OT recent brake job

[otismotis08]

So I typically do most of the repair work on my vehicles myself.

Last week, my son's car was making some awful screeching sounds from the driver's side rear wheel. The parking brake components had come apart within the drum. I asked the repair shop (Firestone) to fix JUST THE PARKING BRAKE COMPONENTS and put it back together. I took it to the shop because I was short on time. I had already planned to do all of the brake pads/rotors myself on all 4 wheels. So the shop tells me if they open up the drum, they are required to replace all brake components on that wheel and everything on the opposite side wheel. Ended up paying $700 for all new brake components at both rear wheels.

Litigious society, snowflakes, hiding behind "policy", get off my lawn.
What else am I missing?

Sure miss the days of being able to have the repair shop do what you ask them to do.

 

[WHCSC]

Did they tell you their policy before the work was done?

 

[stanzsky87]

I’m sure they have bigger fish to fry than that small job. It’s a business.

 

[Charlie Marlow]

They weren’t really ‘required’ to. Someone tried pulling that on me and I found a different shop.

 

[merk0714]

they do the same with Tires. If the tire doesn't have a certain amount of tread or if the puncture too close to the wall, they won't fix because of "policy". They have your vehicle and know they can squeeze more money under the guise of safety.

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

It probably really is Firestone's policy, and it's a good one, because all of those people you made fun of will think nothing of hiring a lawyer and make 'em sorry they didn't do it right if they get in a wreck, in fact I guarantee that policy was born from something just like that.

 

[mgbreis]

I do all mechanical on my own vehicles. I'm an office guy professionally, and working with my hands on cars and carpentry stuff is my therapy. If I had to find a mechanic I'd be looking for a local independent guy, not a chain place. I tore my old '09 Tahoe down two years ago and replaced the cam and lifters, you shoulda seen the look on my wife's face!

 

[huskerfan66]

Yes unfortunately I am sure it is their policy. A policy that guys with briefcases and suits said they need because of possible and/or past lawsuits. Can you imagine the potential lawsuit if when taking your drum apart they discovered your brake pads were shot and your drum needed to be turned down? Not saying YOU would sue them but the next person would. If they knowingly sent an unsafe vehicle out the door and you had an accident where there was a fatality.....holy cow. Lawsuit city.

I understand your frustrations though. My son called me and said his pick up was making terrible noise. I suspected brakes. I don't remember where he took it to but it was in north Lincoln. They quoted him an ungodly amount to do a brake job. IF I remember correctly, around$1000. Thank goodness while they were diagnosing it I called my local parts store to get a quote. I did it myself for$300. When he told them thanks but no thanks, they offered to do it for half saying they quoted the wrong parts. Well maybe they did, but in my mind they just dug their own grave plus I already ordered the parts.

 

[Husker.Wed.]

My left front brake pad seperated from the backing and the backing tore up the rotor coming down a mountain road. I limped into Ridgecrest, CA, a town in the middle of nowhere and got a motel. The next day was MLK Holiday and the only open shop in town squeezed me in since I was in a motel. The guy knew he had me by the short and curlies, he could have charged me $1000. He did a front brake job both sides for $120, including a good rotor he got from a junkyard because NAPA wasn't open. Yes, there are still honest shops out there.

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

I owned a body shop for 15 years in my previous life. I told more than one customer I would not do what they wanted (fixing half the job basically) and told more than one person to come get there car even after I started repairs if they got really weird during the repair and I felt like they were going to cause me trouble at the end "Hey, how much if you leave this or that off and just put it towards my deductible"...It's been my experience, most professional repair shops are more honest than a lot of the car owners who's cars are in their shop.

 

[TheBeav815]

They got you like the lawnmower guy got me last year, just did all the work on my mower without ever telling me the diagnosis or giving me a quote. Had to pay like $120 to get back a mower I bought for maybe $80 off Craigslist. You're pretty well boned at this point because you already paid. In my case I talked him down on price. I will say it ran better than ever after I got it back.

Seems pretty sketchy to me that they just did all that work without getting any authorization from you. I'd call that a predatory business practice or maybe just a good old fashioned f-up that somebody was supposed to call you and didn't. For $700 it won't be worth your while to fight about it.

I'm fortunate to have a Honda dealer up here that is very honest and straightforward about the work I do and don't need. They don't try to upsell a bunch of BS and I keep coming back as a result.

The hard lesson is that sometimes you get what you pay for when you go shopping for a bargain at some little corner garage. The guys usually know cars, but often don't know business or customer service.

 

[otismotis08]

Wish I knew a good independent shop in my area. They are tough to find.

 

[mel mains]

They got you like the lawnmower guy got me last year, just did all the work on my mower without ever telling me the diagnosis or giving me a quote. Had to pay like $120 to get back a mower I bought for maybe $80 off Craigslist. You're pretty well boned at this point because you already paid. In my case I talked him down on price. I will say it ran better than ever after I got it back.

Seems pretty sketchy to me that they just did all that work without getting any authorization from you. I'd call that a predatory business practice or maybe just a good old fashioned f-up that somebody was supposed to call you and didn't. For $700 it won't be worth your while to fight about it.

I'm fortunate to have a Honda dealer up here that is very honest and straightforward about the work I do and don't need. They don't try to upsell a bunch of BS and I keep coming back as a result.

The hard lesson is that sometimes you get what you pay for when you go shopping for a bargain at some little corner garage. The guys usually know cars, but often don't know business or customer service.

I thought you’re out in the burbs, but HAAS on Montrose is exclusively Honda and Acura and is extraordinarily excellent at customer service and the mechanical side of repair. They’re so good even Eric Zorn likes them and he bitches about everything.

 

[bigboxes]

Never go to Firestone for repair work. These shops are for people that know little about automobiles. They will say all sorts of things to do unnecessary repairs.

I buy my cars used. Second thing I buy is a repair manual for the car. If a shop does somehow screw me over, I will never return to the business. And I'll tell everyone I know, in real life and online, about their practices.

 

[3pointdog]

Never, ever take a vehicle to a chain to have work done. They are rewarded based on profitability, they literally never put the vehicle owners interest before their own. Find someone who does all of their own repairs & ask them who they take their vehicle to for stuff that sucks to do, they’ll know someone local who isn’t a total jackass.

That being said once they open something up they don’t have a choice, they won’t turn something out the door based on what someone wants done due to potential liability. It has to be done completely & properly or not at all.

 

[mudhens03]

Which Firestone?

 

[otismotis08]

Bannister road in kc

 

[cornhustler]

and online,

 

[SkerinDallas]

So I typically do most of the repair work on my vehicles myself.

Last week, my son's car was making some awful screeching sounds from the driver's side rear wheel. The parking brake components had come apart within the drum. I asked the repair shop (Firestone) to fix JUST THE PARKING BRAKE COMPONENTS and put it back together. I took it to the shop because I was short on time. I had already planned to do all of the brake pads/rotors myself on all 4 wheels. So the shop tells me if they open up the drum, they are required to replace all brake components on that wheel and everything on the opposite side wheel. Ended up paying $700 for all new brake components at both rear wheels.

Litigious society, snowflakes, hiding behind "policy", get off my lawn.
What else am I missing?

Sure miss the days of being able to have the repair shop do what you ask them to do.

I'm not surprised. I have a buddy who had a similar situation at a Firestone with his Escalade. He took it in before a road trip to have bad brake pads replaced and was told there was an issue with one of the rotors. They told him it was a liability to not replace the rotor without the pads, so they wouldn't do the job. Of course, they had no problem letting him leave with known bad brake pads.

I've had issues with Firestone as well with flat tires. I went to NTB and they had no issues, so I just said to hell with Firestone.

 

[LightningJack]

Have a friend who worked fir his old in a machine shop & graduated from Milford, Solid dude, great mechanic.
Worked for Firestone for two months, made good money (he was fast) but said ethically he couldn't keep working there. That shady, you need this fixed as well blah blah bull.

 

[NikkiSixx]

There are so many examples of why tort reform is necessary, but will likely never happen in the US.

In many other countries, you can't really sue people or small businesses, and the open market rewards and punishes good and bad businesses accordingly.

So there would just be a local shop that would have fixed it per your request, and if it wasn't fixed right, you would just not go to that shop again, and word of mouth would spread about that shop being bad.

Unfortunately, that is not how things work in the land of the free, because everyone has to sue everyone resulting in more and more rules and legislation and bureaucracy and that is how you end up with a $700 rear brake job.

 

[Joedaly]

It was a long time ago when I was living in California, the driver's side window would not roll down. They told me they would have to order parts for it and they would need my car for a couple days and it would cost $1500. I declined the repairs.

I left it unfixed for a few months until I was able to go home to my small town repair shop. He put in a $5 plastic cap that only took a few minutes and it was fixed. I was so mad about that I have never went to chain stores after that and it look like from this story that nothing has changed with them.

 

[H8FULLGR8]

Wish I knew a good independent shop in my area. They are tough to find.

This is my thought as well. A good mom and pop shop is the best to get s/-t done at a fair price and not have to deal with the BS.

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

This is my thought as well. A good mom and pop shop is the best to get s/-t done at a fair price and not have to deal with the BS.

Problem is, a lot of mom and pop stores know how to fix a car but suck at the business side, and they're going by way of the do do bird as a result. You should see some of their books, total mess, and way behind on taxes many times, etc. You're lucky if they carry enough coverage to pay for your car if the unthinkable were to happen, like a fire that destroyed their building. Chain shops are great at the business side and pay mechanics better than mom and pops in most cases. BUT, the managers have quotas, so you always have to wonder if you need the repair or he needs the sale. It can be both, but it creates doubt.

 

[schuele]

Problem is, a lot of mom and pop stores know how to fix a car but suck at the business side, and they're going by way of the do do bird as a result. You should see some of their books, total mess, and way behind on taxes many times, etc. You're lucky if they carry enough coverage to pay for your car if the unthinkable were to happen, like a fire that destroyed their building. Chain shops are great at the business side and pay mechanics better than mom and pops in most cases. BUT, the managers have quotas, so you always have to wonder if you need the repair or he needs the sale. It can be both, but it creates doubt.

To quote the great philosopher George Costanza:

 

[otismotis08]

Anyone know a good independent repair shop in the KC area?

 

[HuskerHusaria]

If a shop does somehow screw me over, I will never return to the business. And I'll tell everyone I know, in real life and online, about their practices.

Here's my two cents for this thread. Stay far, far, away from 6 to 6 auto in Lincoln.

 

[Charlie Marlow]

As far as chains go, Midas on 90th and Center has always done right by me for my braking needs.

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

As far as chains go, Midas on 90th and Center has always done right by me for my braking needs.

Very under rated store. The one in Millard is also top notch.

 

[bigboxes]

Here's my two cents for this thread. Stay far, far, away from 6 to 6 auto in Lincoln.

Right before I got out of the Navy, I bought a car and took it to a brake shop to have the pads replaced, etc. Man, that was a learning experience. Turns out that I needed some expensive repair work done on that car. I told them that I wasn't going to go all the way. They informed me that "had to" by law. It was the last time anyone did brake work on my cars.

As soon as I was back home in Texas with my wife I taught myself how to replace calipers, drums, pads, emergency brake, rotors. I bought sets of Craftsman tools and whatever I needed to do the work. And all because a "brake shop" decided to rip me off. Eff that.