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Jiffy Lube - Damage Allegations

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Jiffy Lube • Jousting with Jiffy Lube   • The Company's Pledge   • If All Else Fails --- Consumer Complaints • Alleged Damages • A Consumer Victory • Billing & Pricing • Inside Jiffy Lube

Frank of Tucson AZ (05/17/08)
I have serviced my vehicles at jiffylube for a few years and never had any issues. Unfortunately I was not as fortunate on my last visit. At their recommendation I had them fill my car with synthetic oil because my vehicle had approximately 46,000 miles and they told me that synthetic oil costs more but that it is better as your milege increases. They also told me that oil change intervals increase to 6000 miles using synthetic oil instead of the standard 3000 miles with regular oils. This oil change took place Nov. 30 2007.

I left the station thinking everything was fine. I drove my vehicle approximately 5000 miles and I began to hear an unusual sound. I looked under the hood, under the suspension during the course of 2 weeks trying to find the nature of the noise. On 5/13/2008 on my way home from work the noise began to get noticeably louder so I finally decided to check the oil. To my surprise there was no oil at all on the dipstick. I immediately went to my storage shed and found 1 1/4 quarts of oil which I put in my car. I checked the dipstick and still no visible sign of oil.

I told my wife then I called Jiffylube. I asked who I was speaking to and the person who answered told me her name was Mari. She went on to tell me she was a manager at the location. I asked her to pull up the record on the last service on my car and she told me. Then I explained to her the situation. She went on to tell me that on my last visit that they had recommended that I change the antifreeze in my car which I had refused. She said that maybe the antifreeze had broken down causing my car to burn oil. I told her that there was no way that that type of condition could explain the type of oil loss I was describing. I told her that there was no visible sign of oil on the dipstick at all. Her response to this was that 1 quart low could account for this condition. I told her that I would like to agree with her but that I had pulled out what I had in my storage shed (1 1/4 quarts) and put it in my engine and that the dipstick still did not show anything. At this point she said to drive in and that they would gladly top off my car. I asked her what time they closed and she told me 6 p.m. I got there at 5:30 p.m. and 2 mechanics along with Mari were waiting.

They pulled my car into the bay. One mechanic got under the hole and he yelled up to Mari that the oil plug showed no signs of being tampered with and that there were no signs of oil leaks anywhere. Then she directed the other mechanic to remove the radiator cap and check the antifreeze which checked out fine. At this point she went into the office while I stood in the garage area with the 2 mechanics. Approximately 8 minutes later a dark full sized SUV pulled up and a large man walked up to me and said, I'm the manager. What do you want me to do about this? My response, If in fact you are the manager then tell me what you're going to do for me because I spoke with Mari over the phone and she told me she was the manager and she told me to come in and that my car would be topped off

He then went into the office and returned telling me that I had not had my car serviced in six months and that I already had over 5000 miles since the service. I told him that I knew this and that they had told me that the oil change intervals were good for 6000 miles with synthetic oil at which point he explained that the warranty is 3 months or 6000 miles. He then went on to say that because of the 3 month clause but mostly because of my attitude that he did not have to top off my engine. That's when I told him that I did not come in with an attitude. I explained to him that I had told Mari and the 2 mechanics that there was no doubt in my mind that an honest mistake had been made. Maybe one mechanic thought that another had filled my car. At that point I told him that I did not need his attitude and that he had lost 2 long time customers. (My wife and I) I told them that I would take my business elsewhere.

I immediately drove to Autozone and bought 4 quarts of synthetic oil and my car took 2 more full quarts. Altogether my vehicle was down 3 1/4 quarts. Right now my car is being worked on and will need a partial overhaul. The mechanic told me that the noise is a cracked piston. Unfortunately I have learned a costly but valuable lesson. In the future I will be checking my dipstick before I leave the service station lot when I have my car serviced. There was no question in my mind that this belligerent manager was going to deny any responsibility. I really did not know what recourse if any I had under these circumstances.

The mechanic I took my vehicle to is going to charge me 1,500 for the overhaul and I am currently out of a car for 1 week if all goes well.

Mitchell of Monroe, GA May 14, 2008

Mitchell of Monroe GA (05/14/08)
On 3/27/08 Jiffy Lube store located 1802 N. Parsons Ave., Seffner, Florida 33584 (Store #989) serviced my girlfriend's car (2000 Daewoo Nubira). I took the car and had it serviced as a surprise to her. Total cost of service was 193.64. The service done included: engine flush, oil change and transmission fluid flush and change. The car smoked a lot after this service and would clear up after some driving. The big reason for getting this full service was becasue we were moving to Georgia and wanted to make sure the car was in tip top shape.

Four days after that, we started out on our final move from Brandon, Florida to our now home in Monroe, Georgia. As we were almost past Gainesville, Florida her car shot a rod. The engine just blew!! This almost caused an accident because something from the blow shot up from the road and hit the car behind me on the highway. We had the car towed that night (3/31/08) to a shop in Gainesville and contacted Jiffy Lube shortly after that. Jiffy Lube sent an investigative group to check the validity of the claim that their service caused the engine to blow. On April 3rd their Customer Service rep Steve Tynan informed me that they could not substainiate that it was due to their service. Without removing the engine at our cost no more could or would be done. End of story case closed!

Since the car was my girlfriend's means of getting to work she was then forced to get another car. Due to poor credit history she was forced to get a co-signer, luckily her mother agreed to do so. The economic issue of having a 200 service 4 days prior, loss of the vehicle because it was no longer driveable, and the expense of a new car (used but new to us) was an additional 10,000 plus then add the financing to that! Jiffy Lube offered no reimbursement of any kind!

Ulises of Wilsonville, OR May 13, 2008

Ulises of Wilsonville OR (05/13/08)
I paid for a oil change, and it came to my attention that after my car was pulled out I checked my oil and it was as dirty as it was before, so I told the person who took the car in about it, and he responded in a very mean way, he asked for my car keys and drove my car like a maniac back in. I did not like that at all so I stopped him and asked him to give me my car back. So at this point I will contact my attorney to address this issue and I will take further action about this possible scam at your place.

It made me very upset, I can hear a noise in car engine after being accelerated in the way the salesman did it.

Clay of Glenview, IL May 13, 2008

Clay of Glenview IL (05/13/08)
May 3rd took my truck into jiffy lube for oil change. Staff was reving my engine up because they wanted to hear my loud exhaust. I got a letter in the mail from my bank stating that I had made charges on my account with nothing to cover it. I go to the bank and they show me the charges from a card that I havent used in 2 years! The charges started on the 4th of may. The only people that were in my truck from the 3rd to the 4th were the slackers at jiff lube. The card was buried in the console of my truck, so someone went looking through the compartments and found what they were looking for evidentaly. I filed 2 police reports with different departments as the card was used in different but local towns around the jiffy lube. DONT GO THERE!

As a result the bank automatically transfered the mony from my savings account to cover the charges screwing up my finances. In the end I didnt have to repay for the charges made on the card while it was stolen. The manager said he doesnt believe me and that I am looking for someone to blame because of my loosing the card.

Marcus of Los Angeles, CA May 10, 2008

Marcus of Los Angeles CA (05/10/08)
4/26/08 brought 1993 Range Rover into Jiffy Lube on La Brea and Melrose for it's 3000 Mile Oil change as have since 2006 and was up sold on a transmission flush... drove car home 1 1/2 miles and parked it where it remained overnight, next morning 4/27 got in car to drive to Palm Springs from Los Angeles at 6:00 am turned on engine and noted low coolant light light displayed so delayed trip immediately and went into subject Jiffy Lube and asked for a manager and communicated coolant light trouble.

Assistant Manager Alex claimed he worked on the car the day before and looked under hood and opened coolant reservoir and claimed coolant was low due to the need to settle fluids as a result of radiator flush, he topped it off and told me car was ok to drive to Palm Springs now.

Departed LA for Palm Springs got as far as East LA and coolant light came on again, pulled over into Mobile station lifted hood and observed coolant reservoir tank spraying coolant from tank, bought big bottle of coolant from mobile station unwound cap and poured in coolant, coolant light no longer displayed. Next used GPS on blackberry to locate nearest Jiffy Lube, 6 miles west on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles, arrived at Sunset Jiffy Lube and was told that work warranty would have to be performed at Jiffy Lube where service was provided as each store is a franchise, was offered a top up of the coolant and dialed La Brea store number, spoke to Alex and was told to drive back to his shop where he would fix the problem.

Arrived Alex looked at the car and expressed that I should take the car to my mechanic as the reservoir was clearly leaking and was told not Jiffy Lube's problem. Drove car home after Alex topped off Coolant and left it overnight.

Next day took car into Rover shop ( they only work on Rover's) and was told radiator hoses were loose and that coolant tank needed to be replaced, and engine tested 200 plus dollars later was told car failed engine test and that problem was bigger than thought. I authorized mechanic to investigate thoroughly which required removing engine block to reveal cylinder sleeves and that a very small leak in engine was now present and that the only way to fix the problem with certainty would be to replace the engine at an estimated cost of 4800.

Next day called Jiffy Lube and requested to ask who to speak to in order to remedy what my mechanic referred to as gross negligence by Jiffy Lube for not tightening the radiator hoses and or bleeding the radiator after flushing radiator and refreshing coolant, which resulted in air rather than coolant flowing through the radiator which resulted in engine failure and leak. Louis franchise manager at Alamitos Enterprises / Jiffy lube sent their inspector to view my car and four days later told me they would not take responsibility for problem. May 9th 2008 have faxed Alamitos Enterprises Llc (Jiffy Lube) a letter of demand to fix and pay for the damages.

Louis of Nanuet, NY May 2, 2008

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