I made appointment to have tires rotated on my car. This is for a 1998 Cadillac Deville with 118,000 miles. I am the 2nd owner of car and was related to the 1st owner and know that car was well taken care of including all maintenance.
At my appointment time, I asked if they would mind checking the brake life remaining on the car. The one whom was handling the paperwork came to me and handed repair order #1150301 with cost of new brakes on front and rear, replace rotors on front, resurface rotors on back, brake flush and labor for a total due of $546.39.
It was indicated that the brake life was very little and it was important that I get repairs made soon. Asked if I wanted to go ahead and get that done at that time and that it would take approximately 2 hours. I told them thank you, but no repairs at this time.
Since that time, a friend of mine checked for pricing with her mechanic, and he indicated that the rotors were probably good, but would have to take the wheels off to make sure. Another friend talked to another mechanic for pricing and was asked why my rotors needed changing. My son who has been trained for this and repairs vehicles for the military drove my car and wanted to know why my brakes and rotors should be changed. He said brakes maybe, but very doubtful, and was 98% sure the rotors nor the brakes needed to be touched.
I purchased all new brakes for the car. My son proceeded to take the wheels off and we compared the brake life on my brakes and the brand new ones and saw there is approximately 38%-40% life left on my brakes. The rotors are not even close to being thin enough to replace. The back brakes were checked. Brakes do not need replacing and rotors do not need to be turned.
My dad before passing away was a 40-year mechanic with a dealership and taught me things to be aware of when taking my car in—such as cleaning spark plugs, putting those same clean sparkplugs back into the car and charging customer for new ones, etc, etc.
Where does this stop? In our society today, there are too many women that are taken advantage of, that make less, and have less than men—especially the older widow women. A stand needs to be taken. There is a right and a wrong, and this is wrong.
I called the entity mentioned and asked if they had a "Complaint Department". The answer was yes and what was the problem. Mentioned that I felt they have attempted to "scam" me. They asked for further information, which I proceeded with and then put me on hold. I finally hung up as I should not be the one on hold, but should have been put through to the appropriate department right away if indeed they want to correct the issue and have continual good service. Service is an important aspect of any successful business. I feel as if they do not wish for a confrontation which is understandable, but I do work outside the home and don't have time or money for nonsense, and untrustworthiness as well as all the headaches and "stuff" that goes with it.
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