Remember on June 30, 2009, we posted about a Contra Costa Times story that concerned Maurice Irving Glad, the owner of 22 Midas shops, 8 in the East Bay including shops on Main Street in Walnut Creek, Monument Boulevard in Concord, Village Parkway in Dublin, two shops on North Blackstone Avenue in Fremont, a pair of Hayward shops, one in San Leandro and four in San Jose. The California Attorney General had charged him with bait-and-switch practices that cost nearly $300 on average in unneeded, and in some cases unperformed, brake service. Mr. Glad's attorney decried the charges as unfounded and based on "rigged" evidence. The Attorney General's alleged the Midas shops used "brake specials" to draw in customers, then made false or misleading statements to pressure customers to buy unnecessary parts and services. In some cases customers were promised work that was never done. In other cases customers did not receive proper paperwork, or appropriate tests were not done before a diagnosis. When we posted this story we also received a comment from Jeff4Midas that espoused Midas was "committed to quality and customer satisfaction at each of [their] 1,600 locations" and which provided information on how one could lodge a complaint with Midas.
Today, the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Attorney General Jerry Brown announced a $1.8 million settlement with Mr. Glad that also required Mr. Glad give up his shops and never again own or operate an auto-repair outlet in the state. Midas International Corp. is acquiring all of Glad's shops and will run them until new owners can be found, according to Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Scott Patton.
