Comments on: Double Check Professional Work

By: RootAnn

RootAnn — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 16:53:00 +0000

I’ve had a local shop leave a shop light sitting on a cap which ended up melting into a shapeless mess. My husband had a national tire chain rotate his tires and not tighten the lug nugs. Luckily, we noticed the banging of the tire as we were heading down the interstate at 65 mph.

Definitely double check work – if you know how.

By: Rob Carlson

Rob Carlson — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:24:44 +0000

O’Donnell Honda (dealer service center) did the same thing to me. I got the oil changed right before a trip to Ocean City and back. A few days later the smell of oil got overwhelming and I discovered my oil cap sitting in the nook.

I went right over and they refilled the oil and gave me a free engine wash and car wash to make up for it. It’s run for another 60k miles since then so I assume it wasn’t a huge deal.

By: mbhunter

mbhunter — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:00:27 +0000

I took my cars to Wal-Mart for a long time to get the oil changed. Then I was in a pinch and took it to my mechanic. The next time I took it to Wal-Mart they refused to change it because the oil plug was stuck. Neither the mechanic nor Wal-Mart would give me a straight answer, and I ended up having to replace the oil pan in our van to the tune of $400.

I do my own oil changes now. At least if I screw it up I’m sure who screwed it up!

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 06:57:22 +0000

unfortunately it is all too de guerre to complain about walmart. there are plenty of oil change places, even dealerships, that have oil change issues. of course the vast majority of the people who go to walmart for oil changes go on doing so without problems. let’s just be conscious of the fact that complaint postings will attract the microcosm.

By: wanzman

wanzman — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 01:40:52 +0000

In my experience, Walmart should not be in the oil changing business. I have not had good luck and where I live they upped the prices quite a bit so I don’t really save anything by going there. Plus the wait is always outlandish.

My dad used to always get a laugh when he would go there and be in line “behind a lady buying a bag of chips, a bra, and an oil change” as he used to put it.

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:07:39 +0000

You didn’t necessarily say anything explicitly against Walmart, but I did get an anti-Walmart vibe from the Consumerist article. Personally, I’m tired of people always harping on Walmart. Sure, this one store did do something wrong; but Walmart has 3500 stores in this country, and I feel it’s wrong to say all Walmarts can’t change your oil properly.

And, just as there _are_ instances of Walmart doing things wrong, other businesses do things wrong just as much (as “Stephen” mentioned).

Case in point: a few years ago, my Dad and I were doing a cross-country trip. A few days before we left, he had the tires rotated at a reputable auto shop. This shop, part of a national chain, generally does good business, and my dad had used them for years, having nothing but good things to say about them. Well, this particular time, the shop failed to bolt the wheel (not the tire itself, but the thing the tire bolts onto) onto the axle. We were driving across the USA at 75 mph, and there was literally nothing holding the wheel on. About half way through, we made a u-turn, and the wheel did finally come completely off. Thankfully, it was while we were travelling 5mph, rather than 75mph.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 21:06:27 +0000

I had a reputable garage do exactly the same thing in Portland, Oregon. We noticed the film on the window, didn’t initially think much of it. At a gas station, we popped the trunk to see the oil cap resting next to the spout and most of the engine area covered in oil.

We ended up getting a steam cleaning of the whole area (not sure if we needed this, we just didn’t like the oil everywhere) and the garage paid for the whole thing.