Negligent "repairs" led to immediate and grave danger!…read more
After years of using and trusting Brakes Plus, our recent visit will keep me from EVER returning. My wife's truck had the "brake" light showing on her dashboard. I scheduled service with Brakes Plus and she brought the truck in for a brake inspection/service. 48 minutes after dropoff, they contacted my wife and said that the right rear wheel had stripped bolts/nuts and informed her they would need to drill out and replace them. There would be an additional cost for the parts and labor just to get started with that project, to which she agreed. She then received a second call 3 hours later saying the front needed brake pads and rotors, but that the rear drum brakes looked good after inspection and that they cleaned them up well. Then 4 hours later, she received a call that the truck was completed and ready for pickup. As it was late in the day she drove it directly home, less than 1 mile.
The next day, we took the truck onto the freeway to go visit and take care of my elderly father across town. While driving at freeway speeds, the truck began bouncing up and down roughly at every small bump in the road. This was a significant difference in the way the vehicle drove after being at Brakes Plus. It was extremely noticeable to both my wife and I. We returned home and she called Brakes Plus to inform them the truck was not handling well or safely after the visit to their shop, indicating it felt like maybe the tires were unbalanced. John, the manager on duty that day, told her that's unlikely because they supposedly mark the tires to ensure they go back on in the correct order. He said that we were welcome to bring the truck back in to check their work, but that they don't even have a way to balance tires, so if the tires were indeed mixed up while mounting them back on, they wouldn't be able to do anything about it and would just send us to Discount Tire.
At this point, it felt incredibly unsafe to return to Brakes Plus for any additional work, so we contacted Discount Tire to get an emergency appointment to have them check and balance the tires. Speaking with Discount Tire employees, the description of the bouncing at freeway speeds was definitely indicative of unbalanced tires, which were perfectly balanced before service at Brakes Plus. We dropped the vehicle at Discount Tire and they were able to balance all but one tire. They confirmed that the three tires they were able to check were significantly unbalanced, which is why we were feeling the bouncing as we drove at freeway speeds. But here's the real issue...the fourth tire (right rear) could not be balanced because the tech informed us the nuts/bolts were stripped and they could not safely remove and balance the wheel/tire as the first bolt literally snapped off while trying to remove the nut. Unfortunately, Discount Tire does not have the capacity to drill out, remove, and replace bolts, so we had to pick the vehicle up and return home, scheduling an appointment with Dunn Tire to drill out and replace the bolts/nuts and balance the fourth tire, as referred by Discount Tire. Dunn Tire confirmed via photo proof that the bolts/nuts were never replaced on the right rear wheel, nor were the rear drums cleaned, both of which Brakes Plus charged us for and never did.
So...to recap the issues here...Brakes Plus lied about and charged us for services that were never performed. Not only did they never remove the right rear wheel/tire, indicated by the fact that the bolts/nuts were still stripped, this means they also could not have inspected or cleaned the right rear drum. The fact that they endangered my wife knowing the bolts/nuts were stripped on a wheel, charged her for fixing it, didn't actually touch it, then sent her on her merry way is wildly dangerous and purely negligent. At freeway speeds, this wheel could have snapped off, causing severe harm and even death.
There is no way I would EVER recommend Brakes Plus to anyone simply based on the fact that their negligence, whether intentional or unintentional, placed my wife in immediate and grave danger.
