[corp-focus] JIFFY LUBE CAUGHT WITH ITS PAN DOWN

[robert weissman]

JIFFY LUBE CAUGHT WITH ITS PAN DOWN
By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

It is every customer's nightmare.
     You take your car in for an oil change.
     And the guy goes down the checklist of things they have done -- and 
charges you $60.
     But did they actually do what they said they did?
     They said they changed the fuel filter.
     But did they?
     They said they flushed the transmission?
     But did they?
     Trust, but verify.
     Tipped off by a Jiffy Lube insider, KNBC -- the NBC affiliate in 
Los Angeles -- wired two test cars with hidden cameras to watch Jiffy 
Lube mechanics at work.
     Those cars were then driven to Los Angeles-area Jiffy Lube outlets 
to get an oil change.
     At one, the mechanic recommends that the fuel filter be changed.
     "We pay up, but they didn't change the fuel filter," KNBC reporter 
Joel Grover told his viewers earlier this month. "We know that, because 
before taking our car in, we lowered the gas tank so I could mark the 
fuel filter. After leaving that Jiffy Lube, we checked the fuel filter 
and the original one that I had marked was still on the car."
     At another Jiffy Lube outlet, the manager recommends a 
top-of-the-line transmission flush.
     "It's a machine called T-Tech, which they're supposed to hook up to 
the transmission lines under the car to suck out all the dirty fluid," 
Grover said. "But the entire time our car was being serviced, we noticed 
no one ever touched that machine. And our hidden camera shows no one 
ever touched the transmission lines underneath. But they charged us for 
the T-Tech service anyway. And it happened to us again at another Jiffy 
Lube."
     In fact, Grover says, he got stiffed at five out of nine Los 
Angeles area Jiffy Lubes he tested.
     Jiffy Lube insiders told Grover that Jiffy Lube employees are on a 
quota system.
     "They are pushed to sell a certain amount of repairs per car," 
Grover said. "And they say with the big volume of cars that come into 
these stores, there's really no way to do all the repairs they sell."
     The 31 Los Angeles area Jiffy Lube centers are owned by Heartland 
Automotive.
     Jiffy Lube issued a statement saying "it does not tolerate the 
problems discovered in the KNBC report."
     The company said that six employees, including a district manager 
shown in the video, "are no longer working for Heartland Automotive."
     Five of the service centers found to have been ripping off 
consumers were closed for two days in May for "re-training."
     Jiffy Lube also said that it would institute its own "mystery shop 
program" to ensure that "all procedures and policies are properly followed."
     "Over the next several months, video cameras and monitors will be 
installed in the 31 Heartland Automotive-owned service centers so 
customers can watch their services being performed," the company said.
     "Further violations of company policies could result in the 
revocation of franchise agreements for the affected service centers."
     Why not institute that policy for all 2,200 Jiffy Lube centers 
across the United States?
     Are Jiffy Lube customers to assume that they too are being ripped off?
     A Jiffy lube spokesperson answered this way -- Jiffy Lube has a 
number of quality-control processes in place to ensure customers receive 
a high-quality experience. Some of these include a nationwide 
mystery-shopping program and required computer-based and on-the-job 
training for all service center employees. Jiffy Lube customers also 
have several options available to them if they believe for any reason 
they have not received top-quality service. Toll-free customer service 
phone numbers are printed on the back of every Jiffy Lube invoice. 
Customers can also request the return of their old parts -- excluding 
used motor oil and other fluids -- after they have services performed.
     As for us, from now on, we're either going to change it ourselves, 
or go to our local garage.


Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime 
Reporter, <http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com>. Robert Weissman is 
editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor, 
<http://www.multinationalmonitor.org> and director of Essential Action 
<http://www.essentialaction.org>. Mokhiber and Weissman are co-authors 
of On the Rampage: Corporate Predators and the Destruction of Democracy 
(Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press).

(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

This article is posted at:
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