Midas — Attraction in Alaska

Went here to get an oil change and tires rotated. Asked him if he could check a spark plug while tires were off anyways to see if it had ever been replaced (since I bought the van after standard replacement timing) and was getting misfires. He showed me the plug so I could verify it had not been done. Asked if they could replace distributor rotor and cap for a good price since they would be pulling out the doghouse anyways. He agreed, gave it to me at parts price only (still had a typical price markup though). He let me see the distributor rotor and cap prior to agreeing and was honest about saying they were done before and didn’t need this immediately but I had them do it anyways since the labor was going to be free and I would hate doing that myself. He tried to add easy money items (fuel injection cleaner, engine air filter, and fuel filter) for pretty high markups but I’d done these myself already so I had him take it off. Estimate was still high in my opinion because of part price markup. He took off tire rotation price and took an extra $50 off after I asked. I still feel the price was about $200 higher than it should have been for a van oil change, sparks, tire rotation, and distributor rotor and cap at ~$1,250 but I might be too used to Canadian/lower 48 prices, hard to say. Mechanic seems to have done a reasonable job based on what I saw when I was out looking at distributor and verified the oil change after. My only gripe on the mechanic’s end is when the doghouse was put back on he must have had to retap a screw or similar because new screws were on and the dog house had shifted enough to reveal a metal gap between the carpet seams of the doghouse and floor carpet. Admittedly I did the carpet myself and maybe over trimmed when I did it and didn’t tighten the dog house down quite as much. It previously couldn’t be fully tightened due to the plastic being partially cracked. There were also a few new greasy marks added to the interior which was unfortunate as I just redid the carpet Overall a better experience than I thought it would be given I have a lower 48...

I took my car to these folks a couple months ago for an oil change. I usually go to Palmer or Wasilla, but since they are by my work, I thought I would give them a try. It was quite fast turn around, but shortly after picking up my car I noticed an oil leak. I called them about it and they claimed that they went over this with me. I was never told, nor was it stated on my paperwork. They said that my oil pan was cracked and leaking. When I took it back they said that it would be $700 to replace, but they could do it for $550. I explained that I never had an oil leak and that Midas is the only place I take my vehicles to. Logically, one would think that they would fess up to cracking it, but instead they said this is common when changing oil on my vehicle. I googled it on my phone and found no such info. After a lengthy back and fourth they finally admitted that their tech may have broke it by over tightening and they would fix it for free... in a few days. They did fix it when they got the part in, but nothing by the way of an apology or anything.

Today I take my car in for an oil change and gave them a second chance. They emailed me photos of my cabin filter about an hour later and say it must be replaced. I agreed to do so and was quite surprised when the charged me $30 for a $10 filter and another $30 to put it in (though they already had it open as a “courtesy” to check it). Then they claimed that it is in a very “difficult location” to get to on my vehicle. It is literally one clip on the side of my glove box and that is it... open in seconds. Then they said it is a standard charge of $30. I had to review... so you opened it up, took it out and snapped a photo as a courtesy, but it is $30 to slide a new one in!? This is why no one trusts mechanics these days. You would think a company as big as Midas would be a little more customer oriented. I contested the charge and they gave me the number to corporate. I guess they don’t need my years of business. Hopefully no one else will waste their time and money...

Very poor coordination and technical competence. I have a 1998 Isuzu Trooper. The starter blew, so I bought another one and asked this shop to replace it. They ended up replacing the starter motor but while replacing it they messed with my 4x4 actuator sensor (they sit in close proximity) . I got the car back and immediately saw that it was broken. I called the shop and they told me they would look at it. When I got there, a different person told me they suddenly had no bays open. So they clearly werent communicating with each other. They told me to come later around 4-6. When I came back they blew me off, but I made sure to book an appointment so they could fix something they broke. Once I came for my appointment, they once again said they had no bays open, even though I literally booked an appointment. I was also informed that the tech that replaced my motor was "sure he did it right" and was upset that he had to look at it again. They also tried to charge me another 150 dollar to diagnose the problem. After an hour of waiting, they very briefly looked at the car and claimed that they didn't cause the problem. I asked them if they looked at the OBD, and they claimed they didn't because they didn't have the right "adapter". This is a blatant lie. Any self respecting mechanic will have an OBD reader for my car, in fact they probably had to use it to make sure my starter worked properly. This just means they didn't bother because they were upset they had to see me again. These people are not technically competent nor do they communicate with their clients or each other well. Aside from giving my car another issue I had to go to their shop three times and still couldn't get my issue resolved or even diagnosed. They did however correctly replace my starter, hence the 2 stars. All in all this shop tries to scam you. Even for a simple job like a starter motor they failed to do the job properly, and I also observed other customers with grievances of the work they did on their...