Sears, Santa Mara, CA - stripped treads - unable to get oil change without fixing

Sears, Santa Mara, CA - stripped treads - unable to get oil change without fixing

When I went to get an oil change for my 2002 Kia, I took it to the local WalMart in Lompoc, Ca. Within five minutes, I was told they could not do this because, upon trying to undo it, they realized that the threads had been stripped by the previous oil-change service. They would not write up a ticket explaining this because they stated they had not been able to work on the car and so would not document anything. I then called Sears in Santa Mara, Ca., which had done the last oil change.

They asserted that it was not their problem because legally the last entity to handle an auto part was responsible for the outcome. I had to have the car towed to my local mechanic, who offered that it probably was Sears that had manhandled the part, essentially re-torquing it when re-introducing the screw.

After many verbal and written exchanges about this with head offices at both companies - both places alternating between large yawns and repressed hostility - I decided to go to small claims court to get back the $424 it cost for a new oil pan.

However, I was advised by an advisor at a small claims hot line that I might as well not bother - according to her, thee large companies don't bother to pay off such claims. Also, the small claims office at the Lompoc gave me such a run-around (every time I took the forms in during a six-week period, they found fault with something on the form; they were wrong at least once according to internet sites with instructions on filling out these forms).

Since, at the time, my father died requiring me putting my mother in a retirement home and selling her house, and my partner had kidney surgery requiring my full-time nursing for the next month, I was never able to complete the small claims court process. I am disgusted! But at least I feel better that someone in the universe has had to read this (and sympathize please?). I still have the small claim forms and the now-destroyed oil pan as evidence. Is there any point to trying this process? Rosemary Holmes

Lompoc, CA 93436

Rosemary H

Click this link to e-mail the consumer that posted the above message: //