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On August 31, 2010, I visited the Just Brakes service location (store #36) located on N. Collins in Arlington, TX. I had heard positive feedback regarding the company and the $99 brake replacement special. The employees at this location were very pleasant and professional. After inspecting my original brakes on my 2007 Toyota Corolla, Manager Bobby Park told me that further maintenance would have to be done. In addition to the usual brake replacement, the calipers needed "rebuilding," the disc hardware replaced, return springs replaced, and the brake system bleeded and adjusted. He explained to me what needed to be done and showed me the damage on the original brake parts. After quoting me almost $400 for the maintenance, I reluctantly agreed to the repairs. Seeing that I was upset about the cost, the manager eased my mind by showing me exactly what was being done to fix my brakes. I appreciated this high level of customer service.

Following the replacement, Manager Park explained that some squealing would occur at first. For the next three weeks, every time I pressed on the brakes, it felt like sandpaper against sandpaper, squealing occurred, and you could hear some kind of grinding. Upset with the fact that I just paid $400 for brake replacement and they squealed constantly, I returned to the store to have them looked at again. Again the manager was more than happy to assist me. They took apart the brakes, supposedly finding no issues, but re-lubricated the parts and put the brakes back together. The technician explained that there might be some occasional squealing, which was normal for brakes (especially the rear brakes), but I should have no further issues.

While visiting this second time, another customer was very upset with management because of the "shady business they were running." As my customer service experience with the staff at this location was positive, I assumed this customer was just being difficult. However, he started talking to other customers and reported the EXACT issues with his brakes as I supposedly had with mine. This made me a little uneasy and made me question the integrity of the company. Regardless, I gave Just Brakes the benefit of the doubt because of their outstanding customer service.

For the next two months, the "occasional squealing" that the technician spoke of was a constant squealing; the squealing, however, was much worse than it was before! Not willing to go back to the N. Collins location, I took my car to the S. Cooper (store #10) location in Arlington on November 18, 2010. The management was very kind and understood my reasoning for wanting to bring my car to them. After taking apart the brakes, the manager told me that he found no issue with the rear brakes, but the front brakes were "severely contaminated." He explained that something the other store location did during my second visit was causing the constant squealing. The manager told me that he fixed the issues and asked me to take it easy on the brakes for the next few days. As I drove the car off the property, my brakes squealed. Although upset about this, I decided to be patient and hope that the squealing would eventually subside.

In January 2011, I had a friend who also visited one of the Just Brakes locations (on S. Cooper). This I did not know until he showed me the service receipt with details of the maintenance performed. The invoice showed the exact same maintenance that was performed on my vehicle months before. I was intrigued to find that not only did his brakes have the same "issues" my car did, but my friend was charged over $600 for his repairs. It was in this moment I knew the business being done at Just Brakes was lacking honesty and integrity.

Three months after my last visit in November (Feb. 2011), I had constant squealing; my brakes sounded worse than they ever did, squealing every time they were pressed. When I applied the emergency brake after putting my car in park, the car settled and the brakes make a sound that I had never heard my car make prior to my first Just Brakes visit โ€“ a loud metal-grinding-against-metal sound. Every day I feared that my brakes would eventually give out and something fatal would happen to me while driving. For obvious reasons, I did not want to return to another Just Brakes location to "have them fixed" again, as I did not trust the competency or integrity of the company's staff to perform maintenance on my vehicle. It is my belief that if you pay to have it fixed, paying $400 nonetheless, it should be done right the first time! This was when I wrote a letter of complaint to Just Brakes corporate office.

After submitting the complaint to the corporate office, I was contacted by a Marketing Director with the company. He directed me to take my vehicle to the store located in Mansfield, TX (store #150) and meet with the manager at the time, Tim Galvan. In early March 2011, I took my Toyota to Tim. After looking at my brakes, Tim told me that the brakes used by all Just Brakes locations didn't always work on all vehicles; Toyotas, he said, commonly had issues with their brakes. He showed me a different brake pad, supposedly made out of a softer, ceramic material, which he said he was going to put on my car (even though the corporate office might frown upon that). After the repairs, my car no longer had any issues with the brakes. The Mansfield service location was one that I trusted because of Manager Tim Galvan.

In April 2012, I started hearing a squeaking noise coming from my brakes again. Because I trusted Tim, I returned to the Mansfield location. To my surprise, a new manager, Charles, was transferred to the location (from Irving); when I asked what happened to Tim, Charles mentioned that he transferred to a service center in Florida. Assuming that the employees at this location would provide the same excellent service since they also served under Tim, I had them service my vehicle again. Charles told me that the brakes were fine, but I needed to go ahead and flush the brake fluid. I agreed, having to pay almost $100 to do so. After this visit, my brakes caused my car to shake when applied. Because I was in the process of moving over 350 miles away during April and May, I decided to wait to have my brakes checked out again.

After relocating, my Toyota reached 100K miles; I took it to my local Toyota dealership to have it serviced for its 100K check-up (on July 10, 2012). One of the issues they noted was the shaking of my car when the brakes were applied. The Toyota service technician said that the issue was that the rotors were not turned after my last visit to Just Brakes. Even though they identified warping on the rotors, they said that they were still able to be machined and turned to eliminate the shaking. Because I was visiting the DFW area during the weekend of July 13th, I told Toyota I would just have Just Brakes check them out. I scheduled to bring my car to the Mansfield location on July 14th.

At 7:00am on July 14, 2012, I arrived at Just Brakes in Mansfield. Manager Charles was there to assist me. I explained to him what was told to me by the Toyota dealership; he told me they would check it out and give me a call. Shortly after leaving with my sister, Charles called me. He told me that the rotors were too warped to be turned and they would have to be replaced; he indicated this would cost me a little over $300 for both rotors. However, Charles was concerned that the heat that caused the warpage in the rotors also affected the calipers. Because of this, he wanted to replace the rotors, calipers, and he would go ahead and warranty out the brake pads and drums; this was going to cost me "only $550." I asked him why Toyota would say they could turn the rotors, and then told him I would rather take my car back to Toyota. Charles wasn't sure why Toyota would say this and insisted that all this extra work was necessary for the safe repair of my Toyota.

I told Charles that because all my bad experiences with Just Brakes greatly outweighed my good experiences with Toyota, I was just going to take my car back to the Toyota dealership. Charles became defensive at this point and went on to argue that Toyota would cost me more, the parts wouldn't be warrantee'd, and they would overcharge me for labor; he stressed that Just Brakes will warrantee all their work and he wasn't going to charge me for labor. I asked him if they would put the same ceramic brake pads that Tim Galvan put on my car the year before. Charles said that Tim didn't put a ceramic brake pad on my car โ€“ he put on the same brake pad that every Just Brakes location uses. I asked why Tim would show me a different brake pad and why he said he put it on my carโ€ฆand even more important, why whatever he did to my car fixed the problems I was having, when none of the other Just Brakes locations were able to fix the problem they created. Charles just said that Tim lied to me.

At this point I was considering having the work done. Before I did, I asked Charles to give me a few minutes. I then called the Toyota service center I took my car to earlier in the week. I explained what Charles had told me and asked why they told me the rotors could be turned. They told me that the rotors were warped but could still be turnedโ€ฆonly costing me $99. They further indicated that it made no sense that the calipers would have be replaced again after a year. However, they went ahead and priced the same parts and labor that Charles was insisting I get. Toyota was going to cost me $200 less than Just Brakes for the same work. I called Charles and told him to put my car back together and I was coming to pick it up. When I arrived, he again insisted on me getting the work done soon.

On Monday, July 16th, I took my car back to the Toyota service center at home. They checked the brakes and all the hardware. Fortunately, they stood by their original assessment, saying that the rotors could be turned. When I picked up my vehicle, I paid $99, and my brakes were working like newโ€ฆlike they were before taking it to Charles in March 2012.

This was a clear indication to me that the Just Brakes company is running a shady operation. While the customer service they provide to their customers (at all their locations) is excellent, it is very two-faced. I was always treated like royalty, especially in the way they explained my issues and how they really care to make sure I'm safe in my vehicle. However, behind my back they are screwing me overโ€ฆtaking my hard-earned money for unnecessary repairs! I only ever took it to Just Brakes because I always heard that a dealership would cost me more money. However, in this situation, my dealership was the one that saved me over $400. My continued problems with Just Brakes, as well as bad experiences shared with me by others, justifies my immense frustration and hatred for what I was put through for the last two years with this company. They definitely have the customer service downโ€ฆnow they need to work on the trust, support, integrity, and respect for the customer and their hard-earned moneyโ€ฆduring this time of financial hardship in this country!

Monetary Loss: $400.

Location: Amarillo, Texas

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