Monro Muffler Brake

Below is the context of the letter that i've mailed to monro's corporate office;

To whom it may concern;

Ideally, i’d like to see this letter land on the company president’s desk but I understand that i’m a customer and that he is probably too busy to handle every complaint that comes through the corporate office. (after reading other complaints on this website, I do now believe that the company president will feel too busy to deal with me)

I’ve sat on this situation for a week because I didn’t want to write this letter with pure adrenaline because when I left your norwalk, ohio store, I was piping mad – but with good reason. Please read on.

Tuesday, november 23, 2010 – I had an appointment to get a full service oil change done at the norwalk, ohio store managed by al cappon because no body can beat the price of the oil change and i’ll give you that, the deal is wonderful. During the tire rotation portion of the oil change, they found a bulge in one of my tires in which I sincerely thanked them for finding because I was getting ready to hit the road for the thanksgiving holiday.

Upon getting this bad news, I initially called my wife for the two of us to discuss this issue because that’s what married couples do. I returned to the store to ask al for the most cost effective / economical tire, he quoted me a price of $224 … plus installation and disposal of course so it would have been over $300 by the time it was all said and done. I again asked if there was anything better he could do, he could not. So again, I called my wife because I wasn’t about to drop $300 without first talking it over with her – again, it’s what married couples do. Al seemed agitated that I wasn’t giving him an answer right away. My wife and I decided that we’re going to shop around, and that surely we would be able to find a better deal. I told him that if he couldn’t help me out with a cheaper tire, than I was going to take my business elsewhere and that I wanted the bad tire put back on my car. Up until this moment, things were civil.

Again, he seemed agitated that I brought my wife into part of the decision making process. He entered the shop from the lobby, swinging the door open and fraling his arms around – tells his mechanics to put the wheel back on and said something about me, but I didn’t make it out. Upon coming back to the counter, he was red faced and still mouthing off. At which I told him that after this transaction to remove me from his computer system because I wouldn’t be back and there was no reason to keep my record (which of course, I know there are reasons for marketing & auditing purposes). He said something else; that I don’t quite recall to which I replied calling him a smart # and that this wasn’t the first time that i’ve had an issue with him but it would be the last. At that point, he was even brighter red, finger pointing, snarling, spit coming out of his mouth, calling on tom (his assistant) to handle me because he couldn’t anymore, telling me to get the f*&^ out of his store and that they would call me back in when the bill was ready. To which I did, which was fine. I made sure I kept eye contact with him the whole time I was standing outside while he was making some kind of small talk with another customer in the lobby, probably about me, which was fine. Words don’t hurt me, they just piss me off. I paid, he handed me my change, I turned to leave – he told me that I needed to sign my receipt, to which I scribbled something across the name spot and I left. I’m generally a very non-confrontational person and all I said that later on could be construed to being out of line was me calling him a smart #, but if he can’t handle that, he has no business being a manager of a shop and dealing with customers.

Upon getting home, I filled my wife in about what had just happened and showed her the bulge in tire. She and I both agreed that it needed attention, but not from monro, not the way we’ve been treated. So I called around to a few places and found very gently used tires (same amount of tread wear to what I already had on the car) at maxi tire for $85 – it is a bridgestone compared to my other tires being firestones. Got it installed, went on my trip.

Al could have kept me as a customer with a little more effort and better attitude, yet, now i’ll take my car up the road for oil changes and pay twice as much as monro charges but service and attitude outweigh cost every day. Read the book, "customer satisfaction is worthless, customer loyalty is priceless" by jeffrey gittomer and you'll see where i'm coming from.

I don’t normally write these kinds of letters of complaint, I guess mainly because I am a business manager myself and I know how it feels to get a letter either directed at me or to me about one of my employees. But like I said, I waited a week to type this letter and it wasn’t the first time that i’ve had an issue with al cappon, which makes me wonder – how many other people have had issues with this man? I’d be willing to bet that this isn’t the first time you’ve heard something about mr. Al cappon in a negative manner. Do you have video surveillance in the stores? With sound? If so, I request that you watch the tape from 11/23/2010 – you won’t be impressed.

Let me state that tom (who showed me the bulge in the tire) was wonderful as was andy (who did the oil change).

I will completely leave it up to your discretion whether or not you want to contact me to follow up, either at the address above or by email at *@yahoo.com or by phone at *-*-*. But I do request that I do not hear from al, as nothing he can say will change my opinion of him.