I dont know if the rest of this chain is as bad as the one in Leander, TX... but since my experience started with them, I've heard from other people that one one in Austin is just as bad. Below is a letter that I wrote to their corporate office...

took my 2004 F150 one of your stores (Leander, TX) to see about some new pads a little over a month ago. This was in regards to an intermittent squealing. The blonde lady behind the counter (and apparently the mechanic and new manager) told me I need new pads, but all of my rotors needed to be turned. But- front the rotors had to be replaced, because they were too worn to work with. heh- right. The truck had less than 30k on it at the time. So, I told the dumb biznitch there that I'd take it to the dealer and see what they had to say about it, which of course she tried to to talk me out of... saying that I'd get the runaround regarding warranty, etc. heh- as if I hadnt realized that she was giving me the run-around. She then proceeded to take 2 hours to put the wheels back on my truck- even though I was the only customer there.

So, long story (semi) short... I took my truck into Covert Ford yesterday, and I got a call this morning- the rear axle seals are leaking and damaging the REAR brakes. All said, they're replacing the seals and the entire braking system at the rear of the truck... UNDER WARRANTY.

The intermittent squealing from the front brakes is normal, according to Covert Ford (Austin, TX) and my discs are well within specs. How much would I have had to spend with your company on parts that didn’t need to be replaced, before the problem was identified?

Your slogan says "At Just Brakes, We Really Do Care!" I have to wonder... about what?


Needless to say, this company will NEVER EVER get my business.

 

If your truck had under 30K and the brakes were squeeling why didn't you go to the dealership to begin with? Just seems with anything that might be covered under warranty I would look into that first.

Also I don't work for Just Brakes but I do work with customer relations somewhere else and when we recieve bad letters I take them serious but as soon as I read the intelligent word "biznitch" in one you loose all credibility.

Sounds to me in the begining like you had a valuable arguement for sure and I wouldn't go back, don't think i am blaming you 2 hours for a wheel is rediculous but it also appears like you could have handled it a little better. But when I get pizzed I don't always do the right thing either.

 

yeah, I know what you mean, but I was trying not to use profanity. Anyways- Just Brakes is down the street from where I live, and I wanted an idea of what I was in for, before I did something (i.e. pads, discs, etc.)... I would have ended up doing it myself, had I needed something that wasnt under warranty. I didnt expect someone to try and scam me when I all I wanted was a quote.

 

I replaced my front brake pads at 26k i think it was. Its not uncommon for brake work needing to be done when you are trying to stop a 5.ooo pound truck all the time.

I agree, you could have picked a better word then biznitch
-Patrick

 

I know what you mean. That is why I edited my post cause I even said my reply wrong. Don't know if they were scamming you or just idiots. I prefer to do things myself as well but if I can EVERYTHING before 36K goes to the dealership for warranty check.

Didn't want to come off as slamming you either but I see letters of complaint all the time and I will tell you if someone writes one out and is clear and easy to understand makes it more believeable and investigating it easier. When you put words like that in it makes you look like you are just mad and venting and makes us wonder.

You have an honest complaint for sure just remember you are dealing with people and we aren't allowed to shoot the stupid ones.

 

Thats quite true, and since I'm not trying to get anything out of the company... and my opinion is quite low of them already, I guess I really didnt (dont?) care what their impression of me is. I basically felt the need to vent, and wanted to warn others of the practices that are sounding more and more like common practice for Just Brakes- Some of my friends said that a local news station did an undercover investigation, and had something similar happen.

 

yea well generally speaking brakes arent covered under warranty..
(unless you have a rear end seal problem etc)


Its like going to a dealer and demanding a new motor because you didnt change your oil at all for 20.ooo miles.

Its just one of those things that wears down, and you replace it. No biggie tho, it took me 2 hrs tops to change out my front pads, which also included a non directional hand sanding, and i had to remove the lip on the very edge of the rotor from where the brake pad wasnt sitting all the way to the edge of the rotor.
-Patrick

 

out of curiosity, what kind of pads did you put on yours?

 

30 dollar duralast i believe, Just auto zone something or other. Just replaces stockers, no ceramics or anything. These are actually dustier then factory, so if i need to do more brake work, these are going in the rear, and then ceramics up front.
-Patrick

 

awesome... I'm probably going to stick with the stockers on the rear (especially since I've got brand new brakes on the rear!), and eventually put ceramics on the front. My front pads were marked as "green" on the report from the dealer, so I've definitely still got plenty of meat on them.

 

Mine had what looked like alot of meat on them, but they were making gawd aweful noise, and sounded like they were worn through, it also has to do with the materials used in them, and how they have been driven. You can have brake pads that sound and act terrible, but look fine.

Mine got to the point they were past squeaking, and were sounding like a grinding noise, metal to metal when i was brakeing.
-Patrick

 

My experiences are that usually places like that wait untill they have it all tore apart to say you need more stuff. The free inspection usually calls out some stuff that needs replaced, then when they do that work they "find" more things. I was doing the free inspection on the front end, then replacing parts myself bit. I went in 3 different times for a front end alignment only to have the same shop point out something else that needed replaced before they could align. I work on a time-limited bases (who isn't though) and finding time to get my truck into get an alignment is not easy. When they finally told me I needed to have my bearings repacked for them to do an alignment and they could do it for xxx amount of dollars (can't remember, but it was rediculous), I said F'em.

 

ya talk about faulty work, i work in a sears auto center and from what i can tell we have had no complaints on scams and wat not up here in mn. the only really complaints are the customers with TERRIBLE ball joints or tie rod ends that are highly unsafe. we used to make them either fix it or have it towed (whether be a tow truck or their own truck or something. for liablility reasons) now we passed something where they have to sign something saying they understand that their car is unsafe and we warned them. we even had one last week where the ball joint was almost out of the socket and didnt even want to push it out in fear of it breaking. we had the local police come and watch just to be sure we werent doing anything illegal by letting it out.

some dealers are even terrible. my gf's grand am was misfiring and i figured fuel injector #3 ( with a code reader and tested all the spark components) i didnt have time to do it so i brought it in (had sea foam in the gas tank already) they sed injector is totally shot wanted 600 for ONE inkector installed and fuel rail treatment. so sed no took it to school and was talking my teacher in to letting me take it in... he sed in a couple days i could. i dumped a b-12 can in the tank (forgot about sea foam) and drove it back home. let it sit for 3 days and no misfire???? did the rail cleaning at school to be sure tho.

also i had brand new rotors pads in the rear. 2 weeks later differant dealership for a tranny flush they did the quick check my fronts were almost gone according to them ( they still had half when i mesasured) and the rears were needs service soon. sounds kinda weird when they sed my balljoints were going and i just bought new ones from them a week before hand and installed them at home and had them align it same day! so never going there again.

 

I remember seeing "Just Brakes" featured on Dateline on NBC. They rip people off.

 

They use the "$99.00" brake job offer to lure you IN the door, just to try to charge you $300-500.00 or more before you get OUT the door.

Seems that almost anyone who goes there, no matter what they are driving, now matter how many miles it has on the vehicle - they all seem to need the same parts replaced to make each vehicle "safe".

Someone just did the investigative/hidden camera bit on TV recently.