Jiffy Lube, much like Elliot in the Morning down in D.C., is something you continue to patronize until they kick you square in the junk box and instead of apologizing, they laugh in your face.I have a bit of something to ad about this non-stop, piss-me-off, "we love our customers" crap campaign that seems to be circulating at nausea. It's a handful of what I'm supposed to accept as Jiffy Lube franchise owners telling me what I can do with my day. Telling me how much they care about me. Telling me how much they know about my car.
First of all, I wouldn't ask the owners in the commercial for a tissue much less an oil change. Secondly, the way the commercial is created these people look like front-row idiots, just because you can hide in the trunk of a car it doesn’t mean you can change oil. And lastly, you can tell me you love your customers all you want. You can tell me you're experts until you're blue in the face, but back it up when I walk through the door.
I, like so many others, went to Jiffy Lube for years. I never had a problem, so I never went anywhere else. They were never the friendliest people, but they were quick and convenient. That is until I found that more than half of my oil drained out less than a day after a change and I was able to tighten my oil filter with my bare hand. Experts? No, more like bums pulled off the streets to turn a few screws.
When I returned to talk to the manager he was willing to change my oil again, but not for free. Oh no, the infamous "they" said he can't do that. So when I asked him if I could speak to "they" he told me that there is no one above him I could speak to. Newsflash, there is always someone higher you can talk to. It just depends on how much crap you want to sift through.
I asked the enlightened, and obviously smarter, manager what they would have done if my car had no oil and became un-drivable. He didn't have an answer. Yeah, Jiffy Lube "loves" their customer alright, just enough to take your money and flip you off as they kick you in the snards one more time.
LESSON: Advertising can only get the customer in the door. It can't turn your piece-of-crap service and technician staff into a bunch of magical fairies and wizards.
Now, I'm going to be a whore for Valvoline. Their mechanics are quicker than Jiffy Lube, friendlier than Jiffy Lube, and more knowledgeable than Jiffy Lube. If I have a problem, they fix it. End of story.And as their slogan now states: "Instant is way faster than a Jiffy."
