the klog

My latest flickr post is another picture that was just an excuse to rant about something. Text reproduced here:

A few months ago, I got an oil change at Jiffy Lube. They wanted me to get my A/C filter changed, and I agreed. A short time later, I see this Xanga post from my friend which links to this exposé of Jiffy Lube ripping people off. They put marks on parts and installed hidden cameras before going to various Jiffy Lubes. The shops recommended various part swaps and charged for them, but never did anything. (This happened at 5 of 9 Jiffy Lubes they went to.) Jiffy Lube corporate apparently responded by training their employees on how not to get caught. You gotta watch the video. But I figured hopefully I didn't get ripped off on my A/C filter change. Oh well.

Meanwhile, a few months later, I went to my trusted mechanic for normal preventative maintenance and told them my A/C filter had already been changed. They told me that no, it had not been changed, that the filter in my car was representative of 30K miles of usage, not 5K. (That's the old filter pictured.) Now, my mechanic could be the ones lying to me, but I'm much more inclined to believe him than Jiffy Lube, after watching that news report.

The moral of the story is: I'll be sure never to do anything other than the oil changes themselves at random places in the future. I'll save all the part replacements for my regular, trusted mechanic.