Jiffy Lube scam - caught on tape

I was just about to drive over to Jiffy Lube to get an oil change before hitting the road tomorrow. Fuck that!

 

yeah, but the other places are actually changing your oil, instead of pretending to do so while playing the new Madden in the back room.

 

Simply amazing, yet also not at all.
A Jiffy Lube in the last city I lived cracked my oil pan because the guy putting the drain screw back in used too much force. When I my oil light came on, I took it to a Pontiac dealership. They told me what happened, how much it would cost to fix it and how exactly it happened (needless to say, the guy at the dealership actually knew what he was talking about). He actually asked me if I got my oil changed at "one of those quick places."
I went back to said Jiffy Lube and explained to them why I was back three weeks later. Despite the fact that I signed a carbon copied form after my service -- a form that was printed off the computer -- and I had paid using a debit card, the guy there said he had no record of me ever coming in there and he wasn't liable for the damage.
I grabbed my carbon copy out of my car (I'm a bit anal) and showed it to him.
I thought I was going to hit the guy, so I left without doing anything. I told everyone I knew never to go there again.
End note: The dealership replaced the seal on the pan for free because they knew I got screwed. I never had my oil changed anywhere else.

 

All you need to know is that JL claims to be able to change your transmission fluid
within 30 minutes. There is no way in blue hell you can do the job PROPERLY in that time.

 

They got that T Tech machine, dude. Works in the blink of an eye.

 

Went to Jiffy Lube two oil changes ago. Normally, I don't have a problem with them, unlike the EZ-Lube kitty-corner from work, which hit me with 38 other things I needed.

But this one was different. First, the guy comes back to the waiting room and tells me I need the engine flush. I say "No." He leaves.

Not 3 minutes later, he comes back saying I need some other service. Now when I turned 40 17 months ago, I stopped being diplomatic when facing injustice, either with me or my family. In otherwords, filter between brain and mouth disappears and I unloaded on him.

"You know something? This is uncalled for. I came in for an oil change. I don't need you coming back here every few minutes telling me I need things I don't. My air filter was changed the last time I was here, so spare me that offer. Unless my engine is about to fall out -- and I know it isn't -- change my oil and leave it at that. OK?"

Chastened and apologetic, he leaves. Meanwhile, there's this couple next to me. The girl says "That's the coolest thing I've ever heard here. I wish I had the guts to do that."

After my car was finished (I think...), the guy came back and apologized up one side and down the other. Even offered me $5 off my next oil change.

I thanked him and left.

 

Folks, the cornerstone of a successful business is trying to get people to spend more money than they planned on spending.
But after telling you that your car needs this, that and the other thing so you'll spend $120 instead of the $30 you planned on spending, the least they could do is the work they said your car needed.

 

Amen, Brother Birdscribe.

The only thing any of these oil change places are good for is changing oil. And ask for the old filter.

If the mechanics working there were any good, they wouldn't be working there.

I've said this before, but it bears repeating, these people are there to take advantage of what you don't know about cars. I went into one of those places, and they recommended $49 to change an air filter. All you had to do is turn a wingnut, take out the old air filter, and place the new air filter in its place.

 

Thanks for the Marketing 351 lesson, Small, but if I want a engine flush (a major scam if there ever was one), I'll ask for one.

And I don't want -- nor do I need or expect -- someone to keep badgering me to have things done that even a mechanically declined person like me knows aren't necessary.

 

Ace: But by doing it that way, aren't they then leaving the old filter there?

 

The appeal of the Jiffy Lube model, to many, is the extreme efficiency of the operation, if
you get there when it's quiet. It makes their absurd basic-retail $ almost acceptable.
Good thing they coupon heavily, and there is a AAA discount, however modest.