walmart oil change

[Cutehumor]

My dad has a new 2003 nissan sentra xe only two months old. He just reached the 3700 interval and needed to change his oil to maintain warranty. he also has the 75k mile warranty also.

anyway, since he needed documentation that he had his oil changed he went to walmart tire and lube express. I told him to get the supertech filter instead of the fram and request the castrol gtx 10w30 for our upcoming hot summer. He tells me he does this as well as ask for the 15 point service.

When he gets back home, I check over their work..
talk about crappy oil change service. I jacked up the car and see the fram oil filter

, the receipt says "Customer comments: Use supertech oil filter!!!!!" He bought the 15 pt service (carpet cleaning, clean windshield, check tail lights, fill up windshield washer fluid) the windshield washer fluid was completely empty. the windshield had dead bugs all over it. The carpet didn't look clean. at least the oil was changed.

I give it

 

[Ken2]

He, or you, should take it back, politely and with a smile get into their face, demand a new oil change ('cuz if they didn't get anything else right, how can you expect that they used the right oil?) and all the services performed as paid for.

Next, find a quality independent shop that cares about their quality of work and whether or not the customers return. If it costs a couple of bucks more, it's a bargain.


Ken

 

[davefr]

Tell him to do it himself and log the oil changes in a journal with dates and mileage. Save the store reciepts for the oil/filter purchases. That's sufficient documentation in case of a warranty issue.

There's no way in hell I'd have Wally World or any of the quick change places touch my vehicles.

quote:

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Originally posted by Cutehumor:
My dad has a new 2003 nissan sentra xe only two months old. He just reached the 3700 interval and needed to change his oil to maintain warranty. he also has the 75k mile warranty also.

anyway, since he needed documentation that he had his oil changed he went to walmart tire and lube express. I told him to get the supertech filter instead of the fram and request the castrol gtx 10w30 for our upcoming hot summer. He tells me he does this as well as ask for the 15 point service.

When he gets back home, I check over their work..
talk about crappy oil change service. I jacked up the car and see the fram oil filter

, the receipt says "Customer comments: Use supertech oil filter!!!!!" He bought the 15 pt service (carpet cleaning, clean windshield, check tail lights, fill up windshield washer fluid) the windshield washer fluid was completely empty. the windshield had dead bugs all over it. The carpet didn't look clean. at least the oil was changed.

I give it

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[Rick]

I couldn't agree less davefr.

 

[csandste]

Wallyworld is less likely to try to sell extras than other quick change places. I always get the $10+ ST oil change and put a large sign "NO FRAMS, USE ONLY ST XXXX FILTER" directly on the steering wheel or instrument panel. That of course, can make some of the techs surly, but for the most part they seem to get it. I would make them give you another change.

 

[csandste]

I should add that I used to have a 97 Cavalier base engine with the hard to get at filter. Usually the thing smelled like hot oil for a day or two until everything burned off. Always wondered whether I was getting no filter change or if I had an extremely competant tech when things didn't stink. Probably the former.

 

[Cutehumor]

my dad told me that he talked to the manager of the lube center. He told him about the fram filter and the manager saw it on his computer with the "Use supertech filter only" under Customer comments. With the windshield washer fluid being empty, the manager said "with new cars, sometimes the windshield fluid sinks to the bottom" LOL It looked completely empty to me when I filled it up with my windshield washer fluid, it took half of the one gallon bottle I had in my room. The manager gave my dad a free oil change on the next visit. but my dad doesn't want to take it there cuz the tech might remember him and "conviently" forget to put in the right amount of oil.

I was thinking about this today..if the guy obviously botched up the oil filter request. How do I know if he put in Castrol Gtx 10w30 bulk? I mean, he could have put supertech for all I know. I can't tell by looking at the oil obviously.

The sign with supertech only is a good idea. I think I will do that for him next time.

hey csandste,

I know what your talking about with the oil filter on your cavalier. my g/f has a 96 2.2 liter pontiac sunfire. It sure will leave a redspot on your forearm to change that filter if you do it from up top when the engine is still warm. The oil filter on the nissan sentra is in the same place also. I hate it.

[ April 23, 2003, 04:10 PM: Message edited by: Cutehumor ]

 

[EchoThat]

I cannot trust Walmart oil changes either. I took a car there once and the techs didn't fill up the oil. It still needed a half quart.

I have learned that at my local store that they just let workers move over to the TLE from where they are. Dog food dept. to automotive? No problem. Film cener to automotive? No problem.

 

[daves87rs]

Wow...back from the dead!

Eh, no WM changes for me....

 

[HTSS_TR]

Everybody was told to do a search and EchoThat did just that and posted his opinion about WM oil change. There is nothing wrong with that, I think.

 

[chevman4life]

Was a tech at WM for four years while in college, never had any issues with people's cars. Shop manager was ASE certified and been working on cars for 30 years. It's all about how they are run. WM has guidelines in all the systems that strictly follow all OEMs capacities. Any screw ups are automatic write ups then termination if it happened again. Thats as simple as leaving a rag under the hood. People would always complain that their Fords were not filled up, when for years Fords read a half a quart low, which is stated in the owners manuals. So do the old Dodge's. I saw multiple vehicle's from the dealers, who everyone says know everything that were jacked up with wrong oil filters, over torqued plugs, etc. Most lube places pay guys $9 bucks an hour to do to notch work across the board. Agreed some WMs are [censored] but so are Kwik Kars, Firestones, Dealers, etc.

Lesson learned, do it yourself, save money, and have it be done just the way you want it.

 

[jsinton]

It really depends on which Walmart you visit. If you had taken your car to my Walmart, you would have been totally satisfied. I've found this to be true of any big-box grease-monkey shop. Depends on the individual techs as much as anything.

 

[Jakegday]

theres just some things that shouldnt be done/sold at a department store. guitars are a good example. so are computers. an oil change is a great example...

 

[2Fast4U]

If you have the ability to do you own work on your car then do it yourself. If you can't then always check over the work good and have them fix anything not up to par.