TEXACO XPRESS LUBE RIPOFF XPRESS LUBE HIGH POINT, North Carolina

Just a quick update, since my first response was so long winded. Sorry.

There is no class action lawsuit, obviously.  There is no lawsuit at all, in fact.  There was a Better Businness investigation and we were cleared.  We also currently maintain an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.  It is very unfortunate that I have been unable to get this customer to understand logic and reason.  My biggest regret is that he will never realize how much of a truly top notch shop we are.  We are faster, cleaner, more accurate and pay more attention to detail than virtually every other shop in the area that we are in competition with.  99% of our customers understand this and they are why we continue to do business.  


Thank you for taking the time to read this response, 
Doug Langford
General Manager

ripoff xpress lube,

Your initial post left out 99% of the story. In your second post you did not address the GM's claim that the invoice noted the fact that the warning light would come back on due to the fact that you declined additional service. Your comment about fine print is not an acceptable response. You did not address the GM's claim that you were loud, foul mouthed and refused to leave (that's called trespassing). You did not address his claim that someone else worked on the vehicle after it left Xpress Lube. You gave him phony info about an attorney. You were driving a vehicle with little or no oil. You are an unpleasant customer.

Doug L.,

I believe your response is 100% accurate. This is one of those customers that you cannot possibly satisfy. Good luck in your business.

I do think it is a good thing that the GM came to post their account of the situation, as this does not happen a lot on this site.  Because everyone knows that there are 3 sides to every story.  The OP's side, the Business side and somewhere between the two the truth.

In looking at the owner's account they do provide a pretty good account of the events.  Even more interesting is that the OP does not seem to dispute a majority of the events especially the ones involving the actual repairs made or any notations made.  Instead they just continue to bring up the fact that they think they deserved a repair under "warranty".  This lends quite a bit of credibility to the owners account.

I will say to the OP to forget the "Class Action" nonsense.  If you even knew what you were talking about you would realize how silly you are sounding(IMO).  Because to even get a Class Action started any lawyer is going to want thousands up front..if you can even find one who will even consider taking it.

Otherwise these small claims will never get trough the court system.
- Actually you said the key word.."Small Claims".  If you really think you have a case go after them in Small Claims court.  When you do be sure to post the docket and court information for everyone to follow.  Just hope that the owner doesn't beat you to the punch and file one on you if they can prove that you have been posting libelous claims on various sites that have hurt their business.

I just noticed manager's response to my initial post. At first I wanted to move on and be done with it, because not only we need peace after this bad experience but we also feel threaten by this business.

Not even now, after two months he does not understand that an unsatisfied customer is a dishonor for a business and he actually should try to find ways to mitigate this, instead he is trying every time to spread more untrue facts thinking that this way can make our voices be less credible and he can continue with his way of doing business. The amount in dispute says also something about the level this business is at; for not honoring a warranty claim of $500 they not only lost is as customers (three cars x 3oil changes/year + 3 state inspections and some small repairs, so at least of 1,000$ per year) but they loste their credibility in our local community and a lot more business, because they are incapable of understanding customer's frustration when the work performed is not backed up by warranty. Beyond fine print on invoices and warranty policies there is honor and a man's word. You can't stay in business behind small print and applying bullying tactics.
After we went to request warranty on the repairs they performed, they used foul language and called the police on us and told us to leave the property immediately. While we left, they immediately called the towing company and towed our car; we couldn't drive the car because was unsafe and didn't work. So within AN HOUR our car was already in towing company custody. After that we recuperated our car paying the towing fees and we received several phone calls from this manager with same threatening tone and his lack of most simple respect. Meanwhile, we filed a formal complaint with BBB which investigated and basically admitted our claims and downgraded their BBB grade or status.

We lost all together over $500, but what's more damaging is that we realized that people like this manager are still in business telling lies and other people not being aware.

A class action is in process of finding other customers in the same situation so we can get together and fight to recuperate our damages. Also a formal investigation is in process with the franchisor company, Chevron. Otherwise these small claims will never get trough the court system.

Best way to verify if what I'm saying is true, go ahead and have your own experience at this service station. You'll notice right away this manager's arrogance and lack of respect toward the customers and the technique to upsell everything they do. You go there for an oil change they want to replace the whole car.

If you need additional information please post here and I will e happy to provide.

Again, I am not trying to convince you not to do business with this company, have your own experience, but I wanted to let other people know how bad was ours.

Our greatest disappointment was the fact that we wrote about what happened to the owner of XPRESS LUBE High Point (I won't mention his name here) and he never even responded. It's a great disappointment because, otherwise, he is very honorable, respected and well know individual in the local community.

I hesitate to write this rebuttal, but find due to this customer's actions over the last few days I have been left little choice.  This customer has been creating accounts on websites and giving poor reviews of our company listing such grievances as we stole his GPS and charged for services never performed.  These are obviously made up and I find it disturbing that this individual has gone to these lengths.  That being said, this customer has made some statements in error.

On December 3rd, 2011 this customer came into our shop for an oil change service and a diagnostic for a check engine light issue.  The customer was given an estimate and advised of a few things we noticed under the hood (notes were made on the service invoice).  The customer signed the estimate and work was begun.  Very soon after service was started, the technician noticed a broken point on the ignition coil underneath the air pump.  Work was immediately stopped and the customer was advised of the issue and asked how he wanted to proceed.  He was given an estimate for the additional repairs, but declined them.  What work we could perform was finished, as he requested.  We did, however notate the service ticket thoroughly as the customer began to show signs, even then, of what may lie ahead.  Keep in mind, these notes were on a ticket that the customer read and signed when he was cashed out after we finished.  The notes read as follows:

"Found broken point on the coil pack during service.  Advised the customer that without replacement the check engine light will return.  The customer refused repairs."

Elsewhere, lower down on the ticket next to the customer signature it was also noted as follows:

"No oil on stick on arrival.  AIS (Air Injection System) Line disconnected prior.  Customer was advised of needed repairs to ensure check engine light stays out.  Customer declined.  Light will most likely return, customer knows."

As you can see, we were, as we always are, very thorough in our notations and advisement of the cusotmer.  The customer has a copy of this reciept, but has yet to agree to read it again.  This customer returned to our shop on Monday, January 2nd, 2012.  He stated he was back for his warranty repairs.  As all of our work is warranted, we pulled the vehicle in to recheck our work.  It was during this process, that we discovered that someone else had been working on the car since we did and had caused another, different code to be stored in the computer.  It was also found that the AIS Pump was loose as it had to be removed to replace the parts we saw were new that we did not replace.  During inspection of the car, the Assistant Manager was discussing the situation with the customer who was using excessive foul language.  The Assistant Manager soon realized that customer could not be reasoned with and asked the GM, myself, to get involved.  I asked the customer to join me outside to talk about his car and he refused asking me why we had to go outside.  I responded that we did not need to have him in the customer lounge yelling and swearing and that he was being very disruptive.  The customer refused to talk to me and simply turned around and went back into the lobby and sat down.  We gave the customer about 5 minutes without bothering him to cool off and reconsider a conversation until he got up and began harrasing an employee who was in the middle of a conversation with a customer.  Immediately I went inside and asked this customer to leave, to which he refused.  He was asked repeatedly to leave and kept refusing stating only that he had a warranty claim and he wished to speak to someone else beside me.  He was informed again that I was the GM in charge of all of our locations and I was as high as he could possibly go and he had no warranty claim.  This was because the check engine light was not on due to our work, but someone else's and was not related to any work we performed.  He continued to get louder and more boligerant at one point actually stating that HE felt threatened and unsafe.  He was given yet another oppurtunity to leave the property and warned that he failed to leave again, the police would have to be called.  I did not, nor do I ever, want to get the police involved, but I had little choice.  This customer was being very loud and aggresive and was doing all of this in front of multiple paying customers. 

He followed this warning by stating that he wanted me to call the police and he wanted to wait there for them.  The police were called and we even allowed him to wait in the lobby for the police.  Of course, as soon as the police actually showed up, the customer left his keys, got in a silver VW and left very quickly.  I was left to explain everything to the police and actually ended up giving every customer that unlucky enough to have witnessed all this $10 off their service for the hardship. 
Keep in mind, when leaving, this customer left his keys, reciept and the car sitting out in the parking lot in the middle of the entry driveway.  Even still, we gave him another chance.  We waited for him to return for several hours until we were forced to call a wrecker to remove this car.  We were very busy and the car was causing traffic issues. 

A couple of hours later that customer called the shop stating he was checking the status of his warranty.  I could not believe he was serious and again tried explaining everything to him.  He refused to stop talking and would not listen.  I had to threaten to end the call numerous times before he relented and gave me a few moments to speak.  Immediately after I was finished, he started back into his refrain about warranty work and actually stated he had talked to a lawyer.  I immediatley interupted and advised this customer we could not go any further and requested his lawyer's information.  He also had stated earlier the conversation was being recorded (it was not).  He refused to give me the lawyer info for a few minutes and finally gave a name and number.  After receiving this information, he told that we had to end the conversation and to have a nice day.  I made several attempts to contact his legal representation to no avail.  The number was disconnected and the name did not exist for any attorney in the state.  I then called that customer back to ask if I had incorrectly taken down any information and that call didn't go any better so I ended it, realizing I probably should not have called him back.  That is the last I have talked to this customer.

Since this incident, this customer has filed at least 6 negative reviews against this company.  They have been made with false accounts on different websites.  It is unfortunate that we have come to this point, but I feel it incumbent upon me to set this situation right.  It is not even an expensive repair to make to the vehicle.  This customer just won't listen.  I am sorry he was not happy and that I have lost a customer but I have tried all I know to do and it has not been enough. 
I would be happy to provide any additional information to anyone who requires it and welcome any further chance to clear my company's name.

Thanks for taking the time to read this response, I know it was long.

Doug L.
General Manager
Xpress Lubes of High Point, NC