What's Wrong At Jiffy Lube?

The higher the identification number, the more recent the unedited and unverified experience.

[100] Mustang in Guiderland, NY:  Attitude
 
9/17/05  Went to Jiffy Lube #309 on Western Avenue in Guilderland, NY for a routine oil change. In the past the staff has always been on the ball and very efficient, professional and friendly. This time was completely different. This location has 3 bays and all 3 were full when I pulled up. There were at least 6 staff working this day, including the manager. After waiting patiently in the lounge for 15 minutes I began to figure out things were not going normal here today. The staff in the garage were standing around talking, emptying the garbage - pretty much anything but working on the vehicles. I believe there were 2 guys in the pits below the cars, leaving 1 bay with no one underneath to drain the oil.  However, as time went by, myself and the other 3 patrons, began to wonder what the heck was going on. I watched as all the staff stood and watched one guy trying to start a car in the 1st bay. When the finally realized all the customers were looking at them they dispersed, only to mingle in other areas behaving like a bunch of buffoons! I watched as 2 guys looked under the hood of my car, do nothing, walk away, walk back, look. They had some type of tool they may  have been attempting to figure out what it was supposed to do. One would hold it, lean over under the hood, hold the tool one way, then the other. Then he handed to the other guy who pretty much did the same darn thing. It would have been laughable if it hadn't now been coming up on 50 minutes I had been waiting for my oil change! Finally I walked out and tried to ask if they had begun any work on my car (if not I was going to leave). Trying to get a straight answer was near to impossible! One of the staff, I'm presuming he was the "manager" got all flustered and said they were running behind because they ran into some problems and one customer was having some additional work done. Fine I replied, but why did it take 2 guys to do the work and 4-5 to stand around and watch! It was a total muck up - all of us customers were laughing it was so ridiculous. It was like watching the 3 stooges, except there were 6 of them! After another 10 minutes of waiting to see if I'd get an answer I walked back out again and explained I had to get going, had they started on my car? Well I got the nastiest looks from these monkeys but they got on my car ASAP to get me out of there I'm sure. They barely cleaned the inside - the windows were not cleaned and it wasn't vacuumed. No explaining the process or trying to sell me other services this time (thank goodness but they certainly did not follow Jiffy Lube standard customer service protocol). I felt sorry for the customers who still were waiting as I drove away. All in all it took a little over an hour to get a simple oil change. So much for the "jiffy" in Jiffy Lube!

[99] Rich in Lawrence, KS:  Unneeded Parts
 
I own four vehicles and need a 8 oil changes a year based on the manufacturers recommendation. I am tired of the agressive upselling and attitude at the local franchise. I would much rather pay $5 more to my trusty mechanic or even the local Honda dealer. In all the time I have spent in the waiting room I have seen too many innocent car owners pay $50 to over $200 for the "recommended services".

[98]  Scott in Upstate, NY:  Employee
 
I am in upstate N.Y. I write this because I have been a manager in the Jiffy Lube system for 10 years. Here’s my experience. First off, the concepts of going to Jiffy Lube in the customers minds are “hey I should be in and out in a flash”. This is the way it is supposed to be, when I first started doing this it was about servicing the customer and getting them out the door as fast as possible, minus the up sell. Yes we did talk to the customer and tell them when their vehicle needed maintenance and if they did it, then great, if not then who cares.

The system nowadays. Every franchise operation is different. I say different because some lubes wash windows, some don’t. Others let customers drive their vehicles in the bay while others don’t. But one thing they all have in common is sell sell sell. Why? Because there is no money made in just an oil change. First off oil prices are high; I pay more money for 500 gallons bulk 530 than I could buy it at Wal-Mart’s. Second. Wages have changed over the years as well. We don’t pay people $4.25 hr. We have guys and gals who make 8-15 bucks an hour. Third, insurance costs have gone up. Think about your car insurance!! Do some math here with me a minute. Car holds 5 qts oil $1.47 qt * 5 = $7.35 + the guys and gals doing your car $9.00 on avg. plus an oil filter $1.30 plus electricity to run the vacuum and lights and the computer to give you a receipt, how bout that wash you got. So right their alone is what, $7.35 + $9.00 + $1.30 + $5.00 for a wash and the electricity. I come up with $22.65 in overhead alone. We mailed you a coupon for $5 bucks off maybe $6or $7 off that regular $32.99 so they make 3 bucks. Now you know why all these places sell like crazy.

Now, any smart business person will understand the math. Heres what I am saying. Jiffy Lube is still a great concept but you have to be careful where you go. Employees in one store can have great car knowledge and be trained properly and the other store a few miles away in the other town can be dumb as a bag of rocks. My advice to any one here is that if you do use Jiffy Lube be smart about it. Be aware that they will try to sell you stuff. You get sold stuff when you go to McDonalds or Burger King (would you like to super size that).

I am a disgruntled employee and personally do not like Jiffy Lube anymore. I write this for information for people and hope some of it helps. I would personally not take my car their because of the fact that we are forced to sell like crazy and if customers do not buy we get ridiculed and told we are not doing our job. The other reason is that Jiffy Lube is a revolving door of people nowadays. I have been thru more employees this year than I can think of. So what happens, we get in a hurry and make mistakes and don’t do the job the way it is supposed to be done. I can also tell you that you need to read your invoices and see exactly what they are doing to your vehicle. You people with 4X4’s. Do you think those differentials got checked? You were only their 10 minutes 15 tops. Did they actually look at your battery? Most of them are maintenance free nowadays but there are still many that are not. Does you car have grease fittings? Did they get greased, probably not. How about your fluids, I cant count how many times I have yelled at someone for not checking them and finding they were low and not making the proper documentation or topping it off!! Did they vacuum under your floor mats? Hmmm? You get the point.  For those of you who are slobs though, we don’t pick up dirty tissues that you blew your nose in or detail you car that wasn’t even cleaned after the salt and snow were done, be realistic.

I can honestly say that the shop I am in try to do the best we can. We don’t do everything by the book as most do not. If we did you would be there for half an hour at least, especially when you only see 3 people running around in the shop. Even when full staffed though stuff gets missed. Also, realize that people do buy services and you will be there longer than expected at times so give yourself some time (like more than 10 minutes when you see 7 cars waiting and then get mad) That’s the other reason why stuff gets lacked also, piss an $8 hour employee off and expect great service. Not this day in age. The other advice for some of you is quit being lazy and read your owners manuals. You spent $30,000 on a car and don’t know how to reset your own oil light if it gets missed when in for service. How about reading the maintenance schedule and see if you really need that service. Did you know that no manufacturers recommend a fuel system cleaning!!! Wonder why the dealers do it for over a $100 bucks or you see it on their printed brochure for maintenance.

So all in all you should go to Jiffy Lube if you have an easy car to get serviced like a Honda or a Nissan. No grease fittings usually no major maintenance until 60k. If you have a 4wheel drive take it the guy charging $16.99  and then go and pay someone $8 bucks to get the car washed, still the same price but at least you know the car will get done right cause they don’t vacuum or grease cars or wash windows. Once I am out of the system which hopefully will be in the next two months I will never visit a Jiffy Lube or a quick oil change place again. I will do it myself or take it to the guy who does it for $16.99 and go wait at the diner while it’s getting done.

One final note, do not take your car to Wal-marts either they are just as bad I have many horror stories I could tell you as well.

[97] Howard in Thornton, IL:  Attitude
 
I work for a construction company that has a fleet account for our cars and pickups.  I always try to go as soon as the store opens to get my oil changed.  Store #2983 is the worst for opening on time and getting your car done in a timely matter.  The last 3 times I have gone to store # 2983 they are suppost to open at 7:00 am according to the sign.  The first two tmes I waited 15 minutes before any one came out to take my unit, they were just walking around the bay area doing nothing.  The third time I went at 7:00 am there was no one even in the store.  Also when I did get my unit in all the help just stands around waiting for the next guy to do something.

So I got so frustrated I went to a different jiffy lube farther away from our office.  To my surprise store #2971 is completely different.  The two ladies that took care of my truck were very professional and fast!  They took care of everything on your check list.  Rosie even said that two of my grease fitting on the front end of the truck have not been touched in a long long time.  Brittney took care of everything top side and even vacuumed and cleaned the windows.  I think you should send the people from store #2983 to store #2971 and have Rosie and Brittney show them how to get the job done right.

[96] Charles:  Oil Plug
 
Last week, I took my daughter's car to the local Jiffy Lube where I had done business before.  Of course, a long time ago I realized that you "just say no" to all the high pressure to get a radiator flush, a new gas filter, a new air filter...etc.  I only wanted my oil changed.  The next day, I noticed huge puddles of oil under my daughter's car that had been parked on the driveway.  I took the car to my local car mechanic (a third generation car repair shop that has been in business for close to 90 years).  Well, my drain plug had not been properly installed and the oil was leaking out.  This is the last straw.  I will never go to any Jiffy Lube ever again.  I am lucky that this did not do permanent damage to the car.

[95] Bridget in Albany, OR:  Unneeded Parts
 
I saw the young guy with his sign for $5 at Jiffy Lube.  I realized that I was way overdue for an oil change and they had no customers.  I drove in - 5 guys converged on me. I was soon summoned to a computerized data center, where my demographics were entered.  Then, I was put through the checklist of things wrong with my car.  I said no to all of them, that I had other people to do that work.  There was some air filter that the guy showed me.  I told him I changed all my own air filters - his reply? "Good luck getting at this one to change it."  Just having my oil changed cost me over $30 - an oil change at my local service station costs $19.99.  If I had had everything done that this guy said I needed, I would have spent over $200.  What is wrong with this place?  Can't it sustain itself on oil changes alone?  Must every customer be dogged to have overpriced maintenance done to their cars?  Other than the "have a nice day" platitudes, I felt an overall sense of hostility that I did not cave in to the other "services" they wanted to provide to my car.  I will never, ever go there again.  I feel sorry for the place in ALbany also - that day they had no business for quite a stretch.

[94] James in Alexandria, VA:  Tires
 
I took my wife’s car to Jiffy Lube station #110 on Van Dorn Street in Alexandria, VA in early August. I had patronized this station previously and had varied negative experiences but this day ended up topping them all. I decided to watch this service closer than usual. As they began to wrap things up, I bluntly asked the representative Mr. Cash if all the paid services had been performed and he answered yes. I stated “I didn’t see them check the tire pressure”. He yelled to his crew “check the tires!” He looked at me for acceptance and I stated “They didn’t clean the windows” and he yelled “clean the windows!” At this point I was getting unfriendly glares from all the workers in the service bay. This continued for several items of service.

When I was returning home, I started to feel the car vibrate a little on the road. At home I checked the car out and began to rotate the tires when I discovered that all lug nuts on the right rear tire were loose. I could loosen all the nuts with my hand!! Every other tire had tight nuts as I had left them a few weeks back. Wow, I get Jiffy Lube upset because I demand what I pay for and they then loosen the lug nuts on my tire! I then vaguely remembered several workers on the opposite side of my car that I couldn’t fully observe from the office area.  

My email complaint to Jiffy Lube went unanswered of course, as had my previous complaints of delays, petty theft and rudeness. I will not return to Jiffy Lube as I will not risk my life on the road because I demand complete service.

[93] Joel in Roseville, MN:  Oil Amount
 
So I went to Jiffy Lube in Roseville, MN to get my oil changed...after answering no to every attempt to get me to buy something, they gave me the cheapest oil change possible. When I was done, I was driving away and the service engine soon light came on. I drove back right back and asked them about it. They did a quick check and told me the light was probably because I just put gas in my car and I didn't put the gas cap on tightly enough and that they had no responsibility for the problem. That has been known to happen to GM vehicles so I didn't think anything of it. They turned the light off and I figured everything was ok. The next day, the light came back on. Unfortunately, I was driving to California and was nowhere near the Jiffy Lube. After looking at the receipt, I noticed that they put too much oil in my car. I had to drain the oil and put new stuff in. The service engine soon light went off and everything was fine. I figured that their computer showed it was an oil problem, but they pawned it off as someone else's mistake.

[92] Robert in Columbus, OH:  Fraud
 
Today [Sep 3, 2005] I took my car to the Jiffy Lube #3131 located on Polaris Parkway in Columbus, Ohio.  The service tech, a young man named Ryan, asked me to step into the shop to ask some questions.  He asked if I had a recent coolant flush (I had), a transmission fluid change (I had) or a fuel filter change (I didn't recall).  When I agreed to have the fuel filter changed, Ryan informed me that he asks all his customers these questions to see if they are honest.  I told him that my being honest about the service history of my car had nothing to do with anything, and to please go on with the service I requested.  It was clear to me that had I not remembered when I had had certain service work done, Ryan would have attempted to sell me that additional service whether I needed it or not.  While paying out, I told Ryan that he should no longer tell people this.  He then began arguing with me that he had not really said that and persisted to argue even after I twice told him I did not want to debate the matter any longer.  When leaving Jiffy Lube I also noticed that Ryan had reported my car's mileage as 80,988 when it actually was 82, 800.  Not a big deal.  However, if I schedule my next oil change based on the mileage recorded on the invoice or the reminder notice on the windshield.  In that case I would be changing the oil about 2000 miles earlier that I need to.  Perhaps the error in mileage is only an error, but it seems consistent with your practice of up-selling.  To ice the cake, as I drive down the street leaving the store, I notice in my rear view mirror Ryan and co. had left my gas cap open hanging by its retaining strap.

Ryan was very rude, and Jiffy Lube (at least this store) practices unethical up-selling.  Fortunately I am competent enough to be aware of things such as my service history and my car's mileage, but not everyone is.  Shame on you and Ryan.  You have seen the last of my buisiness.

[91] Melinda:  Engine
 
In January 2005 it was a couple hundred miles from my next oil change when one day I started my car and all the oil came out from the oil filter.  I contacted Jiffy Lube where I always had had my oil changed.  They very quickly compensated me for my expenses ($96.00 and change) and I was very pleased.  Little did I know that less than an oil change later I now need to purchase a new engine.

Apparently when your oil comes out of the car like that there is many problems that can occur in the near or even distant future.  Without any prior knowledge of this fact you of course would think that Jiffy Lube is great that they paid your expenses.  However they know what damage this can cause in the future but do not mention that to you or even advise to have your engine looked at by your mechanic at that time to make sure there isn't any internal damage to it.

So now I am forced to purchase a whole new engine which is going to cost me approximately $5,000.00.  Of course Jiffy Lube claims they sent an independent agent out to look at my engine.  This independent agent that looked at my engine who Jiffy Lube sent says that the engine does need to be replaced but he does not believe it to be due to a lack of lubricant in the engine probably a defect or something.  So of course Jiffy Lube is not taking any responsibility for the damage to my engine.

It strikes me as funny that not only the Chevy dealer but another mechanic claim that the damage to my vehicle was caused by the lack of oil in the engine.   Also, the mechanic of 25 years at Chevy said that from the slug in my engine he doubts that the engines oil had been changed regularly or that clean oil was used for the changes. I did however have all of my Jiffy Lube receipts showing my oil changes approximately every three thousands miles from the time I purchased the vehicle new.  This infuriates me.  I guess the lesson is If you do decide to use Jiffy Lube make sure that you are standing at their viewing window watching them open the oil bottles and put it in your vehicle (don't let them use something from a pump because you can't see if that is good oil or new oil).

I am furious that no one is responsible to the damage to my engine which (by the way I always maintained at Jiffy Lube and did not even have 60,000 miles on it).  I will never use Jiffy Lube again and I hope that everyone who reads this experience tells everyone they know about it and they do not rely on Jiffy Lubes service either.  They will not be there for you if you have a major problem they will deny their responsibility for it.

[90] Daniel & Terry in Tulsa, OK:  Oil Plug
 
Took 2002 Kia Optima to JIffy Lube for oil change 12/9/04, mileage 14,194.

On 8/9/05 took Kia to dealership for warranty work, mileage 16,772.  Left car, went home, found oil on garage floor of brand new home where only the Kia has been parked, so it came from the Kia.  Jiffy Lube had been last one to do any work on car until now.  I called dealership and told them of the oil leak and asked the to check it out since they already had the car.  I was told the oil plug had been stripped and that was why I had oil leaking from my car.  Kia dealership took pictures and save the faulty parts for me.  Ordered new oil pan, repair bill $215.09, plus I was without my car for five days.  If the plug had fallen out while driving the car and lost all the oil, it would have void my warranty and I would have been out the cost of a new engine.  Called owner of the Jiffy Lube store and he said he was not liable, didn't want to see the evidence, and we could just take him to small claims court.  He tried blaming the Kia dealership saying they tampered with the plug causing the leak.  Hellooooo, it was leaking before I took the car in, only I didn't know it until I saw the empty space with oil on the floor.  Kia service advisor said this was not the first time he'd seen this same thing from Jiffy Lube.  Hope this helps

Follow-Up
Thanks for the links to the remedies page on Jiffy Lube. [The Remedies link is at the bottom of this web page.]

I did contact the Better Business Bureau first thing.  Now, that was a joke.  All they did was send me Jiffy Lube's rebuttal of denial.  I responded back that it was unacceptable.  BBB replied that they were closing the case and they believed that Jiffy Lube had made a "good faith effort".  A good faith effort at what????  All they did was deny they did anything wrong and tried blaming the Kia dealership for the problem.  They made absolutely no sense at all.  I replied back to BBB with that question and got no answer. I don't know if all BBB are the same nation wide, or if only the one here is totally worthless.  By the way, we are in Oklahoma, in a town near Tulsa.  Tulsa is where the Jiffy Lube "thing" happened.

After that, I did contact one of our local news stations.  I haven't heard anything from them.  After the completing the above actions, I went to the Jiffy Lube complaint web-site and so...here we are. It is a comfort to know I'm not alone in the Jiffy Lube take-advantage-of-people scam.  I did send the complaint to the law firm on the remedies page.

[89] In Concord, CA:  Unneeded Parts
 
Visited Jiffy Lube store # 1405 (Concord, CA) on 8/29/05 for an oil change & tire rotation on my 2005 Merc. Sable which is a company car and is billed through a fleet services account.  Everything was OK until I was asked to sign the bill.  I noticed that the final bill was approx. $20 higher than the estimate.  When I questioned the $20, the service advisor said that the car also got a new air filter.  I then asked why I wasn't informed of this and he had no answer.  I then asked to speak to the person that authorized the new air filter.  No one could answer to this and only say it was probably the store mgr.  I asked to speak to him.  No way, he had left for the bank.  I then asked to have the charges reversed and my original air filter put back in the car.  No way again.  I was told that the charges can't be undone.  Aft er inspecting my original air filter, there was no way that it needed replacing.  The car only had 19K miles on it and the filter was only slightly dirty.  A quick blow off with an air hose would have been sufficient.  I know that "up-selling" is a big part of their game.  I have experienced it (air filters) with other cars and have always said no.  This time however, takes the prize because they got the money without even asking.

[88] Craig in Dayton, OH: Employee
 
Jiffy Lube. The inside story.

I worked for Jiffy Lube in the Dayton, Oh area for 7 years, 5 of them as a manager. I left there in 1998 because of a difference in opinions on how the shop should be run. When I first started there the franchise was run buy a fellow who cared nothing but to give his customers good service. His philosophy was if you treat the customers right they will come back to purchase other services. Here is the truth. ALL quick lubes are the same. It is not just Jiffy lube. They make very little money off an oil change after you add up the cost of materials, labor and misc. expenses such as electricity, their cost is pretty close to what they charge their customer for an oil change. Where they make their money is what is called ancillary sales. You know, air filters, trans fluid changes and such where their cost on labor and materials is much less. After reading some of your complaints I find many of you just don’t understand some of the things that go into working on a car. Sometimes a skid plate has to be removed from under a vehicles engine just to get to the oil filter. That is not the fault of the quick lube industry but of the “engineers” from our favorite vehicle manufacturers. Anyway I digress. The franchisee I worked for had it right. His six stores he owned in Dayton did pretty well. His only mistake was he gave his friends too many “freebies” and did not pay his loan payments to Jiffy Lube International for the franchise. JLI eventually took the franchise from him and gave it to another franchisee who at the time owned over 300 Jiffy lubes east of the Mississippi river. This company started off by raising the price of an oil change to 25.99. (We only charged 21.95 for an oil change before that.) Then they started adding these additional services that were very high price many of which should only have been performed by ASE certified technicians. They also insisted on pushing every service that we could possibly do to every customer as soon as they pulled up to the door. Whether they needed it or not. When I raised concerns that this practice could alienate many customers I was told that we were in business to make money and could not please every customer. Well I had no choice but to do things the way they wanted. (I needed the job and it paid pretty well.) Almost immediately we saw our daily car counts start to drop. My shop went from averaging 60 cars a day to about 30 cars a day within about 3 months of their takeover. Soon after I left the industry all together. My advice to people is to avoid the quick lubes altogether. Not just Jiffy lube. When you need an oil change either do it yourself or take your car to a local mechanic. Most charge less than 15 bucks and won’t pressure you to buy other services you do not need. And quit being lazy. You can vacuum you car yourself for about 50 cents at your neighborhood car wash and clean you own windows. A small investment in a bottle of Windex should last you about a years worth of window cleaning. As for checking your tire pressure, most local mechanics will do this for no charge or you can do it yourself. Total cost of all this is about 16 dollars and can be done within about an hour on a Saturday morning

[87] Desiree:  Tires
 
I went to Jiffy Lube #1904  on 8/16/2005 for a simple oil change.  I had a coupon so it ONLY cost me $30 - too expensive in the first place.  Actually - it ended up costing me an additional $150!  While in for the oil change they checked my tire pressure and made sure that each tire was properly inflated.  The next day,  someone informed me that my tire was flat.  When I took it to a tire place,  there wasn't a leak or any damage to the tire besides the damage from me driving on a flat tire (it was a rear tire and I couldn't tell that it was flat).  In fact,  the place that checked for a leak/problem,  refilled the tire and put it back on (at my request -they recommended a new tire but I wanted an opinion from a friend that is a mechanic) - and 5 days later it still is completely inflated!  No slow leak,  no faulty tire.  I was leaving on vacation so we had to take another (much less comfortable) car and today I have to go get a new $128 tire placed on my vehicle - no doubt due to the negligence of Jiffy Lube.  When I spoke to the manager at Jiffy Lube - his only response was that it could have been a faulty tire!  Funny - the only time that it was faulty was right after they "checked the tire pressure."  Never again.

[86] Turnersville, NJ:  Unneeded Parts
 
We sent our teen age son to Jiffy Lube (Turnersville Lubrication, Inc., 5781 Rt. 42, Turnersville, NJ 08012) on 8/3/05 for a $29.95 oil change and he came home with an invoice reflecting charges to our credit card account of $133.95.  He was told he needed an engine cleaning service (he has a 1991 Honda Civic with 98,066 miles) which would cost approximately $50 which he naively OK'd.  When he got the bill however, the counterman told him, "we also did this and this...", and the bill was $141.99 with the state tax added.  In short, they weren't satisfied with scamming him for the extra "approximately $50", they also "slammed" all the other unnecessary crap onto the bill without even asking him.  We complained to the asst. manager and owner to no avail, other than to be offered a free oil change (as if we would ever want them to get a car of ours in to their lair again).  The owner claimed all work is pre-authorized by the customer and their selling tactics are forced on them by Jiffy Lube, but we doubt that "slamming" unauthorized charges onto a bill is corporate policy.

[85] Monte in MI:  Unneeded Parts
 
I took my truck to Jiffy Lube for an oil change while on vacation in Michigan.  The oil was changed OK and I haven't had any problems with the truck.  However they tried to con me into buying things I didn't need.  The tried to tell me that my serpentine belt was cracking and splitting and should be replaced right away.  I told them I would take care of it myself.  As it turns out, a friend of mine lives in the town where I was vacationing and he said he would install the belt if I would buy it.  I bought the belt at an auto parts store for $26.00 (The Jiffy Lube wanted $90.00).  When my friend looked under the hood he exclaimed "There's nothing wrong with this belt!"  So I still have the belt under the seat of the truck.  They  (at Jiffy Lube) probably thought that since I was from out of state that they could clip me.

[84] From "Dad":  Oil Filter
 
I TOOK MY CAR TO JIFFY LUBE (1995) SATURN THAT I BOUGHT  FROM A FRIEND , WHO HAD IT SINCE NEW, 150,000 MILES , BUT STIL RAN WELL AND WAS WELL MAINTAINED. THE DAY I REGESTERED IT I WENT TO JIFFY LIUBE AND CHANGED THE OIL AND TRANNY FLUID,  I TOLD THEM TO PUT IN HIGH MILEAGE MOTOR OIL. THEY CHANGED MY OIL IN A JIFFY ALRIGHT ,  I GAVE THE CAR TO MY SON WHO WILL BE USING IT FOR COLLEGE.  I CHECKED THE OIL A FEW DFAYS LATER AND IT WAS DOWN A QUART, STANGE I ONLY WENT 75 OR SO MILES. SO I ADDED A QUART. A FEW DAYS LATER MY SON COMES HOME AND SAYS THE CAR SMELL LIKE SMOKE.   CAN YOU GUESS WHAT HAPPENED ? THE FILTER WAS EITHER DEFECTIVE OR WASNT PUT ON PROPERLY , WHEN I TOOK IT BACK TO IFFY LUBE. THEY SAID IT WAS LEAKING AT THE FILTER. SO THEY CHANGED MY OIL AGAIN. THE CAR IS STILL RINNING , BUT THERES GOT TO BE SOME DAMAGE DONE TO THE BEARINGS, THE ENGINE SOUNDED LIKE A DIESEL WHEN MY SON GOT HOME, STRANGE  THING IS  HE SAID HE NEVER SAW THE OIL LIGHT COME ON. ANYWAY NO MORE JIFF FOR ME  EVER.

[83] Danielle in Columbus, OH:  Pricing
 
Jiffy Lube takes advantage of women!!  On July 26, 2005 I visited the JL #3130 on 7007 E. Broad St. in Columbus Ohio.  All I needed was an oil change for my 2004 Cavalier.  They were a little busy, and no one came out to ask me about anything the entire time I had waited.  When they had finished, they called me over to ring me up, and it came to $48.37.  I couldn't believe that was only for an oil change (on a simple cavalier, mind you), so I look at the receipt and asked why that was so much.  I saw no extra work added, and the cashier said "We used the same oil as last time."  That was it, so I assumed that was correct.  I reluctantly paid it.

When I arrived home, I referred to my receipt from the previous oil change.  I showed my husband and we compared his receipt from his last oil change.  He has a 2000 s10 (4 cyl, very basic).  My last oil change was $41.00, and his was $32.28.  He proceeded to show me the small but expensive differences.    On mine, I was charged 9.99 for an oil upgrade and a 5.00 special filter charge.  He doesn't have any of these on his at all.  My previous oil change had the special filter charge, but no oil upgrade. 

Is this the difference between a man and a woman bringing in basic vehicles?  I will never patronize any Jiffy Lube again and am encouraging others to do the same.

[82] Jacqueline in Baltimore, MD:  No Oil
 
I went to Jiffy Lube in Baltimore, MD the day before Mother's Day of 2005. The next day when I went to the market when I came out there was oil all under my car. I called the jiffy lube and informed the manager of the problem, he told me to bring it there. OK.

On my way home to drop all the groceries off I had my car cut off an both of my oil lights came on, mind you I have my one year old with me. I got the car to come back on and made a U turn to go back to the shopping center because there was a Pep Boys and I had to get some oil I guessed to make the trip.

Well I got the oil and made it home, dropped the groceries off to never make it out my block. The car stopped again and never started. I called Jiffy Lube explained what happened and they kindly had it towed back to there shop to find out my engine locked and no oil was in it. Can you say cracked oil cap. It wasnt cracked when I bought there, so that means it was cracked throughout the duration of the service.

They again had it towed to a mechanic they chose whom when I called wouldnt even give me info about my car without Jiffy Lube's approvel. Once getting it they confirmed the engine locked and Jiffy lube was going to pay for it to get a used engine with a horrible warranty.

Well I call the manager of Jiffy Lube and mind you I am a single mom 1 yearold and a 14 year old live in Downtown Baltimore, baby goes to daycare in Middleriver, MD and I work in East Baltimore. U mean I will have no car I live form check to check at this time.

The manager stated I would have to get a rental car an be reinbursed. Huh? I said I live from check to check. I try to keep my car up on preventive maintenance so I can avoid not having it. I had to beg for a prepaid rental car so that I could get back and forth to work. Thats one story.

While my car was @ there wicked mechanics they broke the flexpipe to my car so it sounded like a motorcycle when I picked it up and did something to my emergency break be cause the light was on. I explained this to the mechanics upon arrival to pick up the car and they told me my car wasnt running when it got there so they dont know what was wrong with my car before they fixed it. I told them I know what my car sounded like it an it didnt sound like a motorcylce. Well to sum it up I was held responsible for fixing it. I dont know how to sue if it is capable or who to talk to since the Jiffy Lube is privately owned.