Jiffy Lube scam - caught on tape

The quickie change place I used to go to always overinflated my tires. ALWAYS. Put them up to 45 psi one time, even though they were at 30 or 35 when I came in. Drove me nuts. I'd always be scared to death that one of the tires would blow out on the way to work.
It wasn't until they charged me $36 for an oil change -- explaining that my car required some sort of special filter -- that I made myself a pledge never to go there again. I just felt violated and ashamed that I had allowed that to happen.
Now I use the local Chevy dealership. It's right next door to a couple fast food places and they take maybe 45 minutes, which makes it perfect for a lunchtime stop. Plus, they still charge around $20.

 

Me: Could you also check my transmission fluid?
Mechanic: No problem.

Eight minutes later (guess the 10-minute thing is all a sham :)

Me: You checked the transmission fluid, right?
Mechanic: Uh, yeah.

Next day, my transmission starts acting up. Take it to local place instead -- my fluid supply is bone dry. Think I'll stay local.

 

I'm surprised no one blamed this on soccer.

 

As long as it is sweeps time

 

I went to a Jiffy Lube once. Once!

Bastards charged me $200 to change my blinker fluid!
$200!
I went to the local service station down the street and Joe Mechanic only charged me $50.

Screw those Jiffy Lube bastards!
I don't trust Pep Boys either. Especially, Moe -- with his shify eyes!























Wait for it ....











































Blinker fluid....

;D

 

Watch out for brake job places, too. I saw a Midas ad and took my car in for brakes. They put on front brakes that had a warranty. It turns out that didn't mean that the brakes would last. It just meant that I could pay through the nose the next time I needed brake pads. Jump ahead three years and 40,000 miles. I go in for brakes, and I leave with a $380 bill, and that was after the warranty, which only covers the cheap pads they install and not the exorbitant price of their hourly service. During installation, the guy breaks someone. Apparently, it was a bolt or something. He replaced it with a loose bolt from the garage. The guy is cursing for the whole three hours that I'm waiting for a simple brake job.

That was a few months ago. I took my other car to a local tire place last month to replace one tire. The guy comes to me and tells me that the post broke and that he had to get a new post and lug nut for it because he couldn't get the lug nut off. I was charged for that, but I didn't complain. When I get home, I look down and see that they've left off the wheel cover, which is in the trunk. I also requested that the rotate the tires, and it didn't look like they did that. But they charged me for it. And the kicker is that they didn't even bother to check the pressure on the tires.

The sad truth is that I'm complacent at this point. I expect to get screwed. It gets me too riled to complain. So I just pay whatever the fuck they want out of me and let it go. Life's too short for heated confrontations with greasy auto mechanics.

My next step is going to be leasing. Sure, it's more expensive in the long run. But then you don't have the headaches. People talk about the equity you get when you buy. But I haven't seen that. By the time I paid off my Cavalier, it was seven years old and valued at about $2,500. The scenario will be similar with my other car. The thing is that I'd gladly give up the $2,500 in equity to rid myself of the headaches of maintaining a car that has hit the 80,000 mile mark. Once you start figuring in the new tires and all of the other shit that goes haywire after the warranty expires, that $2,500 doesn't seem like such a blessing.

I'd rather just pay $300 a month for the rest of my life for a decent car with low miles and no mechanical or physical deficiencies. Admittedly, though, I'm assuming that there are all sorts of hidden drawbacks to leasing.

 

Note to self -- avoid Jiffy Lube.

We don't really have many of them in my neck of the woods. The quick oil change places here are Valvoline. Like someone else said, all but one of the valvoline places I go to around here give me the "this isn't necesarily something you need fixed now, but you might soon" routine. Only one consistently tells me my car might explode next time I start it if I don't get a transmission flush and air filter.

The best part is, valvoline lets you stand there and watch them work. They've got a little room you can sit in, from which you can see your car being worked on, but they've never had a problem letting me stand at the edge of the garage and watch them.

 

Tried to avoid Jiffy Lube today, but the nearest Dodge dealer is 20 miles away and the other close option for an oil change would have had me waiting two hours.

Maybe word of the scam filtered down through corporate, because they were surprisingly well behaved. They said I was low on antifreeze, and I saw them actually pour antifreeze in. Didn't try to sell me the engine/transmission flush, blah, blah. All in all a decent experience.

 

Give it time. The thread is only three pages long.

 

This all just HAS to be soccer's fault.

 

I've actually had luck with Midas. I'm a regular there and avoid the car delearships for major repairs because Midas is quicker and I think more honest.

The "10-minute oil change" places all suck. Never, never go there. Not only will you not be out in 10 minutes, but like most people have pointed out, they try to sell you shit you don't need.

I also try to avoid Wal-Mart, but will go on occasion. Twice, the fuckers left off the cap to the oil tank. Noticed it right away the first time, but the second time, I didn't notice until I had to stop to piss on the side of the road, and since I was parked on an incline, noticed oil seeping out of the hood. Stunned, I shut off the engine and popped the hood to see oil everywhere, and the cap sitting nicely off to the side still. Luckily, I had a spare quart in the trunk, and drove it to the next town't Wal Mart. The cleaned it up and gave me a new oil change, but when it was time to leave, the store manager takes care of me. I thought that was a good gesture, but I was still pissed. Manager senses that and says, "I really don't think they left the cap off on purpose."

NAW?!?!? But that doesn't mean those fuckers weren't careless as can be.

 

The problem is that it's more than $300/month. You have to put a lot down to get a deal like that. Also, remember the mileage restrictions. It's basically the most expensive way to have a car, unless you can write off or are being reimbursed for part of the payments.

Also, I gotta say, $2500 for a 7-year-old Cavalier is about right. With a 7-year-old Honda Civic, you'd be doing a lot better, plus it would still be driveable for another 3 years or so.