I just recently purchased a 2001 Chrysler LHS. I noticed when I bought it that the brake pedal was a little squishy. Since the car had 60000 miles on it I was sure it was time for new brakes. I decided to go by my friends shop and ask him what I should do. He said I needed new brake pads and it would be 80 a pair. I set up an appointment for later in the day to get them fixed.
When I got home I noticed 80 dollars all four brakes, instillation included on any car sale. It was from Value Brakes. I was elated. Half the price YAY. I made an appointment to get my brakes done there instead. When I got there I showed the guy the coupon. Stated that that was ALL I wanted and nothing more. He said okay. I asked how long it was going to be for my brakes to be done and he said no more than two hours.
So I decided to stay there. An hour and a half later they call me to my car and try to tell me that my calipers are stuck (they cant be, cos they are not squeaking at all) that I needed new rotors on the back and front (my friend looked at them and they were fine) and that my car needed ceramic brakes and those were 60 a piece, they said that my break fluid needed changing, they said I needed some other things as well. The total came up to around 600 dollars. I was outraged!!! I should have told them to put my car together and go to my friends shop. I asked them why it would be so expensive since my friend did a TOTAL brake job on my mothers Cadillac, lines, pads, calipers, master cylinder and all for only THREE HUNDRED. They didn't have nothing to say about that.
I told them I wanted BRAKE PADS and BRAKE PADS only! They had three different estimates sitting there. The highest was 600, one for three hundred, and one for around 260. I was very pissed. They told me that if I did not get this stuff done that I would be driving an unsafe car, blah blah blah. They said that if I did not get the highest brake job they would not put a warranty on it and all sorts of other things. I once again stated I wanted BRAKE PADS ONLY. I did opt for the ceramic brakes because my friend said I needed those on my car before. I asked why they said any make and modle for 80 dollars, that's when they told me they put cheap pads on and that my car would end up eating them up.
I was extremely upset but I was there and they had my car taken apart, it took them almost 2 hours to do that, I did not want to wait 2 more hours for them to put it together and have to drive back to my friends place and wait another two hours for him to do it. So I bit the bullet and opted fort he 230 brake job. THAT WAS PADS ONLY!
I waited, and waited, and waited. My thrid hour there I asked how much longer will it be. Well supposedly a PART that was SUPPOSED TO BE IN STOCK was not there. So they were waiting on the part to come. They said 30 minutes TOPS and I'd be on the road. I waited for 40 more minutes. Asked once again, what in the heck is going on with my car??? They said that the bolt they ordered came in but it was the wrong one, not to worry ill be on the road as soon as it got in, that it wont take any time at all to install.
I waited for another hour (so far, 4 hours and 40 minutes) and told them I NEEDED MY CAR, I had things to do that day, I was told that it wouldn't take over two hours and im pissed that I've waited so long for BRAKE PADS! That's when the mechanic came in and said I need more time to work on your car, there's a bolt that's stripped, I've put tape on it to hold it in but I really need to fix it WHAT! Nothing was wrong with any BOLTS when they inspected my car, but here you are ordering bolts and that's why im supposed to be waiting all this time and now your telling me the BOLTS NOT FIXED! I told him I did not have anymore time to wait on my car to be fixed that would bring it in the next day and they could fix it. I was told that my caliper was holding on by a thread. (why in the heck were they messing with my calipers??? I told them I wanted brake pads!!!) I expressed my utter amazement that its taken so long to put BRAKE PADS on my car. They apologized but blamed it all on the person they got the parts from. I then left there with a warning from the mechanic. Don't drive any more than you have to, it maybe had 100 miles on it!
So far, a 5 hour wait.
When I left the I noticed that when I pressed the brakes down I go a little pressure but I lost it. I thought maybe it had to do with the caliper bolt so I decided not to complain until they fixed the bolt.
I made sure that it was FREE and I asked how long it would take. No more than 30 minutes they said just bring your car in first thing in the morning. I did. I once again waited and waited and waited. Two hours. They finally fixed my car. Or so I thought.
What compensation I got out of this was 1) they bleed and changed my brake fluid for me. (a 30 dollar procedure) 2) they gave me the warranty. (I should have gotten a warranty on the PADS anyway)
When I got my car back. A two day saga, lasting SEVEN hours, FOR BRAKE PADS, and my brakes were WORSE THAN WHEN I BROUGHT IT IN. I had my mother test drive the car and she thinks they messed up my Master Cylinder. Something that will cost me a lot of money to fix, and added embarrassment because I did not go to my friends shop in the first place. I decided to ride out the brakes, hoping maybe they would harden up in a few hundred miles, less than 300 miles later they started making a hellacious screeching sound. Not just sometimes, but ANY TIME I stopped.
When I called Value Brakes I asked to speak to the manager, the boy that picked up the phone said he wasn't in but he could help me. I expressed my disgust at what was had commenced, about the wait, about everything and the only thing he said was, well maybe its not what we did, you have to bring it in so we can look at it. They said the warranty only covered the pads and most likely it was something else. No im sorry's no nothing. They want me to come in so they can rip me off again.
I'm NEVER bringing my car there. Nothing was wrong with my caliper bolts when I went in but they messed them up somehow. My mother explained that its easy to blow a master cylinder if you do not put the pads on correctly. The sound is most likely coming from an error on their part as well. I'm also worried about my lug nuts on my tires because of the way they tightened them, im sure those are stripped as well.
Beware.
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