Desperate Upsell (Jiffy Lube) Ha ha ha!

[IsLand_BoY]

I needed my tires rotated as I haven't done it in 10K miles. I decided the convenience of Jiffy Lube was worth the slight premium over another shop. I drive up, and the young tech says "Your front tires are bald. You should replace them" as he's looking around (NOT at my car) - I looked at him and told him to show me. Ha ha yeah right.. I have 23K on my OEM tires with *plenty* of tread left. He took me for an idiot . I told him to rotate my tires and that's it. I've never experienced a desperate upsell like that. That'll teach me to be lazy and go there. I'm going to buy a jack and jack stands within the next few months and rotate my tires on my own every other time I change my oil.

Any similar experiences personally, or that you've heard from friends and family? And I do remember seeing some Jiffy Lube shops on TV via hidden camera where they were caught not changing what they were supposed to.

Stupid Jiffy Lube.. I actually had to bend down and look at my tires to make sure they actually rotated them. I wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't . Granted, the guy was nice and I realize it's mangement pushing them hard for extra items - but come on now, telling me I need new tires after 23K miles of light driving is a little too desperate.

[wizard8873]

one of my ex's went there and she had her ABS light on. they told her that if she doesn't get that fixed ASAP, her brakes will stop working and she could get into a serious crash. she looked at them and laughed. the guy asked why she was laughing and she explained what ABS was and when the guy realized she knew what she was talking about, he turned around and walked away.

[wrathofpyro]

My dad walked in with a 2 year old car to get a leaky seal on one of the exhaust system pipes fixed and walked out with new brake pads and rotors oh and a huge bill...

[Kelita]

They didn't try to sell me anything but they put the wrong weight oil in my truck. Good thing I was paying attention to the cashier when she read off what they did. I questioned her and she asked me if I wanted the oil drained and the right weight put in. I told her of course I did, they messed up AND the right weight of oil was printed right on the oil cap. Needless to say, I will never go back to Jiffy Lube.

[OldSocks]

Check this out
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wiCAJ8ULnaI

Feel free to research more but... LOL

[fearthedreadlox]

Wow, crazy. It's too bad that people actually do get jipped. It's better if you know a friend or someone who will do it for you, if you can't do it yourself.

[OCZ]

I went in to get an Oil change and the stupid jackasses was like you need this you need that...and I was like...I CAME HERE FOR AN OIL CHANGE!!! THATS IT! NO MORE NO LESS! and I just yelled at them...and my car had like what 14K...so it was 97% new...lol....so I was like mofos....and I just kept yelling thiefs and so on...lol

[R3ADi7]

my brother took his car to get an oil change and the guy tried to tell him that he needed new fuel injectors. so basically he was an idiot and all it needed was some fuel injector cleaner.

[TheRupp]

That link is a good watch... Makes me curious which other regions are doing this as well. I'm also curious about Valvoline places, I haven't heard a bad thing yet about those places, although the sources are automotively illiterate.

[R3ADi7]

i heard this one prank call before, this radio show host was posing as a mechanic who was fixing this one lady's car and they called her and told her stuff like her headlight fluid was running low and they would have to replace it, they were saying that her front tires were in the rear and the rear tires were in the front and it could cause a major accident, and many other ridiculous things that i cant really remember. the lady was completely oblivious, it was so funny.

[wizard8873]

oh, back in the day, i was going through cardomain and some guy took his eclipse in for an oil changes before going to a show. well, they told him that the car was finished and was waiting outside for him. he walked out and it wasnt there. he went back in checking to see if it was in the back or inside but it wasnt. i guess what happened is there was a guy waiting infront and the guy pulling out the car gave him the keys. they found the car two hours later completely gutted. dont know if its true but he had pics of it so i guess it was.

[TheRupp]

i heard this one prank call before, this radio show host was posing as a mechanic who was fixing this one lady's car and they called her and told her stuff like her headlight fluid was running low and they would have to replace it, they were saying that her front tires were in the rear and the rear tires were in the front and it could cause a major accident, and many other ridiculous things that i cant really remember. the lady was completely oblivious, it was so funny.

LOL i heard this too! Is this the same thing as the blinker fluid and the 2nd transmisson?

oh, back in the day, i was going through cardomain and some guy took his eclipse in for an oil changes before going to a show. well, they told him that the car was finished and was waiting outside for him. he walked out and it wasnt there. he went back in checking to see if it was in the back or inside but it wasnt. i guess what happened is there was a guy waiting infront and the guy pulling out the car gave him the keys. they found the car two hours later completely gutted. dont know if its true but he had pics of it so i guess it was.

Uh, wow, hopefully that wasn't anywhere in IL... of course for the next 5 years or 100,000 miles I'll be taking my car to Nissan for service, but for some reason I'm not appalled or surprised that stuff like this goes on.

[IsLand_BoY]

Ahahaha.. Some funny stories here. I feel bad for those who got taken advantage of - this is exactly why it's in everyone's best interest to learn how to do as much they can on their own..for anything.

I think I'm going to get a wheel alignment from another local shop in the next few months. I noticed my front tires (which are now on the rear) are more worn on the outside shoulder. I keep my tires 4-5 PSI above what Toyota recommends so it's not underinflation.

PS: Blinker fluid. HA HA HA. I've heard of that one before..

[Guest 203]

Jiffy Lube is really only for oil changes. They actually don't know/aren't equipped to do ANYTHING else.

In fact, they're not capable of doing oil changes either. I could tell you horror stories... but then my post would never end. Don't believe me? Talk to ex-JL employees who saw what the hell they got themselves into and got out while they still could. They'll tell you all about it... and you'll have a hard time trying to figure out why exactly they're still in business.

Stay away from Jiffy Lube AT ALL COSTS. It's NEVER worth it. If you have to put a thousand or so more miles on your car to get it changed elsewhere (or better yet, do it yourself), so be it. It's much better than going to JL. Chances are that if you go to JL... you probably won't even get your oil change even though you paid for it.

And yea, you've all figured out they try to sell you services that they can't/won't do anyway.

Oh, and they'll hire any monkey that can hold a wrench. They hire people right off the street... no background checks, nothing. That's not to say everyone that works there is a monkey... but the ones who aren't were smart enough to get the hell out so chances are its mostly monkeys who are actually left still working there

[wrathofpyro]

That jiffy lube one made me laugh so hard I pissed my pants...