Axel Alwan

Review of Firestone

Long story short: they tried to take advantage of ...

Long story short: they tried to take advantage of my girlfriend because she didn't know much about cars. When confronted, they refused to do any work at the quoted price citing safety concerns but offered to do the work if I bought the more expensive (4x) 'lifetime warranty' on the brakes. Details below.

My girlfriend went in for a brake job which was quoted at $115, they call her a few hours later telling her she needs to replace the rotors and the calipers and it'll cost $785. She calls me and I head over to Firestone to see how a $115 job turned into a $785 job. They tell me that the calipers are frozen, I ask them how they diagnosed this, they tell me they did a visual inspection but offered no real diagnostic test.

To show me, they place a tool on the steering wheel that depresses brakes and spins the rotors. Unconvinced, I decide to depress the brake myself, lo and behold, the rotors did not move and the calipers are engaged. So I ask them to do the brakes for the quoted price and leave the calipers alone. They offer to replace the brakes and rotors for $465 and give me a lifetime warranty. I decline and ask them to do the brakes for the quoted price and they tell me they are unable to do so citing safety concerns, even though they just offered to do them if I paid the more expensive package.

They clearly just advertised a price to entice customers and then choose to screw their customers over so they can make extra cash. I took it down to another shop without telling them what happened at Firestone. They replaced the rotors and brakes for $235 with no hassle. When we pick up the car I ask them if there was anything wrong with the calipers, they told me they were in great condition.

This was the worst experience I've ever had with a company.