That time I let someone else change my oil.

One Jiffy Lube left off my oil cap which rust-proofed the entire engine compartment and the underside of my hood.

HOWEVER, the second time I went which was last change, they were fantastic. They checked diff fluid and topped off everything there was to top off. Vacuumed and gave me a good-sized coupon for next time.

But it's gonna be a loooooong time before I go into one of those places without expecting the worst personality and service. I've seen enough to distrust them all.

This was the dealership; but I have a hard time letting someone else change my oil.

Mister Fister wrote: you act surprised . . . yet you knew what you were getting into.

I get scared anytime someone touches my stuff. I even get worried letting people put tires on wheels. Oil is too important.

Well ive worked at a quick lube type place for 4 years now, and we thrive on a reputation for quality service. We do fleet work and plenty of police officers cars so im not sure about most of this topic. It always amuses me when people lump every one of these places together.

We also dont have any felons on the payroll, the biggest screw up in the time ive been here was a blown motor because the kid never put oil in it.

Friends have gone there and paid for full synthetic and got cheap dino oil. Another guy went in with Royal Purple (which is purple coming out of the can, but turns brown fairly quickly) and asked for regular oil. Checked it when he picked it up - oil still brown instead of light gold......

When I worked for Comcast, they made us go to Duke of Oil.

I had an E150 at the time and I brought it in for an oil change. After it was over the pit for a few minutes, this kid brought in a card with finger smudges of different oils with the name of where the oil came from. Everything but the rear end looked good and I had never had it changed, so I told them to change the gear oil.

I literally came back 3000 miles later and they did the same thing and the gear oil was black. I told the kid that the gear oil was supposed to have had been replaced when I came in the last time and he didn't know what to do, he started stuttering.

Last time I went there. I went to a small mom & pop quick change place after that because they accepted our fleet card and they always did what they said they were going to do and they didn't charge a ridiculous premium on wipers.

If im too busy to do it myself, theres a car wash and lube place here in town thats good. Granted they know me from church, and the managers daughter is in my wifes girl scout troop, but ive been using them sporadically since i moved to this town a decade ago. Ill probably use them to service the trans on the wifes new van, just cause i don't want to berkeley with it.

So, ultimately you pay your money and take your chances.

What always surprised me when I first started driving and used places like this more often, was the number of people in the waiting rooms that would complain about problems they had AT THAT SHOP. Walmart was a good one for that "oh they forgot to put in oil last time I was here" or "they never put the drain plug back" yet these people kept coming back. If I ever had a problem like that, they would never see another cent from me, I just don't understand the going back part.

RevRico wrote: If I ever had a problem like that, they would never see another cent from me, I just don't understand the going back part.

I've gotten bad haircuts at Sport Clips. I always go to Sport Clips because I'm not a hair enthusiast.

In reply to Tyler H:

If sport clips cut off your ear, turning your $20 haircut into a $3000 ear replacement surgery, wouldn't you switch to Fantastic Sams at least, even if they paid for it?

I guess that's more what I was getting at.

Tyler H wrote:

RevRico wrote: If I ever had a problem like that, they would never see another cent from me, I just don't understand the going back part.

I've gotten bad haircuts at Sport Clips. I always go to Sport Clips because I'm not a hair enthusiast.

You know what the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut is? 2 weeks.

Permanent damage to the engine internals is a bit different.

And if they pay to sort it out then most people would go back, a they took care of me type of thinking.

Robbie wrote:

JoeTR6 wrote: I stopped at a Jiffy Lube once in the late 80's desperate to find a replacement for the stripped oil drain plug for my Honda. They had a hand-written sign on the door that said "We no longer reuse oil filters". I'm sorry, but if you ever reused oil filters, you just became an idiot in my mind. Never been back since.

If there was a sign, it sounds like maybe they re-used oil filters at the customer's request... Customer is always right you know.

As someone who deals with the public - I can pretty much guarantee that's what was going on.

Local quick service shop changed the oil and did not tighten the oil filter. It fell off a mile down the road and the motor locked up almost instantly causing me to spin out. No one hurt and I did not hit anything. I walked back up the road following the oil path and found my filter. Short of it I had to hall them in to court but I got triple damages and all legal fees. A new motor for my then two year old firebird would have been much cheaper. I have never been back to a quick anything car related shop. That was thirty years ago.

My buddy is currently working with his quick lube place's insurance over not reinstalling the drain plug after doing the oil change on his low-miles WRX265. So far he's gotten a built motor out of the deal but it's not a method I would recommend to anybody.

Worst they ever did to me before I learned to change my own oil was bring by a pitcher of ice-cold green river water that they claimed was my orange Dexcool that I just pulled in with.

I had my dad's focus serviced at ford and they put the drain plug on too tight, pain to get it off. Another time they tightened the oil filter too hard which crinkled the filter causing it to leak after a few thousand miles, never again.

This reminds me of something that happened over 20 years ago. I wont mention the brand or dealer because E36 M3 happens. One day a group of us went out for a late Friday lunch, one person didn’t turn up but we didn’t find out why until later (pre everyone having cell phones). She’d set off, but her car broke down. She called the dealer and had it towed. She checked in with the service dept later and they were barely holding their laughter. They asked her where she’d had her oil changed as there was no drain plug in the sump and her engine was seized. They stopped laughing when she showed them the receipt from them that very morning.

I worked at one of these places in high school. We were careful and never had any major issues. We were a one bay, but the owner sent me to a different location with two bays to train because they were busier so they figured I would learn faster there. It had one guy in the pit bouncing back and forth between the two bays, and basically going at 10/10th's all day long. He was averaging 100 cars a day. I think this is where a lot of these mistakes could be made. Just too much too fast for one person. But that's more profitable.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Oh snap!