OK, so the mechanic showed you what needed to be replaced.  Did it?

Let's see.  You apparently don't know sh.t from shinola about brakes since
you can't tell if the brakes needed to be replaced, even when someone
put the car up on a lift and took the wheels off, and pointed out the parts.

yet your going to tell us that the mechanic at car-X was trying to con
you.

Sure, sure.

I'll bet that the small mechanic in the other town put cheap pads on
the rears only, and your front brakes are almost worn out.

If the car-x guy was quoting all new rotors, and new high quality
pads, it might just come to $500.  Depending on what kind of car,
which you haven't told us what it is.  A lot of people, such as myself,
don't bother to turn rotors anymore, and I do my own brakes.  The
cost to get them turned isn't that much of a savings compared to
buying cheap Chinese-made rotors new, and thinner rotors make
the caliper piston travel range move inwards, which could potentially
put part of the caliper piston travel over a rusted area when the brakes
wear down, and cause a fluid leak later on.  And despite what some
would say, I've never had a cheap Chinese rotor that wasn't warped
when I bought it, warp later on.

It could very well be that your gf did call.  Did you confirm it
later on?  Or it could be that he was honestly confusing you with
someone else.

Ted

I agree, Car X has tried to rip me off on two occasions.   Once my car
was leaking radiator fluid. I took it to them to look under car and get
an estimate.   It was water pump.  They wanted $450 to put on a new
water pump.  Since the pump had already been replaced by another shop
about 9 months ago it was still under warranty.  I told the car x man
that i would take it back to the other repair shop and get it repaired
under their warranty for free. He got furious and stomped around,
refused to speak to me.  Set car on ground and told me i "had wasted his
f.cking time".

I called their corporate office and told what happened.  I got a letter
of apology from a VP stating they  terminated that employee. Yea.

Really?  Compared to what?

Yeah, they say that about virtually every vehicle that comes in with a
brake complaint.  I'm just surprised it took 15 minutes.

LOL LOL LOL!!!!

LOL indeed.  I enjoy a good out-loud laugh now and again.

tire and muffler franchises the benefit of the doubt, especially those
who pay low wages and have zero concern for their employees or
customers.  I heartily recommend these 'shops' to everyone who asks for
a referral.  No complex job is too easy and no upsell is too ludicrous
for these parts changers.

Toyota MDT in MO

Oh, ok.  I won't go there.

I stopped at one once in an emergency while travelling across country.
I had ruined a rim, and needed to get a tire mounted on the rim I had
just bought from the dealer.  The dealer didn't have tires so couldn't
mount a tire on the rim they did luckily have in stock.

After pulling my junk rim and mounting the tire, they then told me they
couldn't legally mount it unless I fixed the rotor that was also
damaged.  I looked at it (after a bunch of arguing that it wasn't
"legal" for me to go into the shop).  I determined it was fine.  It was
scraped and was definitely going to wear out my pads in a few thousand
miles, but nothing that could be considered a safety issue.  They
continued to argue with me that they could not and would not mount my
tire unless I fixed the rotor.

Being as my vehicle was on a lift in their bay and was basically
immobilized and I was 500 miles from home I felt I had no choice.

Cost me $700 to get that tire mounted.

dkomne@yahoo.com wrote in article
<1161856353.921864.164640@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com>...

Only if YOU promise to not go to Wal*Mart, PepBoys, or any other "big box"
store....

Just about every chain operation is the same way and lots of non-chain
places too.  A Chinese engineer who worked for me bought a brand new
Corolla.  When it had about 20K on it he figured it was due for
brakes, I think it was making a small squeal/squeak from the pads and
he didn't like the noise.  He had an appointment at "Just Brakes" and
figured that for the $99 it would be nice to get rid of the squeak. He
asked me if he thought it was a good deal.  I told him exactly what
was going to happen when he took the car in...

... They would do a 157 point inspection
... they would determine he needed new pads/shoes all around
... they would determine all the rotors/drums needed resurfacing
...they would determine that he needed his calipers rebuilt
...if he hesitated they would take him out and point to the "worn out"
parts and explain how dangerous it would have been for him to drive
even another mile

I told him to go look at the parts when they started their sales job,
notice that most likely none of the pads/shoes were less then 1/4"
thick and that when new they are not much more then that, to look to
see that there were no leaks from anything.  And to remember that the
brakes had been working fine, no pulling, no shuddering, no pulsing so
there was no reason to believe anything needed work other then the
possibility of the pads being a little squeaky from some glazing.

I told him they would quote him a price for the $99 brake job of about
$450 and that all he most likely would need would be a set of new pads
and that they would insist that the rotors just HAD to be machined or
they couldn't guarantee the pads. So that was all he should agree to
and to expect it would wind up costing him a little under $200 if he
was determined to get rid of the squeak.

When I saw him a few days later he said it went exactly as I told him
it would go and he told them all he would authorize was an upgraded
pad and the rotors turned.  It cost him about $175.

This pattern with these rip off chains repeats over and over and over.