A Quick Note From Idaho (And Why I Hate Wal-Mart)

Hey everyone, been on the road for two days now and I'm about to pull out of Idaho Falls, ID and head north and then east into Montana.

The drive has been beautiful so far.  Eastern Oregon is incredible.  I had driven through there in the past, but it was night time and I didn't know what I was missing, but wow, one of the most colorful places I've ever been.

My travel was delayed a bit, however, when I stopped to get my oil changed, and I thought the story was worth passing along.

Now, I ordinarily avoid Wal-Mart like the plague, but I needed a change and I was about to hit a piece of road with no services for over 100 miles, so I figured I better get it done while I had the chance. 

Sadly, the ONLY place in town to change my oil was at the local Wal-Mart.  So as sick as it made my stomach, I pulled up and did it.

The girl (yes, not a woman) who took my information seemed friendly at first.  She politely inquired about the full car load of stuff and said "you must be going somewhere cool." 

"Chicago" I said with a smile.

I handed her the keys to the car and stepped out.  She told me it would be a 20-minute wait, so I grabbed the iPod and the paper I had and went into the waiting room. 

By the way, the one thing I was happy about was that at least this oil change was going to be cheap.  Under $25.

About 25 minutes later the girl came into the waiting room and told me the car was ready.  I paid, took back my keys and jumped in, ready to hit the open road again. 

But when I turned on my car the oil monitoring system said I was still at 10% of my oil's life. 

That was weird.

I got out of the car and asked the girl if she was sure that the oil change had in fact been done.  She said "Yep, I know it was, cause I did it myself."

"Can you explain why my car is telling me it hasn't been?"

"Well we don't reset the meter in any of those Japanese cars" was her response.

I thought maybe she was right.  In all honesty, I wasn't sure if this was something that had to be reset myself or if the car automatically did it upon an oil change.

The only way to find out was to check for myself.  So I headed back to the car, popped the hood, and stuck in the dipstick.

Sure enough, it was almost empty.

Unreal.  They had just charged me $24 and told me they had changed the oil, but it was never done!  They knew they were the only place for miles and miles, this could cause serious problems for people without the monitoring system to alert them it wasn't done.

If it wasn't for that I never would have thought to double check.  In the future I will.

Anyhow, at this point I wasn't Wal-mart's happiest customer ever.  So I went back in and told the girl what I found. 

She called in the mechanic and IN FRONT OF ME said to him "why didn't you change the oil?"  Clearly she either forgot, or just didn't care that she had already told me that SHE had done it.

His response was "You told me to just pull it into the lot, you didn't say anything about an oil change."

I was on the mechanic's side for a minute until he looked at me and said "When we get these foreign cars in here, sometimes it gets confusing." 

Now I was just livid.

First of all, my car being foreign was 100%, fully and completely irrelevant to the fact that they had just charged me $24 to allow my car to sit in their garage for 24 minutes before pulling it into their parking lot.  A dollar a minute.  Wow.

On top of that, the disdain for my foreign car was becoming very apparent now.  Which was also irritating.  My bet is that neither of these people knew that while their own American cars were built by foreign workers for next-to-nothing wages, all of my Honda Civic (with the exception of the engine) was assembled in Ohio by well paid, and highly skilled Americans.

The parts were also produced in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, once again, by American workers.

Long story short, I thought about getting a manager and demanding my money back.  And in retrospect, I should have.  But I wanted to get back to the road and try to keep my blood pressure low.  So I waited a few more minutes while the mechanic replaced the oil in my ever-so-complex Civic and instead of getting my money back I'll just blog about what a rotten, evil and horrible place Wal-Mart is.

I hate Wal-Mart.

Ok, so now it's time for me to hit the road, so much for this being a quick note.

Comments

[Steve Elliott]

Incredibly bad customer service experience you had there.

I was a small-town newspaper editor in the 1990s when they came to town.

Being Wal-Mart naive at the time, I at first thought that was good news. My publisher just shook her head.

Not only did they not buy any meaningful ad space in the newspaper -- about a DOZEN mom-and-pop stores which had been in town for decades, and in a couple of cases, more than a hundred years, went out of business within months, due to Wal-Mart's artificially low pricing.

And, of course, once Wal-Mart had run these mom-and-pop shops out of business, then they raised their prices higher than what the other stores had charged to begin with.

[christopher hampton]

So you're upset because there was a slight mixup, and when you brought it to their attention, it was taken care of in a timely manner? Yeah, damn those wal-mart bastards. Learn how to change your own damn oil.

[mrj]

SLIGHT mix up? Had he been any of us without oil meters he would have driven to Chicago (no idea where he's from, it's almost 2k miles from me) on 10% of oil.

SLIGHT mix up. Right. What a worthless post.

[Jason hates Walmart too]

Actually, Christopher Hampton, you are conveniently forgetting that they lied about the oil change. Did the girl do it or did the mechanic do it? Did she tell him to put oil in it or did she tell her to just pull it into the lot? How about before you comment, learn how to read a damn article.

[chewie]

to chris

No man. That's jacked up. The girl didn't accept any responsibility at all.

[spencediddy]

you need to Yelp that walmart

[Jon]

christopher hampton - so you wouldn't be mad if they stood there and lied to your face about it being done? It wasnt a "slight mixup" - it was a straight out bald faced lie

[spencediddy]

you need to Yelp that walmart

[christopher hampton is a moron]

LOL slight mixup? she lied right to his face, and then tried to pass blame on the mechanic.

[christopher hampton]

I'm Christopher Hampton, and I'm the biggest idiot ever.

[jim]

man up and change it yourself from now on.

[Michael D]

Christopher, Slight mix up? Not doing a damn thing to your car and then saying you did the oil change yourself is not a slight mix up. Oh and timely manner is BS when they said 20 min total and he was on a road trip and all this happened after 24, on the short side it was an hour. So yeah. Timely not so much.

[christopher hampton]

I'm Christopher Hampton, and I'm the biggest idiot ever.

[joe]

Sounds to me like you just ran into some rednecks who don't like "foreign" cars. Walmart doesnt pay the best/hire the most intelligent of folk.

[David]

@ Christopher

A slight mixup?

1) It was at a Wal-Mart, therefore making the whole experience inherently evil.
2) The girl told the author that the oil change was complete (Lie #1)
3) Author checks, finds it wasn't done, asks girl to confirm, girl says "I know it was done because *I DID IT*" (Lie #2)
4) Author confronts girl about lie, girl says to Mechanic "Why didn't YOU change the oil" But wait... didn't the girl do it?
5) Mechanic & Girl complain about "foreign made cars" rather than performing the services they are paid (albeit horribly) to do.

NOT a mixup here, blatant lying with the potential to cause thousands of dollars of damages if the oil was indeed almost gone - though there might be something wrong if your car is burning oil, as usually the stuff just gets dirty - and the author tried to drive 3k miles with no oil.

As for why you don't change it yourself... unless you are buying oil and filters in bulk, by the time you've spent $10 bucks on oil and $10 on a filter, you're saving yourself ~$4. Factor in the fact that unless you've also invested in a number of tools (not practical for city/apartment dwellers who don't need to do much maintenance) you'll be doing a hacked-together job, and then still have to find a place to properly dispose of the oil, in addition to it taking you closer to an hour of time, including cleaning up after you change your own oil since you'll be lying on your back on oily pavement somewhere getting your hands inside the greasy workings of your engine.

SO, unless you're getting paid LESS than $4/hr, or have all the necessary tools and a decent facility to do it, changing your own oil isn't practical other than in a pragmatic sense.

[barry]

yeah christopher hampton what the heck are you thinking. did you even read the story? id.

[Andrea E.]

I avoid Walmart as well. They bring nothing good to America. It is interesting to note that the guy didn't even bother to find out why he was pulling the car into the lot. Duh? Even scarier is the girl in charge.

Mr. Hampton, I think you have serious issues with reality. Good luck there and I'm assuming it is working for you.

[Geoff]

Did it really make you sick to your stomach?
Notice, you were happy about the low cost of your oil change. Did it ever come to mind that the cost may be the exact reason why the Wal-mart business model works so well?
Stop whining.
Steve Elliot, I'm with you, buddy.

[Simon R.]

It sounds like you simply had a problem with a particularly inept person who just happens to work at Wal-Mart. I had a similar experience at a supposedly high end specialist shop. What can you do? Don't cry about it, just call the manager and get the job done right, or ask for a refund and move on without acting like a baby.

[Andrew]

Thats a terrible CS experience there. I have been working in the quick lube industry for a few years now (im not taking wal-marts side what so ever)... (i hate wal-marts quick lube with a passion they use cheap oil and retarded technicians) I work for valvoline instant oil change atm and just a few things to keep in mind.. the oil life % isnt actually a meter of the oil life its more of a ticker in between oil changes (the fact that they didn't know how to reset it on you're oh so foreign and alien Honda Civic is totally amazing to me) but regardless thats all it is on basicly every car on the market.. tips for the future if someone forgets to reset yours all you have to do is put the key int he ignition with it off hold down your trip/reset button near the Odometer turn the key to the position right before starting it while holding it down and it will reset that meter. regardless however never take your car to wal-mart quick lube... ever they suck. a mom and pop mechanic shop is the better choice when you are in a situation like that with no other quick lubes around trust me. and on another note.. when you pay for a cheap oil change.. you are def getting what you pay for a cheap oil change.. that 25$ oil change sounds great at the time but then you realize they just stuck crappy oil in your car. in the future when looking for a cheap option hit up major quick lube chains in the morning.. usually 7-11 am for early bird you can get good oil for a discounted price compared to full.. just a few tips (not all quick lubes are evil take it from someone who has been doing it for a while) =)

[Thom C]

Yet another stellar performance by Wally World. I will never take my or my wife's car back to Wal-Mart for anything again.
I was given an MP3 player by my kids for Fathers Day one year. Took the car into get an oil change and left the MP3 player in the center console. BIG MISTAKE!
Got in the car after the oil change and found it was gone. Talked to store security and even filed a police report. The Wal-Mart rent-a-cop was an off duty police officer (translation: lazy and worthless). I was rudely told that no one had taken my MP3 player and that I MUST have misplaced it.
All I can say is some underpaid, under insured auto mechanic is listening to all my music. That cop by the way, was considered worthless by the on duty police officer that I filed the report with.

Happy fathers day to me.

I HATE WAL_MART and will spread this word to anyone who is interested.

[Dave]

This might not be an isolated incident. I went to get my oil changed at a Walmart once when I was in college a few years back. The same exact thing happened, except I didn't catch it until I was back home and my engine was bone dry. By the way, I also had a Honda at the tme.

[penguin]

Why would you go on a road trip and not change your oil BEFORE you leave?

[giorgios]

The whole thing is your fault for stopping at walmart your civic could have gone all the way to chicago just fine. And after something like that happening and still letting them touch your car then it would have been your fault if anything happened.

[Andy]

Thought it was a good post wal-mart does suck but this "On top of that, the disdain for my foreign car was becoming very apparent now. Which was also irritating. My bet is that neither of these people knew that while their own American cars were built by foreign workers for next-to-nothing wages, all of my Honda Civic (with the exception of the engine) was assembled in Ohio by well paid, and highly skilled Americans." I dont know if you want a bunch of foreign asians running this country but im straight. Way to support AMERICAN businesses no wonder ford and GM are in the tank....because of people like YOU!