Back in October of 2001 I had a radiator flush done by Jiffy Lube. Problem was, the geniuses there forgot to tighten the hose clamps and a couple of days later one of the radiator hoses just fell off, spewing radiator fluid everywhere!
Fortunately I was near a strip mall where I could get some more radiator fluid and continue on my way.
But it’s always been a concern for me. Too many uninspired people too isolated from the customers to feel any responsibility for their actions. You seldom see or meet the people working on your vehicle anymore. I often think that the risk of the damage they are doing to my car through carelessness might outweigh any good I’m doing by following my car’s maintenance plan.
I’ve had someone forget to tighten my oil pan screw and had the oil literally flowing out of the oil pan onto the garage floor. I always open the hood and inspect the work that’s supposedly been done, but who can tell if the valves have been properly shimmed (I used to be able to tell when I’d adjust my tappets on my motorcycle – apparently car valves make just as much noise after they’ve been shimmed as before). Anything other than newly replaced oil filters, or wiring is pretty hard to spot when you’re anxious to get on your way.
I once brought a car in because there was a strong smell of gasoline in the passenger compartment when I would brake hard. After a full servicing, the mechanic said he could find no cause for the smell. Getting off of my butt I went over the engine and found… the PCV valve was just sitting loosely over its rubber seal. Pushing it properly in place made the smell go away permanently.
I could go on and on, but I *hate* taking my car in for servicing. I have no problem paying the money but I want to feel confident that the car will be somehow improved afterwards.
One of my friends’ folks used to buy their cars and just drive them until they stopped working. The last little while with those cars was simply miserable (I recall when their little car only had 3 cylinders firing). OK if you’re a starving student, but not if you’ve got a family to haul around.
Anyway, here is Jiffy Lube being caught red-handed. I especially liked the chickens#!t district manager who kept pretending he wasn’t himself. Those unethical buggers need to be slapped upside the head and then forced to work for minimum wage for the next 15 years with all proceeds from their work that would let them enjoy life taken from them and passed back to the people they bilked.
The whole industry should be cleaned up.
(as a funny note….As I started typing this, I turned the TV volume back up to hear the woman say “I took my car to my dealer. He siad “Look lady, I don’t know why your car won’t work, I just sell drugs”.)
At Canadian Tire, about 15 years ago, they did not put the oil cap back on after the oil chnage, and I did not check under the hood. The next day, my dad called me to say there was a LOT of oil on the driveway, and I should check my van. Well, EVERTHING under the hood was an oily mess, with no sign of the oil cap. I got to take a taxi for about 30 dollar drive to a dealer to get a new cap, and a couple of bottles of oil. If my Dad hadn’t noticed the mess, I would likely have run out of oil and done my engine some significant damage, or else have gotten stranded somewhere.
A few years ago, I had a very minor ‘fender bender’. I got 4 estimates, 2 were around the 500 dollar mark, the place I got it done estimated 185.00, but when I picked it up, claimed they had miss-quoted a part, and the bill was actually $190.00 (I can live with that). But one of the estimates I got was for 2000.00 (yes more then 10 times what I actually paid).
I also had my van into the dealer for some warrenty work, and they said I needed the breaks replaced, (about 500 bucks worth), so I took it to the firestone place here in brampton where I seem to get good service, and left it there for the day for “an oil change and break work”. I got a call at the office 2 hours later, “What do you want done to your breaks?” I told them what the dealer had said, and they said that I had atleast another year worth on the breaks (I think I got 2 more), but that since they had them apart, they would clean them for something like 30 bucks).