Jiffy Lube scam! Wow!

[Orchidflower]

http://mfile.akamai.com/12924/wmv/vo...52183.200k.asx

[JPatrick]

Yup, that kind of stuff is very common. Not just not doing the work, but doing unnecessary work as well. Many of those fluid changes are just bogus. Brake shops are still another sad story.
Buyer beware.

[travelover]

I use a local repair shop with people I have come to trust. One good place to find an honest local shop is here, on the NPR Car talk site:

Car Talk

[cute fuzzy bunny]

This has been going on at jiffy lubes for years. One news outfit caught the same jiffy lube charging for parts that werent replaced and didnt need replacing or charging for fluid changes they didnt do...and they caught them something like every other year for 5 years running.

The regional management said it was an "education issue" and was putting everyone through training classes :

Sears had a big problem with the same stuff a few years back.

The problem is generally caused when some management schmuck puts a minimum number of certain types of service "incentive" on the employees, or when they get a bonus for reaching certain percentages of services done or revenues brought in. Up to a point thats fine and gets the workers motivated to find more work to do. Unfortunately the management idiots figure if they can get $x or x%, they can turn the screw another notch and get more out of it.

At some point it turns into fraud.

[Jarhead*]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny This has been going on at jiffy lubes for years. One news outfit caught the same jiffy lube charging for parts that werent replaced and didnt need replacing or charging for fluid changes they didnt do...and they caught them something like every other year for 5 years running. The regional management said it was an "education issue" and was putting everyone through training classes : Sears had a big problem with the same stuff a few years back. The problem is generally caused when some management schmuck puts a minimum number of certain types of service "incentive" on the employees, or when they get a bonus for reaching certain percentages of services done or revenues brought in. Up to a point thats fine and gets the workers motivated to find more work to do. Unfortunately the management idiots figure if they can get $x or x%, they can turn the screw another notch and get more out of it. At some point it turns into fraud.

Fuzzy: Exactly!

The worst smell on a fish comes from the head.

[Orchidflower]

I HAD to have a tire fixed, and I was about 2 blocks from Tires Plus; so, I pulled in and had the tire fixed. I left a bag of quarters on the floor of the car--being so rattled by the flat that I paid no attention--and...I am sure you can guess what happened.
Wrote to Tires Plus explaining that their employee (I knew which one it was) took my change, which was only about $10 but still. Regardless, NO response at all. Nothing. Not even a b.s. "we'll look into it, Ms. Customer." (Lie to me...I'll believe it...)
Well, I will find some other way to fix a tire now before I will EVER go into a Tires Plus again, the creeps.

Thanks for that Cartalk.com board. I bookmarked it.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchidflower ........I left a bag of quarters on the floor of the car--being so rattled by the flat that I paid no attention--and...I am sure you can guess what happened.................

I had to leave my keys once at an airport parking lot and found the change from my change holder - less that a dollar, had been filched.

Also witnessed them pushing one customers car (locked and in park gear) with another customer's car. Gotta love those 5 mph bumpers.

[chuck D]

i suspected the local "tires plus" never actually rotated tires when i would bring it in for oil change and tire rotation. so i started making a clean streak w/ my shoe on the front driver-side tire and rim. on the way back in to pick up the car, i would inspect the front driver side tire looking for the streak. unfortunately, more often than not, it would be there, unchanged.

as i went in to pay, and he'd go over the bill, i stopped him at the tire rotation and told him it wasn't done. invariably, he would just say, "ok, we won't charge you for that. that brings your total down to ___". never questioned how i knew it wasn't done. never apologized. barely even ever looked up. i wonder how many tire rotations they don't do every day but charge for them. must be very profitable. AND tires wear out faster, so it's a win-win for 'em. the *astards.

sorry thing is that i trust tires plus more than the amoco (now BP amoco) car service. they tried ripping me off 3 different times before i vowed never to go back. 1) said they couldn't turn the rotors... tires plus said i could probably turn 'em 2 more times. 2) said i needed new battery (just a loose connection, battery perfect), and 3) some belt scam... needed new serpentine, they said. just had to tighten it.

i'm a pretty competent guy, but not under the hood. feel so unempowered. oh, well. we have 2 new-ish toyotas that don't need much work. ever. and that's a great thing.

[dumpster56]

Its all about the people who go into the fast oil shops to work. The bottom rung in the employment chain. These are the guys who went to vocational high school and did poorly. If they were any good they would be working in a top line car dealership.

A good percentage of bums creeps and petty thieves.

[Insanity]

It's all part of a pattern: businesses that routinely charge for services not done, chain stores that advertise specials that don't ring up correctly at check out time, cattle operations that butcher sick animals and feed the (possibly mad cow disease infected) meat to lids in the school lunch program, and health insurance (and even government benefits) programs that fight tooth and nail to avoid paying legitimate claims.

The mantra since the Regan administration has been "less regulation, less government intrusion," but that mantra has been taken to the extreme. Now, instead of offering reasonable oversight to protect the consumer from fraud and dangerous practices, the main thrust of government oversight seems to be asking industries and business owners to "pretty please, do follow the law" without doing putting money or teeth into actually enforcing those laws.


And it's you and I and all our friends who get screwed while corporate executives get annual pay and bonus checks that make winning the lottery look like chump change.

[chinaco]

I am not shocked. My personal experience with the quick lube joints is that the employees are not top quality. I used to do it myself (change my own oil). Now I take it to the dealer.

I have avoided JL for years. By the way JLs are often franchises. About 20 years ago I took my car to a JL for an oil change. The service guy stripped out the threads for the plug (cross-threaded it). It leaked. I took it back. I am not sure who I spoke with (he was not the local manager). He was either a franchise owner or a regional manager. He essentially told me to take a hike.

I avoid JL. If you take your car to one of those places, you had better watch them... stand over the job and watch.

[Rivrider]

I had a friend who went into one of those places. They told the three customers in front of her that they needed new drain plugs. When her car was being serviced, they came and told her she needed a new drain plug. She told them 'no I don't'. I thought they must have had a big supply of drain plugs. After wathing this, not so sure.

Last time I went to one, the sign outside said oil changes were 18.99. My bill was for 36.00. Never will go back to them.

[Orchidflower]

NEVER TAKE YOUR CAR TO A QUICKY OIL/LUBE JOINT:

Went to an Exxon owned quick oil change shop. 2 weeks later--and dripping oil I was not aware of--the ENGINE BLEW on my car. Car no good now. Thanks Exxon!
I will ONLY take my car to have the oil changed at the Toyota DEALER now. And I keep the receipt to PROVE they were the last ones. No problems the past 15 years by doing this.
The quick lube place Exxon owned ruined so MANY engines, by the way, that they went totally out of business within a couple years. Thank God. What jerks. I know they were in Houston, but don't think they had that many shops across the nation yet (maybe 100?).
When I was telling a client who fixed cars about it, he walked me thru a complete oil, lube and filter on my car to show me what could have happened: they--in their rush to get things done--did not take the screw completely out where the oil drains, so when they screwed it back in the fitting wasn't tight, oil leaks...and you have a blown engine! FYI.
Just do yourself a favor and NEVER go to a quick lube place. The corner gas station is better. And the dealer is even better.

[Eagle43]

I thought this looked familiar. We discussed this in August.

http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...bed-29375.html

I usually change my own oil, but when I have taken a vehicle in for a quick change, I have never had a problem. Of course, I do stay and watch, even going in while the oil is being drained and watching them refill.

And you're right; they charge too much; hence I do my own. I have all day.

[Dawg52]

A few months back I got lazy and took my Trailblazer to a quick oil service close to my house. The other day I drove by the place and noticed it was out of business. So I drive across town to where I buy my tires and had it changed there. They have changed it over the years when they rotate my tires. People I know and trust. Anyway they tell me the previous people put the wrong filter on and it barely came off. Probably didn't cause any damage but that just show what you can get from the quick service jobs.

[free4now]

I still use quickie oil change places, but I am careful. I always put any valuables in my pocket before leaving the car, and tell them I am sure I don't want any filters changed except the oil filter. I did once have them strip the threads of the drain plug hole, which cost me a lot of worrying and $50 at another mechanic to figure out where my oil leak was coming from. But in the end they solved the issue with a special plug.

These days with dealers competing on prices and scheduling for oil changes, I try to take it to the dealer as much as possible.

[mickeyd]

DIY oil change is generally the easiest and smartest thing that you can do to keep your car running for a long time. Your oil and filter costs are 1/2 to 1/3 of the cost that the dealer will gouge you for. And, your labor is free (or prepaid)!

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickeyd DIY oil change is generally the easiest and smartest thing that you can do to keep your car running for a long time. Your oil and filter costs are 1/2 to 1/3 of the cost that the dealer will gouge you for. And, your labor is free (or prepaid)!

I used to change the oil myself, but my knees are shot.

[Zipper]

Just don't pour the used oil down the sewer!

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zipper Just don't pour the used oil down the sewer!

The hassle of dealing with disposal of used oil is the main reason I *don't* do it myself.