Thursday, February 21, 2008

Jiffy What?

I believe we all agree that a critical part of any business specializing in rapid oil changes is having oil available. Apparently we would be wrong.

On two successive visits to a nearby Jiffylube, I have been informed that they had no 5W-30. The first time it was supposedly due to a late truck. This was forgivable, as we had just had a heavy snow, though a prudent manager would have perhaps thought "Hey, its Michigan, in the winter. There might be snow. I should have extra oil on hand." One showing initiative may have went across the road to Walmart and bought some, or tried to buy a barrel off a dealer at the automall, which is, to my knowledge, the largest collection of car dealerships in the state. Regardless, a one time fluke is inconvenient, but within reason.

Imagine my surprise when, upon returning a full week later, I was turned away again. No offer of compensation, just a mumbled excuse from a rather dejected attendant that I didn't really follow (I presume he had turned away many people and was not terribly pleased with his job). I informed the him that I would not be returning, ever. I would write a letter of complaint, but if the company can't figure out, on their own, that someone needs to be fired, then I don't see why I should help them.

So business 101: if you sell a product, have product to sell.

1 comment:

Stack said...

That's just silly. My friend Eric from work once had a run in at a business in Minneapolis called Tires Plus. Now, they had tires, but they were blatantly lying to him about what he did and didn't need. He knew too much to be fooled, but out of the story came the comment "Tires Plus... those bastards!" I'll now think of Jiffy Lube the same way, though for a different reason.