Have another sad story to go with the one yesterday . The dealer tipped me off that I needed new brake pads, so today I call around for a brake job. A chain called Just Brakes told me it would cost about $100 for a complete "friction reline" all four wheels.

I take it in, and once the guy has the wheels off he takes me out into the shop and tells me that my pads were wearing unevenly (these brakes are Original Equipment, 60,000 miles on 'em), and the cause was some sort of bad piston. He adds up the damage, tells me that it is going to cost me around $600 for new calipers etc. I squint hard and just cannot see that there is significantly uneven wear, and hey, the only reason I was there was because I knew that with 60K on the truck, I need new pads, no getting around that. There have been no squeeks, no uneven stops, nothing, since I bought the truck over three years ago.

So, I tell him, no, I only want new pads. I was not rude, although the tone of my voice could have given away some lack of confidence in him. I told him I just had it at Ford the day before.

He throws a tizzy, says I should take it back to Ford. I would have been glad to get him to just change the pads and quit trying to gouge me, but he would have none of it, saying that my "problem" would only get worse. Now I love my truck, and am not given to denial. If there is a problem, I want to fix it. But if it ain't broke, I think it is always better NOT to fix it (cheaper too!)

So, he put my wheels back together and without using the words, basically told me to get out of his shop. No written quote, nothing.

Am I getting scammed twice in as many days? He just up and quit on me, put the truck back together, and said leave. Once I had told him no, he asked me twice not to even return to the waiting room. I had not been rude, and I had not been anything other than definite that I did not want new brake hardware.

From other posts in this forum, it would seem that whatever problem might exist in my brakes, that the several hundred dollars to fix it was out of line. However, the bottom line is that there was nothing wrong with my brakes to start with. (the 2000 XLT has four wheel ABS Disk brakes). Help me with this...why would brakes that show no symtoms of failure (other than pads nearly gone after a very long 60,000 miles) suddenly need 600 dollars worth of repair/replacement? If the pads lasted 60K, and they are a little uneven after that long, that doesn't mean the brakes are working poorly, does it? Seems to me, the longer the brakes last, the better the chances that some unevenness would develop, and that having lasted 60,000, they are probably in pretty good condition, espeically since there was no squeeking or otherwise any problem at all. Huh?

TS

 

That's why they advertise those super cheap deals like 100 dollars for brake work. Because they know they're not planning to let anybody walk out with just a set of new pads. Where they make their money is all the stuff they just happen to 'discover' when they have the wheels off to do the pads.

And of course the best is when they go "I can't in good conscience just do the pads now that I've discovered this other problem. There would be liability issues if I just do the pads without adjusting the other stuff." And they know they have you in a tough spot because most people aren't brake experts but they know brake problems have to be addressed fast because it affects the safety of the vehicle. So alot of times their scare tactics work and they can have someone who came in for 100 dollar pads end up spending their whole pay check on a brake job.

A similar thing happened to me not too long ago while I worked at Sears. I was in for safety and emissions inspections at my dealership before work because it's fairly standard pricing. They came back and told me I also needed front pads and that was it. They had been just barely good enough to pass inspection, but they probably wouldn't be for too much longer.

I would have bought them there but I was running late so I figured I'd do it at Sears and pick it up when I got off work. I dropped my Ranger off in the garage and tell them to put on pads. I should have figured out what would happen when he looks me straight in the eye and goes "don't worry, WE'LL tell you what it needs."

So I go out in the sales floor, and 20 minutes later they page me to tell me I need a complete brake job including front pads, brand new rotors, and completely new rear brakes including drums and shoes. All for a total of almost 500 bucks, of course. I think no matter what price they suck you in with, their goal is invariably to get at least 500 bucks out of you. I really believe this guy just held my keys for 20 minutes and then called back and told me I needed every single component of my braking system replaced.


I tell him for the first time i just was at the dealer and they had all four tires off for the inspection and had checked the whole braking system and said I needed pads and nothing else, so I just want him to put on a set of pads. He was caught off guard for maybe a few seconds, then just went back to trying to sell me a complete brake overhaul.

NExt thing I know he's feeding me this line about how he'd be violating state safety laws if he just installed my pads since the rotors weren't within safe tolerances, and hed be putting my life in danger if he didn't do all that work.
Im in shock so I call my dealership and they tell me get my keys back cause somebody's tryin to rob me, all I need is a set of pads and if I take it back to them they'll just install pads. I took them back, went elsewhere, and somebody sold me just the work I actually needed for less than half what Sears wanted.

Ive come to realize with brake work, that anytime you see it advertised super cheap that means they're just trying to suck you in so they get a chance to get underneath your vehicle and try to convince you you need over 500 bucks worth of work. This is why for brakes I never go to chain shops that advertise extra cheap work. There are two and only two mechanics I use. Both are the type who, amazingly enough, will onlly sell you work that you really need and will even let you know if you specifically tell them to do something that they find isn't really necessary.

I guess there's fewer and fewer shops around that get the wisdom that it makes more sense to make people feel that they're getting a fair deal when they come to you so they keep coming back than to rob someone blind for all you can get in one shot and then kiss their business goodbye forever.

 

Thanks. The ***** on this guy were amazing.

I actually took a Taurus SHO in for new brakes once at a Brake Check place. Thought I needed brakes, since I had had the car for some 30-40K myself, and had bought it used, so I thought gee, I ought to change the pads. The guy actually called me to tell me he couldn't find anything worth fixing on the car, not even the pads. So there are some honest people out there.

Thanks again for sharing your story.

TS

 

"Anytime they try and sell me something more than I realistically think I need, I ask them to "Show Me" what's wrong and explain why it should be fixed. If they can't argue their case, they don't do the work. If they refuse the work because they "can't do it in good conscience" then I can't, in good faith, give them my business. I know enough about cars (and brakes specifically) to know what questions to ask. They say, "The rotors are too thin." I say, "What were the specs, and show me my measurements?" They say, "the pads are worn out." and I say, "Show me the worn out pads." They say, "We noticed that....[fill in the blank]" and I say, "Show me." If they refuse, to show me, then there's nothing wrong in my book. I'll take it under advisement and look into it further at a later date.

By the same token, I HAVE had them catch some rightfully bad parts. I had a Probe GT I wanted to get aligned before they put new tires on. They found a bad set of inner tie rods. They were definately bad, no doubt about it, so I replaced them myself (they wanted $$200 plus parts to do the inner ends, but I got a new rack and pinion for #200 including the new inner and outer ends and did it myself) and then had the alignment done. No blood, no foul in my book.

I've often been in for tire balancing and had them attempt to charge me for a rotation as well. I always rotate my tires every oil change (5000 miles) so there should never be a need for them to do it, and yet they insist that "they saw some wear" and they did me a favor... I had one insist I need a rotation less than 300 miles since the last one.

If they refuse your business, there's always another shop that will do it.

-Joe

 

The guy was scamming you big time. Can you say "Bait and Switch"!!! I would call the better business bureau ASAP and report this scumbag. Especially for the way he treated you. You can also put any (if any) of his certifications in jeorardy by filing a complaint.

It is very common for one side to wear a little more than the other. It is almost always the right side (passenger side)

He was using a very common and very low class sales tactic and you were luckily smart enough not to fall for it. Can you imagine how many people do fall for it.

And people wonder why car repair shops have such a bad rap!!

 

Yeah, I did some research today at the office. Found several who had done business with this place with a similar result. I checked the BBB, however, and found that they had no complaints on file.

Interesting to me that he refused to do any work when I turned down all the adders. Apparently, this is part of the MO. It also results in some illusion of integrity. "he may be lying but he is lying honestly".

By the way, he was claiming that the uneven wear was between pads on the same brake, not on different wheels...

Still need to find a good place. Did some more calling, and one place will do it for about $300, and another for $360 (this is just change the pads and turn the rotors...). While I have some belief that these mechanics are honest, it still seems high to me. I have disc brakes all around. Why is it so expensive?

TS

 

It costs a lot because of the size of everything. And the wonderful way that shops charge labor time while your rotors are being turned. I do not reccomend having your rotors turned at their age because for two reasons. One they will prolly warp and two as soon as the shop gets them off they will tell you they are too thin and you will be told to buy new rotors.

Our calipers are made by Boasch and are very expensive. However they are very good and rarely go bad. It is usually corroded caliper slide bolt or a cracked caliper piston boot which both are replacable.

Now I now that shops need to make a profit. However I believe they can make a good profit following a better customer service model than the current system.

If I were you I would buy new Brembo OEM rotors and pads from Tirerack.com approx cost will be $160.00 +shipping. And then have a shop install them (if you don't want to do it yourself) and most importantly have the shop flush the brake fluid.

Good luck-

 

The reason he didn't want you to go back to the waiting room? So the others that are wasting $600 don't riot and demand their cars back. My boss got stuck at a Just Brakes in Texas once for a "brake inspection" and when he wouldn't take the bait for the deluxe screw job, they made him sit for 2 hours just to put his wheels back on. He finally had to threaten legal action before they would give him his car back.

 

The reason he didn't want you to go back to the waiting room? So the others that are wasting $600 don't riot and demand their cars back. My boss got stuck at a Just Brakes in Texas once for a "brake inspection" and when he wouldn't take the bait for the deluxe screw job, they made him sit for 2 hours just to put his wheels back on. He finally had to threaten legal action before they would give him his car back.

 

I did the Just Brakes and got out for $150 - cost extra for truck pads story. The truck had about 30K miles on it. My problems started a week later. I had a lot of brake dust on my wheels and then my brake light came on inside the truck. Checked my brake fluid and it was empty. I filled it back up and decided to clean my front wheels. Found that they were covered with brake fluid - the bleeders were only hand tight. The clearcoat on the wheels had been eaten into by the brake fluid and the brake dust is permanently imbedded in the wheels. Just Brakes basically said "tuff" and after several conversations with various levels of management where I remained cool headed and insistent that they fix their mistake. They were rude and even threatened to have me arrested if I did not leave as I was trespassing. I filed a complaint with BBB.

 

I asked some of my friends here where I might find an honest mechanic. I had several recommendations for the local Meineke shop. Here's the story.

They took apart all my wheels, and told me that I really didn't need rear shoes yet. I asked for ceramic pads, and they installed them with a "lifetime warrentee" meaning that when they wear out the next time, replacement parts are free (still have to pay for labor.

Cost for the front brake job? $160 + Tax. Cost for the next brake job (on the front)? $87. Peace of mind knowing I wasn't getting screwed? Priceless.

While I was there, another guy had his car in because his brakes were soft, and he felt they needed work. They took his apart only to find it was out of adjustment, they adjusted it, and sent him on his way for nothing. Another guy was in there, told me that one time, when the owner thought he couldn't finish his car by the end of the day (and it was a one car family), offered him his personal vehicle until he could finish the job the next day. (for nothing).

That was service. I am bringing my wife's car there too, since her brakes no doubt will be needing some work soon.

 

(repost problem...See above!)

 

Same thing here, but at Pep Boys about 7 or 8 years ago. It was an 86 model Ford E-150 with 45,000 miles. I wanted to get it checked out, since we were about to hit the road for about 4 or 5 years. Was our road vehicle before the 98.

Took it in and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally an hour later they came back with the verdict. It seems I needed EVERYTHING. Pads, rotors, calipers, drums, shoes, wheel cylinders, lines, and of course, a new master cylinder. They literally wanted to charge me for everything except the hard brake lines, probably because they didn't stock them. My guess anyway. The total would run me $845. I told them to put it back together before I call the BBB. They had me out of there in less than a half hour. The stock rotors lasted 4 more years, until we parked it in the garage.

I only trust the dealer to do brakes on the truck now. They've never tried to rip me off yet, and their last job has been good for about 40k without a problem.,,,,98

 

Yes I had some bad experience with Pep Boys (kind of funny, too). My SHO water pump gave out on the Katy Fwy near Voss, so I towed it over to the Pep Boys near Gessner. They had to take the battery out to to get the radiator out to change the water pump, and while the battery was out, their battery recycle company came in and thougt it was a dead battery for recycle (but it really was a less than 6 months old Die Hard).

Pep Boys put a new battery on my bill without telling me. I said hey, why is this more than you quoted me? "uh, we had to replace the battery..." What? It was brand new! "it was? let me look into this..." No, I did not pay for a new battery, but got a new one with an equivalent warranty for free. Decided then not to bring my car there for service again!

TS

 

Wow, that sucks man. I would have been pretty hot too. The Pep Boys I went to was near West road and 45 North. This only makes me want to stay out of the store chain completely. I only ever go to one for spray paint or wax anyway. I can honestly say I never bought a part over the counter there. One question to the counter people there, cured me of that,,,,98