Hello Bobnine,
You don’t tell us whether the handbrake was fully up to MOT standard before the new discs and pads were fitted. Personally, I doubt whether the ‘quality’ of the pads would significantly affect the handbrake efficiency.
Does your handbrake system work on the calipers or are there separate handbrake shoes within the discs. If the latter then it could be all to do with adjusting these shoes.
If the handbrake simply applies pressure to the disc pads, then you need to confirm the lever mechanisms at the calipers are free and the mechanism is working as it should - very often they sieze/ partially sieze. When you are certain these are working properly, the handbrake cables should be assessed for smooth movement - again they often aren’t as free moving as they should be. If they aren’t, then they will need to be replaced. In my book, the handbrake cables should never be adjusted until it has been confirmed that all the above is serviceable.
Based on the above, I can understand your garage wanting to charge you to replace the pads again, but I would have thought they would have confirmed the handbrake mechanism was serviceable, and it’s effeciency was up to scratch before handing the car back to you. It might probably have been claimed that the handbrake would not be efficient until the pads bed in!, but trying that one on the buyer of the car when it was new.
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