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Review content:
I took my car into Midas for a routine brake check. The brakes had been making a sound which suggested to me that the pads needed replacement and, since I had received an inviting coupon from Midas, I decided to give the business a shot. That was, to say the least, a serious error of judgment. Upon receiving an assessment from Mark which was difficult to understand over the phone, in so far as he gave me quote for $226 (for what I am still not sure), which I asked him to itemize. After struggling for a bit to get him to itemize it, he broke it down into two prices of $79 and $158; what these were for I, again, could not get him to state clearly. It seemed, however, that this was the price for the changing of the pads, plus some accessorial work to brake area, such as flushing the system. I told him that I would call him back to consult the price with someone who knows how much these things should cost and, after they agreed that that was a fair price, I called him back intending to approve the job. Before I approved the job (which he prompted me to do several times—eliciting as it would in anybody a certain amount of suspicion), I asked him for a total of the cost (I had to ask twice) and suddenly it had been raised to $507. I became frustrated with what seemed to me a willful act of miscommunication and told him to stop working on the car, even though he had suggested that I would not be able to drive it off. Following the earlier confusion, I of course did not believe this—and promptly went to pick up my car. But when billed I saw that, on top of the brake check, I had been charged for the removal of wheel locks from three wheels, totaling at $99.35. Not only had this price not been explained to me—he then suggested that I had a problem understanding, comparing me to his children. Now, when I came in, he oddly asked me if I was a student, perhaps believing that a “student” would be more susceptible to bullying from a supposed specialist, and indeed although I am a student, I am a graduate student and teacher at Yale University in English Language and Literature. In other words, I feel that my skills for expressing myself and understanding others are quite strong.
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