The first and only time I ever used a quick lube place was in California. They overtightened the drain plug and stripped the threads.
I still think the stereotype problem results form them, generally, being the minimum wage place and the constant need to baby sit their work.
- you can choose to do this if you wish, it’s a free enterprise system. -
But when I hire a guy to do some dry wall work I don’t want him to send only his novice apprentice, I can do dry wall that good. ( bumpy seams, tape corners peeling in a week. )
I’m hiring skilled help for a reason and expect to get what I pay for.
It took me over a year, many letters and phone calls and some legal expense… to have the engine replaced in our Montero suv because the oil plug fell out after having the oil changed at Jiffy Lube. The final cost of everything, was more than the blue book price of the vehicle.
We still have this SUV and it is great…but I would have settled for the book price if they had not ignored me, and tried to jack me around. Definitely not worth the difference in price. Use a mechanic you trust or do it yourself.
I don’t think there is a mechanic alive that has not had second thoughts about the plug. I never had trouble with the plug(always tripple checked) but I used to sign off on the R.O that I had torqued the wheels. When you do a lot of cars they run together. A mechanic must have a system and this is one reason not to make small talk or to some extent work while you are upset or angry as this is when these “forget” times happen.Now if a guy is doing this 3 times a week someone needs to intervene and see what is up.
I did pull a VW motor and before pulling it I let the oil out via the plug on the plate and just put the plug back in finger tight,bad move as a different mechanic put the engine back together and did not notice the plug was just in finger tight, it fell out. This is how this stuff happens.
This mechanic paid me back as he started some carb work on a VW camper bus and put the foam mattress on top of the bus. I finished the carb work and drove the bus away and the foam mattress blew away somewhere on the test drive. It cost over 200.00 for that foam mattress. I reject the idea of one man starting the job and a second finishing the job.
itsanders, I’ve been fixing cars for 37 years now, lived in different states and cities.
I’ve never seen a vehicle towed to the junkyard due to a mechanic’s mistake.
As previous posted, if a mistake is made by a quikie lube place or shop, they pay up.If the owner doesn’t win in court,it is their fault the vehicle “died”
Anything mechanical can be resurrected.
Entire vehicles have been restored around one door.I know, as I worked at a restoration shop.
A friend’s son worked for a major quick lube chain one summer and told the story how a guy came in and they couldn’t find a drain plug in the differential (Gee, I wonder why ?? !). So what did they do ?? They drilled a hole in the differential (case), drained and refilled, and then put JB Weld over the hole !
I have seen a new car bought/sold over a mechanics mistake. The mechanic dropped a nut that got stuck between the cam gear and the belt, the mechanic hit the starter, engine jumped valve time, engine destroyed, Dealer took this car in and sold a different car to the customer.
I agree old school. I remember one time as shop manager, I noticed a mechanic had replaced a carburetor base nut with a new one.
I asked him what happened to the old nut.“I dunno, its probably on the floor”. "Make sure ", I told him."Otherwise you are pulling the head off tonight before you go home> He laughed.
Sure enough, the customer came back 5 minutes after he picked up the vehicle. " I hear a knockin noise that wasn’t there before." I told the owner we would take care of it.
As soon as the owner left, I told the mechanic to pull he head. Just as expected, the carb base nut was embedded in the piston.
Drop a nut or lose a tool while working on an airplane and bad things happen. I was in the rear fuselage of a Cessna Citation III running some new cables and came across an employees identification badge. The boss snatched it and gave me that “this never happened” look.
there are repairmen and there are part changers. My grandson was an intern at a garage while he was in trade school. when he graduate he no longer had a job[this is normal practice]. they taught him their way, he is now going back to higher learning and also learning to repair not just replace as he was shown in the garage [it was a company garage not an independant]
amen
That reminds me of the birds’ nest I found in the engine compartment of a Tomahawk. I told the shop foreman.
He said"take her up and if it overheats, bring her back!" I told him"you take her up and I’ll watch! He cleaned out the birds nest.
Funny !!!
Losing you ID when you have the ability to pass through customs with that ID is a big deal. This incident was pre-911 (1989-90). I don’t know what story was told to get this guy a second ID but me finding his first ID in the airplane would have alerted people that he was not taking care of his badge properly.I thought it would be good to at least know who had the original ID.
Any service can be hit or miss. I have never had a problem, but see here often the upsell for un needed service, or parts. My wife will call and I will tell them I will do the air filter, cabin filter etc. myself. I have never had a service error, such as no oil etc. and think they provide a good basic service, and hey there are not people working at a job who think their destiny is to screw up your car, they are guys with a job doing a task they are capable of doing.
I found the Dealership’s Service departments even bigger offenders of unnecessary upselling than the X-Press Lube joint. Once I got too fat and old to crawl around on a creeper and do my own oil changes, the quicky spots have been flawless. However, the Dealership has tried to sell me on the importance of cleaning and replacing the manifold bolts, clean carbon from a throttle body (the engine has direct port injection), back flush the braking system and everything short of asking me if I’ve every had my halogen fluid rotated in the headlights?
With the computer systems in the better X-press spots, they know what fluid is proper, tire inflation specs, the correct recommended milage for each type of service. They do all work out in front of you and show you the part before you decide if it should be serviced. Dealers disappear back into the bowels of their off-limits service area and then bring horrible stories to you of gloom and doom about your disintegrating automobile. “Do you carry children in this car Mr. Customer?”
I went to a shop advertising the $19.95 special. When I pulled in, they started doing more than the oil change. When I told them that all I wanted was an oil change, they protested. I then insisted that all I wanted was an oil change. They stopped working. Three minutes later, the manager came and told me they “didn’t have the oil” for the 19.95 special. This station was branded by Havoline! I was very glad to leave with my car and pocketbook intact.
My other story: I went to one of those places that gives the 28-point check “free”. I went in with a tire obviously quite low. At the end, the service manager comes to me with his 28-point list, with the items that I “must” take care of. The tires were checked as “OK”. I said, well that means you inflated my low tire! The look on his face was precious, as he went hurrying out to pump it up. I then suggested that the other items on his list could wait.
Make sure you read the last line…
Oil Change instructions for Women:
- Pull up to Jiffy Lube when the mileage reaches 3000 miles since the last oil change.
- Drink a cup of coffee.
- 15 minutes later, write a check and leave, driving a properly maintained vehicle.
Money spent:
Oil Change:
$20.00
Coffee: $1.00
Total: $21.00
==========
Oil Change instructions for Men :
- Wait until Saturday, drive to auto parts store and buy a case of oil, filter, kitty litter, hand cleaner and a scented tree, use your debit card for $50.00.
- Stop by 7/11 and buy a case of beer, (debit $20), drive home.
- Open a beer and drink it.
- Jack car up. Spend 30 minutes looking for jack stands.
- Find jack stands under kid’s pedal car.
- In frustration, open another beer and drink it.
- Place drain pan under engine.
- Look for 9/16 box end wrench.
- Give up and use crescent wrench.
- Unscrew drain plug.
- Drop drain plug in pan of hot oil: splash hot oil on you in process. Cuss.
- Crawl out from under car to wipe hot oil off of face and arms. Throw kitty litter on spilled oil.
- Have another beer while watching oil drain.
- Spend 30 minutes looking for oil filter wrench.
- Give up; crawl under car and hammer a screwdriver through oil filter and twist off.
- Crawl out from under car with dripping oil filter splashing oil everywhere from holes. Cleverly hide old oil filter among trash in trash can to avoid environmental penalties. Drink a beer.
- Install new oil filter making sure to apply a thin coat of oil to gasket surface.
- Dump first quart of fresh oil into engine.
- Remember drain plug from step 11.
- Hurry to find drain plug in drain pan.
- Drink beer.
- Discover that first quart of fresh oil is now on the floor. Throw kitty litter on oil spill.
- Get drain plug back in with only a minor spill. Drink beer.
- Crawl under car getting kitty litter into eyes. Wipe eyes with oily rag used to clean drain plug. Slip with stupid crescent wrench tightening drain plug and bang knuckles on frame removing any excess skin between knuckles and frame.
- Begin cussing fit.
- Throw stupid crescent wrench.
- Cuss for additional 5 minutes because wrench hit bowling trophy.
- Beer.
- Clean up hands and bandage as required to stop blood flow.
- Beer.
- Dump in five fresh quarts of oil.
- Beer.
- Lower car from jack stands.
- Move car back to apply more kitty litter to fresh oil spilled during any missed steps.
- Beer.
- Test drive car.
- Get pulled over: arrested for driving under the influence.
- Car gets impounded.
- Call loving wife, make bail.
- 12 hours later, get car from impound yard.
Money spent:
Parts: $50.00
DUI: $2500.00
Impound fee: $75.00
Bail: $1500.00
Beer: $20.00
Total: $4,145.00
But you know the job was done right!
Different people have different reasons. Mine is that I’ve worked at a couple (well, one company, two different locations). I don’t hate them, but I have a deep-seated distrust of them. Where I worked, we had a system that was reasonably foolproof (considering there is no certification of folks working there) system to make sure the service was done completely, so I would trust them (but not advertise for them, which is why I am not naming the company) as far as the work being done.
…but…
The funny thing is, they had/have a motto or mission statement about earning the trust of the customer (or something similar), yet at each monthly meeting, the primary discussion was how to get ticket averages up. The normal oil change (conventional oil) was $37, but they wanted a store-wide, monthly ticket average in the $60 range (one guy got dismissed because he didn’t get his sales up to the desired average, because he refused to unnecessarily upsell), and bonuses were paid for folks with the highest ticket averages and “attaboys” for highest tickets. They also held rotating “challenges” such as a short bonus, such as $5 for each coolant service sold, then next month it would be for each tranny service, then gearboxes, and so on. Another short bonus was $1 per can of additive sold, and engine flushes and fuel system cleaners are easy sales. I found it funny that they wanted to “earn trust” yet make the singular goal of each worker to upsell.
So…do I “hate” them? No. Do I trust them? Luckily, I don’t have to, I have more than just quick lube experience. But, sadly, I know a lot of folks that have faith in these guys, and will buy anything they suggest. It isn’t that they are bad guys, just bad business models in which they have to operate. If you need a quicklube to do your oil change, I think they are okay, so long as you are capable of saying “no thanks.”