Update: the owner Mike contacted me and looked into the situation. He stated that the mechanic who did the work on my vehicle no longer works for him and Mike is refunding me the cost of having to put the second set of pads on as well as the entire cost of the caliper that never should have been put on the car in the first place.
I find it ironic that the owner Mike states in his history blurb that he started the shop because he was tired of seeing people get ripped off, well that's exactly how I feel, ripped off by Sanderson Automotive. I thought we were doing a good thing by trying to support a local mechanics shop when my Focus, that I had been taking to Ricart for service for years needed new brake rotors and pads. I will say that Sanderson got us in quickly, but then also found that we needed a new battery and they stated that the lug nuts on the wheels were swollen and needed replaced, so that's also a lie when they state that they don't "find" things that need replaced on your car, they do. So this was a $986 bill. The very next day when I was driving to work the car was making a horrible scraping noise, as if i were dragging a sheet of metal behind the car. So I called them and they did get me in the same day to look at the car. By the time I had left work early to get this issue looked at the car had stopped making the noise, so naturally they didn't find anything. Next, a few weeks later the car started making a horrible rattling noise every time I went over the smallest bump. So once again I have to take my car back to them and they said this time that it was the brake caliper over retracting and causing it to rattle. The noise definitely came from the rear passenger side, and when they diagnosed the problem they asked if i wanted to have both calipers replaced. I said no because it was already going to be $371, and why would I replace something that wasn't broke? Sure enough within two days of having the caliper replaced the same exact noise was coming from the driver side of the car. At this point this all seems far too coincidental, the manager, Josh, that I had been dealing with the entire time, stated that there was no harm in driving with the car like this as it was not a safety issue. So by this point I'm tried of having my car into their shop, so I just let it go for a while. We finally decide it's time to have the issue taken care of so we take the car back to Ricart, at this point I don't trust Sanderson. I explained to Ricart what they had previously done to the car and after their inspection they called and said that there was nothing wrong with the brake caliper, and that whoever had installed my brake pads last time forgot to put the anti-rattle clips on the pads. Sure enough two days later and not a single rattling noise. So at this point I have had brake pads installed on the car twice in six months and a caliper replaced for no reason and I'm out $679 and hours of my time because of Sanderson's incompetence. Also, we were contacted by the owner, Mike, via text a few months ago about how our experience was and we mentioned that it was not good and we have received no response. As of writing this we also called and left a voicemail asking for them to call us and explain why they didn't installed the clips and then missed it a second time when I went back and they decided to charge us for a caliper. It has been two days with no response.
In summary, Sanderson's will be happy to take your money, charge you for things you don't need and never call you back. Save yourself they hassle and don't patronize them. read more