Beware using Jiffy Lube!!

[austinado16]

You'll want to watch this news report done by KNBC 4 down in Los Angeles.

Our local chain of umpteen stores is owned by one guy and they are equally bad, if not worse.

I was working for a local Nissan dealer 2 years ago and in a month's time, we did 3 transmissions at $7,000ea plus rental cars. The first one had been drained and never refilled at all. The other 2 had been drained of their special Nissan Jmatic fluid and then standard ATF put in. All this after the idiot with a wrench in his hand had to unbolt the dipstick from the fill tube on the trans and get past the warning label that said; "Warning: Use only Nissan Jmatic Fluid." When the JL guy came in to pay the bill each time, which by the way was a huge fight, he was always throwing a fit that we were charging them full pop, and not giving them some sort of "bro deal."

When I work for a couple local German indies as well as the VW dealer, we had cars in on a regular basis with stripped out drain plug and either a self tapping plug hogged into the hole, or an expandable rubber one.

And here's the latest from the shop my brother works at locally:
".... we have a Jiffy lube car in the shop right now. Its getting a new camshaft and various other timing related components. This after the tip of their lube gun fell off inside the engine. They let the car go like that until the tip lodged itself under a lobe, then sheared off a dowel pin in the cam sproket."

There are no real mechanics working at any Jiffy Lube or similar, so don't be fooled into thinking you're saving time and money by going there.  Ever had them upsell you a bunch of stuff....like one of those fancy $45 air filters?  Check the quality and brand of air filter they install.  Typically a piece of junk Fram that you could buy for $12 down at the local autoparts store.

Jiffy Lube is a rip off.

[wavery]

It blows my mind that Jiffy Lube is still in business today. There have been numerous televised sting operations involving Jiffy lube over the last 20-years but their business continues to grow, in spite of them. One would think that the public would wise up. However, it doesn't work that way.

I think that these stings just embolden these people. Kinda like giving a mobster or mass murderer publicity. It just emboldens them and encourages them to do more because they find that there is no real recourse for their actions and the free publicity actually helps their business.

You can bet that the employees that were shown in this clip will all be fired. That will be Jiffy Lube's way of showing that they will not tolerate this sort of behavior. However, the fact is, their unwillingness to police and prevent this sort of thing themselves is proof that it comes from the top down. Ignorance is bliss in the corporate world.

When I was service manager for a large Chevy Dealership in Los Angeles, it was quite obvious when a certain employee was doing stuff like that. They call it "Flat rating". The guy gets paid to perform a certain operation. The more that he does, the more $ he makes and the more $ the company makes. The easiest way to make big $ is to charge 1 hour for doing a job and doing it in 30 minutes.

Some techs are just very good at what they do and can do a particular operation twice as fast as the average tech. Others are just flat thieves but their production rate (on paper) makes them look like heroes. Those are the guys that need to be watched carefully. It is obvious that it is in Jiffy Lube's best interest to turn a blind eye.

It is very difficult to charge the corporation of Jiffy Lube with any kind of mis-conduct because whenever these thieves are exposed (which is relatively rare) they are fired and that shows that the corporation is upholding honest written policies.

Corporations like this make me sick and something should be done. However, the way that they are set up gives them all of the protection in the world.

[austinado16]

A company running a close second to Jiffy Lube is Midas.  Talk about spanking the customer.  Go in for what should be $50 in brake pads and an hour's labor and come out with a $500 bill:  New rotors, new calipers, new brake hoses, new pads......and that's just one axle.   Go in for an exhaust system and come out backfiring, popping, buzzing and a system that is rusted off in 2 years if you can stand all the noise that long.

Bottom line here is that if the public wasn't so cheap, places like this wouldn't exist.  Just like down in LA, there's not a person here driving anything older than 5 years, and the average is probably more like 3 years.  And yet there's a line out the door, with 3 service bays, of people taking their $25,000-$50,000 cars in for a 50 cent oil filter and $10 worth of Castrol.

[AustinBoston]

It blows my mind that Jiffy Lube is still in business today. There have been numerous televised sting operations involving Jiffy lube over the last 20-years but their business continues to grow, in spite of them. One would think that the public would wise up. However, it doesn't work that way.

It's all about marketing.

But it will (OK, maybe will) all come down when the right lawyers file a class action suit.

Austin

[Dray]

If you want the job done right do it yourself.  

Years back I bought a brand new Toyota in San Jose California.  I brought it in to the dealer for its first oil change.  I waited around for more than an hour and when I finally got in and drove away the thing started smoking like crazy.  I was outraged.  Seems the idiot who changed the oil must have spilled it all over my brand new engine.

[wavery]

If you want the job done right do it yourself.  

Years back I bought a brand new Toyota in San Jose California.  I brought it in to the dealer for its first oil change.  I waited around for more than an hour and when I finally got in and drove away the thing started smoking like crazy.  I was outraged.  Seems the idiot who changed the oil must have spilled it all over my brand new engine.

Ya....I know the guy. He worked at Jiffy Lube the week before that and he will be working at Sears next week. They're all just people. It doesn't happen if management doesn't want it to happen, badly enough. All this ugly stuff is just poor to negligent management.

[austinado16]

Yep, the fish rots from the head down.

[bluevette87]

i used to be a manager at a local oil change(not jiffy lube)and we never did anything like that.if the job wasnt done or couldnt be done the customer was not charged.i guess it is realy hard to tell what places would cheat you though,but we never did.

[Dray]

There are some good companies out there.  Les Schwab gets it.  They understand customer service and will probably have my business for life.  (Don't know if they are national or not.  They do tires and wheels mainly).    The literally run/jog around while they're working.  It's amazing.  Complete opposite of Sears Automotive.

[ldgregory]

A company running a close second to Jiffy Lube is Midas.  Talk about spanking the customer.  Go in for what should be $50 in brake pads and an hour's labor and come out with a $500 bill:  New rotors, new calipers, new brake hoses, new pads......and that's just one axle.   Go in for an exhaust system and come out backfiring, popping, buzzing and a system that is rusted off in 2 years if you can stand all the noise that long.

Amen to that! I took my '99 Olds Cutlass in to Just Brakes for their $50 (or close to that) job and they gave me a quote for $1,100. I walked out shaking my head knowing the bluebook on it was just over $1,500. I took it in a week later and got $1,300 for it on a trade in on my last truck. They must get a lot of people who fall for that or they'd be out of business.

[AustinBoston]

Every once in a while, you may catch a glimmer of hope from one of these chains.

For several years, I've just been driving in to whomever has the best oil change deal, but kind of settled on a local Tires Plus (more out of habit than anything else).  After coming in a few times, the manager asked me why I was using the high mileage oil.  I said my car had over 100,000 miles on it and it consumed significantly less oil when I used it.  He told me to save my money, get the cheap oil, and just use an oil additive from any parts store.  

Ever since, I buy a can of oil treatment, hand it to them, and say "add this before filling with oil."

Austin

[wavery]

Every once in a while, you may catch a glimmer of hope from one of these chains.

For several years, I've just been driving in to whomever has the best oil change deal, but kind of settled on a local Tires Plus (more out of habit than anything else).  After coming in a few times, the manager asked me why I was using the high mileage oil.  I said my car had over 100,000 miles on it and it consumed significantly less oil when I used it.  He told me to save my money, get the cheap oil, and just use an oil additive from any parts store.  

Ever since, I buy a can of oil treatment, hand it to them, and say "add this before filling with oil."

Austin

AB,

I would suggest that you add the additive yourself.

It's best to add it while the oil is warm and the engine is running.

Besides, a lot of lube techs are either lazy or paid by the job. Pouring in that additive and not getting paid extra for it can be a rub on some of those guys. A lot of times, the additive ends up in the guy's tool box. It's quicker, easier and the tech can take the next car sooner.

It used to drive me crazy when I would open a tech's locker or tool box (they had to sign a "Permission to Inspect" upon hiring). I am sorry to say that (at that time) almost all techs have a stash of new parts and chemicals, I can guaranty you that they didn't pay for them. Short of calling the police, pressing charges and getting them convicted, you can't fire them for stealing and proving it is almost impossible. All the employer can (reasonably) do is take the items, impose some reprimand and keep a record of the issue (of course, fire him later for some other reason). This is probably the #1 reason that I got out of the business. Trying to run an honest shop is nearly impossible because of the reasons above. The incentive to steal is too great and the work that it takes to control this is quite overwhelming. I worked for an owner that was VERY insistent that all business transactions in all of his dealerships be conducted honestly and above board. I worked tirelessly for 15 years to obtain that lofty goal and I was promoted to General Service and Parts Manager for 8 of his dealerships because of it. With 350 employees, I've seen it all. We developed pay plans that rewarded top techs for outstanding performance based on quality control as well as flagged hours. I had techs that received $50K bonus checks for quality work and high CSI scores. This took a top tech that only made $50K a year and gave him the opportunity to earn 100K a year. However, the system just breeds a certain type of person and we had a lot of them. I found it impossible to control completely and I got burnt out trying.

The industry is inherently flawed. The best, hardest working techs can only hope to make a mediocre living. It is the guys that are better at stealing than repairing that make the big $. The problem is, the more $ that the tech makes, the more $ the business owner makes. This leaves little incentive to control the problem.

All I'm trying to tell you is there is probably less than a 50-50 chance that it is getting poured and even if it is, it's best to do it after driving the car home. It takes 5 minutes (and that's my point) and if you are careful, it should be fairly easy to do.

[AustinBoston]

All I'm trying to tell you is there is probably less than a 50-50 chance that it is getting poured and even if it is, it's best to do it after driving the car home. It takes 5 minutes (and that's my point) and if you are careful, it should be fairly easy to do.

There is a large window from the waiting area into the service area.  I have noticed, however, that there are more and more things covering parts of that window...

Like you said, it's NBD to add it myself.

Austin

[GeneF]

Jiffy does trly to sell you a bunch of stuff.  They talked ds into a $70 engine flush.  We had a little talk about that.  This was his first car.

They tried the same thing on dd but she had been warned by her db.  Few times I have used them, they always want to do a transmission fluid change.  I use them mainly when we are on a trip.

I had a simialr experience at a Good Year store years ago.  Went in for an alignment and came out about $450 poorer for stuff they said needed replacement.  When you have a family riding in a vehicle, you want it to be safe and I think that fear of the car failing comes into play.

It may cost me a few dollars more, but my local mechanic does 98% of the work on my vehicles.  

I do take the vehicles into Sam's or Walmarts to get the tires rotated.  Lot cheaper having it done there but you do have to watch an check.
Like directional tires being put on the wrong way or their forgetting to put your summer tires in you car.

[brainpause]

Had a patient the other day that says he only changes his filters, and adds enough oil to bring it up to "full". I asked what the most miles he ever had on any oil was. He couldn't answer that question straight, but he did have a VW Rabbit diesel that had 450K miles on it when he sold it, and it had had about 6 oil changes. Those oil changes, he said, were only because he would replace a pan gasket or something that required draining all the oil anyway.

I fall somewhere in between all this. I change my own oil, and I use Pennzoil Platinum. My Nissan ran MUCH better with it, and I think my Chevy does too. I follow Chevy's Oil Life Monitor, and, on my first oil change, I had close to 7K miles on the oil. After much research on this subject, I am very comfortable extending my oil mileage, especially when using the expensive Pennzoil Platinum.

I am changing all the fluids to synthetics as their change need arises.

Larry