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Went for a servicing promotion at a certain workshop. Too cheap to be true... Brand 'X' fully syn 5w40 selling at $110 and above at most workshops. But selling at only $35 nett at this workshop inclusive of oil filter. which means.. $15 for labour and $8 for oil fiter = $12 for 4 litre of engine oil fully syn (Brand 'X' is quite a known brand). Went to try thinking "how bad could it be?". So head down after making an appt, standard checks were done, oil drained etc etc. Then comes the part when they fill my oil. Suddenly the mechanic took out a very dirty opened engine oil bottle. So my first instinct was to stop him and asked him what was that? And there wasn't any 'Brand X' label on the bottle. He told me 'Brand X' was drawn from an oil drum through a pump and showed me where it was. The oil drum showed 'Brand X' but there wasn't any label on it. Just handwritten with a marker 5w40. So he told me he pumped out the oil from the oil drum to the spare bottle and fill it for me through the spare bottle. So i thought to myself, maybe it's a cost saving method. Fine with me. So i asked him, is it because it comes without the fancy packaging that's why its so cheap? Nope. he told me its a same as the main series except with lousier quality. Also, he said and i quote "So far no one complain." Right then i felt very uncomfortable with his reply so i went back home to google the distributor's number and called them asking if this practice is standard among workshops. Do they produce lousier quality oil of the same series in bulk? The convo between me and the distributor will be kept private. But they said they will investigate the matter. Just for your info, i am not complaining on the workshop hoping they get into trouble or whatever, my main intention for calling the distributor is to check if they are selling the oils by the barrel and that this oil is legit from Brand 'X'. Also, what rating and series is the oil in the barrel so that i can plan my next servicing. Thats all. and i am not asking for a refund etc. Just a peace of mind. The above is to let you know more about the situation so you can give your views. My question here is, are there recycled or fake engine oil circulating around? What do u think could be inside the oil barrel? Could it be cheap oil using Brand 'X' name as the cover? Anyone had similar experience mind sharing? On a fair note, the engine wasn't rough and it felt normal. Colour of the oil was a tad lighter but similar to all the normal engine oil. Note: It is very very unlikely (though not impossible) that they are running some super promotion. 1) They are not advertising the promotion openly at their shop and fb page. 2) my convo with the distributor strongly suggest so unless they decide to do some 'charity' work.