I had a front left wheel come off at 70mph+ on I-40 after a rotate-balance...once. It wasn't wal-mart, but I did get them to buy a new pair of shoes when my coffee somehow spilled and ruined them during the sudden "more than unexpected" drop in cabin height. I was too pissed too ask for new shat-free undies
What I hate - Walmart Oil Change
- Thread starter striped1
- Start date
striped1
Well-Known Fanatic
Update
I must admit that the process went amazingly well. I have 17 years in insurance claims most recently as a claims manager and this process went better than I hoped. The store reported the claim yesterday. I had a call from the claims adjuster by 8:30 this am and emailed him the estimate this afternoon. He called back and advised that he was cutting the check today and that we would have it in a few days.
Having been in the elephant dung happens business for 17 years, it isn't so much that it happened as sometimes elephant dung does happen, it is how the business fixes the elephant dung. I give credit where it is deserved. Walmart did well by me.
I must admit that the process went amazingly well. I have 17 years in insurance claims most recently as a claims manager and this process went better than I hoped. The store reported the claim yesterday. I had a call from the claims adjuster by 8:30 this am and emailed him the estimate this afternoon. He called back and advised that he was cutting the check today and that we would have it in a few days.
Having been in the elephant dung happens business for 17 years, it isn't so much that it happened as sometimes elephant dung does happen, it is how the business fixes the elephant dung. I give credit where it is deserved. Walmart did well by me.
dennishoddy
Moderator
Good to hear. They have to maintain customer relations if they want to stay in business.
StealthESW
Well-Known Fanatic
I took my dads' van to Wal-Mart to get an oil change back in '93 and they topped off the brake fluid with power steering fluid. Lucky for me the guy left the bottle in the van, anyway. I got the van home fine, but when my dad left to go to work he made it about 5 miles from the house and the brakes locked up on him. So, he had the van towed back to Wal-Mart and they actually had a written record of the power steering fluid being added to the brake fluid.
All the rubber in the brake system had to be replaced. They paid for dad to have all the brake lines, calipers, and brake cylinders replaced. Funny thing is I told the guy at Wal-mart that power steeing fluid was not supposed to go in there. Just glad my dad knew that I was smart enough to know that was not right and I hadn't been the one that did it.
BTW, I did tell my dad I saw the guy do it as soon as I got home. He thought maybe I wasn't paying attention. I don't get oil changes at Wal-Mart because of that foul up.
All the rubber in the brake system had to be replaced. They paid for dad to have all the brake lines, calipers, and brake cylinders replaced. Funny thing is I told the guy at Wal-mart that power steeing fluid was not supposed to go in there. Just glad my dad knew that I was smart enough to know that was not right and I hadn't been the one that did it.
BTW, I did tell my dad I saw the guy do it as soon as I got home. He thought maybe I wasn't paying attention. I don't get oil changes at Wal-Mart because of that foul up.
dennishoddy
Moderator
I don't think its all walmart. My mechanic has said he gets a lot of work from other oil change shops that hire anybody that will walk in off the street. I think this is why we lost the engine in our Jeep Grand Cherokee limited a couple of years ago. My wife went to one of those places that advertise a $3 discount. Gotta save a buck!
A week later when we were on our way to OKC, the engine started knocking. Idiot light never came on, but when I stopped and checked the stick, it was not even showing. Getting it home, I got 2 quarts of oil out of it.
I've always taken mine to a guy that does it one vehicle at a time, and my wife takes hers there now.
A week later when we were on our way to OKC, the engine started knocking. Idiot light never came on, but when I stopped and checked the stick, it was not even showing. Getting it home, I got 2 quarts of oil out of it.
I've always taken mine to a guy that does it one vehicle at a time, and my wife takes hers there now.
StealthESW
Well-Known Fanatic
Well, I guess some places save you money by not buying the oil. :unknw:
Dustin Cantrell
Well-Known Fanatic
Glad they got you fixed up and it was relatively painless.
RevoShooter
Well-Known Fanatic
Haha some of that is truer than other parts of what was said about wal mart garage employees. I worked in one a couple of months while I finished diesel tech school. The computer doesn't tell you what to grease or not. It just says grease everything with a zerk. So, you likely had a new guy who didn't know what a carrier was.
You are right on the money on one part though. The garage managers know nothing other than what's in that computer. One yelled at me and told me I would put a wheel on sideways unless I ran every lug nut all the way up to the hub by hand before I used the impact on it. He didnt understand self centering wheel design concepts even when I explained them to him. Talking about that place sure makes me happy I'm an engine technition now. Haha glad they paid up, OP.
You are right on the money on one part though. The garage managers know nothing other than what's in that computer. One yelled at me and told me I would put a wheel on sideways unless I ran every lug nut all the way up to the hub by hand before I used the impact on it. He didnt understand self centering wheel design concepts even when I explained them to him. Talking about that place sure makes me happy I'm an engine technition now. Haha glad they paid up, OP.
Jennifer Herd Seymour
Glitter Britches
I hate Walmart. Period. I try to only go there on Sunday mornings because I need to go to church after I leave that place. It is the only place on the planet with 58 registers and they only run 2. I wonder if the other registers are just decoys or do they really work? People that frequent there bring their nasty, snot nosed kids and let them climb the shelves while the parent texts on their iphone and pays with their EBT card. The cashiers barely speak, unless they are asking me if the ammo I'm buying is for my husband. I surely wouldn't trust them with my car. Sorry you are having such a bad time! Call their corporate offices.
Brian Holcomb
Fanatic
I actually managed one of the Wal Mart Tire and Lube shops for a few years after receiving my liver transplant. I did an AAS degree in auto repair prior to that, but lingering health issues made working as a real tech a no go. They have two problems that happen with every quickie oil and lube place. First is most of their employees don't care and can't be made to care. Second, their training program is garbage. For a while I was given a free hand in fixing our training program, and things went very well. I even ended up teaching my expanded training program to the company execs over the division, because it got such good results, but they didn't implement it because it was too costly. The WM shops aren't even expected to make much money, they exist to keep you in the store buying other elephant dung.
