Toyota Breaks My Brakes..

You brought it to their attention and they offered to fix it - FREE.

You want something MORE? Why?

I'm not suggesting your time is not valuable. Your time is valuable as well as their time. However, you also know that humans (including yourself) make mistakes. That being said, how or why would you expect when someone does make a mistake that they not only fix it (which they offered to do) but then also give you 'something more?'

How do you expect a place to stay in business if they're fixing a mistake and then giving you 'more?'

You sound greedy. You're the reason places like this don't want to make good on their mistakes. They'd rather litigate or deny because it's a whole lot easier than fixing the problem and then having a guy like you demand 'more.'

Good luck though on whatever you do!

I am with the OP on this one. Mistakes happen. However, the people who make the mistakes are responsible and should be accountable.

The dealer should, at the OP's option, either replace the front brakes with ones like the ones that he had put on a month ago with the full lifetime warranty and refund the money or replace the back brakes and refund and difference in price between the front and back brakes and honor the original warranty.

The OP has the option of having the credit card charge disputed, too.

Jeff

Steve-o..I take it from what you said, when you walk into a business, you think to yourself...hmm how can I help this businesses bottom line..?

Somehow I doubt that...My time is valuable..Hopefully, for you, yours is too?

Hey Seveo, read what he said. He had a 'life time' warranty on the pads and had collected on the warranty 3 times. That warranty is now toilet paper. At the least, the dealer should offer him the same warranty on the front pads, do the rear brakes and refund the difference if the rear is less expensive.

It isn't the customer's job to ensure that a business makes a profit. If a business wants my business, he won't screw me and, if he makes a mistake, he makes sure that I don't suffer from his mistake. My philosophy is "Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, shame on me." Nobody gets a second change at my butt (or wallet) and I tell my friends.

That's how I run my business, that's how I expect everyone else to run theirs.

Jack

Oil changes and brake pads are usually delegated to the rookie new hires. Not that some senior techs are any good either unfortunately.

Maybe they'll install a new set of the brand you bought and restore the lifetime warranty that way? After all, they did ruin your lifetime warranty and left the worn rear brakes alone, right?

Yep .. rear brakes are still there and maybe eating into my drums by now..

They are the original rears and the car has 137k. It wouldn't have taken much simple math to figure out the service writer made a mistake. The fronts were thick as new..

Another response for Steve-o ... Most businesses worth their salt already have mistakes and returns baked into their prices. So, we all are paying for these things weather they happen or not..

If the rear brakes lasted 137k, they were not properly adjusted.

I'm not arguing time is valuable. Time is very valuable. When I walk into a biz, I expect things to be done right and right the first time. If things aren't done right, I expect them to fix it at no expense to me as I would expect anyone too as well.

I don't however expect them to fix a mistake for free and then give me 'something more.' That just seems greedy to me, personally.

Oh I agree they should be held accountable. That's not in dispute.

I also agree that the shop should:

A. Replace the rear brakes as requested they do originally at no charge. B. Replace front brakes with similar style OP had and optionally: C. Honor original warranty on front brakes they replaced due to not reading the order correctly.

I'm cool with all that. I think that's well within reason.

If the OP wants all the above, great.

However, I read 'more' to mean something like he wanted the rear brakes done at no charge, the front brakes maybe re-done, and then maybe something MORE on top of all this. If by 'more' he means doing option C then that's fine. If by 'MORE' he means he wants some other work done and/or a monetary compensation, then yeah, I think that's a little greedy.

Definitely take what you deserve but going for more doesn't seem appropriate but that's just my humble opinion. :>

Yeah, so it is up to the businesses to not make the simple mistakes, so that they get to keep the money rather than buy new parts and pay people to put them on.

Jeff

If the rear brakes lasted 137k, they were not properly adjusted.

Yeah, so it is up to the businesses to not make the simple mistakes, so that they get to keep the money rather than buy new parts and pay people to put them on. Jeff

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Today, when I pointed out to the 'service director' (apparently the service manager needs a director?, what no producer?) that the receipt said a 19 point saftey check had been done as well as my valve cover gastket and brakes, he said 'we're just a bunch of guys here'...

LMAO... When they are selling you service they are 'factory trained technicians'... When they make a mistake you'd expect at walmart or sears they are 'just a bunch of guys'...

They agreed to replace my front pads for life as well as do a 5k mile service to compensate me for my time. They also did the rear brakes today -which is what they should have done to begin with.

They're just crooks at the stealerships. It's us agains them mentality and if you let them (steve-o) they'll walk all over you..But you ARE after all, concerned with their bottom line for some reason.. May I suggest doing volunteer work at your local toyota dealership..?? While you're at it bring your wallet and make a donation...

When properly adjusted, rear brakes usually last a little over twice as long as front brakes, call it 90,000 miles. If the rear brakes are not properly adjusted, the front brakes have to do more work and wear more quickly.

You mentioned that you had gotten 3 replacements for the lifetime pads with the 3rd set recently installed. Including the original pads, that's a little over 40,000 miles per set, which is fairly typical.

I would suspect that pad that are billed as "lifetime" would be a little harder for a longer life, with the payback being slightly poorer stopping ability that most people never need or notice. Either you are replacing pads early (which I would probably do if I could get free replacements); the harder compound is not lasting longer because they are doing more work; or the pads are not actually harder. If the rear brakes are out of adjustment, the second scenario makes some sense.

For my 2 cents on what the dealer that did the wrong brake job should do, they should let you keep the pads that they installed on the front, charge you the correct amount for the rear brake job, give you a credit to cover the cost to get another set of lifetime pads so you can buy them now and have them around for the next time your front brakes need new pads, and toss in an oil change.

Auto zone discontinued the lifetime pad offer for new sales. Probably because of people like me actually using it...

The parking brake is supposed to adjust the rear brakes. I use it often in the hope that it will. Adjusting them by hand is a PITA without a lift..

Re: Toyota Breaks My Brakes.. Group: alt.autos.toyota Date: Sat, Apr 19,

When properly adjusted, rear brakes usually last a little over twice as long as front brakes, call it 90,000 miles. If the rear brakes are not properly adjusted, the front brakes have to do more work and wear more quickly. You mentioned that you had gotten 3 replacements for the lifetime pads with the 3rd set recently installed. Including the original pads, that's a little over 40,000 miles per set, which is fairly typical. I would suspect that pad that are billed as "lifetime" would be a little harder for a longer life, with the payback being slightly poorer stopping ability that most people never need or notice. Either you are replacing pads early (which I would probably do if I could get free replacements); the harder compound is not lasting longer because they are doing more work; or the pads are not actually harder. If the rear brakes are out of adjustment, the second scenario makes some sense.

Ray O (correct punctuation to reply)

---------------- I think I'm on my 3rd set of front disk pads total.... The originals lasted a long time, 80k I think. Then I purchased the life times and took them back recently to be replaced. So I'm 3-1 vs. the rears...

I'm sure I'll be put to the back of the line if I ever use the brake warranty they just gave me. When you're spending money they're nice as can be, but if you push them to correct a wrong and it costs them, they majically change into someone else entirely..

There was a lady there who said they were giving her the business because she purchased her toyo somewhere else and had the nerve to take it there to be serviced.

To me, the general public doensn't care about the intricacies of YOUR pay structure. So, it makes you look even worse when you hoist it upon them.

In my case it was obviously the flat rate and the service writer commision I was bumping up against. The SW was in a hurry to snag more customers so, he wrote me up in a hurry and the tech was just interested in doing the jobs he was being paid for ...they heck with the 'free' saftey inspection...Just greed on their part. ..

A smart service department would be happy to get customers from other dealerships.

Where did you take your car for service?

If the lifetime pads are no longer available, then IMO, the dealership should at least furnish pads at no charge for you. The potential of you buying another car or coming in for more service would more than offset their cost for a few sets of pads.

"Charles Pisano" ...

I just bought lifetime warranted pads for the front brakes on my motorhome 3 weeks ago, and the information is in their computer so I don't need to keep the receipt. It is interesting that you have a different experience.

Regarding the rear brake adjustment, I had the rear brakes stop self adjusting on their own. It happens. I can get crudded up in there. Mine was not even crudded up. I found out when the NJ inspection determined that the front brakes were doing too much of the braking. Upon removal of the rear drum there was plenty of pad left. I put the drum back on, adjusted the brakes properly (an easy thing to do with a jack and jack stands) and then it passed the test fine.

The way I understand it, it is not the parking brake that does the adjusting, it is the act of braking while in reverse that does it. Tomes

Of course, keep the receipt anyway. They're computer might just get a virus or lose a record.

Jeff

Yep