Scam: TV news investigation shows Jiffy Lube outlets charging customers for automotive maintenance work that was never done.
Example: [Collected via e-mail, 2006]
What I am looking for in particular is a news piece on the Jiffy Lube Scam (billed for work that was never done) that was forwarded to me, with the following link:
Origins: The video embedded in the example above points to one segment of a three-part report on an investigation carried out by reporters Joel Grover and Matt Goldberg and the news team at television station
"Are you Steve Ayoub?" Grover asked. "No, I'm not," he replied. "Are you the district manager?" Grover asked. "No, I'm not. I have a vehicle here," he replied. He denied his identity and told NBC4 he was a customer. "Which one is your car?" Grover asked. "That one," Ayoub replied. "The red one?" Grover asked. "Correct," Ayoub replied. But that red car belonged to another customer. "That's your red Camaro back there?" Grover asked another customer. "Yeah. What's going on with it," the customer replied. The district manager was lying to NBC4. "I think you're the district manager," Grover said to Ayoub. "I'd like for you to turn off the camera and I'd appreciate it," Ayoub replied.
So NBC4 tracked down the district manager, Steven Ayoub at a Glendale store.
The full report can be viewed at the following links:
Written summaries of this series can be read at the following links:
Jiffy Lube responded to the NBC4 News investigation by promising to implement "sweeping changes":
A Burbank Jiffy Lube was closed to customers Tuesday and Wednesday because the company was retraining all its employees. Four other Los Angeles area stores were also closed — all stores that we caught on tape charging for services, like a transmission flush, that were never done. After our investigation, dozens of customers To ease those concerns, Jiffy Lube says it's installing video cameras in Jiffy Lube has also terminated six employees we caught on tape, including one employee at the Encino store who sold us a new fuel filter but later admitted to the district manager that the work was not done. Also gone is the district manager, Steven Ayoub, who denied his identity when I tried to question him.
Now, in an email, Jiffy Lube tells me that it's taking "agressive" steps to stop the fraud we uncovered.
But as reporter Joel Grover noted, "This is now the third time in three years that Jiffy Lube told us it was cleaning up its act." In 2004, Jiffy Lube was one of two large
In May 2013, yet another NBC4 I-Team investigation found that Jiffy Lube was still up to their old tricks, despite repeated promises from the chain several years earlier that they would clean up their act:
But the I-Team's hidden cameras reveal that not all of those services were performed. The cameras did record a technician removing our car's old air filter. But when our customer wasn't looking, the technician simply At the same store, Martin, the service advisor, told our customer they had checked our car's transmission and differential fluids and both needed to be changed, at a cost of $200. "The transmission oil ... we checked out the oil and it came pretty close to empty, and it was really dirty," Martin told our customer. But our hidden cameras show that no one at that Jiffy Lube ever checked those fluids. If they had checked, they would have seen the fluids were clean and full, because we had just had them serviced at another Jiffy Lube store. At the Jiffy Lube on La Brea and Melrose near Hollywood, our undercover customer was subjected to what insiders say is another scam. Before arriving, we had a reputable mechanic test our battery, and it tested in "good" condition. But at the La Brea Jiffy Lube, a service advisor said they tested our battery, said it was in "critical" condition, and that it needed to be "replaced." The The La Brea store told us we needed $139 air conditioning service. "The air conditioner Freon is low," a service advisor there told our customer. But again, the During our investigation, the I-Team tested Once again, a Jiffy Lube spokeswoman told NBC4 that "We take your findings very seriously and appreciate you bringing them to our attention." Last updated: 9 July 2013 Your membership is the foundation of our sustainability and resilience.
A [Jiffy Lube] service advisor named Martin told our undercover customer that our car needed $649 in repairs. We agreed to most of the services, including replacing the air filter.
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