On 11/02 my wife took our 2004 Lexus RX 330 in for repair. It was grinding a bit in the rear and I figured since I had gone in and had it repairs from their originally I would tell her to go back. The money wasn't so much the issue as Warranty Brake Pads save you $50 bucks, it was because they were located next door to her work.
Even when I went in the past to them they always tried to upsell me so much garbage, but every time I had gone I knew what was wrong and what I needed. Not this time.
She dropped it at 12 noon and they called her at 1 pm stating the following (I have it via email from them too)
Replace all 4 roters and rear brake pads.
Front Roters: $120.46/ roter
Back Roters: $111.96/ roter
Rebuild 2 calibers: $129
Bleed Brakes: $44.95
Front Brakes: $99.88 for just labor or $135 with pad and labor
Back Brackes: $99.88 for just labor or $135 for pad and lobor
The total came to about $900 Tax and Shop Supplies. So basically $1000.
I called and talked to the guy and told him I had just changed the Front Brakes, and this car goes from Georgia to North Carolina on a weekly basis (All Hwy). He said well you should be changing your brakes every 25,000 miles. I told him I thought you change them when they are at 5% or less of pad left. I told him that he is ripping us off and we will come by and pick the car up. He said he will need 30 min to rebuild everything (famous lines). I told him I will be calling the police if the car is not ready in 15 min. He had it ready in 10 min, my wife picked up the car and drove straight to our local mechanic who we should have gone to anyways.
Let me give you a side note of what he had also told my wife. He said she must bleed the brake system as the fluid is very dirty. 2 months earlier when getting an oil change my wife accidently changed the brake fluid in stead of the transmission fluid! So I instantly knew he was messing with me. The front brakes Rotor and Pads had just been changed, by this company! They couldn't turn the rotors even once?
The calipers that were now messed up, these guys had put new ones in when I got the pads and rotors done! I've never heard of Calipers going bad twice in 1 year.
Anyways, all in all, my actual mechanic who is so trust worthy was like, calipers are fine, the boot had loosened up and I tightened it. And your back brake pads need to be changed. The rotors on the back can be turned and are in perfect condition. The front brakes have 80% of the pad left and look brand new.
$1000 down to $140 and I had him put LEXUS brakes back on it. Stay away from Just Brakes, I hope the local news team goes and investigates them.
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