Incompetance in Action

[BDH]

A couple of years ago, I swung into one of the 10 minute oil change places for an oil change. For the next couple of weeks, I would smell oil burning, but it would go away after a few minutes driving. I finally decided to take it to the dealer to see where I was leaking. Sure enough.... they didn't screw the filter on the whole way, so it would leak a little, then burn off. I committed to myself never to use an instant oil change place again.

Last Wednesday, I was running around trying to get ready to head out to the Buckeye Blast, and realized that I HAD to get an oil change before putting all those extra miles on. You guessed it, I didn't have time for a trip to the dealer, so I hit the local quicky place.

First, thing that happens.... I am standing in front of my Explorer, when the kid in the pit holds up a filter, looks at the manager, and says "does this look like the right one?"

Second, I pull my ride out of the garage to load up before heading to Rayner's, and notice some oil on the floor of the garage. It wasn't much, so I made a mental note to just keep an eye on my oil pressure.

Third, we head out for the Blast. I am heading down one of the back roads into Rayners when my low tire pressure indicator comes on. Now what? Fortunately, Tom Rayner had a gauge and compressor, and we found out the problem was not that I picked up something in a tire, it was simply that the stooge at the oil change place set my pressure to 28 - 30 pounds, when they are supposed to be set at 35 psi........

Guess where I am heading at lunch today....

[rtr]

It's a wonder to me people even go to these places. I know of one of these places that had 2 subarus come in within a few weeks of eachother. Both of them had the following symptoms after visiting:

A burning oil smell

A dead transmission within a day after visiting

Yup you guessed it they drained the tranny fluid, overfilled the oil, in both cases they didn't pay the owners a cent.

[Chuck D]

Last trip to Valvoline Instant Oil Change for me....

all 4 tires underinflated with different pressure readings for ALL 4.

treated like garbage because I didn't want to purchase any extras like tire rotation, engine flush or transmission service.

treated like garbage because I didn't want to give the service writer my work phone number. why would they want THAT?

called to complain, getting my money back.

that's what you get when you are too busy (lazy?) to change your own oil.

[sargenv]

I dunno.. I do it mostly because it's inconvenient for me to do so. If I had garage space I'd probably do it, but since I don't, this is something I can get done by other people without having to worry about the old oil.

I take it to this place called Oil Stop. They are owned by Chevron and use Chevrom lubes. They keep track when I need things like differential oil done (In a Jeep, it's every 12k miles, dealer reccomended). They always try to sell me some extra snake oil, and I always kindly decline. They don't have any issues.

They changed my radiator fluid one time and had to flush the system like 3 times to get all the bad stuff out. No extra charge. In fact, when I went back the next time, it needed another flush and they did that for me no charge. They charge a little more, but it gets taken care of, so far be it from me to complain.

Not a real reccomendation or anything, they are usually prompt and get things done in good time (not 10 mins, but usually more like 20). I prefer them to be thorough more than fast, less chance of a screwup that way. And the always put all my tires to the same pressure (usually 35-40 psi) and I see that they do it all around (they have these special air pressure regulators that fill it to the designated pressure and then cut off).

Vince