Valvoline....OMFG....need to vent

[drakesdad]

I usually change my own oil..but I had a time issue and took the Grand Prix to the Valvoline Quick lube a mile from my house. Drove it home and parked it. Decided to drive the Trailblazer to W.Virginia. Wife calls me and is going shopping....5 miles from the house the car starts making noise and she notices no oil pressure. I have her stop it and call her dad to come inspect it. I am on the phone in Akron by now and calling the Valvoline shop. They go out an hour later as my father in law gets there. Jack up the car and the filter is about to fall off. No oil in the car. They put a new filter on and fill it up with oil....car cranks and seems to run ok...I am raging at this point...my 1 1/2 year old was in the car along with two other small kids...in 20 degree weather. I get the guy on my wifes phone for a ear full....he tries this chit...something is malfunctioning in the oil sensor and caused the filter to loosen..... I tell him his company just bought an engine....I tell him to have the biggest manager he can get to call me. This guy seems nice and offers to have his group look at the car...I reply,..you cant even tighten a filter..do you really think I will allow you to touch another one of my cars again.... He states that he needs to see if they were at fault....he would never admit it.........he asked what he could do to reconcile it and get me back as a customer...I told him that would not ever happen.....and that money was not the issue...........after venting ....and calling the president of my company..who is a attorney as well..who said if the engine is not damaged it really is a waste to pursuit it in court.....I just figured the hell with it...this time of year.....plus I don't want to drag out any stress.....that I would just let it go...found out the dude under the car has been there a month....mngr asked me again what he could do......I told him to just refund the oil change and council the newbie and be glad that I was trying to be better than the lawsuit happy people that are out there.............OK...enought venting......lesson learned.......even if your in a hurry and time is a issue..keep changing your own oil.....you know it's done right.......

 

[The O.G.]

I have witnessed a car been driven through the glass garage door at a jiffy lube by an employee .

 

[DDSTANG94]

I have witnessed a car been driven through the glass garage door at a jiffy lube by an employee .

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

I worked at a Firestone years ago and they used to have issues like that all the time. The worst was when the guy never drained the old oil, just filled it right on top of the other 8 quarts (Cadillac Northstar). Could you imagine having 16 quarts of oil in your engine?

That thing was leaking out of several places when it came back. I never found out what the resolution was to that, but obviously the oil was drained and changed for free at that point.

 

[poboys 94]

I have witnessed a car been driven through the glass garage door at a jiffy lube by an employee .

I have seen this time and time again while working at various shops , the quick lube shops were notorious for putting power steering fluid in master cylinders, I remember giving folks eye popping brake estimates without even pulling off the wheels since all the rubber components were contaminated ie. calipers, cylinders,all hoses etc. They would head straight back to the lube shop, with a copy of the estimate and a little while later we had the big ticket of the day Oh and I worked with a young guy who also backed out the shop door forgetting to open it, that was a riot since we were racing against each other to see who could finish our cars first, he had a faster working lift and his car touched the ground first, but after he kicked the lift pads away he just got in the car and put it in reverse and whamo I love telling that story

 

[blksn955.o]

I worked at a Valvoline back in highschool, all kinds of retarded crap went down. We goofed off more than anything (slow slow store). There seemed to be an endless stream of just bad employee's. Everyone makes mistakes but some are just . The crap that company would tell you to say to sell stuff was just wrong and nonsense, I refused to even act like it was the truth so we just talked the manager into hiring a cute highschool girl to do that .

It was great for oil changes though, I dont think my oil would even reach 500miles or 3weeks before it would get changed. Buddies in highschool actually asked if they could just use my used oil .

I was not as savvy around cars back then but had ALOT more of an idea than most that walked threw the door.

The biggest thing they have for the DIY'er is the mess and waste part of it.

99% of all car owners were a$$ munches, you would have a car with wiper blades ripped to hell so bad you thought they had tassles, PCV valves that had oil running out of them covered in black crust, an air filter with a tree growing in dirt in it and they would say "I just changed that" or "its fine".

The worst was a lady that had 88k miles on a tempo and NEVER changed the oil.... . I pulled the plug and nothing came out...I freaked for a second and put the plug in and looked around as if I had pulled the wrong one nope it 100% was the oil pan plug. We ran cycles of engine cleaner threw it and poked chunks out of the drain hole for about an hour until we got all the old oil out. We even brought her down to see and showed her what it should look like under another customers car.

We asked her "what did you do"
She said "I only topped it off and never changed it".
We said "thats not good"
She said "what should I do"
We said "dont go home, trade it in RIGHT NOW and change your oil per the manufacturer recomended times".

 

[reddy351]

The company I work for has a contract with Jiffy Lube here in Columbus. Since I have the responsibility to maintain the "fleet", I get to see some dumb stuff at the JL.

We have a 2006 Jeep Liberty with (at the time) 40k miles on the clock. The guy is going through his routine. (they "call-out, what they are about to do. not supposed to do it, until they get a response that it's ok to) He hollers "starting" and nothing in response. He starts the car...with no oil filter on it! I stand and watch as 6 qts of synthetic dump out into the bay. (He even revved the engine to "build oil pressure" I guess!) I had to yell and wave my hands to get him to shut it off. The valvetrain was really carrying on. They really didn't do anything. Just cleaned up the mess in the engine compartment and said "sorry". I should have raised a big stink but the engine didn't make noise after they did the change right.

Last week I was getting one of the vans oil changed. The manager told me I couldn't stand in the bay. I told him that at another store, I saved them about $8000 in an engine swap by catching a mistake that the guy made. He ended up calling the corporate office and basically "telling" on me, that I wouldn't leave the bay. They told him that if I wanted to stand there, it was ok. He was a being real D1CK. I told him that I wouldn't be back to his store.

The problem with these places is that there is no requirement to have a clue what you're doing to get a job there. There are a lot of teenage kids that should be flipping burgers trying to do it. It's kinda like most of the guys behind the counter at discount style parts stores. I needed valve seals for a 351w I was building. I knew that Parts America (at the time) carried Fel-Pro stuff so I went there. It took me 20 minutes and a DRAWING by me to explain what I was after. He thought I was talking about the seal that goes in the wheel before you mount the tire. Dumba$$. I never did get my seals, there.

 

[drakesdad]

I was on the way back today ...somewhere near Canton...Jess called as she pulled in to Valvoline to pick up the refund......I tell her to keep me on the phone to hear what was said...the big manager says hi and asked how the car is running....then asks if they can take a look at it....without me prompting her she tells them that there is no way they are ever touching one of our vehicles again.......the guy just walked away....she said there was a line of cars and customers there..........OK..I'm done...moving on to more POSITIVE things....

I give it to Jess.....growing up around her dad drag racing......and she always checks on me in the garage and is actually interested in what I do to al of our cars............I don't think there are a large amount of females that would have caught it before it blew....I do know of some....but more than not.......
thanks for allowing me to vent guys...I normally don't.....I'm a jester, not a complainer.....Merry Christmas to all my Mustang brethren...