Re: Continued Fraud At Jiffy Lube??
- From: don@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Don Klipstein)
- Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 00:48:08 +0000 (UTC)
In article <1122221021.559814.206390@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
jtnospam@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
>That said, has anyone here been to Jiffy Lube and had issues? I can't
>believe this happens to only my car. Perhaps others don't check to see
>if the work ordered was actually done.(snip)
>
>Yes, I have. But this is a problem with all such services I have used.
> What concerns me more than dirty windows and an unvacuumed interior
>are the mechanical issues. Numerous times(I am not singleing out Jiffy
>here) the oil filter is not replaced, the steering and brake fluids are
>not topped off, and the grease points are not greased. Sometimes the
>filter is just wiped off, only to make it look new.
I consider this a major problem with USA retail establishments in
general, as a part of the modern American way of doing business. Managers
get financial incentives to reduce costs "By Any Means Necessary" (my
words), or in every way they think they can get away with it - or else be
replaced by someone else who will do this more.
I suspect this is common in publically traded corporations in general,
since management is hired and fired by the business owners - which I
suspect are mostly mutual funds and other institutional investors
concerned with "The Bottom Line" above everything else.
Privately owned businesses sometimes do better, since some tyrants have
a conscience!
>Here, it helps to
>alternate brands of service so the filter is obviously different than
>that supplied by the current store.
Good move!
Another tactic: Put a small identifiable scratch on your old filter
before taking your car in. Better still, make such a scratch something
obviously deliberate to those it is pointed out to! How about your
signature or E=MC^2? As soon as you get your car back, look at the filter
and then say, "Why does the new oil filter have the same grafitti that I
had on the old one?"
>I have even been charged for new oil when they left the old oil in.
That's a bad one. Show the manager your dipstick!
> I never send my wife out to have the work done, they figure they can get
> away with much more with female customers.
Major problem I consider widely true...
But with repeated offenses, maybe you could get one of the news stations
to have a reporter get screwed in the sight of hidden cameras!!!
> I used to do all that work myself, but I'm too old for that now. But
>what I learned from my shadetree mechanic days has taught me what to
>watch for. I go out into the work area to watch the work, if they won't
>let me I go elsewhere for the work. No workee, no payee.
> BTW, you don't need to change oil that often, that is Jiffy
>propaganda. The API admits every 7000 miles is OK for "normal driving
>conditions, with the 3,000 mi. figure applying to harsh driving
>conditions. Consumer reports ran tests several years ago, in which New
>York City taxi cabs were tested. The research showed no increased
>mechanical wear by changing oil every 7000 mi. vs. every 3000 miles. To
>be safe, I change every 6000 miles.-Jitney
Oil should generally also be changed after 6 months even if less than
7,000 miles or 3,000 miles, since oil that is even only mildly used has
some breakdown products that make the oil anywhere from not-as-good-as-new
to significantly degraded or slightly corrosive.
Also, please consider that taxicabs mostly have engines that have fewer
revolutions per mile than average in city driving. Most big city taxicabs
are Ford Crown Vics that have V8 engines and lower RPM during acceleration
than even most other V8 engines.
So it appears to me that a large total displacement V8 other than one in
a Crown Vic can do 6,000 miles of mostly-city driving between oil changes,
and engines that are smaller in total displacement or number of cylinders
or more likely both need oil changes to be even more frequent.
And I wonder if Consumer Reports tested 3,000-mile vs. 7,000 mile oil
changes for 200,000-300,000 miles!
As for me - I drive 4,500 miles a year, and do most of my commuting by
bicycle. I get my car's oil changed twice a year, always by the same
mechanic and changing only from a mechanic retiring. This gives me some
extra chance of the mechanic catching things that need fixing.
At least so far, the mechanics that I have used only fix what needs
fixing, and don't break anything to make something require fixing!
Everything any of my mechanics told me needs fixing were already things
that I knew probably needed fixing, and mostly I even did not ask the
mechanic to check if it needs fixing/replacement! As for things with more
subtle/questionable symptoms, my mechanics mostly did not want to do work
that they could charge me plenty of money for! (Biggest thing in my mind
here has to do with subtle and minor electrical problems that I believe to
be caused by excessive penny-pinching in the design of my car!)
- Don Klipstein (don@xxxxxxxxx)
.
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- Continued Fraud At Jiffy Lube??
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- Re: Continued Fraud At Jiffy Lube??
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