So I went to Express Tire yesterday to get my oil changed (obviously a bad call in the first place). The only reason I went there and did not do it myself was the I got some coupon book for $20 that included 4 free oil changes, $15 off any service, etc. When I bought the book, the guy told me I could just pay $4 extra per quart for a synthetic oil change.
Of course when I get to the shop, they say the guy lied and that I have to pay full price ($60) for a synthetic oil change. I really needed it changed, so I just went ahead with it. It was 9am and I had to get to work at a decent time (11?) and the guy quoted me an hour and half. I left and came back in an hour and a half. My car was still sitting there untouched. I wait another hour and FINALLY they take my car in. The first thing they do is take off the tire that I told them was leaking air. They blew it up with a lot of air and dunked it in water to look for bubbles, but of course they are stumped and can't figure out the leak. Whatever, I'll deal with it another time. By now, its 12pm and apparently lunch time. Every single mechanic walks off the property with my car still up on the lift! So another 30min goes by with me waiting. Finally they come back and lower my car to put oil in. Except, the idiot puts in regular oil! I watched him realize it after he read the service sheet and then go talk to another mechanic that wrote it up. So my car went back up for another oil change. BUT, I realize now that he didn't change out my filter again. So now my car has half a quart of regular oil mixed with the synthetic!

Finally, at 1pm my car is done. They took a whopping $10 off for waiting so long. After I drove away they called me and said they felt bad so they would give me 50% off my next oil change.

But my problems aren't over! I drove 30miles on the freeway to and from work and on my way home my TPMS light was still on, so I went to the gas station for air. 2 of my tires were a little low, but the tire the blew up to check for bubbles....was at 55PSI!!! 20PSI over what it should be!! They never let the extra air out of that tire! I guess I am lucky it didn't blow out on the freeway.

So anyway, I am going to go back in there today and demand all of my money back for the oil change since I am definitely NOT going to use their 50% off or ever go back there.

But, how bad is it that there is half a quart of regular oil mixed in with the synthetic oil?? Should I make them give me a whole new oil change, too??

 

I thought as long as the car wasn't turned on oil would not go into the oil filter? I think you will be fine, but then again they sound so dumb you may want to change it. Hopefully they didn't over torque your drain plug or use some stupid oil weight/filter.

See if you can't get a refund, buy your own oil and change it when you get a chance.

 

Just when you think you're getting a deal most of the time it doesn't turn out that way. I good shop would have checked the pressure in all four tires and of course like you said it got worse from there. I got 5 quarts of AMSOIL today, used my filter (K&N) and my cost was $40 for the oil. That's such a great deal I may have to do that every 4K miles or 120 days which ever comes first....
Gary

 

I went back yesterday and the manager remembered me of course, since he came over and apologized when I was waiting so long. He was actually pretty understanding and said he realized my car had "slipped through the cracks" of customer service. He said they never started the car with the wrong oil so the oil filter should be fine.
I told him I wanted my money back and he was perfectly willing and really wanted my return business
...probably not

 

Yeah they would deff lose my business. Unless i got a full refund and free visits out of it ect

 

jlubin, after what you went thru why would you even consider going back? There must be at least a dozen places near you where you can get good service at a reasonable price. Since you still have the low tire issue find another tire shop that knows how to look for slow leaks, probably the valve stem....easy fix.
Even if the service was free why would you want to wait hours for service that should take 30 minutes. With service this bad I can only imagine what kind of poor quality krap they put in your engine. They make PepBoys/Sears look good....
Gary

 

That was a sarcastic "probably". I will definitely not be going back there.

And yeah, I think it is probably the valve stem.

 

Unfortunately I've had similar experiences and it's the reason I don't take my car to shops unless absolutely necessary. I don't trust them unless I'm standing there watching the work being done and if I'm going to do that, I might as well just do it myself. I would have walked away as soon as they quoted you $60 for the synthetic change.

As others have said, the filter wouldn't have any oil in it unless they manually poured some in before installing. Even if there was, the regular oil wouldn't hurt anything.

 

That's very unfortunate.

Seriously my sister who is completely non-auto-literate .. would do a better job.

Lesson learned I suppose.

 

Does anyone else find it ironic the OP's screen name is j-LUBIN??????

 

about your tire, the same thing happened to me with my wifes tires. they blew it up and found no bubbles.

what had happened was that the rim was bent and air was leaking from there. when they pulled the tire off, he found some white stuff on the inner rim where it was bent and said thats where air was leaking. he scraped it off with a chisel, put the tire back on, and said i have to get the rim repaired or replaced eventually.

 

pretty good last name, huh?



Well if that is the case, I guess it helps justify getting the new rims I want