Complaint Review: ProLube

I spoke with the owner of ProLube over the weekend. We had a legnthy discussion and he explained his side of the story to me and how the information they had gathered from their mechanics was different than mine. He had done everything he could to resolve this issue. At the conclusion of our conversation everything was resolved. I will continue doing business with this company and can safely recommend them again to anyone looking for an oil change in the Naugatuck area. I have worked with them for over two years (as previously stated) and this was the only time I have ever had an issue. After speaking with the owner, I can see his side of the story and feel very comfortable working with them again.

Here's the letter I sent Prolube back on February 24th and was signed for by them on the 25th. To date I have not heard back from anyone and in addition to my complaint, the Better Business Bureau already had them listed with an unsatisfactory rating due to a previous issue that went unanswered. par for the course I guess!!.. On anothe note, I'd like to thank Wayne from Monroe Muffler Shop and Mark from SafT Auto for their assistance and prompt attention to my car.

here's the letter:
Dear Sir or Madam:

On February 4, 2004 at approximately 2:23PM I brought my 1995 Plymouth Neon in for a regular oil change. I have been coming to your establishment for the past two years on a regular basis and had received satisfactory service during this time. On this particular day however, an accident took place and because of this, my car has not been running the same ever since. In order to present to you the events of that date, I am going to outline what happened:

1) Approximately 2:15 I drive my '95 Neon up to the Pro Lube shop. I explained I needed a regular oil change and went inside the waiting room.

2) After a few minutes I noticed Liz and another worker were cleaning my windshield. Since I have been coming to Pro Lube for quite some time, I thought this was odd as I have never seen this done before but dismissed it as a new service being offered.

3) At approximately 2:23 (according to my receipt) after I had finished paying, I was told by Steve that he had spilled some oil by mistake when trying to fill the crankcase and was in the process of cleaning it up. I joked about it with him and said it explained the cleaning of my windshield, which I had thought, was a new service.

4) I walked outside and towards my car and noticed the car wasn't ready yet as the windshield was till being touched up and Steve was blowing air into the spark plug wires and the ignition coil to dry them out. He explained what had happened with the oil gun and how it had popped out while he was filling the crankcase and where he had to pour water and Simple Green to clean the glass and the engine. As he was blowing the air out of the spark plug wires, I noticed the engine was shaking and was idling very rough and was smoking both from the engine and the tailpipe. Steve thought I needed a new catalytic converter and that was the cause for the smoke. I explained to Steve the car was not making any noises or smoking before I brought it into the shop and that only after it had been in Pro Lube had any of these problems come up. Steve explained that some water could have gotten into the engine and would have to dry out before it ran correctly again. He gave me two options, I could either, sit and wait for the car to dry out there in the bay or drive it to heat the car up and dry it quicker. I elected to drive the car since it should have cleared up the problem quicker.

5) Upon pulling out of the Pro Lube, I realized the car did not have the acceleration it once had. The car was making loud clunking noises and barely had enough acceleration to pull onto Rubber Avenue as I headed home. Once I made the left onto Rubber Avenue came to the stop light by Stop & Shop the car kept getting worse. It was idling rough and kept clunking louder and louder. As I accelerated through the Stop & Shop stop light and headed up the slight incline to my house, the car was making even more noises. I eventually pulled into my parking lot to turn the car around and head back to Pro Lube when my neighbor who was out front looked at me and said what are you burning? Smoke was rising from the engine and I explained to him I had just had an oil change done and had to get the car back to the place as soon as possible and couldn't explain what had happened.

6) I pulled into Pro Lube but did not pull the car into the bay for fear that it may cause further damage or even explode. There was quite a bit of smoke coming from the car and a lot more noises. Steve approached and I explained that the car was not accelerating and I could barely get it home. He told me to drive the car into the bay and said he'd look at it. After a moment or two, Liz explained she had found what the problem was and suggested I jump down in the well to take a look at the problem. My catalytic converter was glowing red-hot.

Liz explained that this had happened to her before and her catalytic converter had actually set fire to her car mats on her truck and suggested I take a look at her truck as well. I knew the car was running fine when I brought it into the shop for the oil change and only after the spill had any of these problems come up. In fact, if I did have a glowing red-hot catalytic converter, they surely would have noticed it when the technician was changing the oil in the car. I waited a few minutes as they pondered what to do with the car. I went outside and called my regular mechanic but had to leave him a message.

7) I explained my check engine light had been on when I left Pro Lube and it wasn't on before I had come in for the oil change. Liz grabbed a device that she could plug into the computer to see what the problem was. Once she connected the device she told Steve and others that it was showing the car was misfiring. She explained to me that this could be an error and they would need to disconnect the battery to reset the computer and correct the misfiring problem. (I found out later according to Wayne at Monroe it isn't possible to simply disconnect the battery to reset the computer) Again, the car was running fine before I brought it in, the check engine light was not on, the car wasn't misfiring, and the catalytic converter certainly wasn't glowing red-hot.

8) Steve and another tech attempted to disconnect my battery to re-set the computer. Liz made a phone call to Wayne at Monroe Muffler to see if he could lend an explanation as to what the problem might be. He mentioned to Liz that if the wires were old then a connection could have been loose which allowed water into the coils and be causing the problem. He didn't have time to look at the car in detail on this date but Liz and Steve suggested I bring it down to him to look at it anyway.
9) After the battery was re-connected, the check engine light was still lit and they suggested I bring the car to Wayne to determine what the problem was. I brought the car down to Wayne (it was stalling and clunking all the way to his shop which is approximately of a mile down Rubber Avenue).

10) Wayne asked me to drive my car into his bay and he and another technician looked it over. He said the wires were brand new so that wouldn't have caused the problem. I mentioned what he had told Liz on the phone and he said since he had not seen the car, he was merely suggesting a cause for the problem. Since the wires were new, it couldn't be causing the problems I was having. He asked me if the car had been making any noises or stalling prior to having the oil changed and I explained it hadn't. It was running fine. He suggested I bring the car to SafeT Auto to have them run a diagnostic check on the car because he did not have the correct equipment for that test.

11) I drove the car home and parked it far away from any other car. The car was smoking and still clunking away and I did not want it to catch fire near any other cars. I jumped into my Blazer (which I rarely drive) and drove down to ProLube because I felt my Neon would not have made it back down there and back again. I spoke with Steve and explained what Wayne had told me about the wires and how it couldn't have been the wires causing the problem since they were new. I told him he suggested I bring the car to SafeT Auto and have them check it. Steve looked at the part that was perhaps in question (ignition coil which he had been attempting to dry along with the wires before) and said for me to bring it there and get the piece replaced if it was the one causing the problem. It's probably a $50.00 piece and he'd get me a check for the cost.

12) I scheduled an appointment for the following day with mark at SafeT and drove the car there that night after it had time to cool down. I also spoke with my regular mechanic (Joe) that evening and explained what had happened earlier in the day to get his thoughts on what the problem was. He said based on what I had told him it could be one of two things. Either they had put too much oil in the car causing the oil to foam or when they were trying to wash the oil off of the engine water had gotten into the ignition coil and was causing the car to misfire. When I told him the computer was indicating a misfire when Liz had connected it, he said he was pretty sure that was probably what happened. He went on to say that there could be more damage to the catalytic converter since it was glowing red-hot. He felt the misfiring was causing unburned gas to be dumped into the catalytic converter where it ignited and caused the red-hot glowing. He also advised me that since the catalytic converter was glowing so hot, it probably melted the catalysts inside. There was a test mechanics use to see if a catalytic converter is functioning properly and involves taking the temperature of the catalytic converter in the front and in back of the cat. The temperature in the rear of a cat should be roughly 20% higher than the temperature in the front. I told him the car was not running properly so there wasn't any way for me to bring the car to him to check it in Bridgeport (where his garage is). Once the knocking and acceleration problem were fixed I told him I would bring it down to him.

13) The next day I heard back from Mark. He said the ignition coil was bad and had burnt out. I asked him if what had happened the day before could cause something like that and he speculated that it could. I went back to Pro Lube and explained what happened to Steve. I told him about the conversation I had with my mechanic and how he had suspected the ignition coil had been damaged and how the catalytic converter was probably now damaged as well. He said to take care of the first problem (the car not running properly) and we'd go from there. Mark had quoted me $95.00 for the diagnostic test and $249.00 for the ignition coil. Since I did not have this much money on me, Steve was nice enough to arrange for Saf-T to bill him directly at Pro Lube. The ignition coil was replaced later that day and I picked my car up at approximately 5:00PM on that Thursday evening.

14) I scheduled an appointment with my regular mechanic in Bridgeport for the following Tuesday, February 10th. Upon looking at the car and taking the temperature of the catalytic converter, he advised me the rear of the catalytic converter was burning at about 395 degrees while the front was burning at about 415 degrees. Both he and another mechanic that was there explained how the rear should be higher by about 20% and again explained how a glowing red-hot catalytic converter could cause the damage. They both asked me if the cat had been red hot before the oil was changed or if I had noticed any excessive smoke of any sort and I explained I had not and if the cat was red hot when the oil had been changed, surely the technician would have noticed it. (It was impossible to miss) He advised me that he would get some prices for me and suggested I replace the catalytic converter so the car can perform properly. If the catalytic converter isn't replaced then the car cannot breathe properly and the car's performance will be affected.

15) Later on the 10th I brought my Blazer into Pro Lube to have the oil changed on that vehicle since I did not want to drive my Neon until the problem was fixed and explained to Steve what I had found out and what various mechanics had said. I also gave him several printouts from the Internet that backed up what I was being told by my mechanic and others and the price for the part and labor to get the catalytic converter done correctly. My mechanic had quoted me a total price of $400.00 to replace the catalytic converter ($290 for parts and $110 for labor). He told me he would give this information to the owner and discuss it with him and have someone get back to me as soon as possible.
16) I called Steve on February 18th and advised him nobody had contacted me. He said he would get in touch with the owner and get back to me.

17) I called Steve again on the 23rd and advised him I still had not heard from anyone. He assured me he would see the owner tonight (the evening of the 23rd) and have someone get back to me. Needless to say I have not heard from anyone as of yet again.

It has been almost a month since I originally brought my car in for a routine oil change and this matter has not been resolved. Your policy states you must be given the first opportunity to address any problems in order to accept liability. I believe the courts (if involved) will agree with me that I have done just that and have given you and/or your agents every opportunity to address this issue. Furthermore I believe an assumption of liability was made when you replaced the ignition coil which was the direct cause of the car not running properly and according to my research (and mechanic's opinions) was also the cause of the catalytic converter glowing red hot and melting the internal catalysts. As I mentioned to Steve over two weeks ago the car was available for inspection and if you wished you could take it to any Dodge dealership or another mechanic to have them diagnose the problem. You have elected not to do this as of yet, and at this point I will perform the necessary repairs to return my car back to the condition it was in prior to the 4th. The facts in this case are rather simple.

The car was running fine prior to bringing it in for an oil change that day.

Oil was spilled on my engine and damaged it to the point where the car was misfiring and caused my catalytic converter to burn internally.

In an effort to determine what the problem was, I have spoken with several mechanics to get their input on this and all feel that Pro Lube is responsible for the damage and should take care of the charges.

I researched the problem on the internet and provided additional documentation that supports my claim

I understand mistakes happen and this certainly wasn't done on purpose but the fact of the matter is my car has not run properly since I brought it in on the 4th and my patience is wearing thin.

I expect to receive compensation in the amount of $400.00 (as quoted by my mechanic) to replace my catalytic converter or I will have to turn this matter over to an attorney and seek additional damages (legal fees in addition to the replacement cost of the car and any car rental charges I am entitled to since my car has to sit or risk further damage).

In the event that I do not receive the compensation within seven calendar days from the date this letter is received (as confirmed by the return receipt) I will be in touch with an attorney and pursue this matter through the courts as well as seek the assistance from local media outlets, consumer advocate programs, the BBB, and will report this incident to Robert Chomick in the Office of Policy and Management for Petroleum Products Vendors to ensure nobody else has to deal with this type of problem in the future.