d tallied up nearly fifteen hundred dollars worth of work even after I specifically told him I’d only come there for an exhaust noise estimate. Right then I repeated that I’d only come there for the exhaust problem and that his endless laundry list of un-​related and un-​requested nonsense that he’d piled onto my bill had totally turned me off from doing business with his company without first getting a second opinion somewhere else. At that point his boss conveniently wanders in from where he’s been lurking right around the corner. I know this because I saw the boss’s shadow moving around on the floor the entire time the first guy was going over his big list with me. When I told the boss that $ 350 for a muffler was insane, he happily asked me, «So, what WILL it take for us to get your business today?» I looked at him, I pointed to the first guy and I said, «I wouldn’t let you people work on my car for FREE!» A brief shouting match ensued. Before any cops got called and with a copy of their massive bill in-​hand, I managed to leave the place with my Merlin Muffler «cherry» still unbroken. I stopped on the way home and picked up two Moog sway bar links at an O’Reilly Auto Parts at a total cost of thirty-​six bucks for both. I jacked up the truck and I changed them myself in about fifteen minutes. The next day I drove to a muffler place in Indiana and the owner hooked me up with a brand new muffler installed for $ 139.00 plus tax. He was done in less than forty-​five minutes. DO YOURSELF A HUGE FAVOR! STAY AWAY FROM THE MERLIN MUFFLER IN MIDLOTHIAN LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT! You know, unless of course you won the lottery and have piles of money to burn!

I took my car here for the first time for an oil change today. The manager could not have been nicer. He treated me like I was someone who’d been coming there for years. I will definitely be back and would recommend it to family and friends.

I came here on August 10^th to get an oil change and walked out with a print out for auto repair work estimating at $ 1500…WTH. I came in for an oil change not to be told I need nearly $ 2000 worth of work on my car. Plus I felt like I was being pressured to fork over a lot of money to fix my car. I never got this kind of pressure at other mechanics and I understand they’re fighting for business, but they have to keep in mind people’s financial situations too. I don’t have $ 1500 to pull out of my a** and hand it to someone. I am barely keeping up with maintenance since my job is screwing me pay wise and leaving me with little to live on after paying whatever bills I can. It’s sad that I had to be pressed with this when my financial situation is in no shape to shell out that kind of money for a laundry list of things that may or may not need to be fixed. I think some places try to get one over on women customers because they think they don’t know anything and they can take advantage of them. Now had my boyfriend been there with me on the day this was going on they would not be telling him some BS like that they would have been less likely to pull that you need all this fixed and spending a crap load of money for it nonsense. I will be seeking the advice of my boyfriend and his mechanic and advice of my late mother’s boyfriend who seem to know what the hell they’re talking about in terms of cars and what is and what isn’t necessary in terms of fixing. I told my boyfriend and he said there are some things on the car that don’t need to be tampered with and I trust his judgment on that. So ladies if you’re hit with a bill of that magnitude I would seriously bring this to your husband or boyfriend’s attention because his input will save you a lot of money in the long run.

I was a frequent visitor to this shop for routine maintenace and oil change service on my vehicle. Last year they were under a different management which I thought the were pretty good. I had asked them to check my brakes for me to see how much wear I had on them. They told me that I had about 10 — 15% left on them and to get the rotors machined on my next visit and also get new brake pads. Well no one has ever mentioned to me before about getting my rotors machined, so that was something new to me. I agreed to let them do it July 2011 and it’s been problems ever since. (A squeak here a noise there) But everytime I came back in with a complaint about the brakes, they would take care of the problem free of charge to me. No complaints there. Last week I took the car in for routine oil change and to complain that my car would shake when pressing the brakes. I noticed on this visit they were under new management. (DAMN) Ok, so they check out my car and inform me that the rotors and the brake pads are bad and warped and needed to be replaced. Let’s do the time line. (July 2011 — Feb 2011) New brake pad and machined rotors in July and now both are bad. After listening to the manager tell me that I must press my brakes a lot he offered to warranty the damn brake pads. Wow you’re going to take $ 30 off of $ 800! What a great savings for me. NOT! I left without getting the brakes done and I called Mitsubishi to speak with someone from the service department and he informed me that my brake rotors should’ve never been machined down in the first place. That’s what the manager at Merlins should’ve started his conversation out with instead of saying «oh you press too hard on your brakes». I will never visit that shop again!