If you have ever wondered whether a quick oil change from a national chain is really as simple as it looks, a Douglas County, Georgia woman’s story might make you think twice. Gian Johnston McGladen says a routine stop at the Take Five on Thornton Road left her with a totaled engine, and the proof is sitting right in her back seat. Not a metaphor. An actual chunk of her 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee’s engine, pulled out by a mechanic and handed back to her like a very expensive souvenir.
This isn’t an isolated complaint either. Channel 2 Action News consumer investigator Justin Gray was at that same Thornton Road location earlier this month looking into a nearly identical situation involving another driver. Two ruined engines, two customers, one location. That’s the kind of pattern that gets attention, and it should.
Johnston McGladen says the trouble traces back to an oil change where the oil pan wasn’t properly reinstalled. When she brought her concerns to the shop, she says the manager told her she had forfeited her warranty because she didn’t return the vehicle to them first. In the meantime, she’s without a car, leaning on rideshares just to get to work, which is not exactly a small inconvenience for most working people…