- Report: #266181
Complaint Review: Nine-Minute Oil & Lube - Palo Alto California
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Nine-Minute Oil & Lube
3839 El Camino Real Palo Alto, 94306 California, U.S.A.
Phone:
650-856-2104
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Nine-Minute Oil & Lube Very Expensive Discount Rip-Off Palo Alto California
I made a BIG mistake having my car serviced at "9-Minute Oil & Lube" at 3839 El Camino, in Palo Alto. I took my car (2004 Jetta) there in May for a routine oil change, which was done for the advertised LOW price. The work was finished quickly, and then I was on my way to the office. However, in the days and weeks following the oil change, my husband and I noticed a steady leakage of oil on the garage floor under my car.
I needed a 40,000 mile service, so I finally took my car to Sunnyvale VW for the warranty service yesterday. I advised the manager about the oil leak and about a tail-light that was out. I was quite surprised, however, when he called me yesterday afternoon to say that the oil leak was due to the fact that the screw-threads had been stripped when "9-Minute Oil & Lube" was doing the oil change. I had to pay $500 to replace the entire oil pan assembly! I will NEVER go to "9-Minute Oil & Lube" again!
Please warn your readers, so that they can avoid expensive repairs. I would really like "9-Minute Oil & Lube" to re-imburse me for the expense of the necessary repairs because of their mistake!
Kathleen
Mountain View, California
U.S.A.
I needed a 40,000 mile service, so I finally took my car to Sunnyvale VW for the warranty service yesterday. I advised the manager about the oil leak and about a tail-light that was out. I was quite surprised, however, when he called me yesterday afternoon to say that the oil leak was due to the fact that the screw-threads had been stripped when "9-Minute Oil & Lube" was doing the oil change. I had to pay $500 to replace the entire oil pan assembly! I will NEVER go to "9-Minute Oil & Lube" again!
Please warn your readers, so that they can avoid expensive repairs. I would really like "9-Minute Oil & Lube" to re-imburse me for the expense of the necessary repairs because of their mistake!
Kathleen
Mountain View, California
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Ralph
PALO ALTO,California,
United States
The last one to touch it didn't necessarily break it.
#2Consumer Comment
Wed, July 11, 2018
I'm a retired engineer and have had 3 different cars serviced there without any problems. While anyone could have made a mistake, I think you are jumping to conclusions blaming 9-minute.
Q1: How do you know the dealer is honest/right? Did they show you the stripped/damaged oil pan? Dealers make a ton of $$$ from service, so they have an incentive to badmouth people like 9-minute. (and sell you $500 oil pans!) The right thing to do, if you spot a leak after an oil change is take it back to whoever did the change.
Q2: Even if the drain plug was stripped, that doesn't mean 9-minute is responsible. If the car has a lot of miles on it, it has had many oil changes. Threads could have been damanged earlier. (but it would have been better for 9-minute to point out the damage to you)
I don't think it's reasonable to demand $500 from them after the fact. If you took it back to them when you found the leak and they couldn't fix it, you could ask them in advance to cover the cost of a dealer repair.
If I designed the thing, I'd make the threaded insert in the oil pan out of a harder & stronger grade of steel than the drain plug. Then even if it does strip, you'd just have to replace the $5 drain plug, not the whole pan. Gotta wonder if you weren't played by your dealer.
