You leave your car when you’re getting oil changed? Do you even check that they’re putting in new oil?
I buy wiper blades at the auto parts store and they change them for free.
Yes, I can change them, but it’s fairly hard to do on my car.
Not to pile on, but that was just a very…odd thing to do. Grow some balls. You have a voice, use it.
I had a Focus, too. Took me and one other person a good two hours to get the new wipers on – we figured it out after a bit, but actually making it physically WORK took some serious twisting and pulling.
As for me… ehh? I’m not seeing the horrified shock a lot of people seem to have, and though it would irritate me to know that I was not trusted by one of my customers (if you don’t trust us, go somewhere else) I wouldn’t have as much of a fit about it as some people imagine. I’d just chalk it up to “what a jerk, just because other people have screwed him over doesn’t mean I will” and go from there.
If I even vaguely suspect that the work hasn’t been done, I request to see the part replaced. I did that when I got my brakes fixed* and the mechanic didn’t even blink.
- Bloody damned Focus, again. The factory brakes went out to the tune of about $500 after 25,000 miles. I am NOT hard on my brakes; the pads I have on my ancient Saturn have stood me just fine for over 40,000 miles now. I get them checked every single time I go in for my every-three-thousand-miles-with-religious-fervor oil change (“Are you SURE my brakes are okay?!” “They’re just fine. You always ask. They don’t even vaguely need replacement yet.”). The brakes are about the only thing that hasn’t gone wrong with this car, mind…
In the Jiffy Lube where we go to have minor routine auto service (oil change and stuff) we can stand in the waiting room and watch them do their work
no need to mark up the part they are supposed to replace if you watch them replace it
I told the Cashier at a Jiffy Lube while I was paying I wouldn’t ever come back. Why? They tried to sell me a transmission fluid change and I drive a stick. They had drove the car into the garage, changed the oil and then asked me if I wanted a Transmission fluid flush and change. Uhhh, no thanks for the scam, but I’m sure you get lots of old ladies to pay for it, or people that don’t know that manual transmissions don’t have fluid in that sense.
I’m not going to spend money on a place that scams people like that.
What I don’t understand is why you went back to the Jiffy Lube that wronged you. They’re everywhere! There are 3 Jiffy Lubes within 2 miles of my house, and I don’t exactly live in a huge city. Why not just drive a mile or two out of your way and find a new Jiffy Lube?
The problem is that I feel like the good auto shops are so few and far between that you have to automatically assume that you’re dealing with someone either shady or incompetent (or both!). Like the mechanic who told me I needed new sparkplugs… in my diesel car. :smack: I mean, that situation was completely benign (and pretty funny), but if I didn’t understand that the idea of my diesel needing sparkplugs was completely asinine, I would have been pretty worried.
Back to the OP, I can see why you would be irritated that you got burned by these folks, but like everyone else said, why not go elsewhere? This is certainly one of those “small stuff” things that everyone is always saying you should not sweat. Save yourself a few bucks and lots of stress, and learn to change your own lights and windshield wipers.
I use Mobil oil change and I stay in the car too. I sit there, they check the front lights, brake lights, fill the windshield fluid and change the oil for the 18.99 price from the coupon in the paper. When I leave they give me a list of things they suggest I have looked at.
That being said, I think the guys really enjoyed talking about the asshole that marked up his wipers to make sure they did their job. You gave them a sucky customer story to laugh about for months. I think it was nice of you. 
I just re-read your post.
You did NOT call them thieves. You notched the wipers and they saw it - a bit assholish - but not that much. You then checked the work - that is actually smart.
I ask to see the old parts when swapped. Now, in my case, when I take the car in I will state:
“There is a cardboard box right there. Please put the old parts in the box.”
Both of us know WHY I ask that (to make sure the swap actually occurs). I also sometimes get a follow-up of, “We will charge more since we don’t get the core replacement.” I then tell them to just show me the old one and they can keep it.
All of this is fairly minor, and I ask in friendly way. But I AM telling them that they need to earn my trust.
One of my favorite moments in auto work:
I take in my old truck. There were 2 different engines made for it, a cheap 4 banger (mine), and the much more popular V6. The oil filter for the V6 would go onto the straight-4, but the gasket was in the wrong place. This would cause a leak after a couple minutes of driving.
One oil change out of 5, they would put on the wrong filter. I would let the quick lube place know about this problem, and remind them to put on the 4-banger filter. One time, the manager gives ME shit about how they would never make that mistake.
We all see this coming, right?
I drive home, and lo-and-behold oil is coming out. I drive back, find the manager and ask for the RIGHT filter. And an oil top-off (he tries to tell me that I could not have lost that much oil).
Sadly, those guys are running on a thin margin and too many of them WILL fuck you.
Did he go to a Jiffy Lube? Sounds like he went to a totally different J.Lube and took his aggression out on them instead.
ETA: Ok, it was the same store. But it was over a year since he’d been there. One wonders why he’d abuse his car by not maintaining regular oil service, but no matter. There’s no indication, however, that the same employees worked on his car both times. Hmm…
C’mon, guys. I change my engine oil on occasion (just to keep my mechanical mind in shape), and do most maintenance myself (including wiper changes). That said, I do no look down on someone who pays to have it done. Sometimes you just can’t be arsed.
We are all loose on what we have in abundance and tight on what we have in short supply. Sometimes a man has more money than time and pays to have simple things done. Shoeshine anyone?
Now for the obvious question, why would you go back to a place where you already got ripped off? And now that you did, what was wrong with just saying “this time do change the stupid wipers, not like last time when you sent me home with crappy old blades and never made it right”
Manual transmissions use oil instead of transmission fluid. That oil does need to get changed too.
The last time I went to a Jiffy Lube, the mechanic told me I should replace my air filter. I told him to fuck off, took a shit on the carpet and slept with his wife. Asshole.
Actually, he told me I needed a new air filter, and I told him that I was pretty sure I wouldn’t need a new one for about another 10,000 miles or so. He said it was pretty dirty, so I asked him to bring it to me so I could take a look. He came back with my (clean) filter, with a few leaves and a twig (yes, a twig) delicately balanced on top. I laughed at him, asked him to remove the crap he put on my filter and finish up my oil change. What a tool.
Sometimes you just have to laugh at stuff like that.
This is why I never go for the add ons at an oil change place. They can tell me that my fuel line is leaking gas, and I would take it to the mechanic.
I don’t care if I see fountains of fuel spewing out of the front of my car being ignited by cigarette cherries leaving the entire innards of Jiffy Lube a blazing inferno.
I simply say “No thanks” and drive what’s left of my car away…