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my mother-in-law did me a favor (sorta) once and took my car into Jiffy Lube for an oil change. they said they'd done the oil change, but came back and told her that they'd broken the dip stick at the handle. it's basically stuck in there and won't come out. they said that the people at the car manufacturer, Ford, would be able to take care of it. she didn't know any better and took their word for it. Ford said they weren't touching it - they didn't do it, and the car's warranty was out years ago, so take it back to Jiffy Lube. she took the car home and told me what had happened... three months later when it was time for another oil change.
so i take the car to Jiffy Lube, with my reciept, where a mechanic meets me outside. i tell him what had happened. if he could please take care of it since he was the one who did the service, i would be appreciative. i also needed some other service, but i need to make sure this dipstick stuff got sorted out. i got met with a firm no. a \"fuck no\" in fact.
i was a little shocked at first, but then i walked into the lobby, mechanic behind me, and started cursing Jiffy Lube left and right. they were particularly busy too, and some customers requested their keys and left. the manager threatened to call the cops, i made an even bigger scene and told that m'f'er to get a goddamned pair of needle nose pliers and get the dip stick out. i wasn't even going to ask for them to replace the dip stick.
for the record, i tried to get it out, but couldn't. the bit of plastic left at the tip of the handle had melted and pretty much cemented over.
so the manager gets some tools and twenty minutes later, the busted dipstick is out and i'm being told never to return here again.
no problem. took my car up the road to another mechanic (a friend) only to have him tell me that it looked as if they'd never changed the oil in the first place. way to go, Jiffy Lube.
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I doubt you'd find this phenomenon restricted to Jiffy Lube. For years the car repair industry as a whole has been plagued with numerous reports of unethical mechanics charging for work that doesn't get done or doesn't need to be done. These reports span the entire range of shops from the one guy neighborhood operation to the dealerships and chain shops themselves.
The fact that one company has a policy that basically encourages employees to cheat their customers is only one part of the problem. The other is that most customers wouldn't know a fuel line from a brake line. Anytime you have a technology where a select few know more than the majority of users (computers), you will have problems with people getting scammed.
What we should learn from this is stuff that we, as good consumers, should already know.
1) Do your homework and get referrals.
2) Get a quote from at least three sources before you commit to any work.
3) You get what you pay for.