By David Maillie

We all know our vehicles need regular routine maintenance work done to them like oil changes every 5,000 miles or so (if you are unsure of the recommended oil change interval be sure to click here and read this article), tire changes and rotations, inspections, etc...  For these items many people tend to trust their car dealer (this is a very expensive and costly mistake - read our article on car repair scams by clicking here and you will quickly change your mind).  Others entrust various franchised (Jiffy Lube, Meineke, Midas, Pep Boys, etc...) and non franchised service centers to have work performed on their vehicle.  Today, we are going to look into one of these in particular - Jiffy Lube, the self proclaimed king of the oil change and quick lube service.

In today’s fast paced society we want everything done yesterday and do not want to wait for anything.  Case in point, even after all the documentaries and news on how bad fast food is for you, McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's are still booming with their main business of cooking up greasy, fatty, high calorie hamburgers - why?  Because we want something that tastes good, fills us up and we can get it real fast like through a drive through.  It's the same with our cars and routine service.  When its time for an oil change (if we remember to routinely get it done - as much as 50% of drivers do not get regular oil changes and services done) we see these Jiffy Lube drive through oil and lube services promising minimal or no waiting and a low price of $19.95 to $29.95.  So we drive in, wait, pay and get it done - or so we thought.

According to numerous TV news inquiries and broadcasts you may not have gotten what you paid for.  Here are the links to some of the most popular newscasts on Jiffy Lube scams:

http://www.knbc.com/video/2620224/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiCAJ8ULnaI

It's unbelievable.  You pull in and they try and up sell you to a more expensive oil change and you may not get that.  They may not have changed your filter, or filtered and flushed your transmission if you paid for it.  They routinely recommend services that are not necessary, etc...  When caught on video and confronted the actual franchise owner lies and states that he is just a customer so they will stop questioning him.  I wonder how many people got ripped off, how many cars suffered severe repairs or complete breakdown due to this Jiffy Lube scam.  Will their be a lawsuit by the state to get some restitution to the victims?  Will Jiffy Lube do the right thing and make previous customers aware of this scam and to review their paperwork and stores they used and refund where its justified?

Now it is important to note that 18 or so of these Jiffy Lube franchises involved in these investigations were shut down by California and Jiffy Lube is spending millions to attempt to improve their tarnished image.  Cameras for customers are being installed, more quality control steps and higher standards are in place.  But, really, this is only in California and Jiffy Lube is located all throughout the US.  Have they done any of these steps elsewhere?  What are the odds that some of this same scam of ripping off customers is going on at Jiffy Lube stores in other states?  What about other franchises like EZ Lube and others?  Here is a report and interview on EZ Lube, a rival and competitor of Jiffy Lube:

http://www.knbc.com/automotive/2615014/detail.html

So, its obvious that the quick lube industry is rife with fraud and abuse.  What is one to do?  Well, for one you must check and inspect everything you have others do like oil changes, filter replacements, etc...  As the famous saying goes - Inspect what you expect.  The problem here is that many people do not have the experience or the time to do this - this is why they went to the quick auto service franchise like Jiffy Lube or EZ Lube in the first place.  So what is one to do?  A great alternative that is actually cheaper is Walmart!  Yes - Walmart.  Many Walmarts across the country especially their super center stores offer oil changes, quick lube and similar services including tire replacement and repair.  Unlike the franchise quick service stores, Walmart will only attempt to upsell to a synthetic oil change one time and will tell you the tread width (tire life) of your tires so you can buy tires if needed.  Unlike Jiffy Lube and other quick lube service centers, Walmart is definitely not a high pressured sales place - usually the automotive greeter is the newest member of their automotive staff and forgets to even ask if you would like a higher priced oil change.

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Most importantly, in my opinion are the facts and numbers:

Walmart is the largest retailer in the world and does probably 10,000 times or more total business than all the Jiffy Lubes that exist plus some.  So you would think that Walmart would have at least 10,000 times more complaints with the Better Business Bureau, right?  No, not even close.  Walmart retail had around 216 total complaints all solved amicably.  Jiffy Lube had 127 complaints and many of those were not solved amicably or even responded to.  Here are the links for both of the BBB reports:

Walmart:
http://www.arkansas.bbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=1864

Jiffy Lube:
http://www.data.bbb.org/houston2.asp

Basically, that should really tell you something - Walmart has a policy that the customer is always right.  Jiffy Lube obviously does not - else they would have responded and attempted to fix customer complaints.  Its important to note here that Walmart sells everything you can think of from toothpaste and kids clothes to tires and oil changes and Jiffy Lube has almost as many complaints as them with no where's near the volume of business.  This tells me that the news reports were just the icing on the cake and that their supposed million dollar change in business practices and cameras for customers is like trying to fix a cracked dam with bubble gum.  The fact that these news reports featured above originated between 2003 and 2006 and they are not even responding to current (year 2007) complaints tells me they are not effectively addressing the issue of scams and shoddy work.

Then I went to Ripoffreport.com and found another 94 complaints against Jiffy Lube of everything from shoddy work like leaving the dipstick out to having a car actually blow up after a routine service.  Here is the link for the Ripoffreports on Jiffy Lube (its interesting to note that some of the negative comments are from former managers, technicians and staff):

http://www.ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp?q1=ALL&q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0&submit2=Search%21&q5=jiffy+lube

That does not bode well at all for Jiffy Lube.  After all this I do not hate Jiffy Lube - they, just like many other businesses got caught with their hands in the cookie jar and need to fix their business to better protect their customer and insure against this fraud in the future.  They should make efforts to compensate those that were scammed and justify being refunded or compensated.  They also need to commit to better customer service like responding to complaints and resolving them.  They put profits ahead of taking care of their customers.  What this should tell you is that Jiffy Lube's been caught and will be much less likely to do it again as many state attorney generals (NY especially) will be watching and waiting and ready to pounce on them - instead you should watch out for the others that have not been caught.  This is synonymous with the healthcare and pharmaceutical companies where profits lead executives, doctors, researchers, and others to deceive and defraud on a much larger scale.  Just so you can see the scope of this similar fraud here's the link:

http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/health/pharmfraud.html

Fraud exists in every business and everywhere even in religion with the likes of Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, the infamous Robert Tilton, etc...  Just so you can see this too here's the link:

http://www.religion-info.com/religiousfraud.html

Any where in business where there is the potential for a quick profit on a large scale there will be an equally large potential for fraud to be committed.  Jiffy Lube got caught and I honestly don't know if I could ever trust them again.  I'm sure that some of their stores are operated by honest businessmen that were unfortunately hurt by the dishonest ones.  And I feel bad for them, but this is what happens in the business world.  Maybe they would be better off breaking with Jiffy Lube and being on their own or with another chain that currently has a better reputation and level of customer service (It is important to not that other chains may have similar or even greater problems and may just not have been caught yet).  I am not going to tell you to use or avoid Jiffy Lube.  That is not the purpose of this article.  The numbers don't lie and speak for themselves so I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions on Jiffy Lube and the quick lube and service industry. 

I'll end this by saying customers need to inspect and look into things better - never blindly trust businesses as you greatly increase your chances for being scammed and ripped off - as the great saying states - Inspect what you expect.   As with all our articles, if you liked this article and feel you benefited from it please link to us so that others may benefit from it as you have.  Also, we love comments, please feel free to comment and give your opinion on this and other articles on our website.