Valvoline Instant Oil Change

Reviews

• JT

  James Tierney

  today
  1.0
  During my service on April 17, I encountered a series of actions that moved beyond simple incompetence into what I believe was the willful sabotage of my wife’s vehicle: 1. Intentional Property Damage: After offering to clean my air filter, the technician deliberately banged and smeared it in the grime on the side of a trash can, then walking with it hidden behind him, so I could not see the grime before attempting to reinstall it. And when I mentioned it, he said “oh my bad”, I said nothing. 2. Mechanical Negligence: while reinstalling the air filter the technician used a drill motor to over-torque the bolts on my air box until a mounting stud snapped. He then attempted to hide this damage from me. 3. When removing the oil stick, he flicked dirty oil all over the front of my wife’s car. 4. Harassment & Racial Slurs: instead of pulling the oil cap off with his hands he used a needle, nose, pliers, squeezing really tight and gouging the top of the oil cap. When I finally intervened to stop him from gouging my oil cap with needle-nose pliers, after already witnessing these other elements I was upset, and the technician became aggressive. He directed a racial slur toward me and walked away, laughing with his buddies in the pit. 5. Failure of Intervention: Despite the technician’s trainer acknowledging the racial slur that he witnessed he finally admitted to the damage to the stud, filter, and oil cap after I insisted that he take it off and inspect the damage. Even a bystander in the neighboring bay expressing shock at the technician’s hostility toward me, no management or staff intervened during the verbal abuse. He didn't even bother checking any of the other fluids or air pressure. It was so blatantly obvious about his contempt for who I am that it was palpable. (I had never him before that minute) This technician's actions—sabotaging a vehicle and using racial slurs against a customer—are not just a "poor service" issue; they are a significant legal and brand liability. I have documented the snapped bolt, the ruined filter, and the damage to the oil cap. When I asked the trainer how he was gonna rectify the situation he said "why don’t you contact corporate". I said aren’t you going to offer to pay for the damage and he said I’ll give you an air filter. He didn’t even bother to wipe the oil splattered all over the front of my car. I’ve been defending equal rights, my whole life, and all of my friends are shocked at how this situation came about. I’m even married to a woman of color so nobody better accuse me of being racially motivated here that’s why it took me so long to respond. I’m shocked. Just because I’m a white male of a certain age doesn’t give anyone the right to attack me. I expect a response detailing how Valvoline intends to rectify the physical damage to my vehicle and what steps are being taken to ensure that no other customer is subjected to this kind of targeted harassment.
• AH

  Ashley Hintz

  2 days ago
  5.0
  Genuinely appreciate every person working here now and over the years- I’ve been so impressed with their explanations for someone like me who knows nothing about cars. Their honesty with which things are worth replacing now vs next time keeps me coming back because I feel like I can trust their opinion. Love this crew!
• EF

  ethan foster

  3 days ago
  5.0
  Amazing service from tyler, noah, and isaiah will definitely come back to the elkriver vavoline
• HB

  Heather B

  Apr 18, 2026
  3.0
  I have been to lots of Valvoline’s, and this one used to be my favorite for both service and convenience. Unfortunately, I won’t be coming back to this location. I came in looking for an oil change, radiator flush and a transmission flush. Online it said this location specifically provided these services, which I double checked before coming. When we got to this location, the tech told me him and the other techs didn’t feel comfortable doing the radiator flush and transmission flush as they hadn’t done a lot of radiator flushes and had not done a lot of transmission flushes for CVT’s. I am thankful they were honest, because I certainly don’t want them doing anything on my car they aren’t comfortable with, but I was also surprised that no one there knew how to do these things. The tech recommended a new engine filter and I agreed, and then he came back and apologized and said they didn’t have my cars air filter in stock. Also, not a huge deal, but when they went to hand me the reminder sticker, he said they ran out of their normal clear ones, and handed me a big, white sticker that wouldn’t even stick to the windshield. This just contributed to the disappointment of the overall experience and sense that this location is clearly struggling with something behind the scenes. The service advisor was friendly, and professional, (which has always been the case at this location) and even offered to put in our cabin air filter he spied on our dash but didn’t purchase there, which was very kind and much appreciated. I don’t fault the tech for not having more experience or being out of stock of certain things, as that’s not the scope of his job, and he handled everything as kindly and professionally as he could. But I do think Valvoline should probably consider their tech’s skill and experience when making schedules if they care at all about customer service, customer retention, and profits. This location lost out on hundreds of dollars in services and upsales today from just me alone, as well as my business moving forward.
• LG

  Lauren Gizzi

  Apr 8, 2026
  5.0
  The best staff, they always do great work for my vehicles!! Truly appreciate the staff and how they treat their customers. Will always choose this Valvoline!