I took in my car to Brake Team to have the front brake pads replaced. I explained to Chuck the manager that I believe only the front pads needed to be replaced. He printed out an inspection form and made no mention of it and gave it to his techs. After about 20 minutes the inspection report is handed back to Chuck and we walk out to my car for the run down. Chuck said that not only the front pads needed to be replaced but the rear pads and rotors needed to be replaced as well. He quoted $460 to my surprise! After some hesitation on my part, he said "ok, I'll give you a good deal and charge you only $405.30." Hesitant, I agreed. While sitting there waiting for my car, I realized that I had replaced the rear rotors and pads approximately a year and four months ago and I had paper work in my car to prove it. I got my repair report from over a year ago out of my glove compartment, and in fact they were! I walked to the rear of my car and noticed that they completed the work on the rear, so I picked up one of the used pads. It looked like it had another 70% on it. I tried to ask the techs some questions and they pretended to not speak English very well and just sort of shrugged their shoulders. I brought the used pad and past invoice of the previous work done to Chuck. Chuck then said that the pads always should be replaced when the rotors are. I told him that the rotors should be good as well. He measured it and said it was under spec. At 11.5mm. So I believed him since he was the so called expert. When the work was done, I paid and left. Still a bit uneasy, I called the mechanic (in California) that had done the work the year prior, and he told me that the min spec for the rear rotors is 10.4. With the minimum, I should get at least another 5-7 thousand more miles on the minimum. However, this was way above the minimum (11.5) and my brake pads were only about 30% worn! Brake Team is a fraud and liars! I estimated that I was charged approximately $300 for work that was not necessary. I am going to file a claim with the State Attorneys Office.
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