Merlin 200,000 Miles Shop

They have always been fair to me at this shop. I get my oil changed regularly here, and have had my front brakes and some maintenance repair done to my 2004 Pontiac Vibe. No complaints about any service received. They are always kind and mindful of your time. :)

I love this location. They are very friendly and get the job done quick. There are always coupons too! They will also drop you off at home if you don’t want to wait or pick you up when your car is ready!!!

The owner Ron is great and honest. After I had been ripped off by Acorn Tire at Naperville, my friend recommended me to this place. I found their price is reasonable and they are able to fix the problems.

This place is the epitome of a brake shop.
From the standoff service to the «I could care less» attitude. I had to bring my jeep back there 5 TIMES for squeaky brakes after they fixed them and guess what… Still not fixed. This place is trash. Don’t waste your time or money. Merlin in general is trash. After going to a different location to get the job done right… They tell me that only each location is responsible. Wow! $ 600 later and the job still is not done. Please steer clear and support local businesses that care. Not this dump of a car shop.

I honestly cannot say enough nice things about this shop. I have taken several vehicles here over the years, and I have always seen the same staff (specifically Ron, the manager) in the office. To me, this says that the company honors loyalty, and I always like dealing with the same folks I dealt with the previous time. And Dina, the other staff member in the office, she’s a hoot, and extremely knowledgeable and helpful. I always feel like they are trying to recommend the best thing for my vehicle.
I recently took my vehicle here for an inspection. I needed 4 new tires, new brakes, and a new battery. Ron was great, and worked with me to come up with a solution that best fit my budget. I only got the brakes done for now, but I will most definitely be back for tires and a battery in the near future. Especially since he signed me up for their loyalty program.
So… If you are looking for a good and honest shop that does quality work and doesn’t try to nickel and dime you to death, this is the place!

I serviced my 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee here several times, and they did a great job. I can’t speak for the price since I wasn’t the one footing the bill, but they always made sure I was satisfied with their work. They even took me out for a test drive a week later after I told them I still noticed shuddering in my steering wheel during high speeds. Dina is a sweetheart and hilarious to boot (she told me once she used to do standup. I can see it) and she was always able to give me a ride when requested. I never really dealt much with the owner Ron, as it was usually Andy who handled the servicing on my Jeep. He is very straight forward, patient and detailed when going over estimates. My car was always done when promised, and I’m pretty sure they even squeezed me in once on a busy day when they very well could have told me no. I don’t disagree that they try to sell you on some things you probably don’t need but let’s be honest, are you ever really going to find a franchise car shop that won’t?

Stay away from this place, poor quality parts and poor quality workmanship. They trick you in with Groupons and steep discount coupons and then up sell you on repairs really not needed they then use cheap parts that do not last!
Went there with a $ 36 Groupon and left with over $ 1200 in repairs that used crappy parts.
I have had to return five times on the repairs they made because of poor quality parts and poor workmanship and the car is still not right.
This place is very expensive and makes repairs that are not necessary.
The owner is very friendly but he has a guy behind the counter that treats everyone like they don’t know anything and BS you on what is needed on your car.
They broke my car, I am going somewhere else to have it fixed right.

Had a 4 wheel alignment Groupon to use… I called ahead to schedule an appointment and found out upon arrival that it was apparently it was never entered… So it went from a noon pick up to 4 pm pick-​up.
They called at 3 to tell me that I needed parts, brakes, fluids, etc. I was at work and called back at 3:30 to review with them… They said it wouldn’t be done until 5:45… It was 6:30 before it was finally finished…
Woman at the front desk was trying to be as helpful as possible, but I don’t think I’ll be coming back here…
Final kicker was that they obviously didn’t cover my leather steering wheel… So it was all gross and coated with car dirt
To be clear, My wheels seem to be aligned correctly (20 min drive so far) and my oil was changed.

Used a Groupon for a 4 wheel alignment, and told them the steering felt loose, too. Received a call from them. They found the steering issue, and also recommended I have all 4 shocks replaced. I told the guy I replaced the rear shocks a couple years ago. He said they were only recommending it because of the miles on the vehicle. Which means they didn’t check to see if I NEEDED new shocks. Disappointed about that one.

I had a coupon and it was closed to where I worked, so I figured I would give them a shop. When I arrived, the employee at the desk mentioned that it would take a while to get a change, which was fine. I received a call a few hours later telling me the problems with my car (thinking, oh boy, here we go again). After denying the extra services, I picked my car up later. When I arrived, they went through everything and stressed the importance of some of the issues. When I finally got to my car, I was pretty much blocked in by tires (seriously). I didn’t think much of my experience and I wouldn’t go back. I am not sure if any of the work really needed to be done and my suspicions were confirmed by other Unilocalers, so I would say stay away.

All I needed was an oil change. Two hours later I finally got my car back. But it was what happened in between that I no longer go to Merlin. So they wanted to top off my fluids for an additional $ 10. Doesn’t sound too bad. But I decided to decline because i usually do that kind of thing myself. Thinking that things were low I opened my hood and found that All the fluids where just fine. In fact if you add any more washer fluid it would spill over… why did Merlin want to charge me to top off my fluids when they were just fine. Rip off…
Second, when I checked in they said the wait was 45 min. That was moderately acceptable. He gladly said «I’ll get you in and out as quickly as possible.» He seemed sincere but then I realized during my 2 hour wait he said that to every customer that came in. On top of that they wanted to upscale sales and services with everyone. He would sit beside you and tell you that you need this or that. Air filter, bad battery etc etc. For a sec I thought I really neglected my vehicle but then I saw that this selling technique was done with everyone!
Stay away from this place. During my time there I also saw countless number of customers that came back telling them that they didn’t fix their car problem and they want their money back or want it fixed right this time. One guy there said to a lady that she can come back at a later time to fix her bumper! She had a collision and needed body work. They don’t even do that there! Why did he make her an appointment for that! She was really confused after that…
Next, a mechanic there that is a friend of one of the customers was told she had 4 things wrong with her car. She kindly declined the services! A friend of the mechanic turned down services too because it all seemed too fishy. That’s a bad sign. The mechanic quickly said «I can show you all the bad parts myself if you want.» What ever… So all in all go somewhere else.

I took my Toyota Sienna into this shop for their 200,000 mile oil change/​tire rotation. I bought a Groupon and that is what brought me there. After they preformed the oil change, etc. they told me that my brakes were gone and needed all new rotors. I knew this was wrong since I had just gotten new brakes from Toyota with a lifetime warranty. When I informed them about this the mechanic turned cold and was visibly upset. I took the van back to Toyota who showed me my rotors… they were perfectly fine and clean as a whistle. This is the kind of deceptive practice that give ALL mechanics a bad name. If I didn’t know better they would’ve taken me for another $ 800 — $ 900!!! VERY DISHONEST SHOP. STAY AWAY!

Beware, they can do additional repairs on your car that you did not ask for.
I asked them to fix my A/​C system. Their total estimate turned out to include fixing front and rear lights, engine mounts, as well as battery. How is that related to A/​C? And they did not tell me all those details over the phone, only the total amount of my «A/​C» repairs, half of which are not related to A/​C at all.

Emplyees are very nice and seem to genuinely care about customers and their customers’ vehicles. Employees went out of their way to make sure I was happy with the service and took immediate responsibility when I lost a hubcap after leaving.
What a great shop!
Thank you so much

Can haz lamezies?
Hyup. Here you can. Welcome to this episode of LOLCarz.
I got a Groupon for an oil change + the works tune up something or other from here. I was told it would take 45 minutes so I decided to play frogger on Ogden and run across the street to get my digits did and make good use of time and the convenience of a nail salon being right across the street from here. Nice! Oh wait– not s’much since 45 minutes turned into 3 hours and a loooong laundry list of thousands of dollars worth of sh*t they said I needed done on my car (which is not that old + a hybrid). If I had known the servicing of my vehicle was going to take up my entire Friday night I would’ve gotten the pedicure, too. #Bullocks.
I, of course, turned down every additional service they said was necessary and I don’t regret it for a number of reasons, just a few of them being:
A. I think most of them were bullsh*t anyway.
B. They went on and on about how I needed new tires because mine are worn down from under-​inflation yet they didn’t even put air in them
C. I don’t even believe they really changed my oil.
D. I did end up having them change my one head light, which I knew was out, and had to ask about because they didn’t even check during their quite/​/​unqote ‘full service oil change and tune up”. The cost to change the bulb = $ 30. The amount time they said it would take to change = 5 minutes. The amount f time it actually took = 45 minutes.
Will I go back? Hellz to the naw.

Good cheap oil change but watch out for the upsell. I am currently sitting in the waiting room and it was amazing that the two customers before me, my car, and the guy after me all had bad air filters, a bad battery and a leaking oil pan gasket. I this seemed unlikely so I ask him to show me. He showed me the leaking oil but it was from where they just changed the filter and no other leak I could see.
Just another shady operator in a the auto repair biz. Good cheap oil change though.

What I liked: Straight forward, honest, fast, inexpensive, expert service. Offeres a multitude of options with out pushing to ‘up sell’.
A good honest mechanic is hard to find.
I went into Merlin’s for an oil change. Actually I was going next door to jiffy lube for an oil change but they were $ 10 more expensive than Merlin’s sign advertised.
My direct experience is with the oil change which was quick and painless but as I waited I was able to observe how a number of customers were treated. It should be noted that I am not a mechanic, nor do I play one on TV but I do know my way around a car and I like to think I can spot a scammer when it comes to our 4 wheeled friends.
As I waited 3 people were helped by who I perceived was the manager/​owner. Not only was each person treated with genuine kindness and respect but he worked with people to get their cars safely running and back on the road at as little as an expense to the customer as possible. Sometimes discussing what needed to be fixed and what could wait to be fixed later. In one instance the customer came into pick up his car and pay the bill. The manager said that the price was $ 303 and the customer handed over his card. After the transaction was completed the paid bill was handed to the customer and he proceeded to look it over. After reviewing the bill he pointed out that the total was actually $ 336. The manager explained that one of the parts was more expensive than they anticipated but he thinks he remembered telling him that it would cost $ 303 so they went with that.
I also would like to point out that from my vantage it appeared as though every customer that came in was an existing one who was pleased with the work and returning for repeat business.