Does This Happen Often ?

A couple days ago I took my Jeep Cherokee SUV to the nearby Firestone store for an oil change & tire rotation. It's only about a quarter mile from my office so I walked back to give them the hour they needed. I never seem to find time to get these maintenance things done but I had the time that day. I walked back to get the car (they didn't call when done like I asked) a little more than an hour later and they said 5 more minutes (which was 10 min.). They said when they rotated the tires they were also required to check the brakes and rotors which they found in bad shape.
They gave me an estimate and said the rotors were shot had to be replaced along with all 4 brake pads, the estimate was $861.61 but they had a $40.00 coupon I could use. I said that I would let them know soon.

The next day I was at my accountant's office and her husband had a professional car & truck repair shop in the next building. I mentioned what Firestone said and she suggested that I let the repair shop check it out while we were doing the accounting. I said OK and gave them the key. About an 30 minutes later when we were finished the mechanic met me and told me that they checked all the brake pads and the front ones were "like new" and so were the rotors. The back ones needed replacing and the rotors could be machined (I know little about cars). I didn't need any rotors and just the back brake pads which they quoted at $209.97 and one hours time. Wow, what a difference, I made an appointment with them. Does this mean that the Firestone people were that inexperienced or just trying to overcharge me? I guess I will get a second opinion on all repairs in the future.
From a real life experience in February 2011