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Geek Culture / are you getting everything you pay for?

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Phaelax
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Joined: 16th Apr 2003
Location: Metropia
Posted: 20th Oct 2006 23:02
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News crew uses hidden cameras to find out how many Jiffy Lubes were scamming them. The results were more han I expected.
http://mfile.akamai.com/12924/wmv/vod.ibsys.com/2006/0503/9152183.200k.asx

"Using Unix is the computing equivalent of listening only to music by David Cassidy" - Rob Pike
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Matt Rock
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Joined: 5th Mar 2005
Location: Binghamton NY USA
Posted: 20th Oct 2006 23:10
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There's a place here in Binghamton NY called Anthony's. My dad took his car there to get it fixed a long time ago and to make a long story short, they broke something in his car on purpose so he'd have to come back to get it fixed. But my dad went in their with that "Mr. Bat, meet Mr. Face" Italian-guy-from-Brooklyn attitude and turned the situation around *real* fast lol. Anyay, just a funny story related to car guys doing shady stuff, but I would never expect a big company like Jiffy Lube to do shady stuff! I'll have to send this link to my uncle, he's a huge fan of Jiffy Lube. This should steal the jam out of his donut


"In an interstellar burst, I'm back to save the universe"
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David R
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Joined: 9th Sep 2003
Location: 3.14
Posted: 20th Oct 2006 23:12
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When I first read this thread, I thought it was going to be about lubricant of some kind!

I must admit I have never heard of 'Jiffy Lube' in my entire life - I didn't even see it when I went over to the states myself

Well, I finally decided to create a website that really reflects what kind of programmer I really are: OneManBand software: http://www.ombsoft.com
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Matt Rock
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Location: Binghamton NY USA
Posted: 20th Oct 2006 23:22
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They're all over the place where I live, they do oil changes and state inspections (some states require your vehicle to pass an inspection before you can take them on the road). I personally don't like them, they always seem to "forget" to do something when I go there and Midas is cheaper anyway in my experience.


"In an interstellar burst, I'm back to save the universe"
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OSX Using Happy Dude
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Joined: 21st Aug 2003
Location: At home
Posted: 20th Oct 2006 23:24
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Yes, does sound rather dodgy - in all respects...

Visit my web site for real bangin' stuff. Word.
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Phaelax
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Posted: 20th Oct 2006 23:28
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I doubt they "forgot" since they showed one guy on the phone with his manager saying "they caught us on tape". Nobody admits to being caught unles they knew they were doing something wrong!

One time, a guy told me I needed to replace my whole control arm. I took it to my friend's dad and he said no its fine you just need new bushings.
control arm - $100+
bushings - $10

If you guys dont personally know a mechanic, i suggest finding one and making friends.

"Using Unix is the computing equivalent of listening only to music by David Cassidy" - Rob Pike
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BatVink
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Joined: 4th Apr 2003
Location: Gods own County, UK
Posted: 21st Oct 2006 00:25 Edited at: 21st Oct 2006 00:34
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Quote: "some states require your vehicle to pass an inspection before you can take them on the road"


That applies to the entire UK. And it's very srict.


As for the video...they do these "Caught on Camera" things all the time in the UK. One of the current ones is House of Horrors. They break something in a house and then invite tradesmen to come and fix it. They generally use an older woman as the house owner, and she gets ripped off for hundreds of pounds, and often they steal things from the house, pee in the sink and various other odd acts.



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Miguel Melo
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Posted: 21st Oct 2006 00:49
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Quote: "That applies to the entire UK. And it's very srict."


Same thing in Portugal Yearly when your car is over 3 years old you have to take it to the equivalent of an MOT (British car test). If you're emmissins are too high, you have dodgy tires, lights, breaks or a misaligned steering you flunk and the car is considered road-unworthy until you fix it.

I have vague plans for World Domination
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Hobgoblin Lord
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Joined: 29th Oct 2005
Location: Fall River, MA USA
Posted: 21st Oct 2006 01:43
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Quote: "but I would never expect a big company like Jiffy Lube to do shady stuff!"


Thats the problem with franchises you run the risk of some owner ruining your name.

http://www.cafepress.com/blackarrowgames
Check out my great stuff here
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Lost in Thought
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Location: U.S.A. : Douglas, Georgia
Posted: 21st Oct 2006 12:41
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I still don't see how this surprises so many people. You should see how badly they rip off women. The worst people for ripping people off are Air Conditioning Repair people. Buddy of mine's A/C was messed up for a year (I didn't know about it until the other day). They told him it would cost $500 to fix it, which he didn't have. He told me about it and I looked at it. I repaired a few holes in 1 copper line (took 5 mins and $4 worth of parts), evacuated the system (takes appx 1 hour) and gased it up (8lbs R22 = $27). So he was gonna make $469 profit for an hour and a half job. @ $313 an hour everyone should be A/C repair men

Quote: "If you guys dont personally know a mechanic, i suggest finding one and making friends."


Or become one and work on your own stuff

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Raven
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Joined: 23rd Mar 2005
Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posted: 21st Oct 2006 13:53
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Jiffy Lube = Quikfit
Both companies on the whole generally have a good reputation, but like with all garages you get some which are honest and others just trying to ripp you off.

I like watching the BBC show "Rogue Traders" cause all they do is name-and-shame companies that are cowboys at the job. Loved the one not last week but the week before with the Bull**** Spray and garages. hehe

Some real horror stories from some. Remember one time my mom took in her car that I'd just upgraded with a few bits'n'bobs.. went in to the garage with a gasget head crack (I was away for a few days, my mom wanted it sorted as quickly as possible), when I came back was a little more than surprised to find they'd replaced the steering wheel, tires, alloys, gearbox.. and the turbo has mysteriously disappeared!!

To say I was a little pissed off would've been an understatement.
Both me and my stepdad went down and had a little "chat" with the garage... they refunded my mom for all of the work and replaced everything except the gearbox which they'd already sold on. Got the lawyer involved about it and finally got them to pay for a brand new hydrolic gearbox and labour ^_^
They went bust a few months later after similar lawsuits.

Gotta hate places that try and ripp you off royally.

Intel Pentium-D 2.8GHz, 512MB DDR2 433, Ati Radeon X1600 Pro 256MB PCI-E, Windows Vista RC1 / XP Professional SP2
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Phaelax
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Posted: 22nd Oct 2006 18:53
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Quote: "Or become one and work on your own stuff "

i'm working on that, but it still helps to know folks with 30+ years experience.

"Using Unix is the computing equivalent of listening only to music by David Cassidy" - Rob Pike
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Me!
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Posted: 22nd Oct 2006 21:31 Edited at: 22nd Oct 2006 21:33
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he! tis me wot has returned whit a GPRS modem thingy plugged into me lappy, you DONT get what you pay for with these gizmos (gprs net connections that is), theres something badly wrong with oranges billing system, according to them

0-3mb = £3.00 per mb
3-15mb = £2.00 per mb
15+mb = £1 per mb

thats not how it works out at all, including upstream data 16mb cost me £62.00 , I had £80 on my account and trying to install HL2 episode 1 ate the lot, disabled steam, (so I can`t play HL2) and still wants to download gawd knows how many terrabytes of steam updates before it will run again (once steam starts an update you can`t run anything again until it finishes), have I ever mentioned how much I dislike Steam?






Dr Frankenstiens mum told him to make some new friends, not knowing where this was going to lead.
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CattleRustler
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Location: case modding at overclock.net
Posted: 23rd Oct 2006 03:26
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I swear, the Jiffy Lube by me must hire their employees on some sort of prison-work-furlough thing, seriously.

One time i was in their with my 280ZX for an oil change (back in the day) anyway, the bay I was in didn't have the right oil grade in the tank above, and the hose from the from the adjacent bay would not reach. The idiot working on my car was about to start it up, with no oil, to move it to the vacant adjacent bay... I nearly flipped on the guy, but luckily I stopped short of wrapping him off the head with a ratchet.

I never trusted those places, and never sat inside the lil office to wait for my car, I would always stand right beside the guy working on my car, from start to finish - and this was one of those times it paid off.

Its 9/11 - but its FAKE 9/11 Ts=SQRT(Df/16)
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Phaelax
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Location: Metropia
Posted: 23rd Oct 2006 21:47
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I've had NTB (national tired & battery) install the wrong oil, twice. It wasn't fatal using 5w30 instead of the 10w30, but their excuse was they were out of 10w30. I said fine, gimme my keys and i'll go somewhere else. They already drained the car. The first time this happened, they didn't even tell me they used a different oil. I found out from the receipt later on. How does a place like this run out of the proper oil? I shoulda said march your arse over to Walmart and get me some dang oil.

"Using Unix is the computing equivalent of listening only to music by David Cassidy" - Rob Pike
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