Walmart review: a routine oil change & fuel injection cleaning! 35

Took my car too Walmart Auto Center in Williamsburg Kentucky for my regular oil change. They were offering the fuel injector cleaning. So I tried it. Car ran fine as usual for about 2 days. Then started idling ruff. Had to replace the Mass Air Flow Sensor. Then went to my car dealership. Intake manifold was cracked had to be replaced. Engine light still on. Replaced Mass Air Flow Sensor again. Engine light off for about 5 miles. Still having issues now and have to take the car back to the dealership for a full diagnostic. That will cost me $100.00 to $200.00. Never again will I take a vehicle too Walmart!

midget

I took my car to walmart for an oil change in which they put the wrong oil weight into my car which is arleady high milage, and a week later my motor gave out. I have had to pay a mechanic to look at the car because walmart says it is my responsibility. So I hire a mechanic and had another look as well to find out the wrong oil was put in, and where it plainly states on the oil cap 10w-30 they put 5w-30. The owners manual states that it may be safe to put the lighter weight during colder months, but after reading further it states to put the recommended oil that is mentioned on the cap. Being higher milage the mechanic said that the heavier weight would have not been so hard on the motor. Walmart says they are not at fault cause my manual says that one may use the lighter weight. Bad things happen to those who cannot afford legal representation and other help, but needless to say I just paid off my new car for no reason, and even in past oil changes with walmart they always put 10w-30, and the one time they dont it fell apart.

Walmart got to BIg and soon forgot about the little people!

I know a lady that took her at the time BRAND NEW Chevy Tracker to walmart and she didn't make it 20 miles and the engine blew! Walmart "forgot" to put an oil filter on the engine. Walmart managers saw it all on tape and paid for a new engine and provided her with a Enterprise Jeep Liberty for the entire time. I won't take my vehicles to wal mart I don't trust them.

I just had my car--a 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer- serviced at Walmart for the fist and last time. Mind you, I had just had a complete service of the car done 2 weeks ago at my regular mechanic's place. Timing belt, etc. I'm going on a trip to Michigan tomorrow and Walmart was the only place open to get an oil change. They talked me into the injector cleaner thing. I thought, "oh what the hell, couldn't hurt" WRONG! The check engine light is now on and the car stalls. One guy at the store told me it goes away after 30-50 starts. The manager told me to "just let it idle a while". I let it idle a while. No change. Took it out on the Interstate and ran it up to 100 MPH trying to blow out the junk. No change. I am furious with myself for being so stupid to take my car to Walmart and THEN let them talk me into an unneeded service that has &(*&*&)(& up my car. I plan to raise hell until the the car is fixed properly and all the problems are taken care of at Walmart's expense. I hate even going to that stupid place. I enjoy looking at the "People of Walmart" web site and seeing all the stupidity. I deserve a place on the web site, too, for being such a chump.

Nikki Bradshaw this is untrue. After my engine blew they refused to do anything. My car was an amazing red chevy sports car n i loved it to death. Nikki please u cannot speak for all customers.

Pissed customer: hey i had to get a brand new engine because when i got my oil changed at Walmart, they didn't close the cap all the way and the oil drained out. I didn't have the money to sue. i had to get the money from my savings account to fix my car. So if you sue for fun it does not mean others do.

I agree a similar thing happened to me. Disregard any of the Walmart favorable posts. The post are coming from AR headquarters, its become a full time job for them to counter-post. Now I know why Walmart is so hated.

I had a problem with Walmart as well. I took my car in for a routine oil change and when I came back to pick it up they told me the thread in the oil pan was screwed up and would not hold the oil in. They blamed this on the last company that provided my oil change, yet I experienced no problems and no oil leaks before bringing it in to Walmart. They then made me run to napa for a temporary oil cap which was the wrong size, so then they went to Napa to get the correct size and paid for it. They charged me for the oil change and told me I could only drive the car for two days and would need to bring it to the other company to fix the problem. Although I seriously doubted the legitimacy of their claim that it was the other companies fault, I did take it to the other company. Thankfully, they repaired the damage free of charge even though they confirmed my suspicions and blamed Walmart. I always take my car to the other company now as they were very client friendly and true professionals.

Subsequently I interviewed someone who worked at Walmart in the auto department as a manager. He said it was nearly impossible to hire any good techs because they pay their employees so little. The few good techs they do hire leave very quickly because they find a job paying much better wages. You get what you pay for. Don't take your car to Walmart.

I work at walart tle and if we damage a vehicle or blow an engine then walmart buys the customer a new engine! Most of the people who complain are people who want free stuff and don't want to admit that they have not taken proper care of their car and they think it is worth more than what it really is worth! People beg for us to work on their barely running cars all the time! People bring their cars in with no oil in them all the time! (daily) They don't even take the time to check their oil in between oil changes when they have waited 10, 000 miles or more! I see people who wait 10 to 20 thousand miles before they get their oil changed ...everyday!
Also..people buy new tires from us and don't get the tire protection plan, then come back the next week or sooner with a nail or something else in their tire... that is in the sidewall where we cannot repair it... then they blame us because they have to buy a new tire! These things are not our fault! Why don't u people take responsibility for your own mistakes? NO they are just too cheap and when they need the protection they want to blame us cause they did not buy it! Do you know how many losers that we have to deal with! We have people that come in every 3000 miles for an oil change and every single time they want a free oil change because they make up a new reason each time and our young managers are trying to keep them from calling the 800 number and getting them in trouble for something that isn't even their fault! We have to just give them the free oil change so we can keep our jobs! How would you like to work where you do nothing wrong yet you take the blame anyways! We need our jobs too! LAZY NO GOOD PEOPLE WHO WANT SOMETHING FOR NOTHING!

I work at a walmart TLE and the biggest problem we have is people who do not take care of their vehicle like they should! Then when they have a few extra dollars in their pocket they come in and want use to perform miracles on their car! We cannot make your car new! If you don't change your oil every 3, 000 miles and have other tune ups done on your vehicle then it is not our fault that your car blows up! I don't like Walmart anymore than most people in the fact that they have destroyed small businesses but there are too many people out there that want a free ride and they all target Walmart! We have people everyday that try to get something free! This is why we have to be so careful on working on a car if something is wrong with it! People come in with busted studs (the bolt that holds your tires on) and beg us to change their tire anyways cause they have a flat and no other way of getting anywhere! That is not our fault or problem! If we do the work and something happens we know the customer will come back and sue!

I know this post is extremely old, But really, its your own damn fault! I work as a ticket writer at a walmart in oklahoma, and when you sign the handheld computer, you saying that you know what you ordered. If you dont need fuel injector cleaner, say no. Duh you dum [censor], Now as for any mistakes that the mechanic makes, well, thats another story, I have to say that I personally know atleast 2 people in my shop that will never work on my car!

But theres not really that much that can go wrong in an oil change, all they do is hit the drain plug, unscrew the oil filter, put new oil filter on, and refill. So any blames that you want to put onto "getting an oil change" are pretty much not valid.

Now when it comes to tires, yes I have seen alot of screw ups like wrong tire sizes, not placed how customer wanted, and even defects that they dont see on the new tires(causing a return to walmart within a week)

I would say, that the mechanic you took it to is an complete idiot and needs to go back to school. The chemical that was ran threw your car was introduced threw the intake. Not threw the injectors. There was also a chemical put in the gas tank, but you said it messed up just a couple miles down the road. If your car gets lets say 15 miles a gallon you wouldn’t even had the chemical pushed up to the injectors because you at least have a gallon of gas just in the lines. You never said how many miles were on the car, it is a routine maintenance should be done like an oil change. That would be like saying, you waited a hundred thousands miles to get an oil change, then complained the next day about the new oil blew out all your seal because of the now higher oil pressure. It sounds like the guy ripping you off is the mechanic because that is not going to fix the problem. My thought would be that the car just stalled because the chemical was not ran all the way out which would cause it to misfire and stall on acceleration . Reason why the chemical is sitting on top of the piston . Now the computer is going to try to correct the problem by giving the car less gas more air when it does this the car will die because it can not correct the problem quickly . Just like it was flooded in and older vehicle. It should have started back up after a couple of min. unless the catalytic converter was starting to clog.

Well "Ben Dover" catchy by the way and Tech123. The System WM uses is not something "POURED" into the gas tank. They actually hook up hoses to your injectors and CLEAN them. The SAME way your OVERPRICED DEALER would do. WM does it for $15.99, the guy across the street was $69.99 and the Dealer is over $150. plus shop fees, insurance, misc rags, misc items, etc. Oh and I forgot the "Disposal Fee"... Get my point. WM is not perfect, but neither is anyone else. I had Dodge work on my truck under warranty and screwed it up. My previous Truck was a Chevy and Chevrolet screwed it up. So your at the luck of the draw anyway.

Do I like WM as a company, the way they treat their vendors and the Working American public, NO but I also don't like wasting money elsewhere! And just so you know, WM beat my company out of $3.5 Million over the last two years. Their 300 plus onstaff corprate Lawyers were better than mine. Haha!

By the way, my previous comment was not directed at you Michaela89. Get a lawyer! They had someone look at your car, someone on their side of the ring and tried to sell you a line of BS. Get A LAWYER. As much as I hate to say it, as lawyers sux. It is the only way you will get anything out of this. WM will have to foot the bill for all of your fees. There is NO way this was by chance. Good luck!

If your car is a piece of junk than it will likely break down anyway. Not saying Wal-Mart is infallible, but I just got my truck done and it runs like a scalded dog. I can not believe the getup and go this thing has. Like Brand New! If you are having a problem make them clean the injectors again. If the first time dissolved and loosened up gum, than the second will clean that out as well. By the way, Hemi powered, 425HP Dodge DAYTONA limited edition Pickup #10731. Zoom Zoom Zoom! (MPG =16 City 21-23 Hwy)

My son took my car to Walmart July 20th for an oil change, on his way home my car died in the middle of the road because it was at night I had to rent a car so I caould get to work the next day. When my car was hooked up to be towed there was oil spilled all underneath. There was no oil in my car. I went to Walmart the following day and spoke with the manager in T & L. I was told to fill out a claims form I did and on July 27th I received a phone call from Claims Rep. Joe Baker who assured me they would pay for the rental I incurred and fix my car. I got a call on July 30th saying they would not pay because my gasket blew and it's not their fault. I'm not going to let this go, my car was running fine before I took it to Wal-Mart and there was nothng wrong with it at all. Less than 10 miles down the road after an oil change my gasket blows, someone didn't do their job correct. I just want Wal-Mart to fix what they broke.

well i called walmart and they told me to bring the car back in so that they can take a look at it. well i need my car because i'm going out of town 7-27-10 for 4 days .

well walmart did me the same way i took my car to walmart in cleveland ohio steelyard common .I only wanted to a F.L.C(fuel injection cleaning) the next day i car was idie rough (running).I was told that i might have a bad batch of gas, that i need to run that gas out .Well after i run that gas out i put in a higher gas in and i still have the same problem.

you wal-mart haters .you complainers. you crybabies are all a bunch of ###s.If you dont like the service go somewhere else.Thats right, thats what I said just take your stupid ### somewhere else.90% of the people that say they will never come back to wal-mart are back shopping within a week.

I have an Associates Degree in Automotive, Diesel, and Industrial Technologies. Also I am ASE Certified. The Cleaner used couldn't of done this damage to your injectors. It's basicly the same stuff you buy on the shelf. It's no where near the professional level of cleaning power. Needless to say the guy was right you loosened up already existing dirt you tried to do a maintance that was cheap when you should of taken it to a dealer to have the injectors cleaned out properly. More than likely that is all that needed to be done. Whoever sold you on the new injectors are the ones who stole your money. I really hate people that act like they know so much about cars but then they will pay just about anyone to work on it for them and the second anything happens that they don't understand they blame it on the wrong person.

I have recently had a run in with Walmart. An oil change has resulted in the oil plug backing so tightly put on that Walmart refused to change my oil. They assured me that Competitive Auto in Spring Lake, NC would handle problems like this. I should have known something was wrong. I live 45 minutes from Competitive and was assured that my oil change would be completed at Competitive by Walmart. I would need to take the car in within a week. I took it in two days. Competitive checks the vehicle and states there have been leaks and they see leaks in the transmission. I have not seen any leaks on the ground and as per Walmart my oil was over full. No indicators and I checked my own levels last month. I advised Competitive for a third time that WALMART sent me to them. The rude female service worker calls Walmart and tells them "they should make me pay for any repairs". So basically I was sent on a wild goose chase. I was livid. I called the district manager and waited 3 hours at Competitive. They refused to touch my car and tried to make me sign a waiver stating that I knew of this information before they would hand me my keys. I refused and stated that I would call law inforcement if the did not give me my keys. My keys were thrown at me and I left. My car is has never stopped working and was not due for an oil change for another 1500 miles. I am filing a complaint with BBB and contacting the local news.

Just thought I should give my imput about Walmart TLE. To start with I have always
been a very loyal customer. I used to work there while in high school and my mother is currently a co manager at her local Walmart, but as of 2 days ago, I will do my best to avoid that place. We took our 2008 Chrysler Town and County with a mere 30, 000 miles for a routine oil change. Once we picked the car up, we drove approximately 1 mile before the car started smoking. We pulled over then returned to walmart to voice complaints, as we were entering the parking lot the oil light came on and the motor seized. Once we got the mechanics out to help, the car was put in neutral and pushed into the garage to be examined. After a couple of minutes, the mechanic that had performed the oil change came back and tried to claim there was no negligence and that the van worked fine. My husband had to bring him back to his senses and ask didn't I just have to help you push it back into the garage, now you want to tell me there is nothing wrong, yet the engine won't even turn over. Finally we got management there to assist, they went back to look at the car. The finally got the car running again, but now 2 days later our car is stranded on the side of the road. The engine started knocking and then it died. Of course it is a holiday weekend, so now we have no way of getting our vehicle fixed. We are leary to have the vehicle towed without first getting it approved by Walmart claims so that we know they pay for it, in the meantime we have repeatedly been on the phone with our local Walmart, trying to get assistance until the claims department is back in the office, but they have washed their hands of our situation and have rudely told us they can do nothing at all for us. They have acted as though they are not negligent at all for the situation they have caused, yet how often does an engine with only 30, 000 miles stop running. Still waiting to talk with the claims department. Praying that they accept their liability and cover all charges for the tow, rental car, and engine.

Ok.. I am so freaking out! I took my car to wal mart and had an oil change.I have a 06 Mazda MVP with 50, 000 miles on it. Never had any problems.. And now my oil is leaking everywhere. I am calling first thing in the morning. I just hope my car is ok and I hope walmart takes the necessary actions to make whatever went wrong right!

Wow, you guys are nuts! I work in TLE at Wally world, and we have never had a claim go unpaid. Yes, we do make mistakes, but we always comp, or pay claims on all accidents. Every claim on here is very legit, and we would have paid everyone. There must be more to your stories, or you are dealing with some crooked people at the Wal-Mart's you go to. Wal-Mart is the #1 retailer in the U.S. because of you people shopping there. And, you will continue shopping there because you have no where else to go that is affordable. Wal-Mart is one of very few companies that will pay out a claim. I know, I just witnessed us putting a new engine in a car because one of our techs double gasketed the oil filter and caused all the oil to leak out and sieze the motor. We paid for a rental car, and reimbursed him for his time. But, I work in Cedar City, UT Wal-Mart. Maybe we do things different here, but all claims go to our Corporate Office, so I have no idea why your claims have been denied unless there is more to the story then what is being stated here. Anyway, see you at Wal-Mart. :)

I previously submitted a complaint aabout a WIchita, Ks Wal Mart where a large van side window ws brokemn out duiring an oil change. they told me it was alreaady broken and I didn't notice it. Well I've been to Small Claims court and an appeal. i lost at both because of a security tape (they are awful!) I rwequested a transcript at the appeal and i now have 99.99% proof the 2 employeeas committed perjury-thanks to their tacky tape. I made the mistake of not geeting an atorney for the appeal. My husbaand has been so ill with caaancer and other things I thought the cas was so obvious I went to court by myself. PLEASE I need an attorney (I can pay a ressonable amount) to go over this with me. I bet there are attorneys out there who might like to see Wal Mart Tire and Lube getr their jusst rewards. I guarantee you the perjury is SO OBVIOUS! Help me seek jusssstice for the victims of Wal Mart. [protected] There is a transcript and pictures, not many words are needed to prrrroove what I'm saying.

I have my car serviced to walmart today for oil change and they said after one hour wait that they did not perfrom the oil change because my oil drain plug is over torqued so I went home . As I am parking my car in our garage I am seeing a lot of smoke coming under the car- My car is by the way Mitsubishi montero limited edition SUV and this is the first time I have walmart change the oil for convenience purposes and I was wrong! I was very scare see my nice car smoking and then when I opened the hood, the oil is everywhere the engine--my engine before this is as clean as if it just rolled out of the dealership-they forgot to the oil cap back into the engine. I called the lube department and guess what they advised me? they want me to drive back the smoking oil filled engine compartment to their service area so that they can look at it and clean it for me! and so very frustrated I called the store manager - her name was Amy and she told me she will send somebody to look at the car and told her fine--she send one young guy to my home riding a motorcycle who has a camera on his hand taking picture of what happened to the car and I am completely fine with that and after he's done taking picture he asked me If he can start cleaning the car and I was very surprised he has a rag and he said after I clean your car will it be alright to top off the oil ! what a horrible action! I told him he cannot touch the car at all ! they want me to just pretend that their negligence did not cause any problem on the car ! this is a 40thousand car-- when the guy left, the manager I spoke with earlier, her name was Amy, called me back and made rude comment about how uncooperative I am and that they will no longer help me because I am not cooperating with them, I told her that because of the amount of oil I lost from their negligence and the damage it has done on the car plus the massive drip it caused on my garage I want a professional to asssess the possible damage on it and she said very rudely to me that they will not cover any of that sort--very nasty manager to think about what trauma I had gone because of their negligence plus the fact I almost get caught on fire because of that--what kind of customer service is that-- finally frustrated I called my insurance carrier and told them what happened instead--they said they will cover everything because I have a comprehensive insurance with it--they will deal will walmart instead--what if I do not have this insurance what happens to me--already a victim and they instead disrespect you more as if you are nothing to them--certainly I buy a lot from walmart now I will stay out of this store--I buy a lot from them too--now...they just lost another customer. BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE_RUDE MANAGERS...what kind of store is this...

walmarts got deep pockets. Why pay to fix your car when you can try to get walmart to pay for it. Next time fall in their store and try to sue. Everyone claims walmart messed up thier car because they want a free ride. I bet when this is all said and done it turns out walmart was not to blame as usual.

It is common knowledge among automotive professionals that it is very risky to use those cleaners on a car that has lots of kilometers on it and never cleaned before on a regular basis. Those cleaners are meant to be used from before the build-up starts to get too bad and then used on a regular basis as preventative maintenance. The Walmart technician is at fault because they should have asked if this car has its injectors previously cleaned and warned you about this known problem before service was enacted. If you are putting those solvents in a high mileage and most likely gummed up engine, you are taking a major gamble. Unfortunately, the you lost the gamble and exactly what is known to commonly happen, happened. Failure of the trained Walmart auto technician to alert you to this common issue is on their hands. The problem is solely related to misadvisement of the use of the cleaners. Cheers.

I realize that having a vehicle breakdown is never convenient and is almost always frustrating. I believe that is human nature to lash out or vent to other people when you feel you have been treated unfairly. I also believe that is very important to tell the truth and not make false statements to get your point across. Aggieland Automotive is an independent repair facility and is not affiliated with Wal-Mart. “As stated by owner of vehicle”. And when ask to do so, we will have a vehicle towed in and perform a diagnostic service to determine the failed part or needed service to correct the customers complaint. We always provide the customer with an estimate for repairs and always gain the customers approval before repairing the vehicle. Wal-Mart had asked Aggieland Automotive to tow and diagnosis this vehicle for a no start condition. Wal-Mart was given an estimate to make the needed repairs to vehicle. Replace all 6 fuel injectors and fuel filter due to completely clogged with sludge and clean sludge build up from fuel tank. Wal-Mart chose not to approve the repairs due to did not find fault in there service. The owner of this vehicle was then offered the estimate for needed repairs and the owner then declined the repair work. Wal-Mart paid for the tow and diagnostic service and vehicle was removed by customer. The Labor estimate to replace the fuel injectors was $216.00. Not “a thousand as stated by owner of vehicle”. The labor cost to clean all the sludge build up in the fuel tank was $144.00 and the labor estimate to replace the fuel filter was $28.00 for a total of $388.80. The owner was given an estimate for dealer and aftermarket parts and both were declined. We do not control another company’s decision to make payment for repair work to another person’s vehicle. Wal-Mart has referred other customers to us, other local repair facilities and dealers for service. Every time that we have serviced a vehicle for Wal-Mart they have always covered the needed repairs and taken care of the customers needs. I do not know what led to there decision not to cover the repair cost in this case. It is my belief that it has to due with the amount of sludge build up present in the fuel tank and the vehicle mileage being over 221,000. I hope that the owner’s vehicle was able to be repaired so that they have transportation.

The thing that is bugging me is that I took my car to Wal-Mart to get and oil change and they left the oil cap off of my engine causing the engine to lock.

When they sent the claim to their risk management people they refuse to pay for the car claiming that they had a signed statement from me releasing them from any liability. This statement is completely false.

When you take your car to the tire and lube of Wal-Mart you authorize them to do the work by signing a hand held computer. After the work is complete they print a full sheet of paper that has information and clauses to which you never agreed. Then they take you signature from this computer and print it on the paper work. It gives the appearance that you agreed to things that you have never even seen. On the printed documents they even inform the customer that they have complete work that has not been done.

The Wal-Mart that I went to is Store #1248. The Address is 7525 Winchester Road , Memphis , TN 38125 . The phone number is [protected]. The Lower Bay Technician was Bryant 8725. The Courtesy Technician is Alexander 8733, The Upper Bay Technician is Alexander 8733, and the Greeter was Terrell 8744.

Several years ago my wife took her Mazada 323 into Walmart at HWY 7 and Jane in Woodbridge, Ontario for an oil change and filter. A few weeks later when I was checking my wifes car I asked her if she got the oil changed. She said 'yes' at Walmart. The only reason I know this is because they never changed the filter. Of course they denied any wrong doing until we told them that the current oil filter had white car paint on it from when it was repainted prior to bring it in. The reason they never changed the filter was because it was stuck and they could not take it off. The service person never mentioned anything, just gave back the car and charged us. They still denied doing anything wrong. The store gave my wife her next oil change free. To this day we have redeemed that coupon. Will never do any repairs or simple oil changes there... ever.

How did pouring something in your gas tank cause so much trouble. It is a two step process that includes putting two different fluids in your vehicle they sell it off the shelf also any idiot can do it! Maybe you should sue the company that makes it.

Given the damage involved and the strong likelihood of the business's culpability, I think your next step is to immediately file complaints your local BBB and consumer protection division of your attorney general's office. Assuming that goes nowhere within thirty days (unlikely unless you're not being entirely forthright above), then avoid the lawyer and file a small claims suit. The business is likely to make a settlement offer quickly, perhaps in full, just to avoid the hassle.