Beware of "Just Brakes" special to get you in the door. The local "Just Brakes" Shop in Florida has a very friendly want to help attitude. Saturday morning, I went to them for a friction relign for the rear brakes of my Jeep.
I had recently replaced my front brake pads and need to do the rear. I decided to try "Just Brakes" because they advertise 4-wheel for $99.95 and 2-wheel for $89.95 and I didn't have the time to do myself. When they drove my 1999 Jeep into the bay, the manager said "I heard your front brakes squeal".
I knew I just did the fronts and I told them so. They tried to convince me to pay the additional $10.00 so they could cover the front brakes under their warranty. They preceded to dismantle my rear brakes for an estimate "in case the $89.95 wasn't going to cover the repair" as they put it.
An hour later the manager asked me to come outside away from the lobby so he could give me my estimate (this made me suspicious for I was content with standing in the lobby). The price was $323.40 for two rear brakes.
They recommended "to recondition the calipers and caliper pistons as well as replace all hardware". I took the Jeep in because the pads were wearing thin. Suddenly my $89.95 repair had more than tripled. I told them to just do the pads for $89.95 and I check my extended warranty for the other repairs.
While I sat in the lobby I heard complaints from two other people that had come in for the second and third visits. They both had similar experiences of going in with their 1998 Jeep Cherokee and 1996 Montero Sport for pads and coming out with bills in excess of $600.00 only to be back again because the work wasn't right. Needless to say, I just wanted my vehicle put back together so I could get out of there.
Two hours later (now 3 hours total), they had finished my 2 sets of rear brake pads so I could check out. But not before I heard the estimate in the lobby for another gentleman (for it was raining hard outside at the time).
This gentleman had brought in a 1998 Chrylser/Plymouth minivan with about 50000 miles, as I heard him say, for pads on the $99.95 special and his estimate was $750.00 for 4-wheels. He went through the roof needless to say. He told Just Brakes to put his van together so he could get out of there.
They managed to calm him down and talk him into putting the brake pads on for the original $99.95. I checked out and got out of there as quick as possible. I don't imagine that anybody who goes in for the friction relign special at $99.95 is going to come out with that price unless they have a brand new car. Find a mechanic that you can trust. Don't use these guys unless you have deep pockets! This company obviously trains their people to do excessive repairs that are uneccessary.
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