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A Consumer Victory Against Jiffy Lube

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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

Kris of Hillsboro, OR, writes:
I had brought my 4x4 pickup truck in for Jiffy Lube's complete 4x4 service, including changing the fluid in the differential. Their employees had failed to properly torque the drain bolt on the differential and it had worked itself out of its hole. As a result, my differential locked up and wrecked itself, and destroyed my clutch in the process.

I had asked the employees at the local Jiffy Lube to make good the damages, and was referred to a manager who simply pointed at their national number on the shop wall and asked me to leave. This behaviour resulted in all of the current customers in the shop deciding to take their vehicles and leave. Heh.

I called the number, and was dumped into voice mail. I left a message, but was it was not returned. I then decided to send Jiffy Lube International certified mail explaining what happened, and demanding payment ($1200 worth of repair bills). They sent a letter back, claiming they had no responsibility for the local owner's actions at that shop.

I asked a relative (who was also a lawyer) to send them a demand letter, which they also ignored. Having had enough of this, I filed suit in Small Claims Court, and paid a process server to deliver the papers to Jiffy Lube's local corporate representative.

I got a letter back from their Houston main office, still claiming that they were not responsible for the local Jiffy Lube franchise's actions. Then I got a contradictory letter, from the same office, claiming responsibilty, but mentioning a Jiffy Lube in a completely different state. No one from Jiffy Lube even bothered to respond to the Court within the required 30 days, and so I applied for and got a default judgement.

I then sent a demand letter, with a copy of the default judgement, to Jiffy Lube International in Houston via certified mail. It was ignored! I then spent about $3 on pre-printed garnishment forms, and sent a certified demand letter to their Oregon rep, and added a warning that I was ready to begin garnishment.

The receipt for the certified letter, and the check for the full amount, arrived the same day.

In retrospect, I can see that Jiffy Lube was unable to do anything to satisfy my claim until forced to by threat of garnishment, and that they seem willing to ignore Small Claim Court filings, and let them go to default judgement. Oh well ... I did get my money, but only after a 6 month fight.

This is a great testimony to persistence. Jiffy Lube and many other national companies, we're told, routinely ignore Small Claims filings. That's good because, as Kris noted, the consumer can then request and often receive a default judgment. The next hurdle is collecting which, as Kris notes, is not easy either. It can be done, though. The key is to keep identifying persons and assets that can be targeted.

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