My wife's car died on her way to work.  Meineke towed the car to their shop for $60.  For a towing fee, that's acceptable so I have no complaints about that.  Next they diagnosed the car within a couple of hours and let my wife know the problem that's as far as they got with being a decent auto repair shop.
The came back and told my wife the cost of the repair would be $820 for nothing except replacing the alternator. $820?! This is when I got involved.  I called pepboys to get an estimate from them and found out it would be a little over $500 to get a new (not a remanufactured) alternator installed.
I then called Meineke and began speaking to the gentleman about what the problem was. I assumed my wife relayed all the important details to me but wanted to hear it from the source before I fired them.  The manager explained the alternator was broken and that it would take 3 hours of labor to get it out and reinstall the new one.  All totaling the $820 for repairs and $887 after taxes, towing, etc. I asked how much of a cost difference it would be if we used a remanufactured unit. His response was that he never recommends that since the price is only a $50 difference or so. He didn't offer any other alternatives. This is when I told him to put the car outside and we'll be by to pay for the tow and have it towed to another shop.  
10 minutes go by before the man calls back and says he called around and can do the work for $560. At that price, towing it elsewhere didn't make sense, so I told them to do the work.
The completed the work by 2pm which is acceptable so I gave them a high grade on punctuality. When I went in to pay for it, I asked the manager why I had to get involved and why they didn't offer this price to my wife.  He explained that they usually only ever use OEM parts because it helps the value of the car and are more dependable parts. 
A. This car is a 2005 Ford Focus with 117,000. It's worth $1500-$2000...I don't think we're worried about maintaining value. 
B. No auto shop I've been to ONLY offers OEM parts. They always at least offer remanufactured and third part parts in order to lower your costs.
C. The part they gave us has a lifetime warranty on it so I don't think we're very worried about it being a more 'dependable' part
D. I checked an labor estimate from EBSCO through the library.  It says the alternator job is 1.5 hours (1.6 for severe jobs) not the quoted 3 hours. (They charged 2.5 hours on the invoice).  My understanding is that the mechanic is the one that loses if they can't complete the work within their stated time limit, not the consumer.
E. It's shady they were trying to scam a woman because she didn't know what she should be paying for an alternator job.
I'm sure I have other items I can complain about, but this pretty much sums up how shady this Meineke is. Avoid this location at all costs!