Brake Team The 99 Dollar Brake Team SCHEME - how the SCAM works Ripoff Tigard Oregon

Brake Team advertises a four wheel brake job for $99. At this time they were doing a promotion that also included an oil and filter change. The deal was too good to be true. I brought in my truck for the "special." After an "inspection," "Chuck" called and told me it would be over $400 to do the front brakes only! (Step 1 in the Scheme: Give customer a high ball quote to see if he's a total sucker). I told him I would come pick up the truck and he said, "how about $275?" He said that the rotors were too thin and the calipers were "sticky" and so the brake fluid needed to be flushed. (Step 2: LIE about work that needs to be done) I said OK since this sounded reasonable. When I went to pick up the truck my girlfriend asked Chuck if they had changed the oil and filter and he said yes. When I checked the oil the next day, I found it was black. It had not been changed. (Step 3: LIE about the work that has been done.) I checked the measurements on my original rotors (which I asked them to keep for me) and found that my original rotors were fine - there had been no need to replace them. They charged me $100 each for rotors that retail around $35 in the auto parts stores. (Step 4: sell parts at OUTRAGEOUS prices) I later got the brake fluid checked and found out that it had not been changed either. I went back to the shop and asked for a partial refund. (Step 5: If customer catches on, GIVE THEM THE RUNAROUND) Chuck told us that only corporate could issue refunds and that they would contact me within 24 hours. Corporate never contacted me. I called corporate and was told they were busy and would call back. They never called back. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Lonnie at corporate then told my girlfriend that he would send me a check. They never sent it. (Step 6: LIE about fixing the situation and hope that customer will forget about it or give up)

John
Portland, Oregon
U.S.A.