When was the last time you take your car for an oil change? Was it at an drive through service like Jiffy Lube? Do not believe in their overhyped "Signature Service". Chances are, they will either try to persuade you into buying extra (and not needed) services (windshield wipders, fuel injection cleaning, air filter, etc) or they simply won't do 13 out of the 14 items listed on their "Signature Sevice"--the only thing they will do is the oil change. Either way, you get sucked into paying a lot more than you need to.
I don't know if Jiffy Lube trained their technicians to be salesmen. But they are not any less annoying than your typical door-to-door salesman. They will not give up easily even if you tell them no for an answer. The truth is, you do not need your air filter changed every 3,000 miles or your engine fuel injecton cleaned every 10,000 miles. Cars nowadays need much less maintainence. Cars made within the past 10 years don't require fuel injection cleaning for about 100,000 miles. And unless you drive on dusty off-roads path all the time, you will probably only need to change air filter every 10,000 miles. Just say no when they try to sell you extra stuffs. If you have doubts about whether you need the service or not, check your owner's manual (also check out this Money Magazine's article).
So you manage to say no to all the extra services, so you think you would be paying $34.99 for their 14-point service, eh? Sure you would, except many of the services listed won't even be performed. Time after time, when I got my car back, my windows remained unwashed, floors remained unvacuumed, water coolant and windshield cleaning fluid remained unfilled, tire pressure remained low. Those are just the items you can easily check. I stood by the window once and watched them while they performed their "Signature Service". I noticed they never checked my transmission oil, power steering oil, or the coolant; the only thing they did was change the oil and the oil filter. Yet on your receipt, they claimed they've checked everything and everything seemed OK.
I wrote a complain letter to Jiffy Lube's customer relationship department. They wrote me a apology letter back along with a $30 coupon (not even enough for one "Signature Service") stating they hope I could give them a chance again. I figured, why not? So I drove into another Jiffy Lube and it was the same thing all over again. I was able to get my car back within like 5 minutes and yeah, you guessed it, the windows remained unwashed, floors remained unvacuumed, water coolant and windshield cleaning fluid remained unfilled, tire pressure remained low. So why should you be sucked into paying $34.99 when all they do is a simple oil change?
Next time you need an oil change, do it yourself or have it done at any shops that simplely do the oil change without claiming they do a whole lot more and charging you a lot more (you should be able to get the oil change done for about 20 bucks).
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