OK...I am the LAST one that falls in behind the masses to rip some poor business guy or Company in an online forum, especiaally when the posts tend to be on the somewhat hysterical side...BUT! I needed simple pads replacement recently...2003 Isuzu Rodeo LX, Super well maintained. I am a car guy, have done my brakes since I was 15, all makes and Models (MB/BMW, Porsche, My Vettes, all of them...) I am deploying in a few days, and I just didnt feel like getting skeeter bit or busting knuckles last week, so I roll into Just Brakes here in S. Pasadena outside St Pete Beach (FLA) area:. Nice enough guy greets me, writes me up!. After having read all of these posts here, I asked the guy (nicely) "Hey, you guys have kind of a rotten online rep, lets just stick to the basics, swap the pads, and I'll be on my way"!. He looks at me a bit askew, and has me sign the service order where I wrote in VERY large letters "99..99$ MAX charge for brake service" as per their much advertised special, . Well, I watched as the Wheels and brakes came off?. Then suddenly there was much furious flapping of parts catalog pages as the service guy starts looking up part numbers and entering them into his PC?. He comes over to me (an hour later) with a grim look on his face, holding an ESTIMATE of 600+ dollars in relairs! And so it begins..."Sir, we found that one rear disc was .000015th's out of round, and the front Pads were glazed (Typical for FLorida hot, stop and go traffic here in ST Pete) so he starts to tell me that it was because my Brakes are "dragging" (Not properly releasing/i.e; Calipers are shot, etc, etc, ad nauseum). I looked him straight in the eye and said "Do you remember when I asked you politely that there be NO Shenannigans today? Do you remember that? I followed up with "I have changed my Brakes and their pads since I was 15, he Calipers work flawlessly, there is NO dragging, NO squealing, NO loss of fluid (Sign of a truly bad seal or Caliper), and to tell you the truth, the Pads, although "Glazed" will last EASILY another year or so! So whats it gonna be? The 99$ special, or do I have to raise my voice a bit"? He grinned, saw that I wasn't going to fall for it, and he tells the guys in the Garage "Button it up, were done with him...". I saw what was happening, so I asked him one last time "Sir, I asked you nicely, PLEASE, just replace the pads, and rotate my Tires...please? I'll gladly pay the 99$ AND I'll tip your Crew". He wasn't having it! So...Moral of the story? There is NO 99$ brake special. Plain and simple. In the blink of an eye, the guy presented me with a horror bill for 600+ dollars in "Dangerously defective brake parts that need to be repaired/replaced".Once you roll in, its as if they are reading the lines of a play..."Brake system shot, yadda, yadda, heres the bill, 600-1200$. Its all a scam, plain and simple. That the Justice Department hasnt crawled up their Butt yet surprises me greatly. Then again, maybe they are going after all those Wall Street Banker types that ruined our economical system? Yeah right...I'm headed back to Afghanistan to serve this great Nation...AGAIN...God bless America and free enterprise!

I use to be a manager of a just brakes location. you want to know the funny part. I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT BRAKES. The reason why i got the original assitant position is because i have a sales background. Now ask yourself this question why would a legitimate brake shop need to hire salesmen. Well you have to have someone exprience in selling if you gonna sell the immorral bs they sell. Heres how it works and this is there training. Some one calls in for a price its always 9988 even if you know its there gonna be more for the vehicle whether theres a non stock pad fee or a larger truck fee you never inform them of that tell the vehicle is torn apart. Next you have the vehicle in while its being torn apart you are trainded to chat with the customer to try to build a =='repoire. this way you can try to get them to build trust with you. Next unless the systems contaminated you bring them in for what is called the WALK AROUND and this never changes for the vehicle and here is how it goes. The tech usually the other mngt team member introduces him self then this this the walk around... sir/mam the reason for your (stated complaint) is due to your wheel cynders leaking (if not visibally leaking then you say there sticking due to age and milelage doesnt matter if theres only 20000 miles on the vehicle if they question it thats what the mng/ast/=(salesman)if there for. now sir/mam do to the wheel cylinders not functioning your front calipers have overheated causing them to bind and not release correctly. Your pads are overheated and your shims are non reusable. Due to your rears not working correctly your rear hardware is weak and also needs replaced. due to the overheating upfront we will also need to replace the front hardware to. the play tech then turns to the mng aka salesman and says '(salesmans name) in order to fix mr/mrs so and sos problem i am going to need to replace the rear wheel cylinders and hardware. i am going to need to rebuild the front calipers and replace the hardware and shims. i would also suggest replacing the master cylinder due the the condition of the lower hydraulics. ill try to save the rotors and drums but i wont know till i machine them (which always never happens theyll need replace to by the time i got done w' the customer) Can you go ahead and give mrs/mr so a so a price and ill get the problem fixed. Now the salesman prices it note: theres no set few for parts mark up or other work thats the managers descrestion. I was told one time by the corporate office when i thought i was overpricing wheel cylinders to do it tell i get caught NO LIE. if the customer says no you try to counter the no with aggressive tatics Basically bad cop and if they say no then the tech will call and try to second effort the sale in a concerned manner (good cop). but if you ever had your car inspected at Just Brakes your walk around would have sounded the same unless they werent doing the way they were traing at what just brake calls 'THE WAY' school. Now if you refuse to do the extra work they will do the 99 88 special but wont machine the rotors (which if you check is part of the advertised service which last i check is considered fraud if not done.) the excuse i was suppose to give if called on not machining the rotors was they were to close to spec or were non machinable due to the overheating. But the real reason i come to find it not machining the rotors will cause the brakes to squeak pretty quickly. Now why would we want you to come back in two weeks later with squeaky brakes simple Now we can tell you the reason why there squeaking is because you didnt do the suggested repair work and thats part of the disclaimer you signed witch ulmatley says if you read line five of the trans warrenty that we dont have to warrnety damaged pads if there was suggested work not performed but if you take care of the rest of that work today well go ahead and and warrent to out the pads. Just watch out when you go to just brakes cause its no lie its a scam i been part of it take my word on it.

Reporting this in the hopes it will prevent other's from being a victim of Just Brakes. I am not a victim, but have been in the social situations of employees, namely the managers/qualified inspectors. The manager/qualified inspector's salery is based on a percentage of the daily/weekly/monthly tote. To make their paycheck they must convince you to add monetarily to your brake job. This is accomplished in the highest regard of salesmanship. 1. Owners of Volvos. You are THE #1 target. 2. Owners of Fords, most notably any Ford SUV, you are the #2 target. The Ford Focus, while not an SUV, is a target of disdain. 3. Women. While it may appear as if you are being treated equally, you are not, and you will be held in judgement by the vehicle you drive. 4. Just Brake's waiting room is purposely cramped and unpleasant. The store's locations are strategically placed within easy walking distance of restaurants and shopping centers. 5. Any consumer can enter the work area and watch the work being done on their vehicle, this is never noted or offered. 6. The technicians that perform the work DO NOT receive any monetary perks from upgrades. They are paid at an hourly rate. HOWEVER, if upgrades or parts as needed should cause overtime, this would be their monetary plus. NOTE #7 BELOW: 7. Added UPGRADED parts to a work order are always within reach. It is the job of the manager or qualified inspector to do a call around to neighboring stores and gain parts not in stock. It is quite possible, in the event and highly unlikely, that this part is not in stock at neighboring Just Brakes location The part needed may be purchased by management over the counter at any auto parts store. 8. The TEST DRIVE for safety at the end. I personally viewed the 'test drive'. Your vehicle is being driven with reckless abandon, zero respect. 9. This is the toughest of all. Please read as 'Race/Gender Bias'. I will leave this unsaid, as it speaks volumes. 10. Technicians. This too is tough. You are mocked and belittled by management, yet fulfilling the work order and executing the job. These 10 points of Just Brakes are simply to provide you, the consumer with a general point of overall reference. I have purposely kept this report short and neat as I am not a victim, simply an insider. I hope this speaks volumes larger than dollars and cents.

Went to a Just Brakes in Houston, on HWY 6. They took my brakes apart, had me come into the garage and quoted me $800. I said I wanted a second opinion. They told me they didn't know if they could put it back together because they broke some part taking it apart. I didn't say anything, I just went and sat down. 45 minutes later the manager comes in and tries to tell me I need to walk down the road to a auto parts store and buy a part myself, out of pocket. I said, "No. If you couldn't get it back together, you shoudln't have taken it apart." They called some kind of general manager, or the main manager, and he can in and looked at the car and left. Then they ended up putting it back together. I can imagine that some people might just get intimidated by this stuff. The mechanic and the manager on duty, basically made it seem like if I didn't pay the $800 repair I would have an unusable car and that I couldn't drive it out of there. I was prepared to pay more than the 99.88 fee they advertise, I understand there's other stuff that often needs to be done. But they tried to charge me 8 times as much, and then tried to bully me into doing it by acting like they couldn't get my car to be driveable.

Stay away- avoid! This place is very shady.

The $99 brake service is a scam. When i was in the store seven customers came in the store and Just Brakes had none of their pads in stock. Then they will charge you $160 for the brake pads that they have to order. After that they will walk you to your car and tell you that your caliper pistons are sticking, and that your entire brake system will need rebuilt. I got out at $450 because i wouldn't let them rebuild my two year old calipers. They installed and charged me for parts that i told them i did not want. I told the manager i would not pay for these and his response was "we can put your old parts back on but well have to charge you the labor to put them back on." which was the exact same price lol. It was a complete waste of time because i have to redo them only eight months later. Good luck with their customer service too. They don't warranty your vehicle if you decline any of their recommendations even though ninety percent of the time they are not needed. I