Phantom Oil Change ..Part Two !!!

LittleD · Jan 6, 2012

Well, Well, Well...........

Remember back in the middle of September I took my car for an oil & filter change. Being advised to mark the filter beforehand because some shops were caught not changing the oil & filter. Sure enough after paying I checked and found my old filter still on the car. They apologized...gave me a card for the next oil change free along with 2 free car washes.

Fast forward ...today I took my car in for the free oil change....but marked my filter again......they said all done.....we paid with the free card......went to a nearby parking lot raised the hood and lo and behold there was my old marked filter still on the car. Went back and the gal at the desk went to talk to the guy who changed the oil.....he told her he changed the filter.....she brought my car in and I showed her where I marked it!!!! The worker ducked out....so she asked another guy where my old filter would be........could not be found! Got another card for a free oil change and car wash.

Wonder how they determine what car gets a clean filter ?? Every other car ?? Every 3rd car??

Hoping to not go 3 for 3 on my next oil change, Rich

Hotflashjr · Jan 6, 2012

That's why I do my own oil changes. So many swindlers and idiots out there now a days you can only trust yourself. I had this happen with a tire rotation on our new car. The dealer I bought it from rotated the tires at 5,000 miles for free. I had marked mine with a white paint pen before it went in. They never rotated them. Got a $200 GM credit out of them and bought some nice winter floor mats.

Mike M · Jan 6, 2012

How do you know you got new oil ? Do you mark the plug ? Factory puts something on them to mark them.

JMS/.MN · Jan 6, 2012

Why would you go back to a crook, even once?

Mike M · Jan 6, 2012

Ya that is the funny part !

Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice same on me ! I think that's how it goes.

Dean · Jan 6, 2012

Most likely they are not changing any filters.

Dean

Dean · Jan 6, 2012

Bingo!

I fo all of my own work aside from warranty work and I try to watch when warranty work is being done.

Dean

oldtanker · Jan 6, 2012

I'm wondering just how many of these oil change places cheat the customer and how many of the employees are doing it on their own. And then selling those filters to their friends or other shops without their employer knowing about it.

Rick

Anonymous-0 · Jan 6, 2012

(quoted from post at 14:10:19 01/06/12) I'm wondering just how many of these oil change places cheat the customer and how many of the employees are doing it on their own. And then selling those filters to their friends or other shops without their employer knowing about it.

Rick

Probably just lazy or trying to work faster........ Maybe they are being held to a 30 (??) minute turnaround by the boss??? Still don't make it right though......

TomR Ont · Jan 6, 2012

In a Toyota 4x4 truck they forgot to put in more than a quart of oil 2 days later tic tic tic untill I scraped it.

My wife was parked in a plaza on a steep incline, so who knows it could have been overflow?? I'm a hundred miles away. She called me all panicky, a puddle of antifreeze on the ground, what can I do, so I told her to take next door to CTC to check it out.

Well She needed a new RAD, Water Pump and a GAS LINE?? The total was $1,099.00 + Taxes= $1241.87.
The CTC mechanic was mad at my wife when she said she would have it towed, he still charged her $48.00 for the estimate, CAA had it towed to our local garage total cost was $350 just the rad. +$20.00 for over CAA contract miles, She got a ride home too so we gave him $50.00.

However I have noticed with the $70.00 FLAT RATE you can in most cases almost double it for real time hours. If you squawk about paying quoted 6hr flat rate price $420.00 + tax that only took 2.5 hrs real time you will be waiting 6hrs next visit or they will always need parts or be too busy, leave it we'll fit it in.

Anyone in any business can make a wrong call, I have never been charged less than the quote, but have been charged more.
The dealers in my opinion are worse because their flat rate is always a little more and most of their work is on newer vehicles, their brand so they will have every tool available for each model and the local garage that only gets it after the warranty is up now a rust bucket, who should get the extra$$

Lets not forget the added "SHOP CHARGE", when I asked about it was for hand cleaner wipes odd nut or bolt, which I 'always paid' extra for, at the Toyota dealer they charged me $10 . to add a 8" piece of wire on a light buzzer I bought there, next they will be like the Hydro and Gas Co's who have a surcharge for writing up the bill.

Errin OH · Jan 6, 2012

You went back?????????

Billy Shafer · Jan 6, 2012

Let me understand this. You got screwed once and you went back. Now you'r talking about going back a third time. How pretty is the girl at the front desk

LeoinMI · Jan 6, 2012

I have my oil changed by a local garage when I don"t feel like doing myself. I can get out of the vehicle and actually watch them do it. Same thing with rotation of tires on my vehicles. I watch them to make sure it is done. Knowing the owner of the garage helps. Went to school with him. Small town so he can"t afford to cheat people it would be a boycott for sure.

Dave in GA · Jan 6, 2012

I've heard stories of oil change places not tightening the bolt, and 300 miles later, it unscrews from vibrations and the oil pan empties out in the road.

I had an oil change place over torque the bolt once and strip the threads.

One oil change place wouldn't change my oil because there was a dent in the oil pan.

Now I do my own oil changes and lubes whenever I can.

Another oil change place/repair garage that I used for years overinflated my tires. This garage has a checklist of things they do in addition to changing the oil. They check tires, add air, top off fluids, etc. The next morning after an oil change, I went out to the suburban and the left rear tire was flat. It had split open on the side. I suspected overinflation. I checked the other tires and they had 60-plus PSI. I reduced them to the normal 33-35. Called the garage and told them, and they said that there's nothing wrong with 60-plus PSI in tires.

There are many ways the repair garages, lube joints, and tire stores can rip you off.

Gun guru · Jan 6, 2012

You need to do the right thing....Go to the local newspaper or TV station and let them know what is happening there.

IHC Red · Jan 6, 2012

I usually do it myself, but when rarely I take it in, I shut it off, pop the hood, and check it right in the lot. Jiffy-Lube did O.K., but usually, it"s only full to the add mark. I always check the ATF level after a service too.
I knew someone that ruined a transmission by not doing so.

I"ve had them bill me $5 for a couple cups of washer fluid, leave the filter loose, and strip drain plugs too. I"ve never had them leave the old filter on.

I"ve had the worst luck with the young tire change guys... sitting on clean cloth seats with filthy pants, over-tightening lug nuts, 4 different air pressures...

I won"t even let anyone else touch my coolant.

Doug in Illinois · Jan 6, 2012

What is worse than not having the filter changed
is if they forget to reinstall a plug on an axle.

I used to have a Jeep Cherokee back when I lived
in Colorado, and was going up into the mountains
for some serious 4x4 trails. Told them to change
the oil and check all the fluids. This was at one
of the national brand oil change shops.

I got up in the mountains, the rear axle started
howling. The plug was gone, very little gear lube
left and mixed with water from a creek fording. I
shoved a rag in the plug hole to preserve the
little that was left.

By the time I got back to the first place I could
get lube the damage was done. I took it back to
the quick lube place the next day, but they (of
course) denied not having properly tightening the
plug.

From then on I ALWAYS double checked everything as
soon as I left anyplace that worked on my stuff.

I have caught problems twice after then that could
have had bad results. The first one was the oil
filter was dripping. I took it back immediately.
The gasket from the old filter had stuck to the
base. Don't they wipe the oil off the base? They
should have seen that.

The other time they didn't latch the brake fluid
cover in place.

This is from several different quick lube shops. I
ALWAYS do my own oil changes now, and have my wife
get hers done AT THE DEALER so we can prove
everything done right and on time if any warranty
issues. DOUG

farmer boy · Jan 6, 2012

That's why I do my own work. I do as much as I can my self but in the odd case I can't or won't do it, I double check stuff. I found a garage I trust, but don't go there often because of $. $75/hour adds up.

Mark - IN. · Jan 6, 2012

I remember back when one of my sisters took her car to a transmission repair shop that had nationwide shops that I used to see commercials for, but now that I think of it, haven't seen their commercials in a couple of years or so. Anyway, they told her needed to be rebuilt, she said ok, they said they did the work, billed her for it big time. She took the car home and after a couple of days, problems started all over again. She happened to mention it to a fella that had a full service gas station that would rebuild engines, not touch transmissions, and showed him the receipt from the place. He took it out for a spin, came back and said transmission is in bad shape. He put it up on a rack and the trans was coated with years of grit and grime, all of the nuts and bolts mounting it too. Not one of them had been touched, not even the filter pan bolts. Nothing was done to it. Perhaps they added fluid, but that would have been it. He took pictures of it and gave them to her to take the matter to court. But instead of taking it to court, she took it back to them and showed them the pictures too. They refunded her money, so she let it drop. That particular shop ended up shutting down about a year later though. Sure they clipped many just like you got clipped.

Nothing like spreading a little free word of mouth advertising around town, if you know what I mean.

Mark

LittleD · Jan 6, 2012

Reply:
It was suggested that I turn them in. Well channel 4 TV did undercover story on the Jiffy Lube chain in their city. They covered 10 lube centers and 7 out of the 10 did not do the service they were paid for. Those 10 centers are still in business and thriving .
There were 4 people in the lobby/waiting area asking about what went down….after telling them my story not one went to their car and left!....
Why go back? In the end I received Two Free oil changes in return for an extra 20 minutes of my time. Am retired and was able to read some more nice automotive magazines in the lobby while waiting. No one can guarantee the next lube center would do any better. Just the sad state of today’s world now days.
Rich

Anonymous-0 · Jan 6, 2012

Quick oil change place stripped out the drain plug and put in a rubber plug. i fixed it myself and never went to another Quick oil change place.

Lincoln dealer did not change the filter so I called the owner who happened to be a friend. He had the dealership send out a lincoln town car loaner and pick up my car. He also asked what other items on the car needed repair and performed those repairs also. No charge and he said he fired the mechanic who failed to replace the oil filter.

Paul from MI · Jan 6, 2012

Only went to one of those oil change places once. They showed me some dirty oil on a cardboard and claimed it came from the transmission on my wifes 9 month old Mercury. I called the guy a liar to his face and told him I was going to watch every move he made from then on. Never went back for obvious reasons.

onefarmer · Jan 6, 2012

So are they putting on a new filter after you complain? Your not just going on the old one with a next change free card in your hand are you?

504 · Jan 6, 2012

What is wrong with me!!? I ran the shop in a tire lube and alignment shop for 13years and I never once thought about screwing the customer like that. Sure things happened like the time one of the guys forgot to put oil in a 10 year old van, and the shop payed to have a new 350 short block installed, but I would never think about not putting on a new filter or doing the rotation.

locojim · Jan 6, 2012

Screw me once shame on you
Twice shame on me.
Thrice asking for trouble..........

Stephen Newell · Jan 6, 2012

The town where I live, you're very lucky if you can have anything done on a car without someone destroying it. The last time I had the oil changed by someone the filter fell off going home. I still don't know how I managed to get the car off the road and shut off before the engine locking up. I have two junk trucks and one van on my place thanks to three local mechanics.

MarkB_MI · Jan 7, 2012

Fool me once, shame on thee.
Fool me twice, shame on ME!

scotc · Jan 7, 2012

My aunt had the dealer do her oil change and they backed the car out with no oil in it. My uncle heard it fire up and pulled the dipstick. Luckily he had taken her to pick it up.

I went to this dealer once because the one we normally used was throwing parts at my car. They changed the head gasket and the thing was gutless, they told dad that sometimes you lose the tune on a motor when you change the gasket. Then they blamed me for shifting it manually to get up any hills on the transmission going out.

Turned out the EGR valve was stuck shut, and the computer was dropping it into OD as soon as it possibly could for emissions reasons, which was what took out the transmission. When the transmission is shifted electronically, how can manually shifting it out of OD hurt it any more than it doing that itself? They wouldn't answer that one.

Anyhow, once the other dealer cleared the EGR codes the car ran like new.

I'm hoping the Dodge dealer here who keeps sending me letters "needing" my 07 Chevy (wrecked and totaled 2 years ago) for trade-in does something stupid and brings out a new Cummins truck after they get my letter (sent with the letter from them in the envelope) saying that they couldn't get me to trade my 90 Cummins straight up for one of those nanny-filled, computer-even-controls-the-stereo POS's they have on the lot, trying to change my mind. The pieces would find their way back to the dealer behind the 90.

oldironman · Jan 7, 2012

I bought a $35,000 dollar van from a GM dealer and they never changed the filter the first three times. I will never go back there again and will never buy another GM vehicle again. I will also tell everybody I no about it too. Now how much do you think they made on this BS. So I say, screw them every time I can.

Pale Rider · Jan 7, 2012

Sort of makes a guy wonder what happens to those fellows who pay for a better quality oil than the advertised $19.99 oil change.

Phantom Oil Change ..Part Two !!!

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