ComplaintsforCecil & Sons Discount Tires

• Initial Complaint

  07/11/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On June 12, 2022 I brought my car into This business have my brakes changed. My passenger side break had gone bad and was cutting into my rotor. My breaks were covered by my extended warranty. ***** called me and told me well your caliper is bad too, which I stated was also covered under my warranty. After having an investigation done with my warranty company I found out that ***** called them and told them caliber was bad due to owner negligence and failure to maintain and replace the breaks ect. Total opposite of story I was told by ***** who said they twisted his words. However that is only one part of the issue, after finding out ***** completely lied I didn't want take my car back to this establishment and had my car worked on somewhere else, only find out nothing Was wrong with my caliber. In fact, my driver side breaks was still in good condition and my rotor as well. The passenger side breaks were worn down pretty good and needed new rotor but both calipers on driver and passenger side was still in good condition! So not only did ***** lie to me, my warranty company, he also caused any future claims be denied by my warranty company unless I replace something that has nothing wrong with it. Shady companies like this, are what gives good mechanic hard time bc you can't trust people. This company failed me on more levels then one. First off I had been coming since New Years getting oil changes from them, 3 in fact! Not once did they ever even mention my breaks look warn down. See good mechanic shop isn't concerned about just getting them in and out. Good mechanic shop cares about their customer, when they do oil change they will do a visual inspection as well check your tires look at your brakes. Considering my break was cutting into my rotor you could see that without even taking off the tire. They could have let me know in December, In March or even June When they changed my oil. However considering how bad they lied about my caliper says a lot about them.

  Business response

  08/04/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/07/13) */ This client's complaint seems to indicate three beliefs which have her upset: the belief that we somehow caused the ********* extended warranty company to deny her claim, the belief that she did not need all the front brake work we'd recommended, and the belief that when we did her last oil change we should've somehow seen or known that her passenger front caliper piston was going to stick in the near future and burn up her pads, ruin her rotor. The first, and easiest one to answer, is her belief we somehow are responsible for her extended warranty company denying her coverage. As should seem obvious, we wanted that company to approve the recommended repairs both for the client's benefit and ours. Getting paid to fix cars is how we pay our bills, and our service writer spent a lot of time on the phone trying to get the ********* company's representative to understand what happened--this client's passenger side caliper piston stuck in the applied position, did not retract properly, resulting in the pads and rotor on that side being destroyed and making replacement of all necessary. It was the warranty company that decided to deny the claim, who chose to ignore the fact that the pads on the driver side still had some service life left in them which would support our position that it was the passenger side caliper piston sticking in the applied position that ruined the rotor and pads on that side. The warranty company's position, with which we disagreed then and now, is that the client must have ignored the grinding sounds and poor brake performance and kept driving the car which, they say, overextended that caliper's piston which, they say, was why it didn't retract resulting in the damage that was done. We'd called the warranty company again today and that is their position still--they've decided that this client must have continued operating the vehicle, instead of getting it serviced promptly, which they're calling negligence, and will not reconsider their denial of this claim. We don't consider what happened to her to be negligent, just unfortunate, but the warranty company makes the determination to pay or not and we've no control over that decision. The second belief, that we recommended work that was not needed, seems to be based on a misunderstanding of why we made those recommendations or perhaps her just being given incomplete information elsewhere. There's no doubt the passenger front caliper piston stuck extended, ruining that rotor and pads, and what causes that to happen is most commonly corrosion or debris inside that caliper which you cannot see from the outside. While you can, and she apparently found someone who would, use a press to just force that piston that was stuck while extended back into the caliper you're not fixing what actually caused it to stick. Given that it wasn't fixed, just forced back in, it's extremely likely that piston will stick again at some point which will likely ruin her new rotor and pads on that side again. Knowing that likelihood, choosing to not replace a caliper you know has had a problem seems false economy. Industry best practices are to replace calipers in pairs as they both have the same miles, in the same operating conditions, so likely have similar internal conditions as well. If one piston stuck extended it's more likely the other side will do so as well and, again, result in ruining pads and a rotor. Additionally, replacing calipers in pairs helps ensure we have equal braking response and performance on both sides. Equal performance is less likely to occur with a new caliper on one side and, in this case, a caliper with approximately 80,000 miles of wear on the other. As far as her passenger side rotor, she and we agree it was ruined. Industry best practices are to replace brake rotors in pairs to ensure equal braking performance. In this case, her provided photo shows the uneven, grooved surface of the driver side rotor she's calling good. The concern here, beyond best practices, even beyond the fact that rotors are relatively inexpensive, is we've got a new rotor with perfectly flat surfaces to match the new brake pads on one side giving us full pad contact with the rotor surface from the start vs the other side's pads having to wear down into that uneven, worn rotor surface before they can achieve full contact. Just as with the concern on a new caliper vs an old caliper's grip and response here we can have different amounts of brake performance side to side until full pad contact is achieved on both sides. Whether discussing the calipers or rotors here, the work we'd quoted followed industry best practices and was intended to return her front braking system to as close to original factory levels of performance as possible while preventing a reoccurrence of the caliper issue that started all this. Just changing the pads, installing one new rotor, and forcing that stuck piston back into its caliper is not a service level likely to accomplish either of those goals. It may work for a time, maybe with some performance issues, but it's not a long-term solution to her problems which are very likely to reoccur. Lastly, her belief that we somehow should've known or warned her this was going to happen because we were doing oil changes for her seems difficult to understand. When folks come in and ask for an oil change, we typically ask "is there anything else we need to do for you while your car is in the shop, like tire rotation or other maintenance". We'd expect if she was hearing a noise like brakes grinding or feeling like the brakes were performing poorly, both of which are symptoms associated with a stuck caliper piston, that would be something she'd mention, and we'd have happily checked it out. When our techs pull vehicles in for service, they are alert and careful with the brakes as we don't want to be surprised by a brake issue when pulling onto a lift. If we hear or feel anything unusual, we ask our client about what we felt or heard. In this case if she didn't report hearing or feeling anything when braking, and we didn't hear or feel anything when braking, then the most reasonable belief here is that the caliper piston was not stuck when she came in for her last oil change. And, while we do look through the wheels on vehicles whose wheels allow it to check for any visual signs of brake issues, we don't just pull client's wheels off without their permission, particularly if they're getting a service that does not require wheel removal like an oil change. Since a stuck caliper piston keeps the brake pads applied constantly, you get very high heat from the constant friction causing extremely rapid brake pad wear--we've seen clients burn up pads and ruin their rotors with a stuck caliper in just a few days of driving and that's what we believe happened here as well. I actually once had a caliper piston stick while I was caught in rush hour stop and go Oklahoma City traffic and had ruined my pads and a rotor on that side by the time I got back home to Sand Springs--just over 100 miles of driving--so I know from experience it can happen quickly. Given she averages driving her vehicle more than 1000 miles a month, it seems almost certain that the piston got stuck sometime after her last oil change, most likely in the week before she brought it in to get that grinding noise, once she noticed it, checked out. Unfortunately, by that time the damage was done and, regrettably, her warranty company has taken a position not in keeping with what we believe happened in order to deny a claim. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/07/15) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) My caliber was fine. I took car to different mechanic shop and they said my caliber was in working condition and did not need to be replaced! So therefor this company lied to try and make additional money claiming I had faulty caliber. They are still trying to lie and justify this in their response back. I never needed a new caliber. Wow, this shows just how horrible of company this is, to lie and then make seem like I am upset bc warranty company denied my claim. I am upset that you lied to my warranty company, got my claimed denied and any future claims for a part that wasn't broken. Now had the caliber actually been bad then I wouldn't be upset because it would been true statement. I am upset that you flat out lied about my caliber and it's not sticking, it's in working order. I was told it doesn't need be replaced. Seems your company is only out to lie and take advantage of your customer. I guess you thought I'd just get fixed with your business and I would have never known that y'all lied about the caliber. Wow! As mention before this what causes good mechanics have hard time because company like this. Good thing mechanic shop I went to, took out time to show me that my caliber was just fine, walked me through all in person and allowed me to take pictures showing it wasn't bad! See that's trustworthy place unlike this company. Buyer be ware!!

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩