Don't feel bad !
Even mechanics /technicians have problems with their cars/trucks too.
Comebacks are every technician's nightmare and we get out share on our own vehicles in spite of how well we think we did the job. We all get our turn and this time it was your turn, just kidding, but I think you get my point.

 

actually the saga continues with this garage. i brought it back to him to inspect and see why it is not working still. he said maybe he had to make adjustments etc etc. said to call around noon, which i did. he said it's all set i made the adjustment. so when i went to pick it up, i asked what adjustments, and he said he just pumped the ebrake a few times and it caught. and he brought the car to the inspection station that failed me and it passed. i did not ask him to bring it for re inspection. It's my responsibility. Like it's the garages responsibility to fix my ebrake issue.

the inspection station is the down the street from this garage. i assume they might know each other (AKA more than likely they do, since they are on the same street and both been doing auto repair a block from each since 1990).

i called the warranty company that my (former) garage uses. they said they warranty the work on garages all across the country. Almost like an insurance policy. They plan to review my claim and get me a refund because of how this service has happened. I mean, this is obviously my side of the happenings. But this Garage is sketchy as hell. And how they can send a car off on it's way with a faulty ebrake that I commissioned they to repair to meet Massachusetts DOT Safety Inspection boggles my mind.

 

This whole situation is getting a little hairy and by that I mean you appear to be correct with with your suspicions. Up to this point I feel you did everything you reasonably could and the shop maybe felt that if they had it inspected you might accept it , however, if the parking brake still does not hold when applied and still goes almost down to the floor you might ask one of the inspectors at the inspection station to recheck you car . This is where it gets complicated. If the inspector says it's OK then it should be OK. If not, then you have good reason to have the shop straighten it out since the inspector just told you it is not right. How do you feel about this?

 

i went back to him and asked him why it passed if it's in the exact same condition that caused me to fail, and why he brought my car to get reinspected. that maybe they are working together or know each and he admitted they do know each other. The inspection station is actually a Meineke, and they use the garages alignment machine frequently.

I explained that I am not happy that my car isnt repaired after paying him almost (sigh) $1050 to diagnosis and ultimately just do new rear brakes.

Showed me that I have to pump the ebrake 3 or 4 times before it will hold from now on. He pumped the ebrake. gave the car gas and at around 1000rpm, the creak is there, just as i dropped off to him. But still, the inspection station did pass this. He recommended that maybe this creak is from the rear struts.... and I should leave it for him to look at. I declined this invitiation and told him, Im never letting him touch my car again.

And i have an appt with a new garage, where the owner/lead tech is a ford senior master mechanic.

 

im not one to get upset but when someone is playing me for fool and putting my safety while not repairing what i paid for, i get pissed.

 

This is another one of those unfortunate situations that give honest shop owners a black eye. It appears the shop tried to please you , but did not correct the problem. Sometimes they are too busy to look deeper into the cause and sometimes they really don't know how to correct the problem and there could be other reasons too.
Lets hope the new shop you chose can square this thing away and give you peace of mind. Would appreciate it if you would share the solution with the folks here on the forum. Thanks.

 

i definitely will update. I have an appt with the new garage for tomorrow afternoon.

im nervous that after paying this other garage $1k to ultimately not fix my car, what if the repair is going to be costly. and I have to eat the $1k.

I did speak with the garage's warranty company, and rep said she definitely understands my concerns and she will look into this. But that the warranty company, AutoServicePlus - ASP - Home, indicated that their service for the garage really just covers repairs when you are traveling, not a general warranty. She wanted to talk to the garage and she if some resolution can be met. I told her I feel some sort of refund might be in order, considering the work he performed and charged me for did not actually work. Or maybe BBB or Small Claims or Attorney General can help. But first, I really need a second opinion on this eBrake/safety issue. Also, the Meineke also uses this AutoServicePlus

what a mess.

 

Hanky,

I did get a second opinion from a local garage (which did replace my alternator about 9 months ago) and have a good reputation. They said the parking brake does seem to be working as it should and they wouldnt do anything to that system.

I guess what is weird and frustation to me about this whole situation is that the parking brake is working just as it was prior to having this garage working on it. Why it failed is not the fault of the garage that replaced the rear components but the way this all happened is just hairy or sketchy as all hell as a consumer. Since the parking brake feels the same to me, maybe the rear brakes werent needed and a different inspection station was, maybe Meineke has some scam going to drum up business. The brakes on all 4 wheels were replaced last year so I dont know or think they would need replacing so soon.

Since I knew the garages share resources, it just didnt line up after spending $1000 bucks to get a similar performance from my parking brake in return. But having a different garage look at this definitely gives me piece of mind.

Thanks for your input.

 

There is something that is a little puzzling to me, and don't you get angry with me for going in this direction.
Generally, the front brakes do most of the stopping work. There are provisions in place for some of the work to get to the rears to share more of the work.
The fact that the rear rotor/pads were practically new and rusted tells me that work signal was not getting sent to the rear calipers and therefore they became rust coated from non use and when the parking brake was applied it was most likely corroded from non use. It is very possible something further back up in the ABS network that may be asleep on the job. Think about this,,,,,, the first shop corrected what they saw and figured it was fixed and we know it still felt as if something was not working correctly. Steps were taken to solve the "main' problem, THE INSPECTION STICKER!
Then you not feeling satisfied, decided to have another shop check it and they verified what the other shop did that shop #2 thought was the problem, so what could possibly be wrong?
The problem here is shop #2 did not know the brakes were less than a year old and did not see what shop #1 saw when they opened it up. Both shops are kinda in the middle on this and you are on the other side of the door wondering what is going on.
Things like this happen because there was the "classic" breakdown of communication.
I hope you are with me so far. To help get this situation corrected you need to explain everything in detail to shop #2 so they can follow up if they want offer an opinion or pursue an answer. In the meantime you are getting an expensive education and I can only hope I was able to shed some light on the situation. How does this fly with you?