Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Aug 7, 2024 – All Heather Talley needed was an oil change. So, she took her SUV to Take 5, and things went downhill from there.

Talley told JRN that she bought her Volkswagen Atlas new in 2022. This trip to Take 5 was her third. She’s a fan of the business model – she likes the convenience of staying in her vehicle while her vehicle is serviced.

During her visit on Tuesday, July 23rd, there was a hiccup. The crew wasn’t able to take the oil plug off. They couldn’t loosen it and they couldn’t tighten it, so they had to “evap it” (use suction) instead of draining the oil out. Even though that part of the process was different, she was still on her way in a few minutes, just like normal.

Two days later, Thursday, July 25th, Heather was at a friend’s house for dinner. After she left to go back home, her friend sent her a picture of her driveway. There was a pool of liquid on the pavement. The picture was her friend’s finger with oil on it. Quite a leak for just a short period of time.

The next morning, Talley went back to Take 5. This time, her visit took a bit longer. The crew figured out that the oil plug that they couldn’t remove earlier in the week was the source of the problem. It was stripped and oil was steadily dripping around it.

Now that they knew what the problem was, it was time for the solution. Talley said the assistant manager was nice and helpful. But after a phone conversation with her boss, the assistant manager became apologetic. “I’m really sorry,” she said, “but you’re going to have to take this somewhere else. We don’t do mechanical work.”

Talley wanted to talk to the manager. “I wanted him to help me understand what happened. If it was their fault, I wanted him to make it right. I’m a big believer in ‘mistakes happen’… that’s part of life. If you’ll at least make me aware of it, I’ll give you an opportunity to make it right.”

Even though she wasn’t able to speak with the manager, the assistant manager assured her that he would look at the security footage to see what happened. She also told Talley that he’d probably file a claim, but she wasn’t given much hope that the store would cover it, because “it could’ve been anyone that did this damage.” Talley explained to them that Take 5 was the only place she’d ever had her oil changed.

In the meantime, she asked for mechanic recommendations on social media. Suggestions started rolling in. She went with Joe’s Tire and Auto. They got the oil plug out, but were able to determine that quite a bit of damage related to the oil pan had been done. Joe’s repair estimate came to $1,558. Talley is a big fan of Mike Malone and David Snyder at Joe’s. “This wasn’t their fault, but they were trying to make it right,” she said.

There’s been communication with the Take 5 claims office out of Ohio. A claim was opened, denied, then opened again after Talley provided proof that Take 5 was the only place that had changed her oil. There have been multiple conversations with regional customer service representatives who are hearing the Heather Talley story for the first time, and saying that they will forward her message along to the right people.

It doesn’t appear that anything can be done for Talley at the local level. JRN spoke with Corey, the local Take 5 manager, and he said it’s “out of his hands.” If any customer has an issue like this, it gets kicked up to the claims department and what happens next is up to them. There have been some emails between Talley and Claims, but there has been no resolution, as of this writing.

So, for Talley, there’s only frustration and disappointment.

“I’m not trying to kill somebody’s business. It benefits Jonesboro to have a business like this. I need this business to be successful. So, me running my mouth, being a keyboard warrior on social media… that does absolutely no good. I own a business. And if someone does that to me… that’s my livelihood. So, that’s not my intention. There’s a way to turn this into something positive. But I’m not too confident that that’s going to happen.”