and ryan no none are. its the actual managers fault and the person who caused it. most of the time im in the pit.
hell the other day we had a mustang come in for an oil change. car left without anyone adding oil. he gets 5 or 10 mins down the road and starts to notice his car is making a very loud noise. he comes back. no oil at all was in the car.
since i have worked there none of my work has failed other than we had a a4 come into work with only 3 skid plate bolts left. but somehow the customer was never told nor was a note of it made so sure enough they come back after hittin something on the botom of their car and loseing the skidplate.
The Pennzoil place up in Butler on Rt. 8 does an actual good job, they make sure and show you they filled it and check every other fluid and show you.
Monroe in Butler welded up an old exhaust, took him about 30 minutes, charged me 10 bucks and slipped it in his own pocket. Some crazy looking mechanic.
But the one time I took my five-speed Cavalier to Walmart for an oil change, and some derelict puts me in the computer then hops in the car, and I sit and watch, and he pops the clutch and almost slams into the door. He parks it and gets someone else to inch it in.
Midas tried to screw me last year with inspection, wouldnt pass me for a tensioner pulley, even though mine was intact and working, they said it was loose, were trying to charge me 350 for the part plus 4 hours labor. Wouldnt pass because a ding in the windshield that was there for at least 3 other inspections, and finally claimed I had 3 inches of water in my taillight and wanted 45 dollars to poke 3 holes in the bottom to drain it. Yeah, forget Midas.
Then Sears I had a big credit card dispute with, and ending up losing because Citibank are retards. Took my Impreza there for a wheel bearing, initial estimate 131 with labor and all. Sweet I thought. Then the mechanic tells me the bolt is froze but they are going to try and save my trailing arms and blah blah blah, I tell him do whatever it takes. Comes out and says he saved me all the extra stuff but I need press ins for the wheel bearing, another 35, not bad. Took it up to like 190 with labor. Then I needed an alignment which was another 65. The one counter lady shows me the bill which was like 250ish, and I am getting ready to pay. The manager comes out and whispers but loud enough I hear, “add another 250 to his bill for labor.” When seeing that, I flipped out, and said I wouldnt sign it because what he did was illegal, and all that. He claims its legal because it was a tough job and he had 3 guys working on it so thats why my labor went up so much. The one counter lady agreed with me but wouldnt speak up and another counter kid didnt understand the problem with it.
Wait until Saturday, drive to auto parts store and buy a case of oil,
filter, kitty litter, hand cleaner and a scented tree, write a check for
$50.00.
Stop by the store and buy a case of beer, write a check for $20, drive
home.
Open a beer and drink it.
Jack car up. Spend 30 minutes looking for jack stands.
Find jack stands under kid’s pedal car.
In frustration, open another beer and drink it.
Place drain pan under engine.
Look for 9/16 box end wrench.
Give up and use crescent wrench.
Unscrew drain plug.
Drop drain plug in pan of hot oil: splash hot oil on you in process.
Cuss.
Crawl out from under car to wipe hot oil off of face and arms. Throw
kitty litter on spilled oil.
Have another beer while watching oil drain.
Spend 30 minutes looking for oil filter wrench.
Give up; crawl under car and hammer a screwdriver through oil filter
and twist off.
Crawl out from under car with dripping oil filter splashing oil
everywhere from holes. Cleverly hide old oil filter among trash in trash
can to avoid environmental penalties. Drink a beer.
Buddy shows up; finish case of beer with him.
Decide to finish oil change tomorrow so you can go see his new garage
door opener.
1 Sunday: Skip church because "I gotta finish the oil change."Drag
pan full of old oil out from underneath car. Cleverly dump oil in hole
in back yard instead of taking it back to the auto parts store to recycle.
Throw kitty litter on oil spilled during step 18.
Beer? No, drank it all yesterday.
Walk to store to buy beer.
Install new oil filter making sure to apply a thin coat of oil to
gasket surface.
Dump first quart of fresh oil into engine.
Remember drain plug from step 11.
Hurry to find drain plug in drain pan.
Remember that the used oil is buried in a hole in the back yard,
along with drain plug.
Drink beer.
2 Shovel out hole and sift oily mud for drain plug.? Re-shovel oily
dirt into hole. Steal sand from kids sandbox to cleverly cover oily
patch of ground and avoid environmental penalties. Wash drain plug in
lawnmower gas.
Discover that first quart of fresh oil is now on the floor. Throw
kitty litter on oil spill.
Drink beer.
Crawl under car getting kitty litter into eyes.? Wipe eyes with oily
rag used to clean drain plug. Slip with stupid crescent wrench
tightening drain plug and bang knuckles on frame.
Bang head on floorboards in reaction to step 31.
Begin cussing fit.
Throw stupid crescent wrench.
Cuss for additional 10 minutes because wrench hit bowling trophy.
Beer.
Clean up hands and forehead and bandage as required t o stop blood
flow.
3 Beer.
Beer.
Dump in five fresh quarts of oil.
Beer.
Lower car from jack stands.
Accidentally crush remaining case of new motor oil.
Move car back to apply more kitty litter to fresh oil spilled during
steps 23 - 43.
Beer.
Test drive car.
Get pulled over: arrested for driving under the influence.
4 Car gets impounded.
Call loving wife, make bail.
12 hours later, get car from impound yard.
Money spent:
Parts $50.00
DUI $2500.00
Impound fee $75.00
Bail $1500.00
Beer $40.00
Total - - $4,165.00
remember, these are the guys that can’t get jobs doing real automotive work. there’s no motivation to do a good job, how could you possibly move up in the business?
Well not necesssarily an oil change related story but I worked with some real winners at NTB. I can’t remember the guys name, but maybe REDRAMAIR will…
This guy was terrible - usually drank back in the warehouse and then worked on people’s wheels. The first time I remember he either didn’t tighten the lugs, or totally forgot them… but the guy made it about 300 yards out of the parking lot before he was watching his wheel roll past. It crossed 3 lanes of traffic, hopped a guard rail, went down a really steep hill and landed in a King’s parking lot up against a light pole. This was not his first incident (first since I worked with him though) and not his last. NTB basically bought that guy a new front suspension…
The next time that I don’t know exactly what came of it - but he was working on a neon and had changed all the tires. He was finishing up and just about to put the car down. He lowers the lift (one built into the floor that lifts small cars up from the bottom) and SNAP, SNAP, SNAP, SNAPSNAP, SNAP! He did not put any of the lugs on, only had put the wheels up on the studs. As he set it down, many of the studs snapped off. The one wheel went under the car, and he sat the car down on it causing rocker damage and wheel damage. He was flipping out and I was the only person in the garage - he looked around and saw me and goes “Dude, you gotta help me fix this real quick! I don’t want anyone to know I fucked up again!” I laughed and said sorry pal, not my fault and walked into the office and told my manager he may want to do a shop check real quick.
i posted that awile back.