Midas

On 11/10/15, my car overheated while on business travel in Austin and Midas @ 4001 Guadalupe Street was the closest automotive repair shop.



In summary, this facility explained that the problem was the thermostat and that they would replace it. On 11/11/15, I received a phone call from the manager, John, stating that they thermostat housing was accidentally broken during the repair but they would make it right by me on the final bill. When I arrived at the facility to get my car, he showed me the thermostat housing and explained that the piece that had broken off was the reason for the car overheating in the first place. He went to great lengths to show me that the broken piece from the thermostat had fallen into the housing which prevented the unit from opening and closing as normal and that replacing the housing would fix the issue. This made no sense to me since his technicians were the ones that broke the housing when trying to remove it. But, I was desperate to get it repaired and went along with the story.



$761.45 dollars later, I left their facility and the car overheated again only 5 minutes down the road. I called John to explain what had happened and that I was taking the car to another dealership for repair. He asked me to call him back after the repair was complete to let him know about the diagnosis. I managed to make to a hotel where I spent an additional $199 on a room because I had to book it so late in the afternoon – no other rooms were available nearby.



I contacted my roadside repair company and had the car towed to another dealership the following morning, 11/12. Later that day, this dealership called to say that the problem was the water pump had malfunctioned. They went on to explain that when a water pump malfunctions, it is obvious (if you know what you are doing) because water is dripping from the unit. My car was repaired under warranty for no charge.



As instructed, I called John @ Midas to explain what I had found out. He said that he and/or his manager, or both, would contact me to discuss our next steps. I never received that phone call.



I disputed the charge with my credit card company but my dispute was denied after they received a letter from John stating that 1) I called them from San Antonio the following day after the repair stating that the car had broken down again – FALSE! 2) that I told them the radiator had broken resulting in the car leaking coolant – FALSE! This is a perfect example of scam artists at their worst!



While I am certainly not done fighting this, I wanted to alert the public to the risk you take if you use Midas @ 4001 Guadalupe Street in Austin. If you want your tires replaced or your oil changed, maybe these are your guys.



Anything repair outside of that – BUYER BEWARE! John and his crew are used car salesmen and don’t have your best interest at heart.