Complaint Review: Wal-Mart Corporation - Nationwide

This type of situation is usually typical when a customer wholeheartedly drops their vehicle off , expecting or assuming that their vehicle is in capable hands. This could not be further from the truth , and to avoid this a customer needs to know certain things (or notice them) during any work that repair shops do. I personally have nothing against Walmart , but they do offer these "garage" services at a department store , on the basis where a customer can have "pit-stop" type repairs done while they shop , or so it seems. This , I thought , when I first saw that happening , was a recipe for disaster. On a personal note , every single time I have ever dropped off my vehicle at any garage , to do "any" type of repair , it is either done wrong , or I spend twice as much time fixing the messup as it would to have done it right. Which is exactly what happened to you. Thankfully , I am extremely mechanically inclined and have only had this type of problem a few times , since I eyeball what is going on and wait for my vehicle like it was my child at a hospital. It is the only way you can be sure what is happening while your vehicle is under repair. At the very least , I keep in communication with the service manager , I even let him know that I am stepping out to eat or something , and that , I will be back. So , he knows not to think otherwise. On the other hand , if you simply walked into the Walmart store area , without blinking an eye or looking back , this - to them is Cart Blanche approval to proceed without any caution whatsoever. No matter what vehicle you have there. What is mind boggling is the fact that we are paying upwards of $70/hr for labour on these repairs , but don't think twice as to the cost or the methods or practices used to perform the work. The point is , don't walk away , you will get better service. In your case , I think the person/s who worked on your car may have jacked it up somewhere on the front end , other than the frame , which can cause alot of damage. To the contrary , you can get away with that on the rear , as there are no steering components there on most cars or trucks. As far as the lug nuts go , it is probably that the wrong "lug-nuts" were used to resecure your wheels back on when they were rotated , or front and rear were different types and thread types. It is possible these days. That is how your wheel studs were stripped. Any good mechanic will never use a speed gun to start lug-nut threads back onto any stud. They must be hand started to check for consistency and compatibility between the stud threads , and the nut threads. It is a good idea to be careful about mechanics who seems to have way too many lug-nuts or studs laying around the bay area loose , as this could allow this type of "mismatch" to happen. If you see that the bay is a mess of nuts and studs (tire centers) , stay and watch for sure. Also , if the bay area has "used" lug-nuts or studs laying around , it is reasonable to assume both bad housekeeping habits and that they may belong to other cars or trucks they have recently serviced , but don't care to think about them being left behind as a result of what they call "mistakes". Any decent garage would have acknowledged their mistake and replaced your wheel studs and lug-nuts immediately to avoid any issue. Especially a garage attached to a Walmart Store who may have even had the studs and lug-nuts in stock at the time. To make a long story short , always give the garage a looking over as much as you can , and never allow a garage to work on your car without speaking to someone who seems to be in charge. Make them aware that you will be there waiting , instead of shopping while they work. Hint : if you get an oil and filter change anywhere , check the dipstick before you leave the area , and make sure the filter is new before entering a highway with your car or truck. Many people have not done this and blown an engine in the process as a result of a busy garage forgetting to replace the oil drain plug , thereby also forgetting to refill the oil , while a new filter is in place. For sure , it is an "old trick" to have a customer pay their bill , before they actually get to see if the work is done right by actually driving the vehicle. Personally , I would have refused to drive the vehicle until Walmart resolved the problem on their own , at their cost. But then again , I wouldn't have trusted them completely in the first place , as they really show you what they are worth when they have "screwed" something up. $100 is wayyyyy tooooo much for them. Something else important to note is that "Dealerships" pride themselves on their vehicles , which really includes their level of service dramatically. Therefore , "all" other garages are 2nd rate , and should be treated as such by being wary of their abilities. Unless of course , Kyle Petty is on hand at the time....

LaShundra Knoxville, Tennessee U.S.A. I have had problems too In 2000 my fiance and I took in our Honda Civic to get the oil changed. We got it back and it drove fine for about a week. Unfortunately we started on a trip ro see his parents about 60 mi away. The car started smoking and we eventually had to limp into a gas station and have the car towed. First off, I call BS on this, Im sorry there is no way in HELL!! that your car would drive about for a full week without oil in it, just isnt going to happen unless you have a magical engine that can do this. I have read several complaints, laughed and some and sighed at others. Most of what is going on here is simple and common sense. Do your homework on places that you will take your car. I read what one Mechanic suggested and he is totally correct. DO those things, take the time, get informed and be happy with your car. If you dont spend a little time to do a bit of research, and ask a few questions, and learn, then you are just doing yourself a bad turn.

I PURCHASED THE UNLIMITED TIRE ROTATE AND BALANCE WARRANTY FOR LIFE OF TIRES FOR MY 2006 PONTIAC . I HAVE BEEN RELIGIOUSLY GOING TO WALMART IN DARIN,IL. TO ROTATE AND BALANCE EVERY THREE TO SIX THOUSAND AS AGREED IN WARRANTY. THE OTHER DAY, I WENT TO THE SAME WALMART IN DARIEN,IL. AND THE STORE AUTO /TIRE MANAGER REFUSED TO DO WORK STATING TIRES HAVE WORN DOWN PASSED THEIR SERVICEABILITY TIME. I STILL HAVE ~ 4/32 TO 5/32 TREAD DEPTH LEFT ON TIRES. BEWARE OF THEM!!! I THINK WALMART IS JUST TRYING TO SELL MORE SERVICE AND NEW TIRES. NO WONDER THEY ARE SO INEXPENSIVE W/ STUFF. OTHER DEALERS WOULD HAVE CHARGED TRIPLE FOR SAME WARRANTY DEAL. IN MY CASE THEY REFUSED TO DO ROTATE AND BALANCE AND TOLD ME TO GO BACK TO DEALER THAT SOLD TIRES TO ME---THE PONTIAC DEALER.

Ok, I worked at a walmart TLE for a couple yrs. Here's the inside scoop. It does depend on who you get. I've seen people screw up cars in the lift, bend it back so it's not noticable and pull it out. Several of the people would be up for days on meth and cocaine and still working. Ex cons working there. Insane amounts of theft (from walmart - not customers). The majority of the people were honest and did a good job though. Like it or not, the customer's attitude played a part - if you were a jerk, they'd screw up your stuff (sometimes). If you were pleasant and friendly, they would take care of you. You don't want to hear it, but when you're a know-it-all, staring over their shoulder, etc - they'd take it out on your car. We'd take cars behind the building and burn the hell out of the tires. To my knowledge, no one left an old filter on there, but they'd fill up your car with old half-quarts of whatever brand and weight oil we had sitting around. I don't take my car to walmart if I don't know the tech working on it. Walmart sells cheap oil changes. They can do that by paying techs $7.00/hr and hiring people that are one step higher than McDonalds in employability. They hire mostly college students who are focused on getting out of there, ex-cons, people too lazy to work a factory job, etc. Not the cream of the crop in other words. You really do get what you pay for. Some don't like to hear that, but it's true.

First of all I would like to say I'm sorry to hear of all the horror stories people have of Wal-mart. There are two side. Yeah, granted...I feel for the people who have had a bad experience with TLE, but I've had some unreal situations with customers myself. My first example just the other day a customer asked if we replace valve cover gaskets. I replied no. He then proceeded to inform me he busted a head off a bolt and needed someone to blame...like I REALLY needed to hear that. My second example from my personal experience was about a year ago. My very first customer of the day. I was already for a great day...you know...loving my job. It was a white Ford Ranger. First vehicle of the day. The pit was clean...bucket empty of ALL old filters. I did my job in a timely and professional manner because I DO love my job. I parked the truck in the parking lot after I was finished and turned in the keys. Customer paid and went to his vehicle. Not even 2 minutes later he walks back in raising hell his filter wasn't changed. I informed him that I was the one who worked on his truck and told him the filter was changed...I PERSONALLY did it myself. He called me everything under the sun. Just to make him settle down my boss asked me to bring his vehicle back in and change it again in front of the customer...meaning we brought him in the pit. As I took off the NEW PH3600 and put on another NEW PH3600 I informed him my bucket has ONE old filter in it. Yeah....his OLD PH3600. With the proof in front of him he proceeded to call me a liar. I know, I was there, I was the one who worked on it. Out of all his B.S. he got a flippin free oil change. The shop I work at is a d**n good shop. We've got the lowest claims in the region...or close it. My point is, yeah I may not be ASE certified but I KNOW what I'm doing. I DO KNOW MORE THAN THE AVERAGE PERSON. I've been in the automotive field for over 10 years now, I'm 32, married and have two kids. I have GREAT pride in my work...my job. My boss loves me, my co-workers love me. For these "customers" to come in and pull this B.S. to get a free oil change or what ever they are trying to do...I've seen good people loose they're jobs...FOR NOTHING! There are GOOD and HONEST people who work at Wal-mart. For all those who pull this...there are FAMILIES involved. Yeah, there are B.S. customers in life but Wal-mart has got it bad. Thats a shame. So...to all you customers...BEHAVE. To my TLE LIFERS....KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, YOUR NOT ALONE.

You are so right! Not just Walmart but any buisiness! It all depends on the Management! Ive seen shops in discount chains that were run like high end professional shops! and ive seen some that were a totall ,anything goes joke! In those cases the manager was usually: Too young, to immature,too uneducated or afraid of his staff!

I hate to hear of the things described happening to customers. However, I do not think that it is fair to judge all Wal-mart TLEs based on bad experiences at certain stores. The quality of service you receive is decided by the competency of the managers involved. I think if a study were done, and I'm sure walmart has done one, you would find that most accidents with customers' cars tend to happen in areas with the same district manager over them. If those managers and the actual service manager in the shop do not hold the technicians involved accountable for wrong doing then accidents will continue to happen as with any service station. Wal-mart has set up a system that is built to work, but without proper enforcement, it absolutely will not work. I know this because I am a service manager in the Texas panhandle. My shop just celebrated a year of no accidents this summer by eating a steak dinner together on the company. We roughly service somewhere around 16,000 cars a year. Wouldn't you agree that after servicing 16,000 cars in a year and not having a single claim come back is doing pretty well? What I'm trying to get across here is that while there are problems with certain TLEs, you won't find it all across the board. I'm proud of my technicians and the pride they take in their work.

There have been many interesting comments regarding Wal-Mart. Good and Bad. Just like evrything else. Whats that pharse: "Been There Done That?" Noone likes it. sometimes all that people can really afford is to take there vehicle to Wal-Mart. Its a shame that things happen like this. Dont get me wrong, if they do something regardless if its because incompetence or whatever MAKE SOME NOISE..Let them know that you can make just as much fuss over this than they can sweep it under the carpet. Nowaday there are NEWS stations that have specific reporters that would love a chnce to sock it to big Business. I started to take my own filter when I get it done now, plus I go back to the same store and try and get to know the mechanics like saying "Hello" even if I'm not getting service there. Hey its worked for me so far...8 yrs and no problems.....Have a good one....

I don't know who is running these TLE's that these reports are coming from but I know my shop is ran in a professional manner. In five years I have seen some claims come in on us. I've seen one or two double gasketed filters and locked up engines( and by the way if you don't have any oil in your car it won't last a week it probably wouldnt last the leak check).We have always strived to take care of the customer when these situations arose. We have set up customers with rental cars if need be while thier car was being repaired. There have been times that we have fixed cars when it wasn't our fault just to keep the customer coming back. We had a customer who was courier and got his oil changed once a week. He had over 200,000 miles on his van and the oil drain pan was wearing thin and it cracked we had his drain pan replaced and back on the road and he still comes for service. So I don't know what uncaring people work at your local TLE but walmart has always been for the customer. And like most have said on here if the local management won't help there is this magic number to call where they will do whatever it takes to keep you as a customer. Thier philosophy is you will spend way more money in thier stores over your lifetime than it will cost to fix whatever problem it is that you are having. 1-800-wal-mart.

I don't know who is running these TLE's that these reports are coming from but I know my shop is ran in a professional manner. In five years I have seen some claims come in on us. I've seen one or two double gasketed filters and locked up engines( and by the way if you don't have any oil in your car it won't last a week it probably wouldnt last the leak check).We have always strived to take care of the customer when these situations arose. We have set up customers with rental cars if need be while thier car was being repaired. There have been times that we have fixed cars when it wasn't our fault just to keep the customer coming back. We had a customer who was courier and got his oil changed once a week. He had over 200,000 miles on his van and the oil drain pan was wearing thin and it cracked we had his drain pan replaced and back on the road and he still comes for service. So I don't know what uncaring people work at your local TLE but walmart has always been for the customer. And like most have said on here if the local management won't help there is this magic number to call where they will do whatever it takes to keep you as a customer. Thier philosophy is you will spend way more money in thier stores over your lifetime than it will cost to fix whatever problem it is that you are having. 1-800-wal-mart.

I don't know who is running these TLE's that these reports are coming from but I know my shop is ran in a professional manner. In five years I have seen some claims come in on us. I've seen one or two double gasketed filters and locked up engines( and by the way if you don't have any oil in your car it won't last a week it probably wouldnt last the leak check).We have always strived to take care of the customer when these situations arose. We have set up customers with rental cars if need be while thier car was being repaired. There have been times that we have fixed cars when it wasn't our fault just to keep the customer coming back. We had a customer who was courier and got his oil changed once a week. He had over 200,000 miles on his van and the oil drain pan was wearing thin and it cracked we had his drain pan replaced and back on the road and he still comes for service. So I don't know what uncaring people work at your local TLE but walmart has always been for the customer. And like most have said on here if the local management won't help there is this magic number to call where they will do whatever it takes to keep you as a customer. Thier philosophy is you will spend way more money in thier stores over your lifetime than it will cost to fix whatever problem it is that you are having. 1-800-wal-mart.

I don't know who is running these TLE's that these reports are coming from but I know my shop is ran in a professional manner. In five years I have seen some claims come in on us. I've seen one or two double gasketed filters and locked up engines( and by the way if you don't have any oil in your car it won't last a week it probably wouldnt last the leak check).We have always strived to take care of the customer when these situations arose. We have set up customers with rental cars if need be while thier car was being repaired. There have been times that we have fixed cars when it wasn't our fault just to keep the customer coming back. We had a customer who was courier and got his oil changed once a week. He had over 200,000 miles on his van and the oil drain pan was wearing thin and it cracked we had his drain pan replaced and back on the road and he still comes for service. So I don't know what uncaring people work at your local TLE but walmart has always been for the customer. And like most have said on here if the local management won't help there is this magic number to call where they will do whatever it takes to keep you as a customer. Thier philosophy is you will spend way more money in thier stores over your lifetime than it will cost to fix whatever problem it is that you are having. 1-800-wal-mart.

I notice a couple of people who have used the phrase "you get what you paid for.." Going in and paying $20 for an oil change and then later on spending hours of your time in a repair shop and over $500 to repair your car doesn't seem like you're "getting what you paid for.." When you typically pay for a low end product you expect it to be less attractive, less efficient, not the longest lasting. Sometimes paying for lower end products and services mean we have to by them more often because they have to be replaced sooner. But they shouldn't cause damage or repairs that cost more than we paid for. When I go in to get a $20 oil change I can sometimes assume I'll have to take it in before 3,000 miles (and I've had to do that sometimes). But when the company takes a simple task and causes damage to the vehicle I think that's when we can draw the line. I agree that there are a lot of great mechanics out there and we shouldn't hold a company's reputation to a few "bad apples." But the problem comes from the company's response to these problems. In life, unexpected things happen, you can run an auto place (or any business for that matter) forever without something wrong happening. But that's what customer service is all about. I've been in these scenarios and it makes a big difference when the company appears apologetic and tries to offer solutions. From some of the complaints I've read, and I've had these problems with WalMart as well, it that Walmart tries to give the "runaround" or be as unhelpful and uncaring as possible. If a company doesn't want to help, or do a non-destructive repair job on my car then I would rather them not offer the service to me. It's plain and simple, Walmart is offering to do a job/service for a fee. If I am willing to pay their fee then I should get the service provided. No where does it say that Walmart doesn't promise to actually replace your filter or that they won't damage my car. If you're not going to perform the service offered then don't charge the costumer. A lot of the problems and complaints I've notice come from when the costumer's actually brought their car back and when confronted the store were given a hard time, even when having proof. I haven't seen many people respond back that they actually got Walmart to admit they were wrong and take responsibility for their employee's actions. Most the cases seem to end at Walmart denying customer's complaints and not returning phone calls. Auto repair shops have the steretype of over pricing a bad job. This does not mean all of them. There are a lot of good and trustful hardworking people out there who do stand out from the rest. But I think those who take up the responsiblity of automechanics should also except the consequences of their actions. If you don't know what you're doing or you're going to do a horrible job, then please let me know so I don't pay for it later down the road. The company needs to be more responsible when offering a service or a product. Think of it this way....wouldn't you want the same quality and service from your doctor? How many of these complaints can be traced to similar complaints within the medica field?

I work for the local Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express and am equally horrified at some of the things that I have read in this thread. Incidents reported above do not represent all TLE's in the country and I hope readers can recognize that not all TLE's are managed equally. Our TLE is trusted to do the regular maintenance on the cities ambulances, which is something we are very proud of and hope shows our quality of work. There are some bad stores, these are mainly stores that suffer from a lack of good employees, and there are many really good stores that actually care about the vehicles they service. Don't judge all of the stores on the actions of a few bad ones. ...and just to clear up the confusion around when to get filters changed: If you are using standard, non-synthetic motor oil and standard grade filters, three thousand miles is about all you'd be able to get before your next change. Semi-Synthetic and fully-synthetic oils and higher grade filters (that are treated with special additives and have special filter media), can go 5,000 to 10,000 miles before they need to be changed. If your vehicle recommends more than 3,000 miles between changing your filter, it's probably because they expect that you are using these more expensive products. (Thus the Fiat going 10,000 miles between changes.)

I most certainly cannot speak for the other TLE stores around the US. Only for my TLE here in Menomonie WI. All of our technicians except for one have had prior automotive experience. My manager owned his store for 18 years before selling up due to rising costs of recycling fees. Our lead technician has also had about 10 years automotive experience as a qualified mechanic. Four of our technicians (including myself) have prior experience as trainee mechanics or like myself are autmotive electricians. The remaining tech who has no prior experience is our Courtesy guy. His job is to clean the front windscreen, check the tire pressure and tread depths, vacumn the interior, check for blown bulbs (not allowed to replace) and replace wiper blades. I read the statement left by the user who was previously at Jiffy Lube and he is very correct about the oil filter sizes. They are quite similar and a mix-up can be catastrophic! As I mentioned I cannot speak for the other TLE stores but we have two individual shelves one for each pit and they are full of the filters required and before we commence draining the vehicle we always double check that we have the correct filter on hand. If not, the vehicle is denied and the customer can pick up their vehicle fee of charge despite any work done prior to realising the oil filter is not available. Although I have not heard of that happening yet. Iwas horrified when I read of the Subaru having the transmission drained and then the engine refilled. Once we have filled a vehicle with the correct oil we check the dipstick for level. We then start the vehicle and check to see that their are no leaks once the oil pressure has risen. We then switch the motor off and check the oil level again. Occasionally we willhave to add in more oil once the oil filter has been filled by the motor. Also of the tire technician who lifted a car and then lowered it saying tire work complete. To the person who had their lug nuts cross threaded. Safe guards have been put in place. I know for a fact that that can never happen at our TLE. We put all lug nuts on by hand first then tighten with the correct torque bar. The vehicle is then lowered and each individual nut is checked with a torsion bar for the correct torque. Once every wheel is checked one of our managers must then come out aand check the torque themselves and sign off on the PC for it. The vehicle is then driven around the parking lot before returning to the bay and having it's lug nuts checked for a 3rd time. We only have two disclaimers available to us. One is for when we recieve a vehicle that has none or little oil. This is to safeguard us against customers who run their motor into the ground without oil then blame us for damage. The other is a tyre disclaimer. We check each tire for incosistent treadware, cracks and just general abuse. We then make a disclaimer to make the customer aware of whats happening. We have two options when we do this. Either suggest replacement or suggest taking their vehicle to a mechanic to get suspension and wheel alignment fixed. Depending upon the issue with the tire. I can't speak for every shop out there but I know that from being a TLE guy the safeguards are there. Don't blame the Wal-Mart Tire and Lube express. The issue lies expressly with the individual shop you visited. Regards, Ray.

I most certainly cannot speak for the other TLE stores around the US. Only for my TLE here in Menomonie WI. All of our technicians except for one have had prior automotive experience. My manager owned his store for 18 years before selling up due to rising costs of recycling fees. Our lead technician has also had about 10 years automotive experience as a qualified mechanic. Four of our technicians (including myself) have prior experience as trainee mechanics or like myself are autmotive electricians. The remaining tech who has no prior experience is our Courtesy guy. His job is to clean the front windscreen, check the tire pressure and tread depths, vacumn the interior, check for blown bulbs (not allowed to replace) and replace wiper blades. I read the statement left by the user who was previously at Jiffy Lube and he is very correct about the oil filter sizes. They are quite similar and a mix-up can be catastrophic! As I mentioned I cannot speak for the other TLE stores but we have two individual shelves one for each pit and they are full of the filters required and before we commence draining the vehicle we always double check that we have the correct filter on hand. If not, the vehicle is denied and the customer can pick up their vehicle fee of charge despite any work done prior to realising the oil filter is not available. Although I have not heard of that happening yet. Iwas horrified when I read of the Subaru having the transmission drained and then the engine refilled. Once we have filled a vehicle with the correct oil we check the dipstick for level. We then start the vehicle and check to see that their are no leaks once the oil pressure has risen. We then switch the motor off and check the oil level again. Occasionally we willhave to add in more oil once the oil filter has been filled by the motor. Also of the tire technician who lifted a car and then lowered it saying tire work complete. To the person who had their lug nuts cross threaded. Safe guards have been put in place. I know for a fact that that can never happen at our TLE. We put all lug nuts on by hand first then tighten with the correct torque bar. The vehicle is then lowered and each individual nut is checked with a torsion bar for the correct torque. Once every wheel is checked one of our managers must then come out aand check the torque themselves and sign off on the PC for it. The vehicle is then driven around the parking lot before returning to the bay and having it's lug nuts checked for a 3rd time. We only have two disclaimers available to us. One is for when we recieve a vehicle that has none or little oil. This is to safeguard us against customers who run their motor into the ground without oil then blame us for damage. The other is a tyre disclaimer. We check each tire for incosistent treadware, cracks and just general abuse. We then make a disclaimer to make the customer aware of whats happening. We have two options when we do this. Either suggest replacement or suggest taking their vehicle to a mechanic to get suspension and wheel alignment fixed. Depending upon the issue with the tire. I can't speak for every shop out there but I know that from being a TLE guy the safeguards are there. Don't blame the Wal-Mart Tire and Lube express. The issue lies expressly with the individual shop you visited. Regards, Ray.

I most certainly cannot speak for the other TLE stores around the US. Only for my TLE here in Menomonie WI. All of our technicians except for one have had prior automotive experience. My manager owned his store for 18 years before selling up due to rising costs of recycling fees. Our lead technician has also had about 10 years automotive experience as a qualified mechanic. Four of our technicians (including myself) have prior experience as trainee mechanics or like myself are autmotive electricians. The remaining tech who has no prior experience is our Courtesy guy. His job is to clean the front windscreen, check the tire pressure and tread depths, vacumn the interior, check for blown bulbs (not allowed to replace) and replace wiper blades. I read the statement left by the user who was previously at Jiffy Lube and he is very correct about the oil filter sizes. They are quite similar and a mix-up can be catastrophic! As I mentioned I cannot speak for the other TLE stores but we have two individual shelves one for each pit and they are full of the filters required and before we commence draining the vehicle we always double check that we have the correct filter on hand. If not, the vehicle is denied and the customer can pick up their vehicle fee of charge despite any work done prior to realising the oil filter is not available. Although I have not heard of that happening yet. Iwas horrified when I read of the Subaru having the transmission drained and then the engine refilled. Once we have filled a vehicle with the correct oil we check the dipstick for level. We then start the vehicle and check to see that their are no leaks once the oil pressure has risen. We then switch the motor off and check the oil level again. Occasionally we willhave to add in more oil once the oil filter has been filled by the motor. Also of the tire technician who lifted a car and then lowered it saying tire work complete. To the person who had their lug nuts cross threaded. Safe guards have been put in place. I know for a fact that that can never happen at our TLE. We put all lug nuts on by hand first then tighten with the correct torque bar. The vehicle is then lowered and each individual nut is checked with a torsion bar for the correct torque. Once every wheel is checked one of our managers must then come out aand check the torque themselves and sign off on the PC for it. The vehicle is then driven around the parking lot before returning to the bay and having it's lug nuts checked for a 3rd time. We only have two disclaimers available to us. One is for when we recieve a vehicle that has none or little oil. This is to safeguard us against customers who run their motor into the ground without oil then blame us for damage. The other is a tyre disclaimer. We check each tire for incosistent treadware, cracks and just general abuse. We then make a disclaimer to make the customer aware of whats happening. We have two options when we do this. Either suggest replacement or suggest taking their vehicle to a mechanic to get suspension and wheel alignment fixed. Depending upon the issue with the tire. I can't speak for every shop out there but I know that from being a TLE guy the safeguards are there. Don't blame the Wal-Mart Tire and Lube express. The issue lies expressly with the individual shop you visited. Regards, Ray.

I most certainly cannot speak for the other TLE stores around the US. Only for my TLE here in Menomonie WI. All of our technicians except for one have had prior automotive experience. My manager owned his store for 18 years before selling up due to rising costs of recycling fees. Our lead technician has also had about 10 years automotive experience as a qualified mechanic. Four of our technicians (including myself) have prior experience as trainee mechanics or like myself are autmotive electricians. The remaining tech who has no prior experience is our Courtesy guy. His job is to clean the front windscreen, check the tire pressure and tread depths, vacumn the interior, check for blown bulbs (not allowed to replace) and replace wiper blades. I read the statement left by the user who was previously at Jiffy Lube and he is very correct about the oil filter sizes. They are quite similar and a mix-up can be catastrophic! As I mentioned I cannot speak for the other TLE stores but we have two individual shelves one for each pit and they are full of the filters required and before we commence draining the vehicle we always double check that we have the correct filter on hand. If not, the vehicle is denied and the customer can pick up their vehicle fee of charge despite any work done prior to realising the oil filter is not available. Although I have not heard of that happening yet. Iwas horrified when I read of the Subaru having the transmission drained and then the engine refilled. Once we have filled a vehicle with the correct oil we check the dipstick for level. We then start the vehicle and check to see that their are no leaks once the oil pressure has risen. We then switch the motor off and check the oil level again. Occasionally we willhave to add in more oil once the oil filter has been filled by the motor. Also of the tire technician who lifted a car and then lowered it saying tire work complete. To the person who had their lug nuts cross threaded. Safe guards have been put in place. I know for a fact that that can never happen at our TLE. We put all lug nuts on by hand first then tighten with the correct torque bar. The vehicle is then lowered and each individual nut is checked with a torsion bar for the correct torque. Once every wheel is checked one of our managers must then come out aand check the torque themselves and sign off on the PC for it. The vehicle is then driven around the parking lot before returning to the bay and having it's lug nuts checked for a 3rd time. We only have two disclaimers available to us. One is for when we recieve a vehicle that has none or little oil. This is to safeguard us against customers who run their motor into the ground without oil then blame us for damage. The other is a tyre disclaimer. We check each tire for incosistent treadware, cracks and just general abuse. We then make a disclaimer to make the customer aware of whats happening. We have two options when we do this. Either suggest replacement or suggest taking their vehicle to a mechanic to get suspension and wheel alignment fixed. Depending upon the issue with the tire. I can't speak for every shop out there but I know that from being a TLE guy the safeguards are there. Don't blame the Wal-Mart Tire and Lube express. The issue lies expressly with the individual shop you visited. Regards, Ray.

got tires there(alwasy leak air, so do my friends tires he got there plus some others i know!)laerned my lesson never buy tires from wally world!!! unless you like putting air in all the time!!

Why on earth would anyone risk the life on their engine to save $5 on an oil filter or $10- on an oil change. I change the filter at each oil change which is at most every 5K Km. My Safari van had over 400K km on it when I sold it and was just starting to burn oil. The oil was changed at proper intervals AND I used the low priced oils. In their quest to save every penny, people are risking their hard earned dollars. I prefer to spend a bit more on important items ( car repaires that I cannot do myself, plumbing repairs etc) in order to avoid higher priced repairs b/c of improper cheap fixes. An oil change is not a hard thing to do. Many of my friends who live in Apts. and cannot do repairs on the property, come to my place to do the work.

A few years ago my wife got front tires from Walmart. When she was about half way home she called me and said something was wrong with the front end and would I bring the tow dolly and tow the car home. I said no to the tow dolly and told her I would come down and tighten the lug "post" nuts and she could drive it home. I got their and inspected the lugs "posts", they were not damaged so I tightened the nuts and she drove home. When we got home she told me that when she left the Walmart parking lot the front end didn't feel right. At that point she should have taken the car right back into Walmart. I never complained to Walmart. I didn't consider it a big deal. It is the drivers responsibility to inspect a vehicle before it is driven. I would think that would include checking the wheel to see if they are falling off.

I'd like to correct the bad information that someone posted titled "Fix it Yourself." He said not replacing the oil filter would not effect the operation of the vehicle. This is true if it's only skipped once, but beware. Like any filter, the particles being filtered out WILL eventually clog the filter. A clogged oil filter can cost you a new engine. A friend of mine in college drove a Toyota Supra. The repair shop he took it to for service failed to change the filter 3 times in a row because each time they didn't have the correct one, and each time the technician thought it was OK to skip it once. The problem was that they had no system to track the fact that they had previously skipped the filter change. His engine seized and had to be replaced. Fortunately fo him, the service facility responsible bore the cost of replacement. Although getting a new engine may sound like a good thing, he had continuous problems with it and was forced to replace the car.

Every Fiat I have ever seen is a weekend driver only. The rest of the week it's being repaired. The oil is probably getting changed without you knowing it. Every time the engine is torn down for the latest fiasco, they put new oil in it. There's a reason Fiat stands for Fix It Again Tony!

Every Fiat I have ever seen is a weekend driver only. The rest of the week it's being repaired. The oil is probably getting changed without you knowing it. Every time the engine is torn down for the latest fiasco, they put new oil in it. There's a reason Fiat stands for Fix It Again Tony!

Every Fiat I have ever seen is a weekend driver only. The rest of the week it's being repaired. The oil is probably getting changed without you knowing it. Every time the engine is torn down for the latest fiasco, they put new oil in it. There's a reason Fiat stands for Fix It Again Tony!

Ummm. My car, a Fiat, is serviced every 10,000 miles, nothing like the 3000 miles for oil changes I've seen here. It's the manufacturer's guidelines and I follow them. I don't have an oil change other than then. Is the 3000 mile recommendation a con?

Ummm. My car, a Fiat, is serviced every 10,000 miles, nothing like the 3000 miles for oil changes I've seen here. It's the manufacturer's guidelines and I follow them. I don't have an oil change other than then. Is the 3000 mile recommendation a con?

Ummm. My car, a Fiat, is serviced every 10,000 miles, nothing like the 3000 miles for oil changes I've seen here. It's the manufacturer's guidelines and I follow them. I don't have an oil change other than then. Is the 3000 mile recommendation a con?

Ummm. My car, a Fiat, is serviced every 10,000 miles, nothing like the 3000 miles for oil changes I've seen here. It's the manufacturer's guidelines and I follow them. I don't have an oil change other than then. Is the 3000 mile recommendation a con?

I work as a TLE service writer on Long Island. You have to understand exactly what TLE is, and isn't. TLE technicians -- even if they have experience -- start with more than two weeks of computer-based learning followed by hands-on supervisory experience. Only the most trusted and experienced technicians work under the car, draining it. How does one drain a car? It is simply a matter of loosening a bolt, draining the oil, and putting the bolt back in. But all we do are oil changes, install batteries and do tires. We are NOT mechanics. And yes, like every other auto shop going, there are occasional screw ups. But mistakes are very important to TLE managers. In working at Wal-Mart for almost two years, we have had about six real problems -- about one in every 2,400 cars. With every problem, we have made sure the customer was satisified. But we also have a number of customers who do not take care of their cars. At least twice a day, we get cars with no oil in them. And we ask customers to sign releases before we do any work. At least once a day, we turn down a car because some amateur mechanic has stripped the oil plug. We also turn down a lot of tire work because of stripped and missing bolts or lugnuts. We constantly have people demanding we do things we are not qualified to do, such as state inspections, brake work, wheel alignments, coolant changes and other mechanical work. We also have them demand to do work that is not safe -- such as putting larger tires than the manufacturer recommends on the car. We refuse and people become angry. As far as time between oil changes, we recommend 3 months or 3,000 miles because that is a general standard most manufacturers adhere to. There are manufacturers that have other standards, but this is a general rule. And we always change the oil filter simply because many cars, especially those that have been neglected, have way too much sludge in them. We don't do oil changes without changing the filters. It's a freaking $1.88 part. In other words, we change oil, batteries, tires and install air filters and wiper blades. That's it. Customers need to understand this. As for waiting times, a typical oil change costs less than $20 for us to change the oil and filter, top off transmission, washer, and power steering fluids, check the air filter, adjust tire pressure to its proper amount (You would be amazed how many people overinflate their tires), check the wiper blades, lights and vacuum the interior and wash the windshield. For a basic oil, lube and filter, it's $3 less. That same service costs more than twice as much at Jiffy Lube and three times as much at a dealer or service station.As an example, we sell air filters for Fords for around $7, with free installation. The Ford dealers in our area charge $25-35. And while lines can be long at times, you would wait just as long at a dealer or service station. And we're especially busy on Sundays when we are the only place that is open. As for us not putting in new oil filters, bull. Not only is the filter put in, but it is marked by the technician who did it. We keep a computer record of every service and who did the service. At least once a week, we have someone who makes this claim and we look under the hood to discover that the car wasn't serviced by us. It even has the sticker in the windshield of who did the job.And we get the right filter on every time. Our new computer system reads your bar code which not only tells us the year, make and model, but also the engine so we make sure we have the right filter. We also refuse to do cars that have front end damage and other obvious problems. And there are certain cars we don't do. These include expensive European and American cars. If you want your Mercedes, Beemer or Corvette serviced, don't come to us. As for tires, most of the problems come from abuse, deliberate or accidental. People run over nails and hit pot holes. We fix the tires when they do. But they also damage rims and do not have their wheels aligned. And we can't fix damage from these things. And every day we refuse to do flat repair on cars where there are punctures on the side of the tire. In other words, Wal-Mart can save you money on the basics -- oil changes, new tires and batteries. But you also have to go to mechanics to properly maintain your car. And if you don't like the service, it's a free country. Go elsewhere.

In response to alot of the comments on here, there is some right and some wrong. First off yes some employees arent well trained and are the source of alot of complaints. On the other hand there are some like me who went to school for automechanics and are using this job as a stepping stone. I have seen so many problems blamed on Wal-Mart that are unrelated (like a/c) Just because a problem rises on your vehicle coincidentally after it was at Wal-Mart, doesnt mean its there fault. Also on the lack of oil complaints, if you have a problem immediatly afterwards is one thing. But if you have a problem a week later, maybe you should look at your car first. If Wal-Mart didn't fill the oil your engine would have locked up way before a week. As far as times, it is hard to guess a close time, unforseen problems with vehicles prior to yours can come up, such as a vehicle that needs an owners help (such as a missing lug nut key) I have seen times where customers in the store ignore or don't hear pages for their names for a long time and their vehicle is left sitting in the bay waiting. As for saying Jiffy Lube or Valvoline oil changes are better again it depends on the employees. The store i worked at actually had more problems with vehicles having over tightened or stripped drain plugs from the near by Valvoline shop than from our own. As for the tires Wal-Mart recommends ALL customers come back for a retorque after 50 miles (not just aluminum or custom wheels). Again its not Wal-Mart as a whole that is the problem, it is the employees. If your Wal-Mart has less than able techs, I'm sorry, but don't give the rest of us a bad name. Also the ex-Jiffy Lube tech that went to Wal-Mart, I don't know what back woods store you worked for but every Wal-Mart shop i have seen has been organized and clean.

Things that I have been reading in here can happen anywhere you go to get auto service done.Just sit and think for a min about all the other companies out there that probably have way more complaints.If you want total satisfaction and nobody to blame,get off your butt and do the work yourself.Otherwise your taking that chance of anouther individual messing up your vehicle or overcharging you of work that was never doone.Second of all Most problems people experiance with cars ,9 times out of 10,was bound to happen and wasn't necissarly the shops problem.Remember automobiles will not last forever.Also on the (oil filter change)that everyone has been arguing about in this post.Its a wise thing to change it every 3000 miles,but it is correct to say that the manufacture says its ok every 7500.I used to rebuild engines for a living,untill i found out there is no money into it anymore and i found that as long as you use a good brand of oil and change it at least every 3000-7000 miles,your engine will last a good amount of time.But for the dude that had his car wrecked at a shop,I agree with him that it should of never happened.Just remember its not the company in whole that you had a problem with!!!Its the Lazy individual that performed the work that you really had the problem with.Never bash all the good workers out there because of one bad one!!!!Second of all like the others have said ((you get what you pay for))

I have a 1990 eclips.. the engine was rebuilt the year before well 11 months at the time of this going on. here is my story. 1st time: I brought my car in to get the oil changed. I left and about 3 hours later I noticed an odd feeling with the engine. I pulled into a gas station and checked the oil. It was hardly touching the stick. So what i did was grabbed an employee of the fuel station and had him look at it while I was on the phone with wal-mart. Always good to have a buddy. I put the oil in the car and I was offered a free oil changed on my next visit. I used to work for wal-mart and like i tell everyone I left on good terms. and Up till this happened I did all my shoppin there.. I took my car back for the "free" ehhm "Free" oil change in FEB 2004. and went inside to do my shopping. They told me it would be about 45 minutes before my car would be done. After about 1 hour I went back to TLE and my car was in the changing area. They told me it was not done yet and I asked how much longer. They said maybe 15 to 20 min. So i went back into the store. About 30 min later I went back to TLE and my car was still there. Once again they didnt know how long it would be. All in all I spent about 2 hours in wal-mart with 90 minutes of that my car was having its oil changed. I finally left. About 1 week later I notice my engine was feeling funny again. I pulled into fuel station and checked my oil. Once again is was barely touching the tip. Once again i had an empoyee come out and verfy this. I called wal-mart and they said bring in it. I put oil and drove it to wal-mart. I parked it over the pit and the guy who did my oil change dropped down into the pit. I asked if i could go down. I went into the pit and showed them where the oil was coming from (my oil was onyl coming out at high speed). and what they didnt know is that I took my 8mm handycam and filmed under my car. I showed them where the oil pan had been bent at the drain plug. and they had put a rubber gasket that was pinched on it. The guy started point all over the engine where he thought the leak was. one time he pointed at my break lines. He had whiped the oil off from the oil pan before i was able to get into the pit. And at that time I told them about me recording it. Keep in mind that wal-mart marks the drain plug and filter with a silicon substance to be sure that no one tries to losten the plug and filter and both showed that no one touched it. at that time they said there was nothing wrong with the car. I went home and talked to home office. they then put me in contact with some type of claims department and they told me what to do. They said take your car and have it check and have them call wal-mart claims. I took my car to a mechanic and he (on tape) said the drain plug area was bent so far that the normal plug would would not seal and that they rigged me up. he then went to check the oil filter and it was very lose. Keep in mind it was marked with silicon stuff) he turned it 2 turns. The mechanic called claims and told them yes. whoever worked on the car last did do this and by the way. his oil filter was very lose. They then said to fax all this information to them and they would call me within a week. Well they didnt so I called them back and they said like this and I quote "with the evedence that we have. we do not see wal-mart tire lube express at fault for your car" I asked them. What evendence do you have that claims this. they said "we have 6 polaroid shots of under your car). Now keep in mind. they had 6 still shots and I sent them coppies of 1 8mm tape showing all over the underside of my car 2. 2 Mechanics that said (on tape) that the last persons who worked on my car are the ones who messed it up. 3. a Guy in the pit that said my oil was leaking from a break line. I sent all the information that was required spending sever days working on this like they asked. Now to the current employee of wal-mart who said.. get to know the people at wal-mart. Why should i get to know them. If people do not know them do they have to worry that they will mess your car up on purpose? BTW. 5 of the 6 total employees that work I am friends with. Do not bring your car to wal-mart it may cost ya an engine, tires, filter, lugnuts, change in your ashtray, lipstick of I have seen in some cases CD's Oh it ended up costing me 721.00 in all to fix my car.

i got my oil changed on my lincoln town car in fla. good thing i stopped at a gas station for gas. i saw oil under the car when i came out after paying! the wal mart tech never tightened the oil pan bolt! luckily there was another man at the station with a vice grip. i went under the car,tightened it 2 turns with my bare hands before the vice grip. make sure to check this if you get an oil change at wal mart! also,make sure the oil filter is a new one and is on tight!

I work right next to Wally so it was convenient. Although they never wrecked anything, they'd constantly spill oil on the exhaust pipes and the car would stink for days burning it off. Found a nice Shell station across the street that does general mechanical work, state inspection, etc. Maybe $5 more than Wally, but work is done right and on time. Sometimes you just need to pay a bit more.

I would just like to take a moment and say sorry that it took so long for your work to be done. People sometimes forget the amount of vehicles we handle per day. I have worked for almost 2 years in Wal-Mart TLE, i've seen people in and out in 10 minutes, and i've seen people wait 7 hours, unfortunately there isn't much that can be done about this. Wal-Mart employees are not allowed to turn away any vehicles during normal business hours, with a couple of eceptions(custom rims, no oil pressure, and other things of that nature). As far as the schrader valve being loose on your car, Wal-Mart personnel are at no time doing anything at all to your air conditioning system. Period. We do not touch them plain and simple. We check your standard fluids, ecluding Brake and Radiator fluid for obvious reasons, but will NEVER at any time touch your vehicle's A/C system. As for the original poster, you did not mention what make/model car you had, and you did not mention whether or not they were factory rims, or if they were custom rims. I've seen some rims that were custom rims, and were not designed for the vehicle they were placed on, and have myself declined service to these vehicles. If this is not the case, then i would definitely contact a Regional Director, failing that I would not be hesitant to contact the VP of TLE Operations regarding this matter.

Terrell Texas, T & L manager has this little gizmo and he askes me what I need, I'm not next in line, but 2nd in line. I tell him I need the $15 dollar oil change and both tires on the left side are leaking air - they are wal-mart tires and quite new. I ask him how long and he says, no more than 45 min for the oil change and another 45 min for the tires. Okay, I can handle an hour & a half since I needed to do some shopping. Three hours later, they finished the oil and had to put some air in the tires. They then said it would be another two hours for the tires because there were others in front of me???????? I told them to forget it and when I went to pay for the oil change, guess what, they charged me for the whole lube and everything. When I complained, they said if I wanted the keys back, I had to pay the $24 bucks. I couldn't wait any longer because I had to pick up my two girls from school. I got home and guess what, the oil filter was the same one I had put on when I changed it myself (I knew this because it was a WIX filter and they con't carry those.). Live n learn...................

I usually go to Honda to get my oil changed, but sometimes I take my car when my hubby takes his car to WalMart. I always stand where I can see my car and where they can see me (usually outside the bays but infront of my car. That's just how I am. If someone is working on my car I want to know what is going on. Before I got my Honda Prelude, I had an Acura Integra 90' that I did work on. I changed the oil, I've changed the alternator and the radiator. I grew up a tomboy and I was always outside with my dad when he would work on his 57 Ford. I know enough about cars. I could change the oil if I wanted to but I won't just because it is a 2001. I feel more comfortable with older cars and trucks. If you don't feel comfortable with someone changing your oil, they have books that you can buy at AutoZone and it will show you what you need to do step by step. Dallas, Texas

Who in their right mind would take their car to WalMart for maintenance. The mere thought of it absolutely befuddles me. I can understand a cheapskate wanting a low price on a jug of Tide, but for cripes sakes, is there not a tires plus or jiffy lube in town? What's next?, going to walmart for a root canal? Walmart technicians are probably in a rush because they have to have the shampoo aisle stocked before they can go home! Take you vehicles to a business that specializes, whether it be family owned, a chain, or a dealer, those people take pride in their work or at least have credibility.

This seems to be a common thing all over the country. I went in for a simple oil change, and was told that it would take about an hour, since there were other folks ahead of me. I had some other shopping to do there, so I said okay and went on my way. I came back to the TLE after making my other purchases, 2 hours later, to find that they hadn't even started on my car yet. I decided to get something to eat in the meantime, and kill some more time. When my car was finally ready, four hours later, I went home. That is when I noticed that there wasn't even a sticker on the winshield with the next oil change due info. How sloppy! But okay, I keep pretty good track of that myself so no biggie. They never reset the computer, either, so my "change oil soon" light came on about a week later. Buncha dummies! The next day, my a/c wasn't working! I took it to the Cadillac dealer, since I wouldn't ever trust Wal Mart with something like that. They told me that the shrader valve was loosened, letting all of the freon out! It cost me so much money because of the hourly rate of diagnostics, plus the freon is expensive. I was never able to get any satisfaction from Wal Mart, and I just decided to eat it and move on. I will NEVER EVER EVER take my car to another Wal Mart again!

This seems to be a common thing all over the country. I went in for a simple oil change, and was told that it would take about an hour, since there were other folks ahead of me. I had some other shopping to do there, so I said okay and went on my way. I came back to the TLE after making my other purchases, 2 hours later, to find that they hadn't even started on my car yet. I decided to get something to eat in the meantime, and kill some more time. When my car was finally ready, four hours later, I went home. That is when I noticed that there wasn't even a sticker on the winshield with the next oil change due info. How sloppy! But okay, I keep pretty good track of that myself so no biggie. They never reset the computer, either, so my "change oil soon" light came on about a week later. Buncha dummies! The next day, my a/c wasn't working! I took it to the Cadillac dealer, since I wouldn't ever trust Wal Mart with something like that. They told me that the shrader valve was loosened, letting all of the freon out! It cost me so much money because of the hourly rate of diagnostics, plus the freon is expensive. I was never able to get any satisfaction from Wal Mart, and I just decided to eat it and move on. I will NEVER EVER EVER take my car to another Wal Mart again!

For the customers who frequent your local Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express, keep this in mind: They are not highly trained professionals. They are usually a bunch of young guys making about $8 an hour that are more concerned with their personal life than your vehicle. As in any national chain, the level of service you receive usually depends on how well the local manager runs his unit. Get to know the TLE manager and he/she will probably take time to insure your vehicle is handled with respect. The TLE division does try very hard to insure proper training, staffing, etc., but when you have over 1700 TLE units nation wide this is a monumental task, I'm sure. There are some very well run TLEs out there. You just gotta find them.

I had a simple oil change done at a Wal Mart once. The $10.00/hr wanna be overfilled the oil and I was lucky the oil just burned. Wal Mart is a great place to go if you want to blow a head gasket.

Having been an employee at a Wal-mart (and my wife still an employee at a Wal-Mart with TLE facility) I can say that my car has been serviced just fine by the people there. Here are some tips to get the most "bang" for your buck there. -Always by the Tire Protection Plan when you buy tires (the main benefit to this is the Road Hazard Warranty...nails and screws in your tire are almost NEVER covered under the manufacturers warranty). -Watch the guys working the Pit. It is not hard to tell the difference between used oil and used Tranny fluid (one is brownish/black, one is purplish/brown) Usually Tranny fluid is semi- translucent, so you can see it against the light of the pit. If they pull THAT stunt, talk to the Manager IMMEDIATELY and tell them you will call "Home Office" if you don't get satisfied. Never be afraid to watch the Pit Crew...the yellow slatrails serve a dual-purpose...ventliation and allowing you to see what they are doing. -If you hear of fraud, REPORT it. Wal-mart does have an employee fraud hotline and they take it seriously. Make sure you get the name of the associate doing the fraud, so you can nail him to the wall. -Asking for the oil filter is not a bad thing. In fact, it is smart to ask for the used parts back on ALL mechanic work, unless there is a core charge that must be recovered. Easy way to find out if there is a core charge: call your local auto parts store and ask about the part in question. Most mechanics contract out with a parts store for their supply. -Remember that Wal-Mart TLE is NOT a repair facility. Their techs are NOT ASE certified. If you are uncomfortable with that, go the other way. It does not take a genius to change oil! -Ask the price on Non-Feature oil. Wal-Mart uses Pennzoil, which I personally think sucks! They also have their own house brand, Super Tech, which is just as bad. Usually they charge $2-4 extra for non-feature oil. I prefer Valvoline and Castrol for my car...Ford's Motorcraft bites and I own a FORD! -Check for oil drips after your car is serviced. If there is a lot of dripping, the most common problem with quick-lube places reared its ugly head: failing to secure the drain plug properly. -As for Tires, remember that Wal-Mart does NOT sell tires for "high-performance driving", or HVT-rated tires. These tires are very expensive and usually only sold by full-service facilities and must be special ordered. Wal-Mart is a "mount and turn" shop; meaning their specialty is selling inexpensive tires for everyday use. HINT: Their Douglas tires are decent, but wait for the UniRoyals to go on "Rollback," since they end up being just a couple cents more expensive than Douglas and have a better warranty. -Make nice with the counter people. They are the first line of defense against the jerks in the bay, and they typically put those guys in their place frequently. If you befriend one, they WILL look out for you and your car.

In 2000 my fiance and I took in our Honda Civic to get the oil changed. We got it back and it drove fine for about a week. Unfortunately we started on a trip ro see his parents about 60 mi away. The car started smoking and we eventually had to limp into a gas station and have the car towed. When the Honda dealer checked it out, we were told that they would not cover the repairs under warranty as there was no oil in the car. Yup, Wal Mart drained the oil, put in a new filter, topped off all the other fluids, and the FORGOT TO PUT OIL IN THE FRIGGIN CAR! We contacted them and the manager denied that we had even been there. With a receipt to back us up, he then said that we couldn't prove that it was them because so much time had passed. It had been a little over a week. Contacting corporate repeatedly got no responce. It cost us a couple thousand dollars to repair the friction damage that the lack of oil caused. We still have not been back to them for anything, including household items like paper towels and such. I figure that in the four years since this they have lost a lot more that the cost of repairs that were needed because of thier carelessness. I also reported them to the BBB and the appropriate gov. agencies.

In regards to the original problem, if your vehicle is equipped with aluminum wheels, after being serviced the lug nuts need to be re-torqued. This is because aluminum and magnesium are prone to reductions in BLR due to creep, stiffness characteristics of the joint, and other possibilities. BLR (Bolt Load Retention) is the tensile force in the male threaded fastener retained in a clamped joint after some period of time - usually expressed as a percentage of the initial fastener preload, e.g. 75% BLR means that the joint has relaxed enough to reduce the tension in the male threaded fastener to 75% of its original value. The purpose of re-torquing lug nuts is to keep the tensile force on the bolt as close to the specified level as possible, thereby maintaining the original clamping force on the joint. Then again, if service centers are doing this type of maintenance they had better know these details.

Section 5-13 of my girlfriend's '03 Cavalier owners manual states change the oil and the filter every 3,000 miles or 3 months whichever comes first. My '98 Z71's manual states the same. The exception is if you drive ALL highway miles then it's 7,500 miles. I don't know anyone who drives all highway miles.

this comment is toward Don - Manchester, Maryland, read your owners manual, it does state every 7,500 miles change your filter, but every 3,000 miles for the oil. 2ndly, While Walmart did change my tires ok, after making sure they put the white walls on the inside, i had change sitting in my console, hidden, after getting my truck back all the change was gone, I IMMEIDATELY asked for the store manager, and stated who was the person who worked on my truck, after 30 minutes of the police interogating this person, he finally amitted what he had done. I will never take my truck back to another walmart again. the service is sloppy.

Really? If the filter fills with crud and the bypass does also, the oil won't flow. Hard to RUN an engine for long without oil "In fact, quite a few manufacturers suggest replacing the filter every second or third oil change" Is that right? Name them. Not Delco, who happens to make the second best oil filter on the market. (Behind Amsoil)

It suprises me that none of the people have ever thought of Small Claims Court. You don't have to take this crap. A claim against Walmart will get their attention real quick.

The institute of automotive service excellence ASE only admits members which comply with high standards of customer satisfaction regarding training and quality of workmanship. ONLY have vehicle maintenance performed by ASE certified shops and mechanics. Also, an independant company has a lot more to lose from bad word of mouth than a large corporation. Small businessmen will do a better job because they personally lose big bucks when a job has to be done over due to poor workmanship.

I took my 72 Cutlass to Walmart in Ravenna, OH about a year and a half ago. I had a friend follow me up so i could leave the car there and run the rest of my errands. When i came back, i was shocked to find they wrecked my car. The told me the brakes went out, which i knew wasn't the case. They had driven off the racks and into the solid steel tire press that was bolted to the floor. I took the car to a body shop shortly afterwards and was told that it would be nearly $2000 to fix it. Walmart made a huge production of jacking the car up and pushing it off the racks. Mind you, the racks have stops on the end that are about 8 inches high. if they had been traveling at a reasonable speed, the wouldn't have jumped over those racks, so i tend to believe they were flying up on them, used to a vehical with power disc brakes, rather than the manual drum brakes that my car had. After they had it out of the bay, there was only one thing to do, drive the car home cursing them all the way...yes, i said i DROVE the car home, having no troubles with the brakes. Unfortunately, i apparently signed their disclaimer (although i have a copy of the reciept that is UNSIGNED. I would imagine that a year and a half later there's nothing that can be done about this, but, if anyone feels/knows anything different, email me...i'm thinking about calling the 1-800-walmart number mentioned above. I quite frankly wouldn't trust these people to walk a bicycle in and put air in the tire anymore. PS, the "technician" that drove it up there didn't even try the e-brakes, and when i asked about it, they said "It works?!" in an extremely sarcastic tone....that retard still works there, btw

I was reading through the rebuttals and one struck me as odd. Why would you think that asking for your old parts ensures that you got new parts? Do you think that when you ask for an old oil filter back and you are at a shop that does hundreds of oil changes a week that they will for sure give you YOUR old oil filter back. I would think that they have tons of old filters laying around that they can give you. I used to work in the auto repair industry and know that mistakes can happen although they tend to happen more often at the places where the employees are rushed. When you go to a discount repair facility you get a discount because they are not paying the employees nearly as much as a shop where the guy has worked there for 10 years and is ASE certified. I must say that Wal-mart is a good discount one-stop shop for a lot of things but I would never trust them with my auto, after all a mistake in vehicle repairs can cost you your life. I would follow the recommendations that a couple of other people have suggessted which is to find a shop that someone you know has had good experience with and stick with that shop even if you have to pay $30 for an oil change rather than $19.99. Its the same old saying - You get what you pay for!

I used to work for a Jiffy Lube, but when Wally World came up with a higher-paying offer, I figured I'd switch sides. Talk about stupid...

They put me in the basement, draining the oil and changing the filters, and I had more work to do there than anywhere at Jiffy Lube. First, there were puddles of oil and water all over the floor. Splashes of oil covered the tool racks and catwalk, and the vats that caught the waste oil had to be drained up to twice a day or they'd overflow. Evidently nobody had taken the time to figure that with an average capacity of 4.5 quarts, cars would fill these twenty gallon vats pretty quickly. The oil changes are supposed to include greasing the chassis, but there was no grease gun to use, which was all fine, anyway...the air compressor hadn't worked in a year. Neither was there a gear oil or ATF dispenser to top off gearboxes. (Before anyone jumps on me, some manual transmissions and transfer cases do take Dexron II or III automatic transmission fluid.)

To make things even more attractive, the filters were strewn all over the shelves, with no separation between the sizes. FYI, this is begging for trouble. Some Fords, like the 3.0 and 3.8 engines, use the same shape and size filter as the GM 4.3 engine, but the thread pitch and internals are different. The Fram numbers for the Ford are PH3600, and the GM is PH3980, if you want to see for yourself how closely they match. A PH3816, for the Escort ZX2, also fits on a PH3600 post, but leaks quite well, thank you....and Wally World had these mingled in, as well.

So as to ease my task, I arranged the filters and wrote their numbers on the tops so I could see what I was grabbing. With no way to separate them, this was the only way to prevent a snafu. However, one more thing stood in my way: the incompetence of my coworkers.

One meatball who worked there laughed about how, a month prior to my arrival, he'd hosed a Subaru that had come in for an oil change. While this rocket scientist was in the basement, he had drained the transmission pan--which is right next to the oil pan--and replaced the plug. The hood tech (using the term "tech" loosely) then added the four quarts of oil he thought it would take and sent the car on its way. They ended up buying a new transmission.

Another gent, who worked on the tire side of the fence, whipped out a good one on me. A customer in a little Sunfire came in asking for a tire rotation about five minutes prior to close. This guy raised the car, looked to see if she was watching, then lowered it back down when he saw that she wasn't. Charged her six bucks for the privilege, too.

When I tried to bring this up to the shop manager, I was told that it wasn't my place to question a superior (which the tire guy was), and to concentrate solely on the basement. When I asked if I'd ever get a chance to work up top, Mr. Manager told me that if the basement and the TLE were so bad, I should just walk.

And so I did...back to Jiffy Lube, which isn't much better, but at least trains their people well enough to know what the hell a drain plug is and what service is supposed to be. (Whether or not they get service there is for a different post!)

I worked at a Sam's Club and got to know the Automotive "Technicians" at the store where I worked. They are all nice guys and very helpful.

HOWEVER... Only one of them had any prior experience in automotive repair (and from what I heard about him is that he wasn't very good at it to start with) and the rest got maybe a couple hours of instruction on cars via a videotape they had to watch.

The automotive guys told me a story about how they had a customer with a dually truck (2 wheels on each rear side) come in with one of the inner rear tires flat. Never having worked on one of these trucks, they had to figure it out while they were working on it!

I would NEVER take my vehicle to a Wal-Mart of Sam's Club automotive center, as I know that the people working in the automotive department have no requirement (other than watching a videotape) for skills or experience. Go only to a repair center that has ASE Certified mechanics working there.

Otherwise, as one other poster said, "you get what you pay for!"

I worked at a Sam's Club and got to know the Automotive "Technicians" at the store where I worked. They are all nice guys and very helpful.

HOWEVER... Only one of them had any prior experience in automotive repair (and from what I heard about him is that he wasn't very good at it to start with) and the rest got maybe a couple hours of instruction on cars via a videotape they had to watch.

The automotive guys told me a story about how they had a customer with a dually truck (2 wheels on each rear side) come in with one of the inner rear tires flat. Never having worked on one of these trucks, they had to figure it out while they were working on it!

I would NEVER take my vehicle to a Wal-Mart of Sam's Club automotive center, as I know that the people working in the automotive department have no requirement (other than watching a videotape) for skills or experience. Go only to a repair center that has ASE Certified mechanics working there.

Otherwise, as one other poster said, "you get what you pay for!"

I worked at a Sam's Club and got to know the Automotive "Technicians" at the store where I worked. They are all nice guys and very helpful.

HOWEVER... Only one of them had any prior experience in automotive repair (and from what I heard about him is that he wasn't very good at it to start with) and the rest got maybe a couple hours of instruction on cars via a videotape they had to watch.

The automotive guys told me a story about how they had a customer with a dually truck (2 wheels on each rear side) come in with one of the inner rear tires flat. Never having worked on one of these trucks, they had to figure it out while they were working on it!

I would NEVER take my vehicle to a Wal-Mart of Sam's Club automotive center, as I know that the people working in the automotive department have no requirement (other than watching a videotape) for skills or experience. Go only to a repair center that has ASE Certified mechanics working there.

Otherwise, as one other poster said, "you get what you pay for!"

I worked at a Sam's Club and got to know the Automotive "Technicians" at the store where I worked. They are all nice guys and very helpful.

HOWEVER... Only one of them had any prior experience in automotive repair (and from what I heard about him is that he wasn't very good at it to start with) and the rest got maybe a couple hours of instruction on cars via a videotape they had to watch.

The automotive guys told me a story about how they had a customer with a dually truck (2 wheels on each rear side) come in with one of the inner rear tires flat. Never having worked on one of these trucks, they had to figure it out while they were working on it!

I would NEVER take my vehicle to a Wal-Mart of Sam's Club automotive center, as I know that the people working in the automotive department have no requirement (other than watching a videotape) for skills or experience. Go only to a repair center that has ASE Certified mechanics working there.

Otherwise, as one other poster said, "you get what you pay for!"

Just to say I took my Van on vacation to Myrtle BEach Walmart at 501E and the mechanic was unable to find the source of a slow leak. He did not charge me for 20 minutes labour and carefully put the wheel back, and even put air (50c saved). The mechanic torqued the wheels correctly and was very helpful.

I suggest on the work order you write down precisely what you want (eg. correct torque, rebalance with weights inside, return old part,etc, and talk to the mechanic and ask to be called when the service starts.

My friend took a his Caravan whose front lugs were impossible to get off and WalMart charged $3 for removing the front and back wheels after 1 hour of struggling with the wheel nuts. Where else would you get this kind of service for $3???

We have no complaints, but bear in mind these people are probably overworked and mistakes can and do happen. So my best advice is to communicate and followup with them every step of the way..

One suggestion I have is if you don't have a trusted mechanic and are having trouble finding one, you could start by going to AAA's website and search for one they recommend. They inspect thousands of sites each year for performance and say that only 1/3rd pass their requirements. So you are cutting out 2/3rd of the bad ones or ones of unknown quality right away.

Then if still feeling a bit wary, you could ask around about these specific dealers or check for a rip-off report on them, but at least you have a start.

Check out www.aaa.com, Automotive Services tab,
AAA Approved Auto Repair Program for automotive services at reasonable prices. I have no affiliation with AAA or their repair centers.

Make sure that you pick up or ask for the postage paid AAA response card before you leave. You can put all comments and concerns on the card and send to AAA for their review. I was very happy with the service that Strauss Auto performed and I even got a rebate on my oil change!

It's understandable that if people keep having problems with a place, DON'T GO THERE. Sure, some people don't know they are taking a risk and need to be told. But tell everyone you know personally not to go through the headache you have. Another thing to do is find someone you trust to care for your car. (Find someone who you know that can tell you where they had great service.) Then only go to that garage, etc.

The automotive repair industry as a whole has taken a lot of beatings over the years for the mistakes and at times intentional abuse of a few "bad apple" repair shops.

As a 20 year veteran and Certified Master Technician I can say that I am aware of many sad situations. On the other hand I am aware of many more success stories as well.

Please keep in mind that a repair shop is only as good as the mechanics and staff. For every national chain repair shop that is labeled as "bad", many more are the best in business.

I have a few suggestions that may help with your auto repair experience.

1. BEFORE you have any type of repair or service performed, ask around. Ask friends, relatives and co-workers what shop they would use.

2. CALL FIRST to ask questions. Ask the service writer if they are familiar with your type of problem or service concern. Ask the service writer if they have a qualified technician with the proper tools to perform the repairs. Ask about warranties. Ask about pricing. Take notes and names. ASK, ASK, ASK and ask some more....

3. COMMUNICATE with the service writer and technician before the service is performed. If you hold back information, you are open for improper repairs. Tell everything you know about the problems you have with your vehicle. Remember, a technician is a technician, not a God or a miracle worker. More information and communication means greater success and less expense.

4. A WRITTEN ESTIMATE .... get one first! Make sure that the service facility understands that additional work above the initial estimate isn't authorize without your prior approval. Most service invoices have a statement to that effect. Initial or sign that area of the invoice. Get a copy of the initial work order. Make notes of any additional work you authorize and why you allowed the work to proceed.

5. ALWAYS ASK FOR THE OLD REPLACED PARTS. They are yours! Some parts have a "core" value. You may be charged for the core part. At least ask to see the core. (alternators, water pumps, power steering units, brake shoes and calipers are just a few)

I could list many more suggestions, but if you start with these five chances are that the service experience will be a good one.

When in doubt, e-mail me.

It never ceases to amaze me the complaints of consumers in the automotive business. Not changing the oil filter WILL NOT affect how the car runs. In fact, quite a few manufacturers suggest replacing the filter every second or third oil change. The parts on your vehicle will not last forever. They wear. The technician will not always see this while servicing the vehicle. Technicians that work in a "discount auto care" facility would not be your most highly trained individuals and would not likely see any potential problems. That is your fault for wanting cheap maintenence and repair. You get what you pay for. If you are so concerned for your vehicle you would pay a little more and have a professional repair facility take care of the maintenence.

A suggestion that might help those who feel they are being ripped off by Wal-Mart on actually getting a complete oil change with a NEW filter & oil. Tell them you want your old filter (provide them with a Coffee Can or other container to "drop it" into). It works for me!!! Also I ask for any OLD belts, filters, wipers, etc., that HAVE to be replaced on my vehicle. It may seem petty, and it may seem like it's a pain in the "sit down" to have to tote these old things home, but I am assured that at least I have paid for something NEW.

Jane

A suggestion that might help those who feel they are being ripped off by Wal-Mart on actually getting a complete oil change with a NEW filter & oil. Tell them you want your old filter (provide them with a Coffee Can or other container to "drop it" into). It works for me!!! Also I ask for any OLD belts, filters, wipers, etc., that HAVE to be replaced on my vehicle. It may seem petty, and it may seem like it's a pain in the "sit down" to have to tote these old things home, but I am assured that at least I have paid for something NEW.

Jane

They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:

Their email: [email protected]
Their name: Ann

Their relationship to the company: Consumer Suggestion

Rebuttal:
I too have had problems with Walmart. I started taking my car, 1996 Pontiac Sunfire, to Walmart for my oil and filter change. Before I ever took it there, I had it completely serviced and checked over, everything looked just fine. After taking it to Walmart in Durham/Chapel Hill, NC, I noticed it didn't run quite like it should after having the oil & filter changed. I checked the filter out myself within 24 hours of having it serviced at Walmart. They never changed the filter, it was the same one on
there as before I sent it in. Please be careful. It may cost $10-$20 more in advance to have your car serviced at a dealership, but that may save you hundreds, if not more, in the end, if places like Walmart don't service your vehicle like it should. If you have had the same problem in the NC area, please email me and tell me about it. Thank you!

They filed the following to the above Rip-Off Report:

Their email: [email protected]
Their name: Gary Boone

Their relationship to the company: Consumer Suggestion

Rebuttal:
Caution, Walmart is saving Money. Consumers, try this test.
With something special to you (i.e. Lipstick, nail polish, greasy print) Mark your Oil filter. Next, place an inconspicuous mark on other fluid levels...Mostly, Power Steering....
Report your findings HERE.. I have found that many times, you dont get what you pay for.. I now send my wife in to have my car serviced.

This email is *Consumer Advise to RipOff #305.
It was sent by Please don't publish at [email protected].

Wal-Mart Tire Repair Center Screwed Up My Car. (#305)

They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:

Their email: [email protected]
Their relationship to the company: Consumer Suggestion

Rebuttal:
I worked for a Sam's Club tire shop and encountered your same problem over and over again. I repeatedly reported it to the managers, the Michelin representative, anyone I could get to stand still long enough to listen.

Try checking the internet under lawsuits and Wal-Mart. There has been the record of awards from lawsuits filed for tire mishaps resulting in damages and injuries. When threatened with reporting you problem to the home office, your local general manager will most likely respond rapidly and pay to have the problem corrected. I have seen it happen again and again.

The worst thing that can happen to a Wal-Mart manager is to have a customer call the home office customer line at 1-800-Wal-Mart. Believe me I know. I suggested to a customer that if he could not get satisfaction at this level he should try the next step before filing a lawsuit.

I received very reprimands and retaliatory acts because I put the safety of the customer before all else. You will understand why I do not want to give you my name because I am currently engaged in a workers compensation claim that is five years old and I have not yet been provided with a treating physician, disability benefits (I am totally disabled due to three ruptures in my spine and the refusal of Wal-Mart to provide a dr. or allow my group health policy to provide medical care.(Oh yeah, the group health policy is self insured therefore Wal-Mart controls it too.)

Nevertheless, be sure to contact customer service at the home office. This practice is so very dangerous and needs stopped and the more customers report these incidents and keep records and receipts to back up their allegations the sooner Wal-Mart will be held accountable as a service provider and not just as a Fortune 500 co.

Good Luck and God Bless