Midas Muffler
Would not warranty $2708.98 worth of transmission replacement work Ripoff

July 28th, 2004
To Midas Muffler Canada Customer Complaints Department
Dear Sirs,

I have contacted your office regarding this same issue several months ago, but as you can see below, satisfaction has not been obtained. The following is a copy of a letter posted today, which outlines the actions planned should this issue not be resolved within the next week. Thank you.
Don

Company Name: Midas Muffler Manager: Jeff Windich
3030 New St. Burlington Ontario Canada 905 632-7172
Incident

While I was away on business in April 2002, our transmission failed. My wife took it in to the local Midas, where we normally have our mechanical repairs done. Jeff Windich, the manager of Midas in Burlington Ontario informed me via telephone that the transmission would have to be replaced, and asked me what I wanted him to do. I told Jeff to go ahead and have it fixed.

I returned home to discover that the bill for this was $2300.00. The transmission had been completely rebuilt and replaced. When I questioned Jeff as to whether it might have been better to put a used transmission into a vehicle with 360, 000 km, he made the valid point that there would be no warranty if he did this and that he could not take the chance of replacing the transmission with a used one, only to discover that it did not work properly.

A few weeks after getting the vehicle back, the transmission began refusing to stay in fourth gear on the highway. Since the problem would only surface when the transmission had risen to full temperature, the problem was only apparent on lengthy highway drives.

The van was returned for this problem many times during the next year and a half, spending more than 21 days time at Midas. He told us each time that they had made an "adjustment" and that the transmission was now fine. On the last visit I informed Jeff that I felt that we had been more than patient with this, and that we wanted the transmission replaced this time. I told him that I had been advised that this had to be a pressure problem, and that the only way to fix it was to have it pulled and rebuilt.

Jeff phoned the next day to say that it was no longer under warranty. His position is that since the company that had done the actual work on the transmission was no longer in business, he was not responsible. I told him that this was not my concern, because it was Midas who had billed me and been had paid for the work.

Jeff kept the vehicle for a few more days and then approached me to say that they had done an extensive evaluation of the problem and now felt that it was definitely one of four sensors that were causing the problem. Unfortunately, according to Jeff, the only way to fix the problem was to change all four sensors, since it was not possible to tell which one was causing the problem. I was told that it would cost $600, but that they could guarantee me that the problem would be fixed.

I allowed him to proceed with the repair, and I picked up the vehicle the next day. He informed me upon picking up the vehicle that they had changed the fluid because it had become badly burnt from the slipping and that the new sensors were definitely the answer. It was not until we took the van for a 4 hour highway trip a few weeks later that I noticed any trouble.

The first sign of trouble came at a highway rest stop when I noticed that transmission fluid was shooting out in a stream from underneath the vehicle. A check of the dipstick revealed that the fluid was at least two litres overfilled. We continued on our trip with no trouble, and over the next week, the fluid gradually leaked its way back to the normal level.

Upon reaching normal level, the vehicle once again began to refuse to hold fourth gear. The consensus from other reputable shops in the trade seems to be that the transmission had been purposefully overfilled to mask the problem once Jeff had discovered that the $600 that I was going to be paying them for the new sensors had not fixed the problem.

The vehicle was returned once again. This time Jeff kept the vehicle for a few days more and returned it to me saying that there was a problem with a spring that was held in by a screw on the side of the transmission, and that it had been impossible to see it earlier, but that his transmission friend had noticed it and retightened it and that everything would be fine now.

A week later, the transmission began slipping very badly and was returned to Midas once again. The response that I have from Jeff is now as follows. "The transmission was low on fluid and we topped it up." He states that the transmission is no longer under warranty there is nothing else he is willing to do. I did a bunch of well deserved screaming at him in front of his waiting room and left out of the front door, informing him that he would regret the day he decided to rip me off. Mr. Windich pursued me out of the front door and pathetically threatened me over yelling in front of his customers.

After faxing the information outlined above to Midas Canada, I received a call from Mr. Windich a few days later. He asked if we could let bygones be bygones and told me that he had a friend whom he would like to have fix the transmission. I agreed, and dropped the van off a few days later. A full week later, the van was still sitting in his lot. Mr. Windich told me that his friend was going to do him a favour and that he was really busy but that the van would be going to him that day. It was actually 10 days after I left the van with him that it was finally taken to the transmission shop.

Mr. Windich called me two days later to say that his friend had just finished looking at it and that the trouble seemed to be with a valve. It was at this point that I stopped the conversation to remind him that I had conveyed exactly this same opinion on the valve problem to him on the second of my 6 or 8 total visits to deal with this problem, and that the only reason that we were here dealing with it almost two years later was due to my own patience with him regarding getting it fixed properly. He said that it should be fixed in a few days time.

A few days later I received a call from Mr. Windich. He said that they had now gone over the entire transmission, and that there was a failure in the front pump, but that his friend was willing to do us a favour and that he would be willing to fix it for half of his normal charge, or $900. Needless to say I told Jeff to perform an indecency upon himself and that I would see him in court shortly. I have no choice now but to pay the $900 directly to the transmission shop in question, as the van is now disassembled and sitting in a busy parking lot.

I had assumed all along that since I had spent well over $20, 000 at various Midas shops over the past 12 years that I would be treated properly when push came to shove. I hope that others can learn from my experience. I plan upon picketing the Midas Muffler location in Burlington Ontario during the morning of Saturday August 7th, 2004.

It is my belief that a large white picket sign informing the world that this station has ripped me off to the tune of $3000 and that my vehicle is still not fixed will get very quick action from Mr. Windich.
A staff reporter from the Burlington Post has agreed to attend to photograph and document the event. Should be interesting...

Should this action not produce the desired result, I will go forward with a small claims action against Midas, and post the results on this site. A friend with an extremely reputable shop in Toronto says that there is no chance that Mr. Windich's argument that his shop did not do the actual work will be successful.

Damage Resulting
$3, 000 in repairs. Vehicle is undriveable. 4-6 weeks in loss of use, causing untold inconvenience.

Company: Midas Muffler
Country: Canada
Province: Ontario
City: Burlington
Address: 3030 New St
Phone: 9056327172

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