We brought my wife’s car in for a coolant issue. They sent us a digital diagnostic report that was clear enough, so we approved the recommended work. A few hours later, they called and told us the car would be ready in 20 minutes, so we left home to pick it up. When we arrived, the shop was already closed, but the car was still in the bay with the hood up, and one of the two employees was smoking a cigarette while working on it. A mechanic smoking while working on a vehicle—especially with the hood up—isn’t just unprofessional; it’s genuinely dangerous. You’ve got open coolant lines, fuel vapors, possibly aerosolized brake or carb cleaner, oil residue, and battery gases. One spark or flicked ash could ignite fumes or damage wiring insulation. It’s a violation of OSHA and fire safety standards, and every legitimate shop knows that.It also tells you something about the shop’s culture. When someone’s comfortable lighting up in the bay, it usually means either management isn’t present or doesn’t care. That’s not a “one bad tech” issue—it’s a shop-level breakdown of discipline and oversight.When we asked how much longer it would take, the employee gave vague and conflicting answers, never apologized, and didn’t seem to know what was going on. At one point, he even suggested leaving our keys in the gas cap or under the tire overnight — which is absurd and unsafe in such a high crime area.Earlier in the day, the technician had also pressured us over the phone to make service decisions that cost thousands of dollars within “five minutes or it’ll be too late,” which felt manipulative and unprofessional. When we asked for a small discount to acknowledge the mix-ups and wasted time, they refused and said they’d already applied a $25 coupon.When we returned Monday to pick up the car, no one greeted us for several minutes, even though they saw us arrive. The overall experience was careless, poorly managed, and showed zero respect for customers’ time or safety. I’ll never return to this Meineke, and based on conversations with others afterward, this kind of behavior seems to be a pattern at this franchise. The cherry on top is all the addons and excessive upsells they pressure the customer into.
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