I was on a business trip back to Michigan where I live and my brakes were making this god awful grinding noise every time I touched the pedal so I pulled off the high way and saw the Phillips 66 fuel station had a little 3 bay garage attached to it and decided it was time to get my brakes checked out. There was absolutely no wait they got me right in which was nice but kinda worried me at the same time thinking that maybe they aren't too busy for a reason. Well thats where it all unfolded. I did need new brakes and badly, the mechanic was nice enough to show me that one of the pads had worn completely down to the backing he called it and asked him a price on all of it. He was hesitant to give me a price for about 5 minutes he told me to wait in the "waiting area" which smelled like propane gas.. in an auto shop with open flames and heat sources ever where... you get my point. So after all that the mechanic came back at me with a $400 estimate minimum for the front brakes; not too bad, so I told him to go ahead. They got right to work as I left for some lunch. While I was eating lunch I got a call from the shop telling me that I would need a caliper as well, he explained the situation and the cost was an additional 2 hours of labor at $99.99/hr and the caliper was an additional $125 or so and over an hour away, now adding the total to just over $740ish and adding time I already did not have to my schedule. I told them to do so and they did they called me back to the shop about 3 hours later and I arrived with a set amount of the bill as what the mechanic had told me on the phone which was $765.75 with tax, labor, and parts. Now for the interesting part; 20 miles away from my destination stopping at a red light, my brake pedal had little to no response, so I did what I was taught in drivers ed, pumped the hell out of the brakes and then somehow gradually came to a stop.. After that terrifying experience I took it slow and steady, so the next stop rolls around and I hit the pedal and screeching banging and clunking from all around literally sounded like my vehicle was a one man band while I was trying to stop so I pulled over and had it towed to my bosses shop, already in Michigan it was a little late to run back to that shit hole of a shop back in Illinois. So my bosses mechanic back home takes a look at it and finds out that the caliper piston had a crack in it, the pads on both sides were installed incorrectly and the pads were too small for the rotors. Basically all that work and money for nothing, glad it was a company vehicle and not my own personal vehicle. Needless to say, Customers beware! My boss will be filing a complaint with the BBB. read more