Yesterday, within 58 minutes of one another, we got not one, but two stories about Jiffy Lube trashing two separate customers’ cars in different ways. Neither accusation is provable; by themselves, mere coincidences. Together, though? Too strange a dark alignment of the illest stars.

The first comes from J.N. who found that her simple oil change by Jiffy Lube resulted in a busted, dented, leaky oil pan. Jiffy Lube says the car was fine when she left; J.N. didn’t hit anything with her car since. She thinks they busted it, but we’ll suggest another possibility: that problem was pre-existing, but Jiffy Lube never bothered to actually change or check your oil. It ain’t like they don’t got the history of charging for work they didn’t do.

The second email comes from Joshua K. Jiffy Lube not only attempted to hard sell him on numerous extraneous “repairs” (like a slightly off-white air filter with a twig stuck in it) but then proceeded to bust his CD player.

Both emails after the jump:

A few days ago, my “Check Engine” light came on. I realized I was way overdue for an oil change, so I hopped over to the local Jiffy Lube (which I’ve used several times in the last year and a half or so) while running errands. I had them change the oil and was told that I would need to see a dealer/mechanic about the sensor thing.

Today, I took it into a shop that gets great word of mouth. They told me that my throttle sensor was failing (which makes sense; starting and idling/trying to roll slowly in traffic have been really odd lately), but they also asked me something strange.

“Have you hit anything lately? Rolled over a curb, hit a median?”

Um, no. Why?

Apparently my oil pan is bent and the tube used to change oil doesn’t seal anymore. I’ve got a leak. The combined cost to fix (includes another oil change, too) is just over $400. I called Jiffy Lube and of course they say my car was fine when I left them.

I know for a fact that I haven’t hit anything lately. You remember stuff like that. Sure, I’ve been parking on the street lately… but I doubt vandals could have done this sort of damage.

Ultimately… because it’s nothing I can prove, and because I’m just a clueless chick with a car, I get to clean up the mess.

Needless to say, Jiffy Lube has definitely lost a regular customer.

From Josua K.

My wife’s car was in need of an inspection and an oil change. Normally, I would have taken the car to the local Saturn Dealership that has always provided excellent service. However, my wife had a coupon for the local Jiffy Lube on oil changes. I normally wouldn’t go there but as our financial situation is very tight right now, a $7.00 discount would make things a little easier.

It was a mistake from the beginning. Right from the beginning, they tried to tell me the car’s odometer was wrong, indicating it had to have been at least 100,000 miles higher than it was. The first sales pitch came with offering higher grade oil. I always get the mid-grade oil for the car and accepted this “pitch”. But things got worse. They tried to next sell me replacement wipers, wipers that work perfectly and were replaced within the last year. I declined the offer and tried to send a clear message I wasn’t looking for anything extra.

After getting through the sales pitches, I went and waited for an hour in the waiting room trying not to listen to CNN News. A mechanic comes in with the car’s air filter. The air filter had a dry leave and a twig in it and was a very light grey. I expected as much as the filter was replaced only four months before. They try to sell me on a replacement air filter. I tell them again, I’m not interested. Another fifteen minutes pass and I get the car back.

Now, my previous experience is that anytime you take a car in for service, they always shut it off anyway. So in advance, I turned off the car radio. After I finally have regained control of the vehicle, I leave. Instead of turning the CD player back on, I decide instead to listen to the radio. It was only that evening that my wife discovers that the CD player is refusing to read any CDs.

It was working a minute prior to the inspection/oil change and the next time it is used, the CD player is dead, refusing to read any CDs. We are going to be taking the car in Thursday to the Saturn Dealership to get the car fixed but it is likely going to cost us money we don’t have. What I would really like to know, is what recourse do I have regarding the CD player?

None, we’d guess. You can’t prove it… and, without taking Jiffy Lube’s history into account, it could well be a coincidence. Our readers might beg to differ, though.

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