|
|
Brake Check broke my brakes!!Dec 31 '00 Write an essay on this topic.While I was out of town on business, my wife took one of our cars in to Brake Check (San Antonio, TX / Medical Drive location) for their "free" brake check on her way home from work one day. She probably should have waited, but the brakes were making a horrendous grinding noise. They did take her out to the car once it was up in the air to point out the problem. The rear brake pads were practically nonexistent. Knowing this was probably going to be the problem in the first place, my wife agreed to have the work done and the mechanic gave her a ride home. About 30 minutes later (after closing), Nathan the mechanic called my wife to ask her to come in the next morning and look at the left caliper b/c it was "stripped" and he wanted her to see they did not do that. This was understood b/c the car was 7 years old and had come from Denver, Colorado's snowy environment so rust was assumed to be a problem as well. She agreed, went in at 7am the next day and was shown the stripped part. She had him check the other side which he did and said it was fine. Not wanting to spend much on this car b/c of it's lesser value, my wife asked if they could just get the part at a junk yard and stated we did not want to spend that much on it. Nathan then checked with his manager Chuck to see if they could just get the arm of the caliper at a junk yard and Chuck said "yeah for a few bucks". My wife insisted they call her at work to give her the actual price once they found one and Nathan agreed. Nathan called stating it would be a total of $589 to do now and that the right caliper (that he checked while she was there and said was "fine") was "sticky" and the boot could be seen. My wife said we wouldn't be spending that much on it and to just put it back together and she would get it at lunch. He called back a few minutes later suggesting the line of credit from BankOne to pay off in 90 days same as cash. My wife declined saying that wasn't the problem, but again we were going to wait. He called back a third time with a new price of $372. Again, she politely declined stating she would have to wait on me to get back in town and to just put it all together and she would get it at lunch. Again, Nathan called back stating now the bolt had broken off on the left caliper and "fell in", so she would have to have the car towed to our apartment or they could leave it there until I came back in town to decide what to do with it b/c it could not be put back together without that piece. She asked what if we decided to not have them do anything, and Nathan said they could try to "drill in" to get that bolt but couldn't guarantee it would work and would have to charge ME for the labor. She asked how much that would be, Nathan had to ask Chuck of course, who yelled from the background "however long it takes to do it" (very professional, huh?). I finally called them from out of town and they stated the caliper was $213 bucks and that was the problem. I asked if we called around and got the part cheaper, would they use that part. They agreed. My wife started smiling and dialing. She got various prices ranging from 80 - 140 from calling 4 different auto parts stores and then the Nissan dealer just for kicks ($310 there!). She called Chuck, told him the prices and he actually dealt with one of the warehouses so they were going with that one at $75 bucks. BUT Chuck stated that price was probably the "wholesalers price b/c that is who they are used to having call them for parts", and that he could get the part there but it would be a $110 to us. She thought this was ridiculous seeing how she is woman (which is rare in the mechanic world), sounds like a woman on the phone, and the guy at the parts house knew that. He did not ask her for any information on her 'business', etc. She called the parts place back to confirm the price and he stated $75 is the correct price if I drive out there to get the part, and the $110 price Chuck quoted is the "list price" and that is what mechanics usually charge and added that he didn't like "getting between stores and customers". She called Chuck again to relay this info and say she wasn't going to pay $35 extra just for Chuck to go get the part, so he agreed to go with the $75 charge and said the whole deal would cost us $232.00 About an hour later, Chuck calls my wife at work to say that the parts house guy quoted the wrong part altogether. She said that was impossible, she gave him the year, make, model of the car and said "left rear brake caliper" so how could he screw that up. Chuck said the price was $180 and the guy was quoting me for the front brakes. Again, she said she specifically said REAR and said she would be calling that guy next. She did, he apologized and said he did say the wrong price so she called Chuck back and said someone was fixing the car and she didn't care how it got done but she was picking it up at the original quote of $232.00. Chuck said he would be out a lot of money b/c he would not be driving across town to get that part, he would just put one of his parts off the shelf into the car which runs $200 itself and does not include the other parts and labor. This just goes to show they could have fixed the brakes at that original quote price all along b/c that is what they ended up charging after 2 days of hell, and that they were just giving my wife a hard time b/c she is a woman. SO WIVES BEWARE!!  |
| Read all comments (3)|Write your own comment |
