(oamg823)
Peter copied Consumerist on his letter to Walmart about his baffling recent experience with a local Auto Care Center. The ever-helpful technicians–who, as he learned later, were apparently random people drafted to perform oil changes on an understaffed day–left Peter’s car unlocked and unattended in the parking lot, with the ignition on but the motor not running, despite his explicit instructions. Would you have shrugged the incident off, or been as angry as Peter?
My name is Peter [redacted] and I am writing today to express a deep concern about the Auto Care Center at your Walmart Store #[redacted]. I had arrived at the store right about 615pm on September 1st for an oil change on my 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara. I was told it would be 1hr 45 mins for the oil change. That was fine as me and my wife were going to walk to a nearby restaurant for dinner.
The associate filled out information on the handheld scanner and went out to check the mileage. When he came back in, I asked him; “Did you lock the car door, I have my work laptop and GPS in the car.” The associate stated ” I did not lock it, don’t worry, we will be pulling it in momentarily”. I said ok, and me and my wife proceeded out the door to go have dinner. An hour went by and we came back and the car was still in the same spot, so I decided to look in the passenger side window to see if they put the new sticker on signaling a complete oil change.
But then I got upset. Not because the oil change had not been done, but I noticed that my radio was on and other items as well. I walked around to the driver side of the car to still find my car unlocked. Now, my car is one of these new cars that you do not have to use a key for, as long as the keyfob is in the car you can turn the ignition. But, then you can take the key out of the car and it will still start and drive away without the key in the car. So, my car sat in the parking lot for an hour unlocked with the ignition turned to the accessory position with my work laptop and GPS in the car and anyone could have just gotten in the car, started it and driven off!
We went inside and question the technician, my wife said to him, “You left the car on for an hour draining the battery and anyone could have taken the car.” To which his response was, “Well, sorry, but if the battery would of went bad we would have just jumped it.” He did not seem to care that the car was unlocked and on. I heard the other tech in the garage on the way out to the car to ensure he turned it off and locked it say to the other tech “It’s not a big deal, there is no key so it will not start.” This is also a wrong statement.
My wife and I went up and talked to the assistant manager of the store and she told me that they are short staffed back there and had people helping out that were not techs. But when I went back out to check, the original associate that took my order that said when I got there that “There was only one tech and and I’m not it”, was under a car doing an oil change. That worries me as well, if he is not a tech, what is he doing under a car performing oil changes?
So, the manager told me she would discuss the issue with them and that she would make sure it did not happen again. You know, I have been a Wal-Mart shopper for quite a few years now, I buy all of my groceries from there versus another local chain down the road, but this is the second time now with an oil change that I have had a sour experience, the other being at [redacted], near where I work. I have paid $57 dollars and change for this oil change, but it could of cost Walmart a lot more, like an insurance claim for a stolen car and this situation may deter me from shopping with Walmart in the future. I thank you for your time.
Sending this letter was important, since Walmart should know precisely who is dealing with their customers’ cars. However, the lesson for Peter here is clear: stop taking his car to Walmart. (Also, stop leaving his laptop and GPS in the unattended car, whether it’s locked or not.)
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$57 for an oil change? Where do you live? I just got a coupon in the mail for $25 at Midas here in central NJ (I go to my mechanic who charges a little more as I prefer to have one person know what is going on with my car — can’t remember what I paid last time as I had other work done but is probably around $30). Also, I can go to my local Jersey Lube and unless the line is outrageous can be out in well under a hour 45 min.
Anyway, as others said, it is very foolish to leave a work laptop in a car that others are going to be in. Same for the GPS, though that is easier to hide. And leaving the keys in the car in a big, public lot such as WalMart where many people are coming and going is just asking for trouble on WalMart’s part.
The OP did everything wrong here. Do NOT get your car serviced at Wal Mart. End of story. Do NOT leave valuables in an unattended car, especially if someone else has the keys. If it’s a work laptop, there’s a lot more value to it than the hardware. The data on it is probably much more valuable than the hardware and no commercial encryption of any kind will actually stop a motivated hacker.
My father-in-law was a manager at a Wal-Mart store and would share many issues with the auto department. Several times the auto department had forgot to replace the gasket or the oil plug which resulted in all of the oil leaking out of the car and several motors had to be replaces. In my own experience my vehicle had the oil plug stripped which resulted in leaking oil as well from the same Wal-Mart. Fortunately I was able to get Wal-Mart to accept responsibility. The entire oil pan had to be replaced and this was a 500 dollar part not counting the labor. Remember the people who are working at the Wal-mart, and many other quick change oil services are not trained mechanics. You get what you pay for. I have since found a reliable mechanic and have my oil changed there. it may cost more, but I know I will not run the risk of having someone improperly tighten an oil plug with a crescent wrench and not a torque wrench.
as a reader here, he should’ve used more common sense
there are lots of car care stores that he could’ve used instead of walmart, like independents
personally, i use the pep boys near my work and school
OP, come clean. Weren’t you tempted to take the laptop, and give the service manager grief about letting it get stolen? Then ‘remembering’ that you put it in the trunk? (or not…)
Not everyone who works in that department and handles your vehicle is a “tech.” Those not certified to actually change the oil are basically just there to pull your car in and write up orders, which isn’t something you need extensive training to do. That’s probably why they brought in some folks when they were understaffed (something that can happen frequently with such high overturn). It doesn’t make them any less incompetent, but working in the auto department means little or no supervision or accountability. Also, it’s Wal-Mart, so expecting some level of competence and critical thinking skills may be asking too much.
Customer sounds like a fool who is mad about his own poor judgment & wants to blame an establishment with notoriously bad CS and under paid/trained workers. As I see it he should feel lucky to have learned a lesson about being responsible for his own valuables without loosing them.
Customer sounds like a fool who is mad about his own poor judgment & wants to blame an establishment with notoriously bad CS and under paid/trained workers. As I see it he should feel lucky to have learned a lesson about being responsible for his own valuables without loosing them.
I refuse to allow Walmart people to touch my car after going in for an oil change one time and leaving with 2 flat tires. I found nails in both rear tires that I know for certain were not there when I went in the store.
That was a long time ago and these days I do as much of my own automotive work as possible.
LMAO….trained staff at WALMART? thats funny. i will never expect a walmart employee to know anything more than how to stock the shelf and work a register. anything else is their own experience, it aint much either. ive gone into the electronics department once and asked about an SD card, like which one is better or what the differences were. the employee actually turned the package over and started reading it in front of me (this was like 6 years ago before the SUPER WALMART era had begun, so there were no more than 3 or 4 brands at the time as opposed to the 20 something brands we have today) and he never really gave me a good answer. theres been a few other times where ive noticed that the employees dont even know the product they are assigned to.
and to want an oil change for 50 dollars? that better be some high-grade oil. as well as an HOUR AND 45 MINUTES? also an oil change should never take an hour even with two cars in front of you.
Wal-Mart doesn’t give a crap about the communities it occupies (though they purport to); has shady employee practices; and often advertises false “rollbacks”. Loyal Wal-Mart customer? That’s your first problem.
When you checked on the service an hour later, and were welcomed by the unlocked car–why didn’t you just take the car and drive away? I’m curious as to how the store would have dealt with such an occurrence.
Knowing that the person working on my car was a random employee, would also be grounds for me to stop the show and take the car home. The moral of this comment is…don’t be passive. It’s your stuff, and you should be in control of the situation.