Can You Trust Your Mechanic Again?
By JOEL GROVER and MATT GOLDBERG
Updated 3:25 PM PST, Wed, Sep 17, 2008
Video: Can You Trust Your Mechanic Again?
November 2006 - It's all in response to an NBC Los Angeles undercover investigation, exposing wrongdoing at some local Jiffy Lube stores. NBC Los Angeles caught them red-handed, charging for repairs that were never done. The investigation has been watched by millions of people on TV and the Internet.
Now, Jiffy Lube is reaching out to the people who've seen the story, asking for a second chance.
Jiffy Lube TV Commercial: "We're committed to delivering the best service in the business."
Jiffy Lube's new TV spot, running only in Southern California appears aimed at skeptical customers who saw the NBC Los Angeles investigation.
"Am I going to go back? Of course not," a former Jiffy Lube customer says.
"We're supposed to go, 'oh thank you so much. We'll come right back.' Please," says another former customer.
It was last May that NBC4 caught Jiffy Lube stores, like one in Canoga Park charging for repairs that were never done. Repairs like a transmission flush, where technicians are supposed to use a special machine to flush the transmission. But our hidden cameras showed the machine was never hooked up to our test car at that Canoga Park store, and it wasn't used at several other stores we visited as well.
"When I saw your report, a light bulb just flashed on," says Eric Sarabia, a former Jiffy Lube customer.
Sarabia tells NBC Los Angeles the same thing happened to him.
"They never hooked it up, and they still made me pay for it," he tells NBC Los Angeles.
It's customers like Sarabia that Jiffy Lube hopes to win back with its new commercial starring Jiffy Lube franchisees and employees.
Jiffy Lube TV Commercial: "But letting even one customer down, is one too many."
Jiffy Lube TV Commercial: "So if there's ever anything more that we can do for you, let us know."
"It wouldn't make me go back to Jiffy Lube, that's for sure," a former Jiffy Lube customer tells us.
"If you want to admit to mistakes, you put the president of the company in front of everyone and say 'We made mistakes, we're here to fix it,'" says another former customer.
Jiffy Lube is trying to fix its stores in other ways. After the NBC Los Angeles report, they did their own investigation, and have now fired 18 people involved in the cheating NBC Los Angeles uncovered, including an LA area regional manager and several store managers.
"That definitely shows me that they're trying to make the right moves," a former Jiffy Lube customer tells us.
Jiffy Lube also fired a district manager who lied to Joel Grover about his identity.
When Grover asked the man in his first report "Are you the district manager?" He replied, "No, I'm not."
Grover told him, "I think you're the district manager." He replied by saying, "I'd like for you to turn off the camera."
Grover asked former customers what it would take to get them back as a Jiffy Lube customer?
"I want an apology," one customer told Grover.
"Some money back," says another.
The former customers Grover spoke with all say they wrote to the president of Jiffy Lube months ago, asking for refunds, but they all say they didn't hear back.
"It just shows that they don't really care about the customers," a former customer tells Grover.
Jiffy Lube wouldn't speak with NBC Los Angeles on camera, but off camera, they tell us they have even more plans to prevent wrongdoing. They plan to start a nationwide mystery shopper program to test their stores. Jiffy Lube has also promised to speak with Grover on camera, early next year.
First Published: Sep 17, 2008 3:16 PM PST
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