jiffy lube caught red handed !

[Robert_in_NY]

So this story was posted in 2006, does anyone know if things have improved?

 

[ToadHill]

I have no love for fast change places, but sometimes the customer is to blame. Years ago 1961 to be exact I had a guy come in with a 57 dodge for an oil change. I had the car in the air and asked him if he wanted a filter change also. He tole me the car had no filter. When I showed it to him he said "OK" change it. It took me 2 hours to chisel it off, when I asked how long it had been since it was changed, his answer " Well, I bought it new in 57 and since I didn't know it had a filter I'd have to say 4 years."

He was really upset when I charged him 2 hours labor as well as the normal charge for oil and filter.

 

[patrick_g]

Excellent!

Car repair scams are about as old as cars. Gas stations used to take advantage of families on summer vacation and lone women. Things like using a razor to cut a fan belt when giving a "full service" fill up. "Lucky I found this bad belt before you started across the desert with your family!

Even when Jiffy Lube and equivalent are not intentionally selling you service and items they aren't actually providing, they are often staffed by such lazy and or incompetent cretins that the results can be similar.

Pat

 

[Podunkadunk]

This kind of stuff happens in most places, especially when it's maintenance on anything with an engine. I do love those kinds of documentaries though It's a shame really...world's 2nd oldest profession...scamming!

This same type thing happened to me last August when I took my Kubota in to my local dealer for it's initial (50 hr) service. No hidden camera's, but I had marked filters, marked nuts and bolts which had to be removed, etc...You can read about it here:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/related-topics/105305-50-hour-service-rant.html

Podunk

 

[PitbullMidwest]

Any large corporation with multiple locations is subject to this kind of thing. I don't believe that Jiffy Lube has a policy to defraud their customers considering their model depends on repeat customers.

The corporation I work for has over 700 company stores nation wide plus franchises. A couple of years ago one of our district managers and a repair facility director were fired for running a repair scam. Customers were told that their product would be sent to a repair center and if it was repairable they would only pay for the parts and labor. But if it was unrepairable they had the choice of paying the shipping to have their defective item returned or the repair center could just throw it away and there would be on charge.

The scam was:
If they wanted the item back they charged them for shipping charges that the store never inccured
-or-
If the customer chose to walk away, the product was repaired and resold through other channels.

The store managers were clueless because they were following what they thought was policy as it came down from the district manager.

If all the Jiffy Lube Stores were in the same district, firing the DM probably went a long way in correcting the problem.

 

[mrutkaus]

Can't see the videos on dial up here in the woods, I guess they just didn't do what they said?

Mike

 

[Podunkadunk]

Can't see the videos on dial up here in the woods, I guess they just didn't do what they said?

Mike

In a nutshell...

Classic bait and switch stuff...tell the customer one thing, do another and catch him on video tape making those promises. Then videotape their maintenance and go back to the business and confront the manager/district manager about them charging for doing stuff they didn't do.

When they confronted the district manager, he denied his name and that he was the DM. He said he was just a customer.

It was a local news station that ran the story....that's about all you missed.

Podunk

 

[Ductape]

Wasn't Sears (as in the department store) Auto Centers fined in a big way a few (ok.... 10?) years back for this ?? Seems their policy was that service advisors were required to "sell" a certain number of a certain "repair" per day/week.

As far as it being five out of the nine shops they visited...... alot of the franchised shops allow the same owner to have several (or more) shops. I'm thinking that was the case here..... not necessecarily Jiffy Lubes (or whatever franchise) policy to scam customers, but most likely the franchise owner's policy (who probably owned multiple stores).

 

[MrJimi]

Can't see the videos on dial up here in the woods, I guess they just didn't do what they said?

Mike

The videos showed that jiffy tune denied all or would not comment
Pretty sad situation if you ask me
and this thread will get deleted soon, expect it
we should have the right to know
Jim

 

[kenmac]

I was doing some plumbing work at a local Midis muffler shop a couple years ago. The mechanic had a front rotor off a car . I asked him what he was doing . He said he was replacing wheel bearings. I watched as he put the new bearing in the rotor. Then, he filled the rotor full of grease with a grease gun . He looked at me smiling & said that's the quick way to pack a wheel bearing. I do all of my mechanic work / oil changes. always have. good Lord willing always will