Or… “Contrary to all the negative misinformation, General Motors and its dealer network stand behind providing excellent customer support of excellent vehicles.”
GM, what a car company! 
America, what a country!
CSA 
2 Likes
I’m thrilled for the OP, but let’s not get carried away.
1 Like
Mr. Mountain Bike, what took you so long? I did get carried away.
Sorry, I’m just a bit giddy from living in paradise (Perfect clear sky and 72 degrees here at the golf course right now.)
CSA
I’m truly happy for you, but jeeze, enough already! 
2 Likes
I get it. I’m really trying to restrain myself, sorry. Going north soon… then it’s back to normal until fall.
Neither my wife nor I want to leave, but we will. I have a friend, high school buddie, who’s been in Clearwater (just to our north) for 32 years and he says that feeling that you get living here never goes away. Hard to understand for folks not here. I can see us moving here permanently at some point. I should have done this years ago, but life happens…
CSA
I think this post demonstrates the power of this forum. There may be a lot of chatter at times, but the end result was that a serous problem was solved.
The power of this forum ? Unless I read it wrong the OP’s contact with GM corporate and the dealer is what gave the result. I seriously doubt this forum had much influence other than recommending corporate contact .
Glass half empty
Glass half full
CSA
Whatever power we have is not official
We have the power to make very good suggestions
Once we planted a few ideas in op’s head, he got the process started and saw it through
Another thing needs to be added . . . op was open minded
Some people come here, asking questions, and they attack us if they don’t like what they hear, or if we give them an answer they weren’t expecting, don’t like, don’t want to hear, etc.
There were several posts that thought enough time had passed that nothing was going to be done for the OP . I felt that way also , like Bing glad to be wrong . If there was any power it was the OP who pursued the matter and apparently did not scream and holler that would have made things worse.
1 Like
I don’t know about that Volvo…
You can say this forum didn’t help, but based on the comments I quoted I tend to think we helped encourage John to pursue a more favorable outcome and John24 showed his appreciation to those of us who actually helped and those of us who felt we did. I guess if you feel you didn’t help and John wasn’t thanking you then that’s your decision. Why make comments that belittle this forum and those actually participating to help folks? What’s the point?
CSA
Great exchange of conversations folks! You have a good forum! Just for the record, after the plug “popped out” I started doing my homework including contacting the manufacturer - customer service type - she let me down - stalling , no phone responses etc… sending a message that she hoped I would go away!! Not my style, sadly for her!!.. I did my homework as I said above so used a tactic I have used before in other situations… take the case as far “to the top” as possible! That meant Senior VP in charge of service - that office received the e-mail late afternoon and the next morning - 9:01 hrs exactly, the phone rang - Company Exec offices! Things moved quickly and the Manufacturer and Dealer worked things out to our satisfaction as mentioned in a previous post! GM did the “right thing” and stood by their product as , finally, did the dealer! I now have a new respect for GM and also the dealer - everyone can make an error, the success secret is acknowledging a mistake and correcting any consequences.
As above, this is good forum! I learned a lot from the dialogue and conversations. So to you all - Thanks and if anyone ever runs into a Oil Pan plug issue -or- dealing with a major corporation problem, let me know - maybe I can help - and if I can., I will!! - John24
2 Likes
The dealer did the right thing because they probably had no choice in the matter . . . GM corporate undoubtedly instructed them, as to what their course of action(s) was to be
You should respect yourself more than GM and the dealer . . . you’re that sought advice, accepted it, got the ball rolling, didn’t give up, applied pressure and saw things through
Am I correct to assume the first dealer never did admit any mistake? 
I’m asking that because they initially blew you off, you went to another dealer, and you’ve not been back to the first dealer since this whole adventure started, correct?
Were I in your shoes, I personally would have felt more satisfied if the first dealer had owned up their mistake. And there is some debate, as to whether they were responsible, should be held responsible, etc.
But results are all that matters, in the end
Even though my tone may come across as jaded, pessimistic, etc., I’m very gald you’re getting a new engine at no cost to you
I hope you’re also getting reimbursed for any applicable rental car fees
1 Like
I just had the same problem. The dealership states it was the fault of company that did the oil change. The manager at Jiffy Lube reviewed their video and stated they would cover cost of repair. Their insurance then denied the claim because I’d driven it a month and 4,000 miles before it fell out. $5,000 damage for their admitted negligence.
This may be the first time you’ve posted @TC-67 so you likely haven’t read the general consensus on quicky-lube oil change places…It goes like this;
“I wouldn’t let Jiffy Lube wash my windows let alone change my oil”
We’ve had scores of owners post here about their engines being destroyed because of just this type of screw-up.
4 Likes
I do not discount the chain lube places. We used them for years and never a problem. Even stories on this board about indies and dealerships with mishaps.
Document everything suponea the video and go to small claims court. The court clerk will likely tell you how to do that. If they “lose” the video, that is evidence in itself. If their insurer won’t reimburse them, that is between them and their insurer and has no bearing on their liability.
Small claims court? Need to check with local laws on that. NH it’s $10,000…but NJ it’s $3,000. Each state has their own limits for small claims.
1 Like
The difference is that the indy business model is “keep the customer coming back for more.” The quick lube chain business model is “drain as much money as possible from every customer and spend as little as possible to do so.”
The independent mechanic is, well, a mechanic. That automatically puts them at an advantage over Jiffy Lube, which employs kids who may never have even opened a hood before their first day at work because people like that cost a lot less than people who know what they’re doing. Even if the independent mechanic hires a lube tech, the mechanic will be teaching the tech anything the tech doesn’t know, rather than another tech who doesn’t know what he’s doing teaching the new guy.
And, as a business owner, the independent mechanic has a vested interest in getting the job done right because if they don’t, they lose customers and eventually go out of business. The “this is not my career, it’s just a job that I don’t care about” recent high school graduate at Jiffy Lube has no such motivation.
Also, the pseudo-brigade system Jiffy Lube uses can lead to error. Instead of one technician completing the steps of the job in order, you have 2 kids who can’t see each other (one above, one down in the pit) shouting at each other to maintain the right order of steps, and hoping the other guy is doing what he’s supposed to. But for all the guy on top knows, when he asks the other guy if he’s tightened the drain plug, the other guy is yelling yes and is intending to get to that in a second as soon as he’s done catching a pokemon on his phone. 
Then he forgets.
4 Likes
That is about the best description of the difference between real mechanics and chains like Jiffy Lube.
My son had a national muffler shop on his small town, but the franchise owner was a real mechanic that was on site almost every day. That is not typical od chainoperations and the population of the area was low enough that they depended on repeat business.