Have I got a story for you guys.. Sit back, and relax.

Yesterday, January 19th, I was going to do my brakes myself. Seeing as how much of a pain in the *** it is to find the right brakes for my GXL at my local auto parts store (they never order the right ones..I always get 4 lugs)... I decided to hit up my local just brakes. The pads if I bought them myself would be about as much as that 99.00 special I saw them advertise on the radio.

So I figured hell, for an extra 20 bucks I can avoid dragging my hydraulic jack out of the shed and into the front yard. Why not?

I know theres stipulations on something like that, so I call the shop ahead of time and ask if my car qualifies. He asks for the make/model/year and of course I give it to him. He replies by saying yeah my car qualifies for the 99.00 brake job. So im like sweet no dragging the jack out of the shed.

I ask him when to bring the car down for an inspection and he tells me to arrive between 4 and 4:30. Well 4:00 rolls around and I pull up, walk in, and the guy says sorry I forgot about an appointment, bring it back tonight or in the morning.

Morning time comes and I get my *** up at 7:00 am to drag the car down there and get the inspection/work done. The car gets on the lift, and the guy informs me that not only does my car not qualify, they want 280.00 to do the brakes. (keep in mind this is just for putting the pads on.)

I tell the guy no way in hell, and they put the stuff back on and I go on my way. When I get home, I put in a call to corporate, and the guy calls me back in a few hours and says he will look into the matter and call me back. If I don't hear from them in a day or two I'll just call them back.

If you guys know of anyone in your family that needs brakes done, Avoid that place at all costs.

check out www.ripoffreport.com and search for Just Brakes. Plenty of people have been scammed and ripped off by them, dont let it happen to someone you know.

 

Case in point i have learned that brake places RIP YOU OFF like a **** when it comes to doing brakes!!. No more taking my car to get my brakes done...i do them myself now....

 

You could get four new 4lug calipers for that price!

 

Yeah, I figured since the 99.00 was only about 20 bucks more than my pads, I'd just have them do it...changing pads isn't a big deal, but For the price they quoted me at, i'll just do it myself before I give those ******** a penny of my money.

 

wow i didnt know yesterday is the 19th when today is the 19th.......you must be seeing the future

 

you'd better go back in time to warn yourself not to go to the brake shop!

 

Its going to happen two days before the day after tommorow............

 

go back to the day after yesterday!

 

 

so its a typo, 18th. back on topic shall we?

 

omg im trying not to laugh while im with a customer on the phone

 

Did they tell you were low on blinker fluid?

 

$280 to do pads? holy crap.

 

What was the reason your car did not qualify for their $99 special?

I've learned...The easy things...do it yourself.
Because all it takes is someone trying to take advantage of you to really screw you over.

 

^
they were gonna tell everyone they didnt qualify... the "offer" is just to lure them in then jack the price

 

Anyway, my solution is this:
Make another appointment at Just Brakes, then just flake. That will teach them. Teh RX-7 club noes about j00!!!

 

My suggestion: break a stink tube in the lobby!

 

Pretty much they said my car didnt qualify because the pads "werent in stock." Which is exactly the reason I Called the day before, was to see if it did qualify. I'm not gonna spend a shitload of money on something I can easily do myself.

I got a call back from corporate...w00t Brake job for the 99.00!

 

i still wouldn't bring my car to them even for their special price.

they are gonna try to hose you any way they can you know? that involves stripping your lugnuts, breaking studs, damaging your calipers or showing you a warped, out of spec rotor to make sure you don't leave just paying $99 even if that means they have to **** up your car to get it.

stay far away from those quick lube shops, discount brake stores and econo tune places, they are lying thieving scum i **** you not..

do you know why? because the techs are underpaid and compensated for how much they sell to bring them on par with what they should be paid for the work they do. (well not all of them are underpaid but i mean they are paid the minimum they can find techs to do the job for) after a few months they wind up selling their soul to make $5 selling a $400 brake job and begin doing it on a regular basis from there on out to bring in that extra $30 a week.

 

Yea,the scam starts with them getting people to believe their visual radio ads. lol
Jeremy

 

welcome to retail...

 

yep but it is amazing that alot of people don't realize when they have just been had and also that these companies are allowed to remain in business. it just makes people weary to take their car to any reputable shop in the future because people are scared they are going to be ripped off again and they wind up driving their cars longer and more unsafely than they should without having service work done.

 

I was watching them the whole time they were working on my car from about a foot away, I wasnt taking a chance of leaving it unsupervised.

 

Shops charge prices like that around here, too. I do brake jobs for college kids every now and then for food or a little cash. If it's just pads, it's a quick job.

 

Who the **** pays 99 bucks for a pad slap? Pads are $20-30 bucks a box for decent ones too (Bendix, Raybestos, Beck/Arnley, etc... Major stock brands.)



Also, with my experience, I'd never bring my vehicle to ANYONE to have the brakes done... Or any work done.

I used to work at a local shop chain around here...

For a brake job, they paid half an hour. Didn't matter if you took 15 minutes or three hours to complete the brake job. They just paid half an hour...

I couldn't make good money doing that ****. There's no way you can mill a pair of rotors on the lathe (Properly... One pass at high speed, cutting .010". One pass at low speed cutting .005". Then a quick buff with fine grit sand paper.), clean and grease all caliper slides, and put pads on (With backs properly treated to prevent noise.) in under half an hour.

All the other techs would just drop the old pads out and slap new ones on without even taking a look at the caliper slides or rotor. I can't bring myself to do **** like that.