Neighborhood con jobs or false advertising?

With my car being about a thousand miles overdue for an oil change, I knew I needed to pick a place and pick it fast. I certainly wasn’t going to take it to a quick lube place again because they were just as much crooks as I thought they would be. My old standby use to be Wal-Mart but I noticed how they slowly creeped their prices up over the years and were getting to be just as expensive as the quick lube places. Armed with an overdue oil change and do place to go, I perused the Pennysaver in search of a decent oil change at a fair price.

I knew better than to take it to Purrfect Autocare because those guys were a more expensive rip-off version of Jip-U-Lube (instead of up-selling a $20 air filter, Purrfect pushes $300 brake jobs). I didn’t wanna walk into any mechanic with a coupon because I knew smaller mechanics would try to con me into unneeded, expensive services. I have no problem telling people “no”–I just didn’t want to deal with the hassle. On page 33 I found my answer: Meineke offered a $20 oil change (with coupon). I figured a big chain like Meineke employ less scrupulous characters than an unknown mechanic who advertised oil changes for less ten bucks. Besides, it was close to my house and had an Arby’s across the street.

After presenting my coupon, I sat in the lobby and filled out the necessary paperwork. My car was in the stall for no more than two minutes when the mechanic and clerk started talking to each other in an Asian language I couldn’t decipher. They called me over and explained that my alternator bolt was sticking out and for $10 they put it back in.

Being the ultimate skeptic, I figured they were trying to scam me and ask to see it. I was lead into the garage and got a look at the underside of my car. Sure enough, the bolt that held my alternator in place was unscrewed and sticking out about six inches.

The clerk told me it was very dangerous and needed to be fixed right away. He said I was very lucky to come in for an oil change today because the alternator could have came off and cause major damage to my car.

I took two years of high school auto shop and am no chump. What he said was very true and the bolt had to be screwed in–there was no doubt about that. What troubled me was how it got loose in the first place. Those nuts don’t get unscrewed by themselves easily. Hell, most of the time they’re hard to unscrew with tools. My immediate suspicion was the mechanic unscrewed it, pulled it out, and used it as a bogus excuse to charge me an extra ten bucks.

I wanted to call him and his friend a crook but what choice did I have? There was no way I was gonna drive the car off the lot like that. I no longer had access to the tools to fix it myself. If I took it anywhere else, they’d charge me 50 bucks just to put the car on a lift (and that’s before they try to sell me unneeded, expensive services).

“Just fix it,” I said with disgust–knowing damn well they were probably the ones who pulled the bolt out in the first place. I come in with a coupon for a discount oil change and they make up the difference by offering to screw in a bolt for $10. Ten bucks to screw in a bolt–a task that could be done so quickly and so easily, most places would do it for free (assuming you were there for other work in the first place).

I’m annoyed because I know I was ripped-off–I knew I was getting ripped-off in the process of getting ripped-off. Unfortunately, there was really nothing I could do. I could have paid the ten bucks or accused them of being crooks. They would deny it and I really had no proof they weren’t. then I’d be forced to call a tow truck, have my car towed back home, and hafta figure out a way to get the car lifted high enough for me to spend 15 seconds screwing in the disconnected bolt. I know often I’d rather fight the fight then take the easy way out, but for $10 I really had no other choice.

It’s stunts like these why I don’t trust Asians. I’ve oftenI’m not sure if mentioned the Chinese restaurant down the street and how they always try to con me into a larger combo than I wanted. I’ll ask for a one item combo of orange chicken. After they finish scooping, they always ask “and your second item?” I’ve often complained (but never wrote) about the Chinese restaurant down the street. Every single time I go there, they try to con me into a larger combo than I wanted. I’ll ask for a one item combo of orange chicken. After they finish scooping, they always ask “and your second item?” Every. Single. Time. C’mon lady–I know your English isn’t that bad (I’d boycott the place if there were another restaurant within a reasonable distance). There are a lot of good Asians out there and not all of them are shady…but when you get a couple bad apples it ruins the whole bunch.

I’m really not comfortable with what happened at Meineke but I don’t know what to do. It doesn’t sit well with me because…well because that’s just who I am. Not only am I cheap, I hate feeling like someone got the best of me. But what can I do other than vow to never go there again? The way I keep swearing off oil change services, I’m gonna have no place to go by the end of the year. Looks like I might hafta start changing it myself because I think it’s starting to reach the point of finally being worth it.