Coles Notes: Their techs couldn't put my engine splash shield on properly after an oil change. They decided to keep 5 screws out, left the shield holding on tabs that are meant to hold up the shield while reinstalling it. It fell off and got mangled while driving home on Stoney trail 5 days after I was there. I went back, they agreed to change the part. Today I got it put back on, they didn't order any hardware (clips and screws) to put it back the way it was. After explaining it to the owner who has never seen the car, he claims the screws are rusted and broken, and that zip ties and a random screw used to hold it up the replacement shield are an acceptable fix.
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Longwinded version:
So, after a thread up here about Jiffy Lube offering great service to a couple beyonders...and offering a 10% beyond discount, I decided to check it out since it was close to home and a handy spot to get things done.
I drive a 2011 Audi TTs Roadster, it's basically a glorified Golf GTI/Golf R with a similar 2.0T engine. So there's nothing fancy going on under the hood.
First 2-3 times I went there to get the oil changed, the guy working there was excellent, he knew the car, knew that I wouldn't be interested/shouldn't be doing any kind of engine cleaning extras on a turbocharged car. We chatted about the tune and some other random car talk. It was a really good experience.
The last time I went there was June 19, 2018. This time, the guys were all different, the visit took SIGNIFICANTLY longer. They advertise a 15 minute oil change, generally it would take ~20 minutes in the past, this time I was there for ~40 mins. I sat patiently and figured it was just a busy day there or something. There was a heavy push for extras, window wipers, engine treatment, etc. I declined everything and just went for the routine change, mentioned the beyond discount, and after they finally finished, went on my way.
During the next week, there was some pretty crappy weather with rain and heavy winds. My car was making a little more wind noise than normal, but i knocked it up to the weather outside.
Fast forward to June 24, 2018 (5 days later). Great sunny day outside, I have the top open, driving down Stoney on my way home. All of a sudden I hear a loud grinding noise. Wondering wtf is going on. I pull over and start looking around the car to see if I hit something.
Looking under the car, the front engine splash shield was loose, the entire front end of it was dragging on the road, it was beat up to shit. There are tabs that hold it in while you put all the screws in. I pushed the tabs back into place just to get home, but it wouldn't hold, the panel had cracked after wearing down against the road, every few minutes I'd have to pull over and try to lodge it back up.
I eventually made it to Walmart, picked up some jack stands, went back home, jacked up the car...and found the issue...
all FIVE screws that are supposed to hold the front of the shield in were missing, the rest were in place. I personally don't know how some guy who takes these panels off for a living could manage to miss out on SO many mounting points when putting the car back together, I'm assuming the excessive amount of time it took for them to get me out of there was spent trying to locate the screws that were never put back into the car. The screws are held in with metal clips that go over other plastic shield parts that attach to the wheel wells, one was sheared right off one of the neighbouring panels, while the others held on and kept the shield from falling off entirely. After getting it up in the air, I got under the car and removed the whole thing and took some photos of it.
After that, it was Sunday evening, I sent a pm to the owner on Beyond. Explained the whole situation and asked him what he could do now. I waited til the next day (Monday) and then started calling Jiffy Lube, asking to talk to a owner or manager of the shop. They told me to call their other shop, which in turn told me to call the Creekside one again. I was being sent in circles. After some pushing, I finally got a call and phone number for the main guy named Kent (TopSecret on beyond).
Kent called me on his personal cell phone, I explained the situation, he said to drop off the broken skid plate and he'd look into it. He also said he "never is on beyond"...which is hard to believe considering he's replied to the other thread about Jiffy Lube and has a couple job posts up as well. So, the next day, I dropped it off with one of his workers there, the worker asked me if I had the hardware and mounts that go along with the assembly, I gave him the screws I had, and pointed out the clip that had torn off from another piece of the wheel well shield. I didn't know if it would be repaired or left alone. He had asked me if he would have to get more hardware (screws), I told him that the 5 missing screws are probably sitting somewhere in their service bay. He never looked under the car, just told me they would take care of it and give me a call once it's done. I left and kept driving the car until today...
July 7th, 2018, I dropped by an hour before Jiffy Lube closes, I waited about 20 mins to get into the service bay, and again, I was there for a good 40 minutes. During this time the same service guy said there were screws missing. I told him that I gave what I had from when I took it off, and there was one screw and clip remaining in the broken part that was left there earlier. He looked at the old shield and then disappeared for another 10 minutes. Eventually he came back and said I was good to go. I asked him specifically "how many screws are missing now". He said "only one". The only screw I figured would be missing was where the clip had torn off, so there was no physical way to attach it again without replacing all of the broken parts under the car.
Ultimately I was ok with this at that point, figured 1 screw shouldn't be a big deal....but the whole thing took WAY longer than I thought it would, granted my car has more screws than average, I know that I can pull off that shield and put it back on in minutes, and I am by no means the mechanic type. So, I jacked up the car and took a look underneath just to double check that everything was secure.
First sign of a problem. A zip tie is holding up one of the holes. Out of 5 front mounting points, 2 are missing, this is in addition to the other screw that has no way of threading in anymore. One screw was substituted with a random silver screw.
I text back Kent saying that I guess the guys didn't have any hardware ordered by the looks of it, I sent photos of the job that was done. He shot back saying that the bolt where the zip tie is holding looks like a rusted bolt. My car is a 2011 and yes there is a little surface corrosion on the screws, FAR from the point of corroding apart....but to add a little insult to that statement, the hole he was referring to where the zip tie was placed never had any screw originally, his techs just used the empty hole spot to throw a zip tie into.
We shot back and forth until he basically said he won't fix broken parts on a rusted car with broken parts... and stopped replying. I ended by saying we'll leave this up for public opinion...therefore I'm posting this here and the other standard places where people leave reviews.
<might post screenshots of the conversation here>
I'm glad I have a new splash shield ultimately, but a few extra dollars just to make sure you have the missing hardware would be great, then lying directly to me, and then placing blame on "rusted screws" was a ridiculous way to end things off, especially when it was clear that the whole problem started from their initial fuckup.
Another tidbit. I know for a fact that everything was there after getting a dogbone insert installed into the car ~4 months earlier, I had looked under the car after that to see how it looked after it was done at Concept-1. All screws were there at the time.
I'm pretty ticked off at this and hope that no beyonder (or anyone else) has to go through the same. Unfortunate that this quick lube shop went to shit so quickly for me. Guess I'll hit up the dealership for some screws and take care of it myself now...
So just a heads up, after my experience, I wouldn't ever go to this Jiffy Lube again. Kent runs two locations in the NW, I believe the other one is in Royal Oak. Even with the 10% discount, after filter, oil, taxes, etc this ends up being a $120 oil change with my car. So it's not like you're saving much by going there anyways.