Economy Lube always advertises that they will change your transmission fluid for $60 and you get a free oil change. They also advertise that they will do a radiator/cooling system flush for $60 and you also get a free oil change with that as well. I went there last year to have both done in the same visit. My car was in and out of there in less than 10 minutes which I thought was odd and I've now found out it means that there is no way they could have changed my transmission fluid. That is because my transmission is a sealed unit. I checked with another lube shop and they said it takes them 45 minutes to change the transmission fluid on the type of car I have. I recently went to Canadian Tire to have them change the transmission fluid because I know that Economy Lube didn't do it. Canadian Tire charged me a half hour labour and a mechanic did it, not a less qualified 'oil changer' and it took him a little over half an hour. Therefore, unless Economy Lube has some magical system to change the fluid on a sealed transmission, they charged me for something that they didn't do.
The second way that they defrauded me was that they told me my car takes "premium" antifreeze and "premium" transmission fluid so instead of charging me more for that they would NOT give me the two free oil changes. I found out from my car's owners manual and Canadian Tire that my car does not require premium fluids for the rad or transmission. Also, at the end of my visit I was told by the Economy Lube clerk that they used regular antifreeze so I'd have to come back in a year to have it changed. Yet I still didn't get a free oil change even after he admitted that they used regular antifreeze.
The way that they tried to defraud me in a third way is as follows. They told me that according to my owner's manual it was time to change the power steering fluid and "re-charge" my air conditioner. At the time I only had 64, 000 km on my car and I follow the maintenance schedule closely so I knew this wasn't true so I declined. It is still a very long time before I have to have either done. Yet they outright lied and said it should be done then. If they would have recommended doing it that is fine but it is fraudulent because they said "according to my owner's manual it had to be done at that time".
Mike
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
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