I had a similar experience with my car yesterday. A few weeks back while having some warranty work done on my car, the dealer mentioned that my front brake pads were getting dangerously low. I have a good view of the rear pads through the wheels, so I knew the were still acceptable, but I couldn't see the front pads without removing the wheels. Even though the wear indicators weren't making any noise, I figured it would be a good time to replace all the pads anyway (40k, 5 years). The dealer wanted $550 (ha!), so I ordered my own pads for $150 and decided to do it myself. I am by no means a car expert, so I've been trying to learn more as jobs come up that I can handle on my own.
As soon as I removed my front wheels, it was clear that my brake pads weren't anywhere near the wear indicators. In fact, I still have a good 1/4" left on all of them. However, I am thinking about heading back into the garage today to replace them anyway since I have a brand new set of Hawk Ceramic pads sitting around.
I am pretty disappointed with the dealer here. After living in PA for 4 years with an excellent dealer, it's clear that this one is doing little more than taking advantage of people that have no knowledge of cars (old story, I know). Sure, it's ultimately up to us, the car owners, to know what we are paying for, but it would be nice to be able to take the advice of the dealer without wondering if we are being ripped off.