166su

That’s the day the 166su real estate agent took his 2014 Mercedes sedan to Jiffy Lube on Peters Creek Road for an inspection and oil change.

Amos is a repeat Jiffy Lube customer. According to Jiffy Lube records, he’s been taking his Mercedes there as far back as 2018. For most of that time, Amos lived in South 166su, and he took the car to the location on Franklin Road for state inspections, but not oil changes. There, he “never had a problem,” he said.

Last year Amos moved to north 166su County, and the Peters Creek Jiffy Lube was closer to his new home. So in October, he took it there. And for the first time, Amos had Jiffy Lube change the oil and the canister-type oil filter. Including the inspection, the bill was $159.

Amos, 80, paid it and drove away. The mileage — 77,569 — was relatively light for a 10-year-old car.

Over the next 14 weeks, Amos drove the car 1,590 miles, or a little more than 100 miles per week. But on Jan. 7, he noticed a big problem. His C300 sedan, parked outside his home, wouldn’t start. The engine wouldn’t even turn over.

“All of the lights on the dash came on,” Amos said. But that was it. He called Berglund Automotive, where he’d bought the car, and two others.

On Jan. 8, Berglund towed it to their Franklin Road location. And then on Jan. 9, Amos got bad news in a phone call from a service adviser at Berglund, Caylin Valentine.

Valentine told Amos his car’s engine was locked up. The canister-type oil filter Beglund found in the Mercedes was the wrong filter, Valentine told him, and it had come apart, Amos said. Pieces of the broken filter got into the Mercedes’ engine, Amos said.

“The engine had to be replaced or the car junked,” Amos said Valentine told him.

For the next few days, Amos pondered whether to fix the car or buy a new one. He said Berglund told him a new Mercedes engine with a warranty would cost in the range of $15,000 to $16,000.

The dealership might be able to save him $2,000 or so, Amos was told, by installing a used engine rather than a new one. But a used engine would come with no warranty. Amos asked Valentine to look for a used engine.

The first 16 days his Mercedes was in the shop, Amos rented a car from Enterprise. That set him back $1,311. At the end of January, Berglund loaned Amos a Mercedes until his was fixed.

Amos ended up driving the loaner for nearly a month. And he emphasized he has absolutely no complaint with service or personnel at Berglund.

“They’ve been fantastic,” Amos said. In particular, he called Valentine “amazing.”

Valentine was still looking for a used engine on Jan. 28. That’s when Amos wrote a letter to Jiffy Lube on Peters Creek Road, and sent it via the U.S. Postal Service.

He copied Jiffy Lube customer service in Houston, Texas. (Since 2002, Jiffy Lube has been a subsidiary of oil giant Shell, which in 2024 posted profits totaling $23.7 billion.)

“I am asking that Jiffy Lube contact Kyle Schroers, Service Consultant, or Caylin Valentine, Service Adviser to look at the damage,” Amos wrote. He included Berglund’s phone number and Valentine’s business card, which included his email address.

“They have also done a video of the damage to my car,” Amos noted. “I am expecting Jiffy Lube to bear the responsibility and cost of replacing the damaged engine as soon as possible.”

On Feb. 4, Valentine notified Amos that he’d found a good used engine. But Berglund required a deposit of $3,500 before the dealership would order it, Valentine noted. Amos paid the deposit.

Then on Feb. 10, Amos got a call from Tony Smith at Jiffy Lube. Smith told Amos he’d received the letter Amos had mailed. Smith told Amos his regional manager needed to see an itemized repair estimate.

Amos obtained the itemized repair order from Berglund, which was dated Jan. 25. He emailed it to Smith. Amos said Smith confirmed receiving it on Feb. 12.

The used Mercedes engine arrived at Berglund two days later, on Feb. 14. Berglund installed the used engine on Feb. 17. However, it would not start.

“As it turns out, the starter was damaged when the engine blew,” Amos said. Berglund replaced the starter for $578. They skipped the normal labor fee, which was $750.

Amos picked up his finally repaired Mercedes from Berglund on Feb. 22. The repair total was $15,740.17. That included the used engine, installation, a new starter and a $645 brake job that had nothing to do with Amos’s bad engine.

To afford the dealership’s bill, Amos had to get cash advances on two credit cards. That cost him $533 in interest, he said. Including that and the Enterprise rental — but excluding the brake job — Amos figures he’s out $16,938.

That’s what he wants Jiffy Lube to pay. But on March 4, he got a call from Luke Underwood, Jiffy Lube’s regional manager, who denied Amos’s claim.

To Amos, Underwood disputed Jiffy Lube used the wrong oil filter. He told Amos even if that happened, the engine would have seized up far sooner than 3 months and 1,500 miles later. (When Amos relayed that news to Valentine, Valentine told him it was bull excrement.)

Amos contacted me. I reached out to Jiffy Lube with questions. The answers came from Underwood’s supervisor, Adam Tatum. Tatum acknowledged Jiffy Lube received Amos’ claim letter Feb. 5, as well as the Jan. 25 itemized repair order.

Why won’t Jiffy Lube cover the repair?

“In this particular case, we were only notified of an issue AFTER the repair had already been authorized and engine removed from the vehicle,” Tatum responded. “Jiffy Lube should have been contacted immediately … If there were any questions about quality of the workmanship or products in the service. They knew this on 1/9/2025, per Mr. Amos’ written statement.”

Recall, Amos authorized Berglund to look for a used engine prior to Feb. 5, but the dealership didn’t get it until Feb. 14 and the original engine in Amos’ car wasn’t removed until Feb. 17.

That’s 12 days after Jiffy Lube was notified of Amos’s seized engine.

The next question: When did a representative of Jiffy Lube examine the destroyed engine? The answer to that was never.

Tatum responded: “We were never given a proper way of examining the engine. By the time that we were made aware of the issue, the car was already in the process of being repaired. Once someone said that it was a failure, we should have been notified before any further action was taken.”

Tatum also disputed that Jiffy Lube put the wrong oil filter in Amos’ car.

Tatum added: “If the service center and management are given a notification of an issue, we would have went out to the vehicle, gotten documentation, in writing, from the repair facility, and if determined it was a product failure, we would have reached out to supplier to loop them in and let them take over, as it was a product failure, not a workmanship issue. None of this was given before authorization of dismantling and replacement was given by customer.”

According to Tatum, Jiffy Lube was aware of the issue Feb. 5. The original engine wasn’t removed from the Mercedes on Feb. 17. The interim was nearly two weeks.

“In this case, we have no documented proof of a workmanship issue, only a verbal, from customer, assertion that dealership says the filter failed,” Tatum said. “That is not a Jiffy Lube issue, it would be a product issue. We were unable to do any investigation in a timely manner prior to repair being authorized.”

In December, Berglund repaired a problem with the Mercedes’ steering-column lock. The invoice notes Berglund at that time also provided a “free” multi-point inspection. There’s no mention on the invoice of any oil-filter issue.

Caylin Valentine declined to talk to me, citing Berglund Automotive policy. So I reached out to William Farrell, who runs Berglund Automotive. Last week, Ferrell looked into the situation with Amos’ car.

After the Mercedes was towed into Berglund, Farrell said, technicians there found its engine oil was dark and burnt and had metal debris it. The oil filter, Farrell added, “was an aftermarket filter that was not supposed to go in that engine.”

The aftermarket filter partially blocked oil from getting to the engine, which “starved the flow of oil and burned up the engine,” Farrell said.

“It’s very important to use the right parts in these cars,” Farrell noted.

Farrell added: “We haven’t had any contact with Jiffy Lube about the car.”

Amos’s old engine is still at the dealership, waiting for someone at Jiffy Lube to come look at it, if they care to.

At this point, Amos is thinking about taking the matter to small-claims court. He told me the next time he needs an oil change, he’ll get one someplace other than Jiffy Lube.

Considering he went almost $17,000 in debt to fix a car he believes Jiffy Lube damaged, it’s no wonder why.