How bad has someone tried to rip you off???!!!

So I have a daily driver that I wanted to get brakes redone. Yah, I could do it myself, but I have been short on time. So I take it into the local brake shop for them to look it over and call me with an estimate. I get the call at work..... $1085!!!! I mean I was speachless! I basically tell the guy to drop dead. Couple of minutes later the manager gives me a call and says that the rear brakes should really be done while they have it apart. I ask him how much for just replacing the brake pads only(I already have priced them at $19.99 for the set) until I can get to it, and he tells me $260!!! I told him to go to hell.

So after I pick the SUV up after work I go to the local parts store and get new rotors and brake pads all the way around for $170. That's retail folks. Two hours later the job is done. I know it's a business and they need to make money, but holy shit...

I'm glad my dad taught me to always try to do things myself. But as a society nobody knows how to figure things out for themselves anymore and some of these chains have people by the balls. They're just like defenseless sheep walking in there...

Anybody else have any horror stories?

 

That is almost as bad as April 15th my friend.

 

You're lucky they didn't tell you "We can't let you drive the vehicle out of here on those unsafe brakes. You'll have to let us fix them, or pay a tow company to take it away."

That's been an increasingly popular scam with brake places.

-Brad

 

No way. No way the $1085 estimate was for just (4 sets) pads, rotors, and labor.

 

You don't even know what he's working on, I could see it for some high end cars/SUV's

 

I had a customer bring in a car that had bearly any brakes and decided not to fix it. One of the wheel cylinders was totally blown and would push the fluid out as fast as you put it in.

I told him he had to tow it out. He insisted he drive it.

I called the cops and he was pissed but he towed it out.

Thats all I needed was for this moron to kill somebody in front of my shop trying to drive the car.

 

Well i got a few quotes around to see how much it would cost to get my grille chromed (1954 bel air grille 9teeth) so this guy tells me "No worries man i'll give you the best deal around ive been doing this for 20 years just drop the grille off let me have a look and i'll give you a price" so i drop it off and he calls 2 days later and says "Well theres alot of pitting and rust plus i have to take the grille apart so for a rough estimate id say it will be a little over $2,000 plus $60 a tooth im going to get started right now" and i told him "No fucking way your touching my grille i'll be over right now to pick it up!" He tried saying i had to pay for him taking it apart i just laughed at him grabbed it and left...Thankfully my buddys guy is chroming it for me for $400 which i dont think is bad at all

 

Him - "We need to replace the rear subframe bushes - it´ll be around 800 euro." (on my daily).

Me - "Oh really? Thats funny, because you said you did that last time I was here."

He got a real sick looking "caught red handed" expression on his face. I left and never went back. Lying f**ker.

I went to another garage and strangely enough, he didn´t find anything wrong with the rear subframe bushes at all.

 

$62,000.00 to "repair" my car. clay cook Erlanger,Ky.

 

My buddy tells me they average three grand to replace all of the brake lines on a ninties GM truck with ABS when they rot out. Something about having to take the cab off of the frame to do the job. That would be the day....

 

My son worked for a short time at " JUST BRAKES" he quit because he said they NEVER did a $88.00 brake job ( as advertised ).. he told me that he just couldn't be part of that kind of business practice.

 

Wonder howmany suckers don't know any better & get ripped off!

 

a few years ago i rebuilt the front suspension on my daily driver `95 S-10. new upper and lower ball joints , all new tie rod ends , new idler arm and cross link. after i was done i took it to a shop that does alignments , they put it up on the rack while i went to the customer lounge to get some coffee. 10 minutes later they came in and told me they could not align it because it needed work..yeah right , show me. after me and the guy got under it his face turned red...he hadn't even looked at it and he knew he was caught. i told them to align it and quit fucking with me

hard to believe , i have bought several sets if tires from them since that....the prices were great

as for getting ripped off on a brake job , a friend of mine took his 1980 chevy pickup to a shop that the owner thinks he is very special for a basic brake job. this is a just a normal disc front/drum rear , nothing spooky. the bill was $4500 and my friend paid it because he said they were friends for years and didn't want to piss him off. this same shop owner just did an engine replacement in a `64 chevy....pull out the old 283 and put in a crate 350. the car owner supplied all the parts from Autozone. two days later the bill was $3000 for labor

i have no idea how that guy stays in business or even gets any business

 

2 differant daily drivers,Dodge Stratus with disc front and rear and needed rotors est. was just under 800.00 and my current driver is a 05 Dakota 4 wheel drive that needs just front pads and rotors and that est was almost 500.00. Hell a garage wanted 1000.00 to replace the rack and pinion and over the counter the price was 325.00 for the parts.I know they have to make a profit but shit, give us a break

 

what are you having the brakes changed on? we may not even be talking hotrod here.

 

I figure I've saved myself about a million dollars in the last 40 years doing it myself.

 

I went into a local "$19.95 oil change" Shop for an oil/filter change on my Eldorado. There was a young girl sitting in the waiting area that did NOT look too affluent. Few minuites later, the oil Bozo comes in and starts to tell mee that I need this, and I need that, etc., etc. I simply told him to change the oil/filter and leave the rest alone. Mean time the Manager tells the poor kid that her bill is over a Grand (she came in for a $19.95 oil change)...she wound up calling her Dad to get her out of Hock...

 

I lost 500.00 on a truck that I was doing bodywork on .I had the bronco all wet sanded and ready to be painted.This was many years ago.When I wasn't married ,I got the material money up front and thats all.Customer said I welded patch panels in crooked,Which was a lie .I did the whole job for 700.00 in my spare time after working a regular job.Truck was sitting out front ,I told him to get it out of here. Scammed. After that I refuse to do bodywork on any body's car. Thats was way back when ,When bondo was 7.00 a gallon and I did it .for enjoyment .

 

I had my wife take our DD which was a year old, into the dealer. I have an OBDII scanner and know the coil pack is toast. It's under warranty. The service manager calls her up and says the car needs brakes too.... $700 (I'd put brakes on it the weekend before)

She calls me, I leave work, drive over to the dealer. Service manager tries to show me somebody else's car with bad brakes that's the same color as mine.

20 years ago, I woulda' grabbed the prick by his necktie and gave him a ride.

The coil packs were replaced and a got a 'free' detail job after a few words with the owner.

 

Here in Pa. the annual state inspections are privatized. You can't visit a shop for an inspection anymore without getting an estimate over $1,000.00 for alleged problems that we car guys know that they're lying about.

The big chains are the worst offenders. They rate their technicians by how well they can beat the book, yet they double dip you. For instance, if you're getting a brake job and a wheel bearing they charge you by the book for the labor of both even though much of the labor is the same.

 

There are good and bad shops and if you don't have a word of mouth experience, then you are flying solo. Often you just find out the hardway and have to pay or get nasty. I have been in the parts buisness for years and have worked at stores where major name shops would call and tell me to send all the brake parts we have for a '98 Dreamsicle and if I said well we dont have all of them, they would reply with Well, just send what you have and if they dont fix it we will call you back and order whats really wrong! Holy Crap! I could not belive it!! But true story folks! I am blessed now where I am with great reputable clients, thank goodness!

 

my brother in law was going to spend 800-1000 (he had over 3 estimates in that range) to have his exhaust leak fixed because a couple of studs had broke off the manifold. we did it here for like 50 bucks, im not saying it wasnt a pain in the ass and took 5-6 hours but still saving 750 bucks it was well worth it.

 

I sent a friend almost 400 miles out of his way to pick up and pay for a engine. He was on a vehicle & parts buying trip out west, was heading back through Minnesota and the U.P. of Michigan when I diverted him. Only thing the seller kind of forgot to mention was that the block and heads were cracked due to freeze up. I didn't get burned on that due to my vigilant friend smelling a rat. The owner denied knowing it was junk, yeah right. He would not even talk to me on the phone, he e-mailed a "apology" still denying he knew it was junk.

Or the Buick 401/S.T. 400 trans in a donor car that was given to me and stolen by a scrap man. Should of prosecuted the prick. But he got paid back, karma got him. Busted on TV for scrapping a building in Detroit a couple of years back. His workers took the fall for him, last I heard he was on the lam as a few people were looking for him.

 

I work at a GM dealership........labor costs are b.s. Working in the parts dept, I can't believe the markup on OE parts. I feel bad telling some people the price of some parts.

 

flatheadpete, private mail me. I'm in the same business in a GM dealer not far from you.

 

I bought wiper blades for the wife's 06 Impala yesterday at Napa. I hadn't bought them for awhile. We only have a couple parts stores here. $40 . I thought that was high enough for wiper blades.

 

that is a bit high, but I do exhaust work and if I'm tied up for 5 to 6 hours on a single job it's got to pay that much. In that amount of time doing several jobs I can make more than that. It's one of them deals... I can't ask for that much for a job that small, BUT I have got to turn the numbers to keep the lights on.

 

Over a grand? WTF were they going to replace? All rotors, calipers, pads, and MC? $260 is kinda steep for just rear pads, about $100 too steep, for a shop. You did the right thing by fixing it yourself, but what kinda brale pads are you getting for $20? I completely agree that shop's prices are outta line, but I get real goddamn sick of bozo's that no nothing about cars, and couldn't change a light bulb telling our shop that they can get that part for $xx.xx on line, and "why do you charge so much, it only takes 20 mins" Fine, go open your own shop, buy $25,000 worth of tools and equipment, teach yourself to be a mechanic, and fix it yourself with whatever pos Chinese knock off parts you want. Otherwise go somewhere else. The other one is : "I went to Vatozone and they said it was whatever, and they had the part for 10x less than you guys."
Too bad, the rip off joints make it hard for us honest guys.

 

Man. I own shops, I have seen all kinds of crap pulled on people and wonder every day not only how does that guy sleep, but how in the hell do they get away with that shit?

Things I have seen lately
Dodge Durango: After the customer spent over $1200.00 on brakes down the street he still had a grinding noise, pulled the wheels, new brake pads and rotors, still missing one caliper bolt...$5.00 and his grinding is gone.

Range Rover Discovery:
Customer towed it to the dealer because the Transmission wasn't working correctly. After $1756.00 to replace the intake manifold (?) the transmission still didn't work and the dealer wanted another $5600.00 to replace the transmission. We had it fixed for under $3k, he would have been out $7356.00 at the dealer.

1999 Ford Windstar: (still in my shop)
After the shop down the street installed a $2900.00 USED transmission the Windstar would still not shift, they decided a used transmission would not fix his problem and he would need $1500.00 more to repair his old transmission, $4400.00 total. The customer had to pay over $1000.00 to get his car out of that shop STILL BROKEN. Holy Shit......



I don't see how people get away with that chit and never get shot. Heck I try to get $169.95 to replace front pads on a Suburban and turn the rotors and I got people screaming at me what a rip off I am..... Maybe I am not just that good of a salesman...

 

I've got to say it..

I'm not made of money, just like the guys here on the board. but I've seen far too many instances of people getting SCREWED buying DEALS.

here is a prime example.

A good friend of mine runs an indepedent repair shop in town, Not the cleanest place (I love it though full of projects), but he does great quality work, fair prices, and has a loyal customer base because of it.

he had a customer come in and they needed the ECM (computer) replaced in their car. he looked up the cost and told them it was 480 dollars plus labor... they said NO WAY,, I can get that same thing at NAPA for 120 dollars. He told them,, YES you can, I can too, the 480 dollar one is also from napa, but it is a better unit... they insisted he buy the $120 unit.

He bought the cheap one and installed it.

43 days later the car is back. the ECM is burned out. the people say "call napa we want this warrantied....."

he does then hands them the phone.

the $120 dollar unit made in CHINA has a 15 day warranty.

the $480 dollar unit made in Japan has a 1 YEAR warranty.

nappa tells them sorry,,, nothing we can do, we tried to talk you into buying the good one,

they buy ANOTHER $120 dollar unit and this time their son in law installs it..... guess what...

51 days later they are BACK!!!!

this time they order teh $480 dollar unit (which by the way has gone up to $539 dollars for some unknown reason) and have tracy install it..

3 years later, still no problems, it is in every 5000 miles for a oil change and runs great..... They still come to the shop because the owner was honest with them from the start and never gave them the "I told you so speech" when they were wrong, he didn't have to..

the CHEAP parts cost them over $600 dollars in parts and labor!!!

sometimes going "cheap" is not a good idea on a Daily Driver that you depend on to get you to work and the family to their destination......

I can understand the story that started this thread, those prices seem CRAZY,, but I can't help but wonder what the quality of $20 brake pads are......