Wal-Mart Fails To Change Your Oil And Lies About It
Tipster Toland pointed us toward the Stonecipher Report which contains an entry about a weary traveler who, against his better judgment, decided to get his oil changed at Wal-Mart. After his car was returned, he noticed that his oil monitoring system was still indicating 10% oil life. He asked the Wal-Mart employee if the oil had actually been changed to which she replied, "Yep, I know it was, cause I did it myself." He then went to go check the dipstick and discovered the oil hadn't been changed after all. His post, inside...
Hey everyone, been on the road for two days now and I'm about to pull out of Idaho Falls, ID and head north and then east into Montana.
The drive has been beautiful so far. Eastern Oregon is incredible. I had driven through there in the past, but it was night time and I didn't know what I was missing, but wow, one of the most colorful places I've ever been.
My travel was delayed a bit, however, when I stopped to get my oil changed, and I thought the story was worth passing along.
Now, I ordinarily avoid Wal-Mart like the plague, but I needed a change and I was about to hit a piece of road with no services for over 100 miles, so I figured I better get it done while I had the chance.
Sadly, the ONLY place in town to change my oil was at the local Wal-Mart. So as sick as it made my stomach, I pulled up and did it.
The girl (yes, not a woman) who took my information seemed friendly at first. She politely inquired about the full car load of stuff and said "you must be going somewhere cool."
"Chicago" I said with a smile.
I handed her the keys to the car and stepped out. She told me it would be a 20-minute wait, so I grabbed the iPod and the paper I had and went into the waiting room.
By the way, the one thing I was happy about was that at least this oil change was going to be cheap. Under $25.
About 25 minutes later the girl came into the waiting room and told me the car was ready. I paid, took back my keys and jumped in, ready to hit the open road again.
But when I turned on my car the oil monitoring system said I was still at 10% of my oil's life.
That was weird.
I got out of the car and asked the girl if she was sure that the oil change had in fact been done. She said "Yep, I know it was, cause I did it myself."
"Can you explain why my car is telling me it hasn't been?"
"Well we don't reset the meter in any of those Japanese cars" was her response.
I thought maybe she was right. In all honesty, I wasn't sure if this was something that had to be reset myself or if the car automatically did it upon an oil change.
The only way to find out was to check for myself. So I headed back to the car, popped the hood, and stuck in the dipstick.
Sure enough, it was almost empty.
Unreal. They had just charged me $24 and told me they had changed the oil, but it was never done! They knew they were the only place for miles and miles, this could cause serious problems for people without the monitoring system to alert them it wasn't done.
If it wasn't for that I never would have thought to double check. In the future I will.
Anyhow, at this point I wasn't Wal-mart's happiest customer ever. So I went back in and told the girl what I found.
She called in the mechanic and IN FRONT OF ME said to him "why didn't you change the oil?" Clearly she either forgot, or just didn't care that she had already told me that SHE had done it.
His response was "You told me to just pull it into the lot, you didn't say anything about an oil change."
I was on the mechanic's side for a minute until he looked at me and said "When we get these foreign cars in here, sometimes it gets confusing."
Now I was just livid.
First of all, my car being foreign was 100%, fully and completely irrelevant to the fact that they had just charged me $24 to allow my car to sit in their garage for 24 minutes before pulling it into their parking lot. A dollar a minute. Wow.
On top of that, the disdain for my foreign car was becoming very apparent now. Which was also irritating. My bet is that neither of these people knew that while their own American cars were built by foreign workers for next-to-nothing wages, all of my Honda Civic (with the exception of the engine) was assembled in Ohio by well paid, and highly skilled Americans.
The parts were also produced in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, once again, by American workers.
Long story short, I thought about getting a manager and demanding my money back. And in retrospect, I should have. But I wanted to get back to the road and try to keep my blood pressure low. So I waited a few more minutes while the mechanic replaced the oil in my ever-so-complex Civic and instead of getting my money back I'll just blog about what a rotten, evil and horrible place Wal-Mart is.
I hate Wal-Mart. Ok, so now it's time for me to hit the road, so much for this being a quick note.
The lesson: When your gut says don't go to Wal-Mart, listen to your gut. Also, it is a good idea to check your engine's dipstick no matter where you get your oil changed.
A Quick Note From Idaho (And Why I Hate Wal-Mart) [Stonecipher]
(Photo: Getty)
Attention, Walmart shoppers! This ad is for you! Woo hoo!
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Comments:
That sucks.
First, oil life gauges mean absolutely nothing. They measure time (3 to 5 months, depending on car) and mileage (3 to 5k, depending on car). Using these two factors they estimate what kind of life your oil has. If the oil is breaking down or leaking, you will get a check engine light.
Also, it should not matter if the dipstick indicated that it was "almost empty" because engines, unless they are malfunctioning, do not use up oil. If they did not change it should have been just as full as it always was, albeit dirty (honey colored and clear-ish is clean, really dark brown and black is dirty). Thus "almost empty" after an oil change is indistinguishable from "almost empty" before an oil change. There is a range on the dipstick that the oil level needs to fall into, as long as it does you are good.
Also, without taking the dipstick out, cleaning it, putting it back in all the way, then taking it out again, it is impossible to get a real reading of the oil level. this is due to the "creep" of the engine oil caused by surface cohesion.
Since op has an half-admission I am inclined to believe it, but the method used was not a bona-fide way to see if they did it or not.
I don't mean to be overly critical out of the gate here, but a quick google maps search reveals a whole bunch of places to get your oil changed in Idaho Falls. That's still no excuse for anyone, even Wal-Mart, to not do anything at all to your car, regardless of make and model.
Welcome to Idaho/Montana. Folks are friendly on the surface but you will be QUICKLY and HARSHLY reminded you are an outsider.
Consider yourself lucky you didn't raise your voice or you wouldn't have had a chance to post until you made bail.
Driving to Chicago? Stop as little as possible between there and Minneapolis, if you take that route. Most (99%) of roads are not marked as "toll" on the map - but technically they are.
Your out-of-state plates and foreign car make you a prime target for paying trumped up tolls. Make sure you have a current insurance card and registration and test that all your brake lights, turn signals etc. work flawlessly.
And what in the hell were you thinking letting a Wal-Mart touch your car?! If you're taking the northern route (I-90/94) stop again in Billings and have it done. Southern route (I-80) - maybe Casper. Good luck.
I am not blaming the OP or anything, but what does 100 miles matter? It seems that he knew that his car was doing something hinky that 100 miles would matter. Assuming the 10% light just came on, 10% of 3000 miles is 300 miles, not 100. I never freak out when I am driving and I'm close to my oil change time. Most cars can do 5000 to 7500 per oil change. My Dad's Corolla can do 7500. My 85 Cutlass Ciera gets a change every 3000 b/c it's 23 years old. Also, when I am going on a trip lie a vacation, I always bring the car in for a full service oil change at my trusted mechanic so I can drive w/o worries.
I watched the mechanic change my oil (NOT Walmart) and he asked me if I knew how to reset the oil life because you have to do it yourself. I didn't so he showed me how. Now I do it myself after it is changed.
There's a lot in this story that is very questionable, with many of my questions asked by the people above.
At least they kinda admitted they didn't do the oil change unlike the Jiffy Lube incidents a few years back. Many of the chains would take your car in and do absolutely nothing. They would go as far as recommend to do other work (fuel filter replacement and other fluid flushes) and wouldn't do any of it. Then they would deny it if people questioned it. It was on a bunch of the nightly news networks.
But the biggest issue I have with this story is that your Civic obviously has to be decently new if it has an oil life meter so why is your oil level reading as a quart low?
Here is another reason why Wal-Mart sucks. This person should have had the oil change BEFORE hitting the road like I am about to do this week. Wal_Mart is evil. When you lead a bad life, after you die, you will go to Super Wal-Mart where you will be hopelessly lost in it forever. Wal-Mart Sucks!
At least it was only a 25 minute wait. I've had 2+ hour waits at Wal-Mart and I'm not sure thet actually did anything. Sometimes the savings just isn't worth it. I get my oil changed a local place now.
I had an early 60's AH Sprite with an oil change indicator light on the dash. It was powered by a switch linked to both sides of the oil filter. When the pressure drop across the filter rose, the light on the dash would come on (indicating the filter had become dirty). No reset or arbitrary mileage/months needed. Just by the way that before the current oil change reminders there were low tech, reliable non-computerized alternatives.
I think you people are missing the point. This is not a Wal*Mart issue, it's a quick job oil change issue.
Seriously, Wal*Mart, Jiffy Lube, Texaco, they're all the same. They hire the same high school dropouts who peaked in the 10th grade before getting their girlfriend/step-sister pregnant and dropping out to get a job at the local oil change place because once they changed their own oil on a 25 year old beater they got for $50.
Okay, so maybe that's a bit over the top. My dad had his oil cap left off by Wal*Mart, I had my antifreeze drained and never refilled by Texaco (thank God the engine didn't warp or crack) and a friend of ours was told his engine was "leaking coolant and possibly had a blown headgasket" when in fact one of the dumbasses working there spilled coolant and never told anyone or cleaned it up.
Now I go to a trustworthy mechanic 100% of the time. If a chain place screws up it's no big deal as that's something for the main office to worry about. If a local mechanic screws up he doesn't want to lose his livelihood and is more apt to make it right and also more likely not to screw up to begin with.
By the way, you might want to learn a bit about changing your oil as stated above. You shouldn't see low (unless they drained and never refilled it) but if you did you'd see a check engine light or the engine would just stall and you'd see the oil light IIRC. At least that's how it was in my old Chevy, I'm not sure about Hondas but I assume it's the same.
Most cars can go far beyond the 3,000 miles per oil change....at least enough to make it to wherever you're going. I would've done that and gotten my oil changed at a reputable mechanic.
I wouldn't let a Wal-Mart employee fill my gas tank, much less change my oil.
I didn't even know Walmart had oil change facilities. I'm not surprised they are sub-standard, but I've found many of the Jiffy Lube type places are poor as well. I used to drive a 1991 manual transmission Civic, and it didn't have power steering. Invariably, when these places would present me with the list of checks of fluid levels for my car, they would show the power steering fluid as checked OK or that they had added fluid. They would be dumbfounded when I told them there was no power steering in the car. I eventually stopped questioning these places about it because I didn't like to see them embarrassed.
I always get my `02 Chevy's oil changed at a quick change place with big windows. I watch the kids service my truck.
@ClayS: I have a permanent air filter, so they hate when I come in and can't convince me that I need a new one. I also laugh when they suggested a fuel filter change, and I would say , "which one?". I run two fuel filters b/c my car sat for one year in garage, and the fuel system was pretty bad. I love the dumb look they get on their face.
@DarrenO: why you gotta diss bile like that? without it lipid emulsification wouldn't take place, and your duodenum would be very inefficient at processing fats! THE MORE YOU KNOW ==☆
My now-wife, not at the time, drove her Honda Civic 30,000+ miles without an oil change.
We still have the car. I'm not going to say it runs fine, but it runs.
The OP went into the deal expecting bad results and he got what he was looking for. Self fulfilling prophesy?
Change it before you leave and go 7,500 miles or more (synthetic oil and a decent filter). On the highway, 10,000 miles is no problem. Not saying walmart didn't screw up, but when you combine them with quickie oil change work, it's bound to screw up.
(not blaming OP, just proposing an alternative. Been screwed over one too many times by quickie places, including fried electronics to the tune of a couple grand in repairs over 4 or 5 years. All DIY now)
Being Consumerist, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of Wal-Mart bashing in these comments, if there isn't already.
I've never had a problem getting oil-changes at Wal-Mart.
The one time I didn't go, and went to Pep Boys instead, they took the oil and filter out and didn't change them, and when I took the car back a day or two later because it was doing weird things and making awful noises that it wasn't doing before I took it to them, they didn't even look at the car and tried to first tell me that the sensor was broken, and then that the car(a Hyundai Accent) had a leak and had burned off all the oil in less than 24 hours and perhaps being driven 50 miles.
I told them since it didn't start having problems until they'd touched it, they were looking at it and fixing whatever they broke and I wasn't paying for it. I get back in the car, and they've left their form of "what's wrong" that said the filter was either missing/dirty/damaged, and on top of that they put 5 quarts of oil in it. The car was fine afterwards, of course, those 5 quarts of oil not going anywhere until the next oil change. I don't go to Pep Boys anymore.
@tekno-yanqui: Ah, the good old Wisconsonian FIB tax. It's why God created cruise control. All the out-of-state plates going 55 and all the locals going 80 ....
ok I am going against the current here, and have to admit that our local wal-mart does a decent job in the automotive.
Then again this is a small town and you know everyone that works in walmart.
I have a Honda Pilot and live in Michigan. You must reset the oil monitor with the odometer button. It seems the writer automatically thought the oil techs did this. Was this his first oil change? Learn your vehicle.
I have always used Wal-Mart for oil changes with no problem. No foreign car anger and I live in a GM town (or should I say formerly GM since they have closed most everything and shipped it to Mexico).
This sounds like a mix up between the counter person and the oil tech. The owner should have talked to management. By not doing so, which would have taken a few minutes, he has not shown the problem to management so it can be corrected.
Seems he may have a disdain for the folks who live in this rural area.
Fishy story.
I agree that learning how to change the oil in your car is easy. But when you're on the road, changing the oil can be difficult, especially since the oil can be pretty hot at this point. And who wants to carry around 4 quarts of oil, oil filter, and oil pan while on vacation?
i'm gonna hafta go with the two people who mention the fact that low doesn't equal not changed, because they're right. you change your oil and it gets clearer. if you have crack in your engine block or your piston rings are going, or something similar, then your car would be burning or leaking oil. as it is, if you correctly checked the oil level on a car with a dipstick, it would only appear to be an inch or two deep. this is not an indication of an oil change. the poster is making no sense.
i drive a honda civic. i go about 6000 miles between oil changes and it's got 133k on it. runs just fine. if you're making a long drive you get a tune up/oil change BEFORE you leave your town.
I have to go with Wal-Mart on this one. I have one of them there Accords, and you have to take a drain plug out EVERY TIME you change it. That's the last time I buy foreign.
/sarcasm
Something about this story just sounds/feels like a lie to me. I hate Walmart and know how scammy low cost oil change places can be, but something about this just doesn't ring true.............
@linus: if his car is seriously running with an empty oil pan he'd have to carry 4 quarts with him just to make sure the engine seizes. also, you do it in the morning after a night's rest. i've done that too. it's really not difficult. you get a large disposable tupperware from the grocery store (with lid). i've had shops let me dispose of used oil. people are really nice if you say please.
OK. So, my first question is: Why does this guy hate Walmart before he stopped in for his oil change? I have gotten bad service at a Walmart, at a Target, Best Buy, Car Toys, etc. but, I don't think of the whole company as being bad. I complain and get what I am supposed to be paying for. That being said, I think this guy ran into some ignorant hicks who were simply covering each other's ass. A lot of Walmarts seem to be full of those. I'm always on someone's side if they get bad service but, I would be on this guy's side even more if he would first explain what his problem with Walmart is. I go there a lot for basic household items and I'm sick of people criticizing. Hey, if the prices are lower and I'm getting the same stuff, I'm going to pay the lower price. I get my oil changed at my Suzuki delearship AND I do it BEFORE taking a road trip.
engine doesn't* seize (pebcak today)
On some dipsticks it can look like there is no oil on them when your oil is fresh, on one of my cars its almost impossible to see the level, until you position it just right in the right lighting.
A civic. Every damned kid gets a civic as their first car, and you telling me they never changed the oil of one of 'em? You kick a rock and there's 30 civics popping out. Ridiculous.
Yeah, no more Wal-Mart for my family, either. The one in Oneonta, NY almost destroyed my father's little Chevy S-10. They drained the oil, changed the filter, and never REFILLED the oil! THEN they drove his truck out to the parking lot without oil!
Thank god my dad checks over people's shotty work. Needless to say.... Wal-Mart MORE than compensated him on their error.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've heard that none of the Wal-Mart 'technicians' are actually trained to do much besides change oil.
My wife went to Walmart once to get an oil change on her Civic, yes one of those complicated foreign cars, and they forgot to put the cap back on! We noticed a ridiculous large oil stain underneath her car the next day, popped the hood, and everything was coated in oil. I can't believe they forgot to put the cap back on. So freaking complicated.
I too try and avoid Wal-Mart as much as I can, but sometimes you just have to go.
I used to have an F150, manual, and had my oil changed there one day. Everything went great and I paid and went out and waited for them to pull it around. While standing there, I watched as they pulled it out of the bay and parked it at an angle next to another vehicle.
The poor excuse of a human being neglected to put it in any gear or use the parking brake, so when he jumped out, it started rolling... towards the other car. He desperately tried to open the door, but it was locked, so he quickly fumbled the keys in his hand and unlocked it, jumped in and stopped my truck inches from the car to its side.
Fuck Wal-Mart. Pieces of shit.
Some namby pamby who doesn't know anything about oil/cars is complaining because some high school girl doesn't? I'm so sympathetic.
Buck up, be a man and learn something about a car! First up, the oil doesn't go down as you drive unless there's a problem with oil being burnt or leaked, period. Get over the whole "they don't like my Civic" victim crap, its as tired as the anti-import attitude.
Proud to say i've never been to a Wal Mart. Vote with your feet!
@mospeada: I'd say its a legitimate complaint if any oil change tech doesn't know how to deal with the oil change system on one of the most popular cars in America.
Wal Mart left the lights on my truck after an oil change and drained my battery completely. Then they had the nerve to say that it was an older battery anyway, so if there were any issues with it taking a charge they wouldn't be responsible.
The state of OP blaming here has gotten disasterously bad here.
/shakes head
I think we can all learn something from the OP's experience. LEARN TO CHECK YOUR FREAKING OIL PROPERLY!
Toland, seriously dude, oil is not consumed by your engine, at least under normal low-wear circumstances. Only the last 1 or 2 inches of the dip stick is actually used to show you how much oil is in the engine. The rest of the length is to get that last two inches from the pull handle on the stick to the very top of the oil sitting in the pan. With a proper X quart oil change the oil should only appear in the middle or towards the bottom of the crosshatches when cold.
Also, those oil life monitors on newer cars, they are merely a reminder for complete morons that can't read the freaking odometer. That's all they do, they don't have any fancy sensors telling you if the oil is broken down or if it's got any contaminants. It's just a timer for idiots (Not implying that you are one, but I've heard some whoppers). You could act like the thing never existed and just go by the Odometer reading. It's like Lexmark's maintainance count on their printers, it doesn't really tell you anything other than you've printed 50,000 pages since the timer was last reset.
Last thing, It's not going to irrepairably damage your car if you wait until you reach your destination before changing the oil. Just make a mental note to get it done ASAP.
@DarrenO: amen. I'm having a hard time with the OP.
10% life doesn't mean your oil is low on the dipstick. You really need to look at color, smell, & slick to determine life left in the oil.
There's something odd about this post.
First, he claims his oil life was at 10%. That's all right, he's driven it for a while. But then he says he checked his oil and it was almost empty? It seems that he's equating his oil life meter to a gas gauge -- showing how much oil is left before he runs out. Unless his car is consuming oil, and thus, has bigger issues. But then why didn't he disclose that or sound alarmed that his oil was low (other than feeling he'd been ripped off)?
Naturally Wal-Mart is at fault here for not changing his oil, but it seems that the poster stumbled upon this fact purely by accident.
I haven't been in Wal Mart auto part for awhile, but I believe their waiting area has windows of the car bay - why not just watch what work is done to the car.
Where I do get my oil changed, same thing. I can see the car pulled in and what work is done.
Errrr...the vast majority of American cars are still built in the US and Canada, with a minority made elsewhere (Korea or Mexico).
"Now, I ordinarily avoid Wal-Mart like the plague"
Every Walmart story includes this phrase and it's always a lie.
...
I'm not sure I'm buying this post at all. Firstly, you do need to reset the gauge yourself. Secondly, "almost no oil" means one thing to me: The OP probably did not check the oil with the car running at operating temperature.
The information that matters the most is not provided: did the oil look clean? Or was it a thick black sludge?
@bbvk05: Actually, most of them record the actual number of engine revolutions, and some of them actually have sensors that measure the ammount of additives in the oil to see how broken down the oil is.
if your dipstick was showing almost empty, you have bigger problems then needing an oil change. You should see a nearly full amount of thin runny, dark gross oil when its time to change, not no oil. The real question is...did you check it again after the did it to see?