My thought she approved a $320 brake repair. The shop completed $3,350 worth of work. What should we do?
My mom has a Toyota Rav4 and yesterday, she took it to an auto repair shop because the brakes were making noise, I'm not really sure the extent of it.
Earlier today, she told me she expected the repair to be around $300. Today I went to pick up the car and was told the total was $3,349.87. I mean, that was a shock to say the least.
I later found out the shop called my mom this morning to get authorization for additional work. English is not her first language. She genuinely believed she was approving about $320, not $3,349. She never would have knowingly agreed to spend over $3,000.
The invoice includes:
- Front brake pads and rotors
- Rear brake pads and rotors
- Brake fluid flush
- Synthetic oil change
- Serpentine belt
- Spark plugs
- Fuel system service
- Transmission service
- Cooling system service
- Air filter
- Cabin air filter
- Wiper blades
Additional context: She is working today and most or all of the services show the exact same approval time on the invoice (8:00 AM), suggesting they were all approved during one phone call.
My issue is that my mom believed she was authorizing around $320, not over $3,300. I just can't believe they explained every singular charge to her. I just can't help but think that they knowingly took advantage of the language barrier.
Yes, I understand she is at fault as well.
Are we completely fucked?
EDIT: She did not request all of this work guys. She just went in for the brakes. That's it. She received a phone call where for some reason, she understood it would cost around $320. And yes, that is stupidly low for all of that work and she agrees she made a mistake. They also sent a message showing all of the "technician findings" but nowhere does it say that they were going to work on those things.
And finally, yes she has said she will pay for it. Like I said, my main issue here is knowing that they used her language limitation against her.
Final Edit: , I'm going to go back there and work with them to see what they can do. We're fully expecting to have to pay it all back since she did make a mistake despite not fully understanding it.
Thanks for the advice/sympathy from MOST of you.