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Jiffy-lube Gets Busted On Camera

By fishexpo101, October 13, 2006



Just a warning to those that take their car into a national chain for repair work, especially if it is Jiffy-Lube.

Video link on this website - http://www.seriouszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49599

Jiffy-Lube stiffs the undercover news team for services charged, but never performed. A familar story - that we here from time to time - but the team hit was swindled at 5 out of 9 stores!! When they confront the employees - they indicated that futher comments are withheld until they contact the district manager - when the news team finds the district manager, he lies about his identity and ignores the news team.

I've seen a similar sting in May-June for Jiffy-Lube - also similar results. Jiffy-Lube promised to investigate, take action, make sure this never happens again, bla-bla-bla.

I'm glad to see that most people do their own work or take it to a competent mechanic.

I am not suprised.

My parents have had a complete debacle with their 2000 Holden Commodore in the last 6 weeks or so. This is the story as far as I know...

The bulbs behind all the aircon and around the ignition had blown - fair enough, its a domestic car that is 6 yrs old as easy repair - no?

At the 130,000km service, they requested the bulbs to be changed. It did not get done, but they did not get charged for it. A couple of weeks later, the car was taken into Canobolas Holden specifically to get the bulbs changed. Were they changed? well, no, apparently they had ordered them, but when the time came to do the job they were missing for some reason.

Next week it went in again. The bulbs were done. However, whilst reassembling the dashboard, they had not reconnected the button module for the trip computer.

In amongst this, one of the bushes on the front sway bar had disintegrated, and the one on the other side was beginning to break up, too. Fair enough, car had done 130,000km. But, just a few weeks previously the car had been in for a roadworthy inspection. This problem would have been present, and should have been noted on the pinkslip as a defect, and should have been repaired. But, it wasn't.

All repairs were fixed for free in the end.

On top of this, my brother's 2001 Mazda 323 Astina hatch went in for its 'pinkslip'. They obviously didn't notice that the rear wiper blade was kaputt and was not wiping the rear window. This was fixed my me for $8 (new blade)

On top of that...

*My 1990 holden nova (clone of corolla) went in for an oil change. Sump plug became cross-threaded. We don't know who did it, but the mechanic (Ultra Tune Orange) charged us $90 to weld in a new sump plug. Then, whilst reinstalling the exhaust manifold, they left off a couple of bolts, creating a fluffy engine sound. Was rectified for free.

*My 2000 corolla went into Canobolas Holden (mid-2003) to get some rattles removed. I was assured by the service manager that the mechanics had been looking at it all day, taking things apart and putting them back together again etc. but when talking o the mechanic who was assigned my car, no such work had been doen. We weren't charged, anyway. Still, the service manager lied to my face.

*Again, my '00 went in for a $360 40,000km service at Orange Toyota. Only problem is the coolant was only half refilled, and the tattered wiper blades remained

*My '05 at its 30,000km service gained the wrong oil filter. I took it back to the mechanic (Northside Mechanical in Wagga Wagga). I was told that the mechanic only put on the aftermarket replacement for the genuine filter that was there. So either NM or Ultra Tune Orange (where i took it for my 20,000km service) screwed up. Or even the person at the spare parts counter where he bought the new oil filter. Someone did.

a long post, but now I have some things off my chest default_smile

IFFY-Lube default_happy

2 quick horror stories.

Had an oil change done during a road trip (I was doing a lot of business travel at the time). Right after the oil change, got back on the interstate.

30min later, my oil lamp goes on. Stopped at the next exit to check whats going on.

The shop did not tighten the filter enough, and the oil was leaking out!

Tightened the filter, added oil, and I was on my way.

Fortunately, it didnt do any dammage

Buddy went to get his oil changed.

For some reason, they drained his tranny fluid, and added oil into the engine.

He drove about a mile when his tranny died.

Fortunately, he was able to prove that it was the shop's error, and they paid for a new tranny.

How can these shops make such simple errors?! Its not rocket science.

tdk

  • 1,424 posts
2 quick horror stories.

I've got two of my own:

My Neighbor's Mother-in-Law took her brand new Cadillac Seville STS to a Valvoline to get the oil changed at 10k. They drained the oil, replaced the plug, and sent her on her way. See any problem with that? They didn't replace the oil they drained. 10 miles down the road, the engine siezed up. Valvoline paid to put a new 4.6L Northstar V8 into the car to the tune of almost 6 grand.

My Grandpa took his 1995 T-Bird into the local Ford Dealer. A 1995 V8 T-Bird has one fatal flaw and that is the oil pan. The threads for the oil plug on the pan are too fine and are easily cross-threaded. When the dealer went to change the oil and replace the plug, they cross-threaded the plug. They of course failed to tell him of this. The next time he went to have it changed, they couldn't get it off. They hammered it out with an air chiesel. This screwed up the oil pan threads. So, they got a plug from another car and jammed it into the hole, further damaging the threads of the oil pan. At this point the car started leaking oil on the garage floor. He took it back and the dealer got yet another plug, this one off an F-250 and jammed it in there. This stopped the leak, but the next time he took it to have the oil changed, they couldn't get the plug out. They drilled it out and replaced it. All this time he knew none of this was going on. My Uncle finally discovered the F-250 plug and the next time my Grandpa went to the dealer, he asked about it and they confessed the whole sad story.

This is the same dealer that made me state, "I will never own another Ford as long as I live here". They the most unprofessional, slack jawed buch of tractor mechanics in the USA. On several occassions they made repairs to my Contour that rednered the car unsafe and almost caused me to have several accidents. One time they duct taped my ignition ground wire to the car's body. When it got cold, the tape came off and the car died. I almost slid into several parked cars when my power brakes stopped working and my brakes locked up. Another time they did some free maintenance to my car to compensate for taking 4 days longer than they promised to fix an electrical problem with my car. The day after I got the car back, it snowed 1/2". I went to drive to school, and as I rounded a corner that I'd rounded thousands of times before, I slid off the road. Luckily my car was about 1 foot shorter than the distance between the tree and fire hydrant I slid between. When my car finally stopped, I had almost hit a fence and was stuck sideways. I rocked out and went to school. After school I suspected there was something wrong with the car. I looked at the tires and thought they looked over inflated. I checked them and found them to be at 50 psi after the car was sitting for 6 hours in 30° temps. They were supposed to be at 30 psi. I promptly drove the car over to the dealer and gave them a piece of my mind. After that, I never took the car to them again, and less than a year later, I was driving a new Toyota.

When I first started driving, I did mostly all of my own repairs because I didn’t have the money to pay someone else to do it. Later, when I could afford it, I learned that many mechanics didn’t know what they were doing and quickly went back to doing my own work. I have since found a good mechanic and take all my work to him. I NEVER buy the extended warrantee because I don’t want to have to deal with the dealership mechanics. Instead, I pay a few grand more for a car with top reliability ratings, keep on top of the general maintenance and run it till it’s reliable no more… Usually well over 10 years.

Mikey

I must confess that I don't do much work on my car myself and do take it in to such places to get the oil changed, though my thrifty friend chides me for it whenever it comes up, saying he can do his own for a third of the price and do a better job, but I don't much care for getting dirty, nasty chemicals on me or dealing with the disposal of same, and at least like to think I have better things to do with my time, and time is money after all.

This despite having worked at a gas station several years ago and watching a poor girl limp her car in during a rainstorm, as it was making rather horrible noises, because she'd thrown a rod or whatever after Jiffy Lube either neglected to refill her oil or left the drain plug loose or something.

Probably cost her thousands of dollars between the repairs and towing fee and all that, so I hope she took them to court.

I always stand there watching them the entire time they work on my car, for a little added peace of mind. default_mellow

Bikeman982

I do my own repair work and suggest everyone learn how to do it for their car. It would put the unscrupulous repair places out of business and probably lower the price due to lack of customers. Watching them do the work (if you must take it to them) is a good idea, but you have to know what you are watching and looking for.

I had a friend back at university who was very auto literate. He had a '95 ford falcon, and he did almost everything - the only time he didn't do it was because the certain procedure required machining. He once changed a head gasket - it took him about a week, but he got it done!! he changed window rubbers, new exhaust, new suspension bushes etc. He would have saved thousands.

In australia a key problem is that most mechanics over utilise apprentices and young, inexperienced people whom they don't have to pay much. Most young guys (I say guys because I have never seen a female mechanic in real life) in OZ are into holdens or ford V8s. Do you think that after servicing 3 FWD Japanese shopping trolleys so far that day they are going to be attentive to yours? I think not. That and the fact that most garages, including those at a stealership, don't have ALL the necessary special service tools to service particular makes and models correctly.

It can happen at any workshop, even dealerships.

Best way to prove work was done, ask for the old parts back.

I cant believe how dumb those workers and that district manager at Jiffy Lube are, it just gives mechanics or people who work on cars who are honest a bad rep.

$20US for an oil change, thats cheap considering the time it takes to jack up the car, remove the oil and refill it and fit a new filter, but its also true, you get what you pay for, and its cheap for a reason.

Bit concerning to see people like this working on cars, an even bigger concern is people taking their cars to them based on price.

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