WARNING! The Brake Scam
When you can't trust anyone, especially the "experts"
I guess God knows that I’m that girl that will warn his flock because I seem find myself in these situations. I went in for an emissions test at Rooster Ridge Car Care in Cypress, TX. This was the first time I had ever been and they seemed extremely nice. I asked for an emissions test only and I made sure that the price was $18.50. They tried to push the inspection as well, but I made it very clear that all I needed was the emissions test for Harris County to take their annual registration tax fee for me to use my car.
After a few minutes in the waiting room the manager came with what looked like a Lego toy with red, yellow, and green. He seemed so caring and nice and said that the emissions test was great but even though I didn’t ask for an inspection he cared so much about his customers that he did a quick inspection anyways and said that my brakes were totally worn out and the car was too dangerous to drive.
I immediately thought something was off because I just had my brakes replaced and I told him just that. He then went on to say that he doesn’t like talking about other auto care places but that it looked like Sun Auto Service (where I got my brakes done) didn’t even put new brake pads on or they used low quality pads.
I then said well, there is no squealing or shaking when I drive and they seem to work great. He said that my model car didn’t have squealers and that car makers had stopped putting squealers on cars. This was a complete lie because I had my brakes changed because my daughter was so embarrassed when I went to pick her up at school because of the brakes squealing.
I then told him several times that my car is 10yrs old and only has 60k miles on it. I don’t drive that much at all, not even 6,000 miles in a year. Another problem I had was he never put the car on a lift so there was no way for him to even measure the wear on my brakes. Still, he told me that my brakes were so bad that I needed to go home and park the car and not drive it because it was so dangerous. I told him to write up a quote, and I’d take it to my husband to look at. He came back with a quote of over $1,600!
On the drive home on 290, during the most windy day of the year, I saw my hood moving up and down and suddenly realized they didn’t close my hood, and it was on the brink of flying up into my windshield which could have possibly caused me to wreck with my daughter in the passenger seat! I immediately pulled over and latched my hood down.
When I got home, I showed my husband the quote and told him the story and he said without hesitation this was a scam. He looked up reviews on Rooster Ridge Car Care and found a review from a man whose wife experienced near the same exact targeted scam. I later found several women who were told the same exact story. A young driver was even coerced to take out a loan for a repair.
I called the manager and spoke with him about this and his lies and recorded it all before he hung up. You can see the video posted at the end of the article.
After he hung up on me, he immediately texted me multiple times telling me that he would replace my brakes for free. Yes, the brakes that are practically knew and he lied about. Of course, he wants to replace them for free because after getting a second and third opinion, it turns out my brakes are completely fine. He said to prove he was honest, he would do the brake job for free! If you are honest you don’t need to give away your services and others would independently verify that you were being honest by confirming the brakes were worn. That didn’t happen.
I made him a counteroffer that if he confessed his sin of scamming customers, I would not write a review and I would not expose him. He replied back repeating he would change the brakes for free. I would not let that lying, cheating, scammer touch my car with a 10-foot pole.
This is how scammers use fear to intimidate people who are not knowledgeable in car mechanics. Just like with the human body, there will be symptoms of problems before something goes wrong. It is up to us to use our God given discernment and to question everyone and everything. We can no longer trust people to do what is right. This goes for every aspect of our lives, from our health to our kids’ education to our government.
Don’t hand over your trust just because they are nice. Do not give into fear, which is what they try to use to get you to make an immediate decision before you are able to stop and think about it. If you were able to drive up there with no problems, why wouldn’t you be able to drive home?
Please share this with all wives, moms, young drivers, anyone who may be taken advantage of.
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Thank you Greta. I am an elder woman of 72 yrs and I had to replace my engine of my last car due to the fact this place that I had gone to for many yrs. They forgot to put the oil drain plug back after having a oil change. I went back and told them and they would not own up to it or pay me for damages. Needless to say I never went back. They, at the time were the only place that worked on my car. Now I take my car to a Toyota dealership where I bought the car hoping they will stand behind their work. Yes it costs more but, what choice does one have when you don't have anyone else to turn too? My brother is bedridden and no one has the time supposedly.
Three years ago we had a strange knocking sound from the car's motor. It was very much the same noise as when the gap between the rocker arms and the valves is too big.
I was told we needed a new engine head. We paid the equivalent of $2500 (in Norwegian money) for the repair. A year later the noise came back, and I said, "If we have to pay another $2500 we're outa' here, and we're done with this shop."
The guy went back into the workshop for ten minutes. When he came back he said he had adjusted the valves. We paid only $100. I found out later that the noise in question was a safety valve opening if the motor's load is too heavy.
A year later we go to another shop because the breaks were making a metal to metal noise (squealing). I asked the guy there about the valve adjustment. He said "The valves are hydraulic. There is no adjusting them."
I'll never go back to the first shop again. I am sure they have a turnover based bonus program there. That incentivises creative lying.