Morons at the Volvo dealer

[Patman]

I was planning on taking a sample of my father's oil at the end of his interval with GC, as he's doing 12,000km intervals in his 2004 Volvo XC70. He just finished up a 12,000km interval, and my plan was to test it at the end of this summer, to see how the oil looked and to reassure him that GC can easily handle 12,000km.

My father goes to the Volvo dealer for the oil changes though, just to be sure he has no warranty concerns, plus he gets other things done while he's there anyways (such as the brake inspection he had done today) When he got his car back today though, he noticed the 6L of GC was still in his trunk! So he insisted they take the car back in and change the oil again, since they had just put in cheap bulk oil (and who in their right mind wants to run cheap 5w30 dino for 12,000km in the summer in a turbocharged engine??)

The problem now though, is that I'm sure they kept the same oil filter on there (since it was only a few minutes old!) and as a result I bet there is about 0.5 to 1L of cheap oil mixed in with this batch of GC. So testing it during this interval would not be a very good test.

Why can't dealers get it right? If a customer specifically mentions to use their supplied oil and it's written on the invoice, how hard is it to follow their wishes??

 

[brianl703]

That is why I put the oil and filter I wish the dealership/mechanic/quickie-lube/whatever to use on the passenger seat floor.

Usually they can't miss it.

 

[T-Keith]

Could be a miscomunication in there somewhere. Did he tell the mechanic or just the guy writing up his order?

-T

 

[Boeing 757 Pilot]

quote........"Why can't dealers get it right? If a customer specifically mentions to use their supplied oil and it's written on the invoice, how hard is it to follow their wishes??"

Becasue these oil lube techs have an IQ level about the same as the person who asks you if you want to Supersize your value meal for 29 cents. LOL.

But seriously......if you want something done correctly. You better do it yourself. Why didn't you do the oil change on your dad's car? Even if these lube tech did put the GC, chances are good that they would have overfilled the motor with oil. Or they would have pumped in dino oil.....and kept the GC for themselves.

 

[T-Keith]

quote:

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Originally posted by Boeing 757 Pilot:
quote........"Why can't dealers get it right? If a customer specifically mentions to use their supplied oil and it's written on the invoice, how hard is it to follow their wishes??"

Becasue these oil lube techs have an IQ level about the same as the person who asks you if you want to Supersize your value meal for 29 cents. LOL.

But seriously......if you want something done correctly. You better do it yourself. Why didn't you do the oil change on your dad's car? Even if these lube tech did put the GC, chances are good that they would have overfilled the motor with oil. Or they would have pumped in dino oil.....and kept the GC for themselves.

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I think you might be generalizing just a little bit there. You may have had a bad experience with a dealer or repair shop, but I can assure you, not all places are like this. I've worked at a shop changing oil before. Do you think that I am an idiot or a thief? Your not going to always get an automotive genius, but alot of oil changers are normal people just working to make ends meet like everyone else.

-T

 

[Matt89]

I bet the real issue is that these guys do the same thing all day, so they're conditioned to do it a certain way without thinking about it. I bet if you stopped one of those guys in the middle of an oil change it would screw them up since (mentally) it's been automated.

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by T-Keith:
Could be a miscomunication in there somewhere. Did he tell the mechanic or just the guy writing up his order?

-T

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He told the service advisor and they wrote it up on the invoice. Next time my father goes there he says he's going to try and get right into the service bay for at least the first minute the car is in there so he can make sure they use his supplied oil. I wish he would just let me change his oil for him like I did for his second oil change (although taking off that stupid skid plate is a pain in the butt!)

 

[SteveD2]

If you want something done right...do it yourself.

 

[Whimsey]

Unfortunately it seems now a days that the "techs" doing the oil changes in the dealerships are on the bottom of the "tech" totem pole and will do anything the dealership drills into their brain. Hoping if they follow the dealership's "oil change regiment" then they can move up on the tech ladder. Can't blame them. It's the dealer's fault for providing inflexible instructions. I bring my own oil in for the dealer to use and make sure that it's in the passenger compartment floor. Also if the motor requires 4 1/2 quarts I give them 4 1/2 quarts, not 5. I guess so far I've been lucky. I have the same service writer everytime so he knows what I want and require and conveys it to the oil change tech. In fact they give me back the empty quart bottles to show that they used them. Or maybe they don't want to pay the enviromental disposal fee

.

Whimsey

 

[Boeing 757 Pilot]

You have to understand that some Lube Techs are very good and others dont take any pride in their job. Most lube techs at dealerships are NOT ASE certified mechanics, just oil changers with little experience and training. My next door neighbor's son worked for a Jiffy Lube as a Lube tech. He told me if the oil filter was on too tight, they wouldn't even bother changing the filter. In many cases....Jiffy Lube would be out of the correct oil filter for many cars ; old filter left on car. And if he accidently overfilled the car, his boss told him not to drain any 'new' oil out of the pan. He says it is very uncommon to see a tech last more than 6 months because of the low pay....and constantly getting burned by hot oil. Do the job correctly....do it yourself!!!

[ June 10, 2004, 06:35 PM: Message edited by: Boeing 757 Pilot ]

 

[Losiho]

My father just completed the 150,000km service for his Lexus LS400. I purchased 6 litres of M1 10w30 SS for the service, and placed it in a plastic bag in the front seat. I always leave a list of "things to do" for the service department. I also mentioned to the service manager that we had our own oil and to return the excess. They had no problems with this.

When we picked the car up, the receptionist quickly showed us the bill and asked how we will be paying. I looked at the invoice closely and noticed they had still charged us for engine oil

I mentioned this to the service manager, who quickly apologised and removed the oil from the bill. He also assured us that they used our oil, and return the excess oil and bottle.

Another time, the service manager of my Subaru dealer asked if I wanted my oil back, "as the bottles have a tendency to leak". There was almost 1 litre of oil left over. Considering I paid A$55 for the oil, of course I wanted it back !