To whom it may concern:
I am writing about the extremely dishonest and negligent behavior of Jiffy Lube Store #2630 at 3912 S Meridian in Puyallup, WA on Sunday October 9 that resulted in my husband and I being saddled with what is so far an estimate in 461 in car repairs, 211 in car rental and 90 in towing plus the 120 we paid Jiffy Lube for what was supposed to be just a routine oil change.
We went into the Jiffy Lube that morning wanting just an oil change but were informed we needed our serpentine belt replaced and our engine flushed. We had not had an oil change in a year and were over due and we thought that Jiffy Lube was an honest and trustworthy business to have it done at. We agreed to the repairs and were told 45 minutes by assistant manager Britney. We had our 19 month old with us and he could not sit still so long so we took him for a walk to do some shopping.
While at the store we get a call from Britney saying something is wrong with our car and we need to go back. We come back and Britney says our car has an oil leak. I asked how as our car was not leaking oil when we came in. Britney and the employee with her, a blond woman both said that 'sludge' was plugging the leak and we must have somehow damaged our car. They advised us to take the car up to pep boys because Britney claimed they could fix our oil pan for maybe 100 dollars. We went to pep boys up the street who said an oil pan leak would need repaired at the dealership. They offered to take a look at the car for us anyway.
My husband and the mechanic took a look at the car together. Imagine our shock when we were told that the oil pan damage was due to Jiffy Lube's oil change. The mechanic told us that Jiffy Lube had overtightened a bolt and that the crack in our oil pan was a direct result of the bolt being tightened. He said there was no way that it could have happened at our last oil change or our engine would have died long before now. He also stated there was no undercarriage damage to our car and that the leak could not have been caused by anything else other than the bolt being over tightened by Jiffy Lube. He stated that Jiffy Lube is responsible for the repairs as the damage could not have happened any other way.
My husband called the Jiffy Lube store assuming that they would be honest and want to fix their mistake. Unfortunately this is when the nightmare began and the lies from Britney at the Jiffy Lube store began to multiply. Apparently Britney called her district manager who without even looking at the vehicle or the evidence decided immediately that this was not their fault and that he agreed that the vehicle was damaged when we came in. This man had never seen our vehicle, not spoke to the mechanic at Pep Boys or even spoke to us but instead took Britney and the other dishonest store staff members at their word. You would think that we would have been offered an investigation of some sort because logically the store staff will want to cover their mistakes and of course they are going to tell the district manager that the vehicle was damaged when we came in. Why in the world would they want to admit they made a mistake when damaging a customer's vehicle could mean disciplinary action or losing their job?
We were stranded with a miserable and unhappy toddler at Pep Boys until my husband's mother was able to come pick us up. The mechanics at Pep Boys told us they would document everything with the damage on our behalf.
On our way home we went to the dealer to make arrangements for the car to be brought to the mechanics there. We were told we would have to wait until tomorrow because the service department was not open. The sales man we spoke to asked if Jiffy Lube would be paying for the repairs. We advised him that unfortunately they were doing everything they could to lie their way out of it. He was just as amazed as we were.
On Monday we had to miss work because we were unable to get a rental car until that afternoon. We made arrangements for the vehicle to be towed to the dealer and set to work attempting to get some type of resolution for the nightmare that Jiffy Lube had called.
That morning we called Jiffy Lube customer service and dealt with a very rude woman who told us 'there's nothing we can do, you need to go to the police and file a damaged property report.' When I asked to speak with her supervisor due to her extreme rudeness I was told 'thank you for calling Jiffy Lube have a nice day'. I asked once again to speak to her supervisor and she continued to repeat her message. I work at a call center and this has to be the poorest customer service I have every seen. Finally I got angry and hung up the phone.
I called back and got a marginally more polite man name Jeff who claimed that the last representative had filed a complaint for us. He gave us a claim number 600248 and said that the district manager would get back to us and help us resolve the issue.
Monday afternoon we got a rental car and our dealer gave us a repair estimate of 461.00. I spoke with Jason at Titus Will Chevrolet in Parkland, WA and asked him to get a statement from the technician there working on my car to verify the cause of the damage. He stated he would do so.
After no response from Jiffy Lube, I contacted the store and spoke with Britney. Britney continued to repeat there was nothing she could do for us. She was very vague and kept stating our vehicle was damaged when we came in and we did not notice the leak due to 'sludge'. She stated she would contact the district manager and see if he had 'changed his mind'. She refused to provide a name or contact information.
My next call was to the police department to find out if we could file a damaged property report. We spoke to a very nice officer named Officer Berg. He said this would be a small claims court issue. He said Jiffy Lube has damaged the vehicle of someone he knew and that person was able to win in small claims court. He told us to document everything and get written statements from all mechanics. He said keep copies of receipts for the repairs, the towing and the rental plus any legal fees for our case. He gave a reference number of 112830244 for our conversation.
Tuesday morning I got a voice mail from Jeff Brown from Jiffy Lube while I was at work. Jeff Brown who I assume is the district manager gave the same vague story as Britney about why they would not be reimbursing us for the damage. Without even looking at my car or speaking to a mechanic who had looked at the car he had made up his mind. His story was even more convoluted than Britney's. He claimed that my dealer had over tightened a bolt a year ago and that 'vibration' from driving the car had caused the crack and so therefore it somehow wasn't their fault and he was sorry but they were not going to do anything for me. I was unable to call him back due to my break being over. I do plan to call again Wednesday because I am not going to take no for an answer. He needs to look at the evidence and the facts and not just go based off of the store staff statements.
I called back my dealership on my next break and was told by Jason he had not been able to speak to the technician yet but that he would speak to him and call me back. I asked him to call my husband's phone as he was at home if I did not answer because my break would end soon. Jason called my husband and told him that the damage could only have occurred at Jiffy Lube. The damage had occurred as soon as a bolt was tightened and cracked. It could not have happened a year ago or even a month ago. Our car would have been dead and the engine ruined if that was the case. We could not have driven the car for a year with the damage that occurred. It was not caused by vibration over time but immediately after a bolt had been overtightened. He told my husband that they would document everything including statements detailing why this was fresh damage caused by Jiffy Lube. Jason said the dealership would even provide the damaged oil pan as evidence for us to use in small claims court against Jiffy Lube.
I need a resolution other than a district manager taking the store employees word of mouth and brushing us off without even looking at the statements from mechanics or the vehicle itself. We have plenty of evidence and support at this point that Jiffy Lube damaged our oil pan. We can provide physical and written evidence as well as verbal testimony from mechanics at two different locations that the damage was caused by Jiffy Lube. Jiffy Lube has not offered one shred of concrete evidence that our vehicle was damaged a year ago. No one at Jiffy Lube has offered to investigate what happened. I would gladly let them send a third mechanic to look at the evidence but they have not offered this.instead they are continuing to deny responsibility. I would prefer to settle this out of court due to the overwhelming evidence that they made a mistake and damaged our car but if we have to take this to court we will.
Any type of real answer or assistance we can be given would be appreciated. We will escalate this as high up at Jiffy Lube as needed. I would think any company that values itself on customer service would want to investigate a complaint from a customer thoroughly rather than just saying it's not their fault and brushing it off.
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