This is why I don't let people touch my cars.

[Midorikawa]

So, after the last time I let Lube of Jiff touch my wife's car and they rounded the bolt for the oil drain plug, and cost me $70 to have the bolt drilled out, a new one installed, and a fresh pan of oil, I swore I'd never let anyone else touch my cars. After 4" of snow fell a few days before I had a chance to change the oil, I really didn't want to do an oil change in that weather, so we took it to another oil change shop.

$60 later in high mileage oil, and the car's running great...or is it?

...Is that smoke I see coming up from under the hood?

Pop the hood, and they spilled oil everywhere in the oil change. Bah. Careless buffoons.

Few miles later, the smoke is still there, but the spilled oil is burned off. Poking around, I see a knicked line, but can't quite tell where it goes to or from because of all the lines above it. Guess I get to go back and demand my money back, or cost of repairs, whichever costs more. :-/

I'll update when I have a chance to have a good look at the car, and what the shop says about why they were messing around on that side of the engine that only has vacuum and fluid lines for everything, no reservoirs, no oil change related items, and no reason to be back there.

[protege]

After seeing some of the "repairs" that were done to one of my cars, I'm very particular with who I let work on it. Why? Well, imagine going to pick up your newly repainted 1969 MGB GT...and finding a huge dent in the hood Seems the genius that was working on it, forced the hood down, and creased the panel. Of course the shop denied it--every MGB (and C) owner knows that the proper way to shut the hood, is to gently lower it, and then press down on the corners. Otherwise, you risk damaging a rather expensive panel.

In the end, I chose to lean on the shop a bit, and they fixed the dent...plus a few other things that they'd fucked up. I basically told them...that they will do this, or I'd sue the bastards.

[Miss Fatale]

Last two times I went to Lube of Jiff, they messed up the car (two different locations, too). A real bummer. Take it to an independent mechanic now. Wait is usually longer, but it's worth no having the car messed with.

[blas]

The very first time I went to get my oil changed (although it is a dealership oil changing shop, some of the guys there just make me cringe), I was silently swearing through the doors at the kid taking my tires off that he better watch what the f he was doing or I would take that tire iron and pound him to nothing but blood and mush if he made a mark on my car or didn't put it back on right.

It's going to take a while to get over the panic, but I can't help it. I finally have a really nice car and I'd like to keep it that way.

[It shouldn't]

It took me almost 20 years to find my current mechanic.

He is the car repair god and doesn't charge an arm and a leg.

He is sooo good that I refuse to tell anyone in my hubbies family about him, for fear of crazy EW and super anoying SIL finding out. I can just see her going there, dropping my name left and right, asking for discounts and otherwise making awsome repair guy wish he'd never met me.

Oh noes, I'm not messing this up!

Anyone wanting his name has to provide a background check and full phsycological history.

[Shalom]

Last time I went to the Lube of Jif (although I should warn you, peanut butter does not make a very good lube) was about 20+ years ago. I'd brought my father's '81 Olds Cutlass in for an oil change, and the guy told me I needed some transmission fluid. I said, fine put some in.

It's a good thing that I stick around and watch, because suddenly I see the guy heading towards the car with a bottle of Type F in his fist.

I hollered "Hey, what are you doing? You're supposed to put Dexron II in there!" He says, "Well, this is the only kind we have right now."

So because you don't have the right fluid, you're going to put the wrong fluid in instead...? Hell no. I have no idea what exactly happens if you put Type F fluid in a Turbo-Hydramatic 200C, but I can't imagine that it's anything good. I told this genius that I'd rather drive away with my transmission a pint low than have him put that stuff in there and maybe wind up having to replace all of it. Which involves tearing down the transmission, because you only get about a quarter of it out by taking off the pan.

This is why I don't go there anymore.

[Mondestrucken]

I also once went to Lube of Jif. 3 of the 4 guys standing around decided they were bored, and started chasing each other around and around my car squirting each other with water bottles. Verrrrrry professional.

As I said in the letter I wrote Corporate, the following week I had to take the car in for something, and even though that mechanic assured me the Jiffy Jerks hadn't done anything to cause it, it was certainly my first thought.

Corporate apologized and sent me a bunch of coupons for free work, but I never went back. If I want to see that kind of behavior, I'll go volunteer at the kindegarten playground.

[ADoyle90815]

I found an independent mechanic that I trust, and a local newspaper has had it listed as the best mechanic in the area for a few years now.

[protege]

I should mention that the only guy I trust (other than myself ) to work on the MG...happens to work at the Boys of Pep. He really knows his stuff, and is heavily into older sports cars. His only flaw...is that he owns a Triumph

[MadMike]

I went to "Iffy Lube" one time. I'll never make that mistake again.

I used to do my own oil changes back then, but this time I decided to take it to what I thought were the professionals. I didn't have any trouble with the car, until the next time I went to change the oil myself. They used this cheap, flimsy filter that practically disintegrated when I tried to remove it. All that was left was a tiny piece that I couldn't get a grip on.

Some family members were visiting, and they were nice enough to try to get the thing loose. I'm not sure how, but one of them managed to do it. I was so relieved.

I should warn you, peanut butter does not make a very good lube

Sounds like a sticky situation.

[Trishlovesdolphins]

Oh no! I hope it works out. My husband does all our changes now. He took his car to the DEALER for a change and they didn't put the plug in correctly, and it came out while he was driving down the street. Luckily, he was able to pull over fast enough to keep it from damaging the car. If you have the space to do it, I would recommend doing it yourself in the future. It's usually cheaper, and then you KNOW things are put back correctly.

[Polenicus]

I really wish I could do my own car work, but I'm completely inept when it comes to cars (Yes, yes, I know, I'll surrender my Y chromosome to the proper authorities after I finish here). What's worse, I seem to have some kind of invisible sign over my head that only mechanics can read that says 'Screw This One'. I have yet to find a mechanic that I can trust. Some of the fun includes:

1. Having to replace FOUR clutches in as many years and twice that many clutch cables because the FIRST time I had to replace it, they broke my pedal assembly somehow, didn't tell me, and welded it back together wrong which caused the clutch cable to abrade and the clutch to not disengage properly, prematurely destroying it. The last mechanic discovered this and replaced it with one from the junkyard. Cost of the part? $25. Cost of a clutch replacement? $400-$800 EACH depending on how much they gouged me.

2. Having my timing belt go out, and getting the car back only to find the valves were wrecked. The mechanic had never even realized because he hadn't even bothered to test drive it or even run the engine after he replaced the belt.

3. Be forced to leave my car in the shop for a WEEK to get my muffler replaced.

4. Take a car in to get serviced. Come to pick it up to find they had parked it partway up an embankment in a corner of the parking lot, with the front driver's side wheel a good FOOT off the ground (All the weight was on the other three wheels). How they managed this on a front-wheel drive car is beyond me. It had been sitting that way for almost three days. Needless to say the alignment was screwed all to hell when I drove it out of there.

All my complaints were dismissed as 'That's just the way it is'

[Frantic Freddie]

I really wish I could do my own car work, but I'm completely inept when it comes to cars (Yes, yes, I know, I'll surrender my Y chromosome to the proper authorities after I finish here). What's worse, I seem to have some kind of invisible sign over my head that only mechanics can read that says 'Screw This One'. I have yet to find a mechanic that I can trust. Some of the fun includes:

1. Having to replace FOUR clutches in as many years and twice that many clutch cables because the FIRST time I had to replace it, they broke my pedal assembly somehow, didn't tell me, and welded it back together wrong which caused the clutch cable to abrade and the clutch to not disengage properly, prematurely destroying it. The last mechanic discovered this and replaced it with one from the junkyard. Cost of the part? $25. Cost of a clutch replacement? $400-$800 EACH depending on how much they gouged me.

2. Having my timing belt go out, and getting the car back only to find the valves were wrecked. The mechanic had never even realized because he hadn't even bothered to test drive it or even run the engine after he replaced the belt.

3. Be forced to leave my car in the shop for a WEEK to get my muffler replaced.

4. Take a car in to get serviced. Come to pick it up to find they had parked it partway up an embankment in a corner of the parking lot, with the front driver's side wheel a good FOOT off the ground (All the weight was on the other three wheels). How they managed this on a front-wheel drive car is beyond me. It had been sitting that way for almost three days. Needless to say the alignment was screwed all to hell when I drove it out of there.

All my complaints were dismissed as 'That's just the way it is'

Sucky attitude,I'd find another shop.

I had to re-read #4 again to understand what you were saying,the car sitting at an angle like that wouldn't throw the alignment out.Bashing it into the embankment would though...

[ThirdGenRetail]

You know, I think we've only ever taken one of our vehicles(Our truck, Turfwar) to Boys of Pep once, and that was a "Our mechanic is closed for the night, and we need somebody to look at the truck NOW." situation. We were over in Norfolk at the hospital(Nothing critical, I was in studies for psoriasis that were done there. It's a teaching hospital, woo!). Well, after one of my appointments, our reliable old piece of crap... Wouldn't start When we finally did, which was a panic time since nobody else was there at that point, we took the main roads all the way to Boys of Pep. They didn't find anything, so we think it may have been the cold weather(And the truck's damn near as old as I am, it's an '87-88 Ford Ranger). Other than that, we have a mechanic we go to, real good at what he does... And the fact he's literally 3-4 blocks from the beach makes trips down there sweet since we can just walk the blocks to the ocean to enjoy the boardwalk while he works on the vehicle we take in

Also, I have... Um... Little personal experience working on vehicles. TGR does not drive ; Mother does, though.

Now, one of my coworkers DID have a small bad experience with Boys of Pep. Our store is RIGHT across the street from one(I don't know how many people ask me where vehicle-specific stuff is, like oil for a CAR, and have to politely direct them across the street...). Well, one night she was at the Wawa next to our store, and the cap for her oil(I think that's what it was) fell down into her car ( ). She had to run across the street to buy a new one... The associate actually locked the door with her RIGHT THERE She was not happy, and that reflected rather poorly in my mind... Especially since it was literally an unforseen emergency. She ended up stuffing paper towels in it until morning when she could get a new cap.

[bainsidhe]

Sears is who I refuse to go back to. My brakes suddenly were grinding...loudly. I think "emergency!" and take it to Sears because they happened to be open. Expensive. A week later, I get out of my car and notice a hot smell. I feel a tire and realize the wheel is hot. I take it back to Sears and apparently the emergency brake line was hanging where it didn't belong and rubbing. They fixed that for free. Yet a year later, my regular mechanic tells me not to use my emergency brake anymore because the brake is sticking? It's been a while so I don't recall the exact details, but it was essentially a continuation of the brake line saga and had never truly been resolved.

Right before the final brake line bit, I had Sears do an oil change. They're at the mall, so it's convenient while I shop. As I'm driving out of the lot, I see my washer fluid light is on and assume I'm out of fluid. Nope. They apparently hit something during the oil change and the light would stay on constantly.