Today I took my car to Just Brakes for an inspection because about a week ago I heard a squealing noise two or three times when I stopped at a red light. All of their commercials on the radio say to take your car in if you hear this to avoid costly repairs caused by further damage to your braking system.
My brakes were operating normally with no sounds for the past few days, and I checked the brake fluid level before I went to Just Brakes and it was full. But to be safe and avoid large expenses, I took it in about 730 this morning after talking to Joe on the phone who said to bring it in.
Joe, the manager, told me "in most cases all that is required is the $99.88 4 wheel friction service." When I asked how long that would take he said "anywhere between an hour and a half and three hours."
He then told me to hang around for about 15 minutes while they did the inspection.
After about 15 minutes he took me back to my car and showed me the brake pads, which he said were glazed which was causing grooves in my rotors... That is the only part that turned out to be true, as I could clearly see the swirl marks on the rotors. He also showed me the calipers, saying that they were froze up and needed to be replaced... He then took me back to the rear wheel and showed me the wheel cylinder and showed me some thick grease on it and told me as he rubbed the grease that this was brake fluid leaking from the wheel cylinder.
I'm not a mechanic, but I know what brake fluid looks like and this stuff was not brake fluid.
Next he took me to the front of the shop and showed me my rotors and drums. There clearly were grooves in them, however machining the rotors and drums is included in the $99.88 price he quoted for replacing the pads and shoes.
So then he passes me off to Ernie, who goes back to a desk and writes a list of things on the back of a work order sheet. He comes up and quotes me a total of over $500 to do all of the work.
I said to him that I was not planning on spending that much money today, so he says "ok, let me see if I can work something out" and goes back to the desk. He comes back a few minutes later, this time saying he can "get me back on the road" for about $350. He explained that while the calipers and other things were not really necessary, the wheel cylinders definitely needed to be replaced or one day I would be driving down the road and my brake pedal would suddenly just drop to the floor and I wouldn't be able to stop.
I told Ernie that I didn't want any additional work and would only pay for the $99.88 service machining the rotors and replacing the pads and shoes. He then left and came back with Joe (the manager) who said "What's the problem here?" I told him that I had come mainly just for an inspection to set my mind at ease and was not prepared to spend that kind of money since my brakes did not seem to be in serious trouble when I brought the car in that morning.
He reiterated what Ernie said about my brake pedal just "falling to the floor." I told him that I would pay to have the pads and shoes replaced but would take the car to another shop for a second opinion, and if the other shop confirmed the necessity of the other work I would bring the car back and let them do it. Joe replied "Ok, but any other shop is going to charge you over $1200 to do all of this."
So I left the car with them, figuring it would be done in a couple of hours. As it turned out, I came back at about 10am and the car was not done. While I waited in the waiting room another man came in to have his car serviced and was given his estimate of over $900. He too was having minor and intermittant noises. He told them not to do any of it and left, but I gave him my phone number before he left because he said he wanted to know how my service turned out. I had told him about what they told me and what I was planning to do.
So at 1130am I got my car back and paid the bill. When Ernie was writing up the bill he needed a calculator to figure out how much tax there would be on the $99.88. I found this very suspicious in light of the fact that Joe had already told me twice that "in most cases the $99.88 service is all that is needed" (once on the phone and once when I brought the car in and I heard him tell the same thing to the other man I saw there). If most people only need the $99.88 service then you would think that every employee would have the total bill memorized by the first day on the job.
As soon as I left I pulled into the Tire Kingdom (they do brake service there too) that was less than 1/2 a block away. I went in and explained that I had just had the rotors and drums machined and new pads and shoes installed at another shop but was told that I would need additional work, and I wanted the mechanics there to confirm it. I didn't tell them what additional work Just Brakes said I needed. I didn't want them to look at my car with any preconceived ideas.
I paid $19.99 for a complete vehicle inspection and they said the only thing they could find in disrepair was that my muffler was a little bit loose. They spent almost an hour inspecting my car, spending about 3/4 of that time looking at the braking system because that was all I was really interested in (it was slow and there were 3 guys with nothing else to do).
After paying for the report, I told them I had come from Just Brakes and showed them the list of things they said I needed, and they said "we know, we get a lot of people from there." They went down the list of things Just Brakes said needed to be repaired and explained each one and why my car was fine. They asked me how much Just Brakes wanted to charge me for these services and then quoted me all of the prices they would charge for doing the same work, and it was about 1/2 of what Just Brakes quoted me.
It is clear to me now that Joe and Ernie were both lying when they told me my car needed additional work. If my calipers were "froze up" then wouldn't you think that my brakes would either not work at all or would be locked in the brake position? Yet my car braked fine up until they looked at it. And if the wheel cylinders were leaking, wouldn't I have been low on brake fluid? These things are what made me suspicious from the very beginning... Especially when Ernie told me that they could "get me back on the road" without replacing the calipers. The fact that they could do the job without replacing the calipers called into question every repair they said was necessary.
The complete list of what they said needed to be done is as follows:
Disc Pads
Brake Shoes
Machine Rotors and Drums
New Wheel Cylinders
Recondition Calipers
Caliper Pistons
Disc Hardware
Return Springs
Bleed, Flush, Fill and Adjust Brake System
In short, these people at Just Brakes are perpetuating a fraud, and I verified that at another shop within minutes of leaving Just Brakes.
Matthew
Bradenton, Florida
U.S.A.
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