Firestone Complete Auto Care

Lied to me repeatedly in an all-around terrible experience. I came here in an emergency situation and was screwed royally. I was experiencing grinding when my brakes were applied, but after I inspected my brakes at home, I knew it wasn't the pads or shoes. I had to drive out of state the next day to be home for Christmas, and I'm new to the Metairie/New Orleans area so I didn't know a trustworthy mechanic to go to. I chose this place because their website said that they offered free brake inspections. Bait and switch. I showed up and they told me that they no longer do that, and that the inspection would be $21. The grinding was getting severe and I was on a time constraint, so I went ahead and paid them for the inspection. They came back and gave me a list of over $1,000 worth of work, including a wheel bearing repack, new rotors, new calipers, new pads, new shoes, fog lamps, windshield wipers, a brake fluid exchange. After I refused all of the stuff that I knew I didn't need, I was left with no choice but to agree to the wheel bearing repack, because I don't know how to check that myself and they told me that it was dangerous to keep driving without it. The calipers and the rotors sounded like a rip-off, but they told me that their policy would not allow them to do a repack without replacing the rotors and calipers due to liability. My only other option was to find the next mechanic down the road who could just as easily have tried to rip me off, so I had to go with it. The desk guy tried to talk me back into adding brake pads and shoes into the deal by telling me that my brakes were "metal on metal" and that I badly needed new ones. When I told him that I had looked at them myself and knew that wasn't true, he changed his tune instantly and lessened his stance to "they're not totally gone, but they will be soon," which was still not true. Then, when I told him that I was going to have the more minor repairs taken care of by a family mechanic at home and that Firestone couldn't match his prices, the desk guy tried to guilt me out of doing that by telling me that in his days as a used car salesman (no surprise there), he didn't eat some months because he was giving discounts to his friends and family. This was easily one of the worst, most unscrupulous business transactions I've ever had to suffer through. Friends and family told me afterwards that this experience is consistent with Firestone's reputation. I will never deal with Firestone again, and I hope everyone reading this has the good fortune of avoiding them completely.