Complaint Review: Grease Monkey - Anthony Zimbicki Jr.

As a former employee and after having made hundreds of sales for Grease Monkey and dealing with hundreds of customers and their vehicles I know the ins and outs entirely of the day to day operation of how Grease Monkey operates. To start off with, their main corporate slogan is preventive maintenance. Yet in actuality, it's really all about a combination of how fast can they get your vehicle out of the shop (which affects the work performance) and how much money can the hood technicians get out of you with multiple "recommendations" that to tell the truth, the majority of the product sales are bogus and unneccessary. Now, in all honesty, some of the sales products are needed, such as a visibly dirty air filter or cabin air filter, but why would you want to pay anywhere from $29.99 to $39.99 for a cheaply made cabin air filter that you can buy at your local advance auto parts or auto zone for half the cost? Well, I'm paying for the installation you may be thinking. Incorrect. The majority of vehicle's air filters and cabin air filters are easyily accessible. Here's a list of all of the products/services that are not needed and they don't even do what is claimed. Stay away from getting a "Radiator Flush and Fill". With the exception of Ford F150's and vehicles that have giant reservoirs, this service is a complete waste of money. If you have a small 4 cylinder car like a toyota or nissan that has a small radiator don't do it. The radiator machine is nothing but an air compressor operated vaccum that doesn't even extracte all of the old coolant. What happens is a portion of the coolant is removed but then new coolant is pumped and that same new coolant is removed allover again. Don't purchase a "Fuel System Service Cleaning". This has to be the biggest scam product on the list. It either consists of a two part "Fusion Kit" complete with "Syntramax" (which is a fluid that is poured in the gas tank) and the "Total Intake System Cleaner" (which is sprayed into the throttle body) Both of these items are claimed to clean the fuel injectors and the intake valves, compression rings, piston rings, combustion systems, reduce surging , stalling and hesitation. This couldn't be further from the truth. The other product with the same performance promises is what's called the " Induction Kit" complete with three cleaning items, " Top engine cleaner" "Supreme fuel system cleaner" and the " Foaming throttle plate cleaner". The cleaning looks interesting with this one, complete with a "White Smoke Show" because the amount of smoke that comes out of the vehicle is based on how " dirty the fuel system is" when in actuality this service is nothing short of " smoke and mirrors". Be very leary about buying a fuel filter. Make sure that the one that is being replaced has been there either a few years or has atleast 20 to 30,000 miles on it. Also, before getting a transmission flush with the "T-TECH MACHINE" be positive that the fluid has been there long enough for it to need replacement. Instead of waiting in the office, stand infront of your vehicle and witness the service.Be sure that your chassis has been lubricated and your rear differential, transfer case, and front differential has been checked if your vehicle is equipped with those. Make sure that the right oil is being poured in. My former supervisor Gary Eckmeyer had me on several occasions put 10/40 weight oil in when the paperwork called for 5/30 just because we had a surplus of the former, or he had me put in pennzoil fully synthetic secretively when the customer deliberately asked for Mobil 1. As I stated earlier, this entire business operation is specifically designed to appear as if the company cares about the prevention and maintenance of your automobile. However, the reality is that the amount of money that is generated is all that is focused on and cared about. Here's some of the " Insider Termonology and Secrets". The system is designed on numbers. "Car count" and " Ticket Average". The higher the amount of cars the lower the number of the ticket average so therefore more and more sales are required inorder to keep the average up. On a bad day the ticket average was in the 40's or 50's. On a good day it would be in the 70's or 80's. The system is designed on a daily, weekly and monthly plan. At the end of everyday the numbers for both the car count and ticket average are tallied, same thing applies for the week and month. The manager wants a monthly average over $54 inorder to recieve a nice bonus check. There is a bonus system for the hood technicians. The first 60 bonus sales which consist of the fuel system cleaning, transmission flush, radiator flush and the fuel filters don't count. That money doesn't go to the salesman making the effort, it instead goes to the general manager so that he can "wet his beak on others sweat". After the 60, then for every sale only but a tiny percentage is gained, namely $1.00 per sale. This is ludacris considering the fact that a transmission flush alone is $89.99, it's robbery of the hood technicians. And by the way, the only reason why so many sales are pushed (especially the four bonus sales for obvious reasons) is because the hourly pay is so low $7.50 and the economy is horrible. I am obviously no longer working for Grease Monkey. Not because I quit, but because the supervisor Gary Eckmeyer (with a phony chivalry, in order to defend the honor of a female co-worker named June Broadstone) unjustly dismissed me all because I got in a verbal altercation with June, which she instigated by the way. My first amendment right was trampled on because what does me being drawn into an argument have to do with misconduct connected with the work? It's a double standard. She used profanity and was disrespectful, yet I'm the one standing in the unemployment line. The owner of the franchise Anthony Zimbicki jr. cheated me on two of my bonus checks and to this day he still owes me about $368.00. I made him and his company over $80,000 dollars and that number can not be disputed. So, a word of advice to all whom are in need of an oil change. Just know, from an insiders perspective, Grease monkey under the franchise ownership of Anthony Zimbicki jr. is in my opinion money hungry,(on several occasions the supervisor would whisper to me, in reference to a customer, "take them for everything they've got"!) negligent of the daily goings on, the facilities lack the adequate tools and equipment to provide a top notch service, and did I also mention that there is absolutely no lunch break allowed. Isn't that ashame this day and age in America? In closing, before you think about going, or the next time you go to grease monkey just know that you are considered merely but a number and viewed as but yet just another gullible victim to prey upon financially.

Notsugarcoated
Lehigh Acres, Florida
U.S.A.