I too feel stupid for having been taken advantage of. I went in for what I thought would be a $99.00 brake job. After being informed that the rear brakes were leaking, the front brakes binding, I was charged 159.95 to replace two rear wheel cylinders, 172. Oo for the caliper pistons alone, 115.00 for a new front wheel rotor, 108.00 to recondition the calipers? Plus bearings, seals, flush, springs etc my total came out to 917.13. Talk about a shock.
I went to Orielly auto parts and auto-zone for comparison and found parts prices there to be much much cheaper eg, remanufactured brake calipers (complete) 42.99 each. This included the pistons which Just brakes charged 172.00 for. Wheel cylinders for 7.99 each. I compared every single part price and was astounded at the inflated markup I payed for. I e-mailed just brakes to voice my displeasure and received a response from a Mr. Jim Shipp, vice president of something and I discussed the situation with him. After I broke down all the individual prices in the end he said that they were a "retail intallation outlet" and therefore could not be compared to an auto parts store. I told him that i still thought I had been over charged and he challenged me to compare with the dealership. I told him the reason I went there was because I knew dealerships were higher. So he challenged me to compare against any other brake speciallty shop.
I went to Mieneke and Midas. Mieneke was about half of Just Brakes and Midas was about the same but Midas would not used rebuilt calipers and required new L&R front calipers be installed. When I called Mr. Shipp to inform him of what I had found, all I got was his answer machine and never received a response. I guess he didn't figure this Nam Vet would not take on his challenge.in all I think I payed twice what it was worth, and feel I was taken advantage of. Thanks to the mechanic from Atlanta for his post describing the symptons and fixes associated with a brake job. Be aware and do not do business with Just Brakes, I never will and I will make sure nobody in my family and friends does either.
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