So, Wal-Mart sucks more... (refused oil change)
#22
I worked at a fast lube shop and the people who were cheap and went to wal-mart would come in and ask us to look over their vehicles after they had it changed there (who would have thought . And of course the nice people we were, we looked over their car and sometimes found all the things wal-mart forgot to do or did wrong, which finally led to them coming to us and spending the extra $15 and getting it done right and in under 10 minutes instead of 3 hours. I also recomend spending the extra cash if you can't change it yourself for whatever reason and get it done somewhere with a reputation.
#23
some of those lube shops are suspect, i have friends who have seen first hand stupid thngs like if the guy cant reach your oil filter easily he, will make it look clean like its a new one, all the stories i've heard just in the past week, i'm the only one touching my car.
#24
I spent a couple summers working at quicklube shops. I can tell you that the quality of the work you get will be purely random, based upon the tech, your attitude, the moods... anything.
I generally did a good job, but there are a few things you should avoid:
1.) If you have a car with a VERY difficult filter to get to... I'd make sure I knew what was on there and what is going on there. There are some cars that can be a real bitch. Lincoln Mark VIII's stick out... and GM in-pans suck... A good thing might be to ask for the old filter because you want to do an oil analysis or something. Pretty harmless.
2.) They are going to at least dump your oil and fill it back up with bulk crap. 99% of the time the filter will be changed. The only times I can recall the filter not being changed are when: we didn't have one in stock to use or the customer was a dick or yelling at us to hurry...
3.) If your car is a POS, we will treat it like it is a POS. Many, many people coming back saying we broke things we didn't touch. If your car is nice and in good shape, mechanics will respect it more, in general.
4.) There are a few common things to look out for:
A.) Stripped oil plug. Might have come in like that. If we caught it, we'd point it out before touching it. If we did it, we'd either tap to use an oversize, or in the worst case, use a last resort plug. If we actually did it, we'd fess up and the customer would be taken care of.
B.) Leaky oil filter. There's a small chance, that the gasket from the original filter will stay seated. In a rush sometimes the tech would put a new filter on... so two gaskets. This happend twice over 6-7 months. One the customer came back noting oil leak and we fixed. One... we bought the customer a new engine.
Finally, I personally would not have a quick lube shop do any chassis greasing. They use pressure guns and are likely to bust your seals. Do that yourself. Gear oil changes are bad too... because it's sucked out with a tube and refilled.
I do think, that the inline systems used to fully change transfluid and coolant can be good. Better than at-home partial changes.
fyi... I won't go to them because I like a particular oil in my ride and you pay too much to bring your own oil.
But if you have to... find a friendly, well kept shop, and go there and only there, and BE NICE.
I generally did a good job, but there are a few things you should avoid:
1.) If you have a car with a VERY difficult filter to get to... I'd make sure I knew what was on there and what is going on there. There are some cars that can be a real bitch. Lincoln Mark VIII's stick out... and GM in-pans suck... A good thing might be to ask for the old filter because you want to do an oil analysis or something. Pretty harmless.
2.) They are going to at least dump your oil and fill it back up with bulk crap. 99% of the time the filter will be changed. The only times I can recall the filter not being changed are when: we didn't have one in stock to use or the customer was a dick or yelling at us to hurry...
3.) If your car is a POS, we will treat it like it is a POS. Many, many people coming back saying we broke things we didn't touch. If your car is nice and in good shape, mechanics will respect it more, in general.
4.) There are a few common things to look out for:
A.) Stripped oil plug. Might have come in like that. If we caught it, we'd point it out before touching it. If we did it, we'd either tap to use an oversize, or in the worst case, use a last resort plug. If we actually did it, we'd fess up and the customer would be taken care of.
B.) Leaky oil filter. There's a small chance, that the gasket from the original filter will stay seated. In a rush sometimes the tech would put a new filter on... so two gaskets. This happend twice over 6-7 months. One the customer came back noting oil leak and we fixed. One... we bought the customer a new engine.
Finally, I personally would not have a quick lube shop do any chassis greasing. They use pressure guns and are likely to bust your seals. Do that yourself. Gear oil changes are bad too... because it's sucked out with a tube and refilled.
I do think, that the inline systems used to fully change transfluid and coolant can be good. Better than at-home partial changes.
fyi... I won't go to them because I like a particular oil in my ride and you pay too much to bring your own oil.
But if you have to... find a friendly, well kept shop, and go there and only there, and BE NICE.
#25
i know what your talking about, i work at the lube center at wal-mart and they have a bunch of crap policys, things like no quick drain plugs, if the pan has the a small dent they will decline it, if there is any mechanical nosie that sounds suspiciouis, as for taking you car to pep boys, nows thats asking for trouble. am sure all places have some studip people, we had this one guy who could not tell the difference between a oil drain plug and a tranny drain plug. this guy was a idiot, ricer, every time a honda would come in he would talk about his vtec he had in cali. he was talking **** about my car once and i told him theres no replacement for displacement and he had a blank look on his face. i asked him if he knew what that meant and he said ya if it breaks you can't fix it. i get my oil channged at the wal-mart i work at but only by someone i know will do a good job, i do it there because i get a very very good discount on mobile 1. There have been some pretty cool cars come to my work , things from z06, c5's f-bodies m3's cobras, and i always think to my self why the hell are you coming to wal-mart.
#26
Originally Posted by Cop Car
maybe he knows someone there, maybe its monsoon season where he lives, maybe he lives in a city where he has to park his car on the street, maybe he lives in an apt complex where they dont let you work on your car, maybe he has a garage but he cant work on his car in it. way to think about your comments
#27
Originally Posted by FelixIlka
I've heard stories of lube shops forgetting to put the oil filter on or even the bolt for the pan... if it's true I dunno...
Worse than that are wheel offs, which can cost the shop from a couple of grand for damage to the vehicle to several million dollars for hospital bills, property damage and even more if a death occurs. That happened just once while I was there and Firestone paid dearly. Someone had spun the lugs on by hand and not torqued them down at all.
Not even two miles down the road the owner notices the severe viration and is about to turn around and come back when the left rear tires goes flying off, bounces several hundred feet into the air and lands in the windshield of a parked car, thankfully no one inside.
In both cases, the tech is fired on the spot.
My wife took her Hoinda to a Jiffy Lube as I was out of town and she thought that it would be cool to check off that chore for me to do when I got back, the tech there left the oil filler cap off and she drove it for a couple of days wondering WTF the smell was and all....no damage done but she was offered free oil changes for a year. She declined.
#28
Just a suggestion but find a dealership you like and just ask them to change the oil and filter and let you watch. My dealership does that for me. It cost like 8 bucks and I dont have to dispose of the oil afterwords or deal w/ the mess. Just tell them at 5.60 a qt, you want to make sure M1 make it into the car, because you have read about uncrupulious mechanics putting the m1 in their trunks. Like Todddichi says, "Be Nice" and they will try to take care of you.
#30
I do everything myself, that way its gets done, gets done right, is cost effective, and allows me more time with my car. Anything I HAVE to take to a shop is done with my personal oversight. When it comes to my cars, I trust very few people.
#31
actually walmart isnt the only place thatl'll do a **** poor job, NTB , big ten tire, and shelll lube, all did something or another to my car when changing the oil , NTB didnt even change the filter , so my suggestion is to find some way to change it yourself, if you HAVE to do somethign to your car you can't do yourself take it to a performance shop , i dunno where you live but i take my car to redline or finish line, but those are both locally owned and family operated, just try to find a place you trust next time, but i would try to save some cash nd do it yourself anyways, oh and to add to this NTB slammed my door on the side of the car lift and refuses to pay for the damage in the paint, so make sure you trust the ppl you take it to , cheap isnt always the best, actually cheap is never the best. and another thing, we bought ramps at o'reilly , and can get the formula up there and i can get all the way under the caar and move my arms, we used these ramps to change the headers, im sure the oil would be no prob
#32
Originally Posted by FelixIlka
I've heard stories of lube shops forgetting to put the oil filter on or even the bolt for the pan... if it's true I dunno...
#34
Originally Posted by 98TADRIVER
this one time when i had a 1987 chevy caprice, i know nothing like a TA, but i went to jiffy lube to get my oil changed. i get home and i see smoke, and im like WTF?? and i get under there and look, those bastards DIDNT TIGHTEN MY OIL FILTER!!! i went back and gave em hell on that one. From that day Forth, i change it myself!!
#37
Originally Posted by CashMoney
My friend took his jeep in to get his oil changed at Jiffy lube (just hit 3k miles). Long story short they drained the tranny over-filled the block and is going through a hell of a time to get his money back from Jiffy-Lube.
looks like they owe him alot of money.
#38
Originally Posted by Joker
I do everything myself, that way its gets done, gets done right, is cost effective, and allows me more time with my car. Anything I HAVE to take to a shop is done with my personal oversight. When it comes to my cars, I trust very few people.
#40
yeah when you take your car somewhere to get stuff like that done its a real tossup what kind of service you will get i used to work in the auto center at fleet farm and i was amazed at how the techs treated some of the peoples cars total disrespect the idiots would strip out drain plugs only change the filter if it was easy to get to etc not only that but moving them in and out of the bays there was total disrespect for other people's ride breaking the tires lose doing nuetral drops withs peoples car i was amazed i chewed their ***'s for it i for one always did a good job on other peoples vehicles i work on other vehicles as they were my own i cant believe some of the worthless people that work at some of these shops