I got a mailer yesterday from a fast-lube type oil place, and it reminded me of this battle scar. So I thought I'd share a story from my own personal history about one of those chain fast-lube type oil change places. If you ever want to go to one of those places after reading this, you've been warned.
It was late summer 2008, and I was a young guy, married, running his own film and video production business, and supplementing that income by managing a customer service center for a national mall management company. Life was good, except that my wife's minivan needed an oil change. Usually I change my own oil, but we had moved to a little house with a one car garage that my grandpa's Lark was occupying at the time. I didn't really have time to drive 40 minutes one way to my in-laws place to use their garage, so I figured why not bring it into the oil change place. After all, I had a coupon for $10 off, and this is a nationally known chain.
I get the oil changed, and life seems fairly normal. Except until about a week later. My wife and I went to a movie, and it was raining. When we got out, we both stared in awe at the pretty iridescent rainbow reflection of sunlight that was coming off this stream of oil that we could follow through the whole parking lot until it came to a stop directly under our engine. I looked under the car, but didn't notice a drip. Still, it followed our path through the parking lot, so it had to come from us. I checked the oil, and sure enough, we were bone dry. So I after the movie I put the emergency quart I keep in the car in, and drove across the street to get more oil at the gas station. It was night by now, and the rain had stopped, so I couldn't really tell if the oil streak had followed us. Of course, it was such a faint trail that it was probably invisible on dry concrete, hence why it took a week to notice it. On top of that, We had a gravel road and driveway leading to our home which probably absorbed a lot of the evidence.
With the oil filled, I decided that I'd take the car to the oil change place the next day after my wife and I both got home from work. Unfortunately, on the way home from work, the motor blew out on my wife. Putting the pieces together, it looked like much of the prior week the car had just been driven too long without oil. Of course, half of what I put in was also gone by the time the motor blew.
So I took the van to a trusted friend from my church that was opening a garage. The mall kept cutting my hours for some reason, so I was a little tight on cash to pay cash for a motor swap. We worked out a deal where I would provide some much needed computer and a/v services to him, and he would replace the motor for just the cost of the parts. Excellent.
A week later I pop into his shop to see the progress. He brought me to the stand my old engine was on, and I was sickened by what he showed me. There had been a very obvious manufacturing defect in the oil filter they used. The lip of the filter was visibly malformed, and it wasn't sealing - by a VERY noticeable amount. Whoever screwed it on failed to notice this glaringly obvious defect, which would allow oil to pour out of it any time the oil pump was active. He told me this filter couldn't have been damaged in the car, and that it had to have been installed like that.
I contacted the lube place, and asked to talk to their manager. I was given a lot of run around, and finally found the manager actually yelling at me, telling me I didn't know what I was talking about, and how if I took them to court they'd win and then turn around and pounce me for the damages from court.
I'd like to point out that I am not a litigious person, and he was the first person to bring up a lawsuit. I was simply trying to inform them of their error so they could deal with the employee who was apparently incapable of adequately using two or more of his senses, and ask if they would consider covering the cost of the parts since their employee was the one who led to the destruction. Long story short, the manager told me there was no way I could ever get a penny without a long, drawn out trial, and for the little bit that the actual motor cost (my mechanic friend re-used most everything that was bolted on the motor), it wasn't worth it.
Then September 2008 hit.
It turned out that the mall management company I worked for was one of the biggest contributors to the commercial property woes that led our nation to it's fiscal knees. As a result, they cut out pretty much all the middle management they could, myself included. I still had my own business, but as shocking as it seems, a luxury service like video production isn't in much demand when nobody can afford things like bread and clothing. Basically, i was out of work.
Then around Christmas time there was another development. My wife turned out to be pregnant. So now, here I am, unemployed, with a pregnant wife, and an outstanding bill for services on a van. Great.
I won't go into all the sordid details, but as a result of the stock market tanking, we fell into a nasty bit of debt, and my mechanic friend didn't get paid as we had agreed to. There's nobody to blame but me, but I let him take the back burner while I tried to keep our other vehicle from being repossessed and making sure we wouldn't get evicted. Our friendship fell into disrepair, and ultimately the mechanic just told me to forget about exchanging services and just to pay him the full value of the work done, a number in the thousands.
Finally, last year, nearly 4 years after the ordeal was started, everyone was paid off again, and I could close that chapter of my life. But I can't help but think how much easier life would have been if that stupid oil change shop had just looked at the filter before they screwed it onto the car, and in turn screwed me out of a lot of money and very nearly a friendship, too. That $10 discount on my oil change cost me thousands of dollars and years of my life.
If there's a moral to the story, it's that you should never, ever, under any circumstances take your car to one of those places. The people working there are often incapable of doing basic things like looking at the filter they screw on, or feeling it to see if it's seating properly. Change your oil yourself, or have a mechanic you can trust do it. No amount of speed and discounted rates can erase what happens if they mess up, and sooner or later they will mess up.
It was late summer 2008, and I was a young guy, married, running his own film and video production business, and supplementing that income by managing a customer service center for a national mall management company. Life was good, except that my wife's minivan needed an oil change. Usually I change my own oil, but we had moved to a little house with a one car garage that my grandpa's Lark was occupying at the time. I didn't really have time to drive 40 minutes one way to my in-laws place to use their garage, so I figured why not bring it into the oil change place. After all, I had a coupon for $10 off, and this is a nationally known chain.
I get the oil changed, and life seems fairly normal. Except until about a week later. My wife and I went to a movie, and it was raining. When we got out, we both stared in awe at the pretty iridescent rainbow reflection of sunlight that was coming off this stream of oil that we could follow through the whole parking lot until it came to a stop directly under our engine. I looked under the car, but didn't notice a drip. Still, it followed our path through the parking lot, so it had to come from us. I checked the oil, and sure enough, we were bone dry. So I after the movie I put the emergency quart I keep in the car in, and drove across the street to get more oil at the gas station. It was night by now, and the rain had stopped, so I couldn't really tell if the oil streak had followed us. Of course, it was such a faint trail that it was probably invisible on dry concrete, hence why it took a week to notice it. On top of that, We had a gravel road and driveway leading to our home which probably absorbed a lot of the evidence.
With the oil filled, I decided that I'd take the car to the oil change place the next day after my wife and I both got home from work. Unfortunately, on the way home from work, the motor blew out on my wife. Putting the pieces together, it looked like much of the prior week the car had just been driven too long without oil. Of course, half of what I put in was also gone by the time the motor blew.
So I took the van to a trusted friend from my church that was opening a garage. The mall kept cutting my hours for some reason, so I was a little tight on cash to pay cash for a motor swap. We worked out a deal where I would provide some much needed computer and a/v services to him, and he would replace the motor for just the cost of the parts. Excellent.
A week later I pop into his shop to see the progress. He brought me to the stand my old engine was on, and I was sickened by what he showed me. There had been a very obvious manufacturing defect in the oil filter they used. The lip of the filter was visibly malformed, and it wasn't sealing - by a VERY noticeable amount. Whoever screwed it on failed to notice this glaringly obvious defect, which would allow oil to pour out of it any time the oil pump was active. He told me this filter couldn't have been damaged in the car, and that it had to have been installed like that.
I contacted the lube place, and asked to talk to their manager. I was given a lot of run around, and finally found the manager actually yelling at me, telling me I didn't know what I was talking about, and how if I took them to court they'd win and then turn around and pounce me for the damages from court.
I'd like to point out that I am not a litigious person, and he was the first person to bring up a lawsuit. I was simply trying to inform them of their error so they could deal with the employee who was apparently incapable of adequately using two or more of his senses, and ask if they would consider covering the cost of the parts since their employee was the one who led to the destruction. Long story short, the manager told me there was no way I could ever get a penny without a long, drawn out trial, and for the little bit that the actual motor cost (my mechanic friend re-used most everything that was bolted on the motor), it wasn't worth it.
Then September 2008 hit.
It turned out that the mall management company I worked for was one of the biggest contributors to the commercial property woes that led our nation to it's fiscal knees. As a result, they cut out pretty much all the middle management they could, myself included. I still had my own business, but as shocking as it seems, a luxury service like video production isn't in much demand when nobody can afford things like bread and clothing. Basically, i was out of work.
Then around Christmas time there was another development. My wife turned out to be pregnant. So now, here I am, unemployed, with a pregnant wife, and an outstanding bill for services on a van. Great.
I won't go into all the sordid details, but as a result of the stock market tanking, we fell into a nasty bit of debt, and my mechanic friend didn't get paid as we had agreed to. There's nobody to blame but me, but I let him take the back burner while I tried to keep our other vehicle from being repossessed and making sure we wouldn't get evicted. Our friendship fell into disrepair, and ultimately the mechanic just told me to forget about exchanging services and just to pay him the full value of the work done, a number in the thousands.
Finally, last year, nearly 4 years after the ordeal was started, everyone was paid off again, and I could close that chapter of my life. But I can't help but think how much easier life would have been if that stupid oil change shop had just looked at the filter before they screwed it onto the car, and in turn screwed me out of a lot of money and very nearly a friendship, too. That $10 discount on my oil change cost me thousands of dollars and years of my life.
If there's a moral to the story, it's that you should never, ever, under any circumstances take your car to one of those places. The people working there are often incapable of doing basic things like looking at the filter they screw on, or feeling it to see if it's seating properly. Change your oil yourself, or have a mechanic you can trust do it. No amount of speed and discounted rates can erase what happens if they mess up, and sooner or later they will mess up.
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