Have I Been Ripped Off?

[GixxerOne]

Hi peeps,

Sporadic poster on the site, it's a great resource and usually I just come here for info on any little jobs on the missus car that needs doing

4 months ago I instructed the missus to take our Avensis CDX (1999 v plate, owned since 2001) to the local garage to have new discs and pads on. Usually I would do this job myself, but as I've been quite busy just lately and when I tried last time (many years ago) I couldn't get the 2 recessed bolts out of the front disc's, so I thought it would be simplier to let someone else do it. Anyway, she instructed them to do the discs and change the shoes (Its got drums on the back). when she returned to pick the car up, mr mechanic tells her that it needed 2 new rear slave cylinders at a cost of £160 extra, and he'd already done the work. I was furious that he'd done the work with no notification and £160 isn't exactly a couple of quid is it?

The power steering on the car has been making a nasty grinding noise for quite some time, OK it was annoying, but livable with, and, as the missus drives the car obviously it wasnt a priority for me... ;) When she took the car into the garage for the brakes I asked her to tell the garage to change the power steering fluid, as I thought at the time it may have been the problem. When the car came back the fluid hadn't been changed and the guy who dealt with her told her that the pump needed replacing, (I thought this sounded a bit far fetched as apart from the noise the steering was fine), so I decided to leave it for now...

Way lines and time passes...

A couple of nights ago I went out in the Avensis as a passenger and the noise was really really bad, so I decided to look on here to see if I could find a resolution, seeing as it's such a good site and you all seem like a friendly lot :P

It turns out that it's the splines in the steering column going dry that makes the noise, and thanks to this site I've spent today taking it apart and repacking it with grease... It's like new now, no more nasty noises... When I found this out last night I decided to ask her EXACTLY what they'd said in the garage about it... according to this site it's quite a common problem and I believe there was a recall to sort this out... the missus said that the guy had said the pump needed changing immediatley, and if she didnt have it done it would knacker the steering rack up! Unfortunately she didn't tell me this at the time, and as soon as she'd said it alarm bells went off in my head.

So today after fixing the steering, I decided to whip off the drums on the back... there is no sign of any leaks, there is hardly any dust in there which leads me to believe they have taken the drums off to check... but the Slave cylinders look very old, there is no sign of the nuts on the back being removed, no sign of any brake bleeding thats been done, and there is what looks like old coppergrease on one side, it's obviously been there a long time... probably about 4 years ago when we last had the shoes done.

Now, my question is this:

The brake drum cylinders have what looks like either '0 2 2', or 'C 2 2' stamped on them... Are there any Toyota mechanics on here that know the original number for OE part on this model, and have they changed over the last few years?

Also, does anyone know the NEW thickness of the rear brake shoes for aftermarket or the OEM shoes? (I'm off to Aldi tomorrow for some digital verniers )

Obviousley I'm having my money back off the robbing b*stard, I also intend to go to trading standards about him and let everyone know what a theiving git he is, but I need concrete evidence in advance.

So, if you know the answers to any of the above could you please let me know?

Apologies for the exceptionally long post! I hope none of you've dropped off reading it :D

Thanks in advance...

Rog