Parts store rant

[MikeMeyerhoff]

Now most parts store rants are all about horrible stupidity of the guy behind the counter. I usually have pretty good luck with the local guys.

 

What I want to complain about is people who CALL parts stores and take 10 minutes of the counter guys time looking up routine maintenance items for common cars. I always hear this exact one-sided conversation when I'm in the store: "Is your truck a 4wd or 2wd" "We have lifetime pads for $26 and one year pads for $18", "No that is for both sides" "Well the front rotors are $25 each" "Yes you'd need two" "I have both types of brake pads in stock" "Yes I also have the rotors in stock" "no thats just for the front" "rear drums are $30 each" "No you can't use the rotors from the front on the rear" ..."

 

ON AND ON AND ON. Seriously. I can see calling ahead for rarer parts that might not be in stock... But brake pads for an F150 ARE GOING TO BE IN STOCK WHEREVER YOU GO.

 

If they are doing it to price shop: I've never seen the local parts stores be more than a couple of dollars difference on common maintenance stuff. Maybe more high dollar stuff warrants price shopping. But in trying to save $2 on brake pads, you've actually cost the stores $5 each call, which does raise prices overall.

 

It annoys me to have to wait when I have parts and cash in hand and the counter guy is tied up with someone who is pondering what it may cost if they do something someday.

 

Mike

[UlrichWolf]

I'm about to make you even madder.

 

When I worked the parts counters, that was policy. Management had the misguided idea that the guy in front of you would wait. Happily, too. So, you could snare extra customers to get them in the store by working the phones.

 

Sadly, what is a good theory is sometimes not good mechanics. As in the customer saying "F-this! I'm going down the street to Pettiscrew-Smith, or Hi-Lo, or ANYONE THAT WILL GIVE ME THE TIME OF DAY!"

 

Tim

[Komeuppance]

Retail = fail.

 

-Robert

[D_Venable]

Sadly, what is a good theory is sometimes not good mechanics. As in the customer saying "F-this! I'm going down the street to Pettiscrew-Smith, or Hi-Lo, or ANYONE THAT WILL GIVE ME THE TIME OF DAY!"

 

Tim

 

I've seen that many times, guy in front of me usually, lol

 

 

just means I get out of there faster, lol

 

But I agree with you Mike, it sucks to have to wait for the stupid people of the world, but it happens

[jahjah]

Imagine how the parts guy feels?

 

and chances are the person on the phone somewhere between none and little english!

[Maxzillian]

What I hate is when a parts counter can't get their own system right. I had a good one yesterday. Trying to find a battery for my 1989 Jeep Cherokee. Common as dirt. I know it takes a group 34, I just pulled it out. However, I let the guy at the counter do his job and look it up for me. He grabs a group 58... about 3 inches shorter and 200 amps short.

 

After asking him a couple times to be sure, "This is what the computer shows?" I finally ask him, "Is it ok if I pick my own battery?" "Sure!" So I snagged a group 34. It fit like a glove. I wasted my money on an oil pressure "sender" from the same store chain for the Conquest. Turns out it's just a switch. Even the manufacturer of the switch claims it is for a Starion... not a single sender is listed.

[Tman]

the local parts stores here have cut there staff down dramticly no more then 2 ppl at a tim at autozone and 3 ppl at advance (no counting commercial sales who wont help regular customers for nothing

[jahjah]

the local parts stores here have cut there staff down dramticly no more then 2 ppl at a tim at autozone and 3 ppl at advance (no counting commercial sales who wont help regular customers for nothing

the commercial sales at those places suck so super freaking hard. it seems to always be one super worthless guy with one driver whos always an hour away. And if the commercial sales guy isnt there then the guys on the front counter just shrug their shoulders and give you stupid looks if you ask what list and cost is

[strang3majik]

try going to autozone or advance to get an Expansion Valve for your a/c. They gave me one, but, it was completley wrong. So, I took it back, and they accused me of not knowing what the hell I was doing.

 

I told them the one they gave me looked a lot like the expansion valves in the minivans...sure enough...same part number, wrong one. (it was the block style)

 

So, I went to NAPA...his computer came up with the same thing...and, being the good employee he is...he actually pulled the books out and paged through them.

 

Sure enough...they had 2 in stock! What are the chances...on a Sunday nonetheless.

 

But...yeah...thats what ticks me off, is when the parts guy accuses me of not knowing what I'm talking about, when, he is actually the uniformed one. I even had the valve out of my car there with me, and he told me that it was a different part.

 

Schmuck...lol

 

NAPA, though. Now thats my store.

 

Oh yeah...and, is it 2wd or 4wd? "Doesn't matter sir, I just need to know what headlight bulb to get" "okay, 5.2 or 5.9?" "Doesn't matter sir, I just need to know what headlight bulb I need."

That I also hate

 

Also...please...pull out the book. The guy there couldn't find a part for me...so, I asked if he could check the book for me, and he said no.

 

Ugh...parts stores.

[ucw458]

Oh please, wasting the parts guys time??? GLADLY, they waste my time every time I talk to them. The conversation is ALWAYS the same.

 

"Thanks for calling _________ May I help you?"

"I'm looking for a _____ for a 1987 Chrysler Conquest."

"ok let me look that up, what year?"

"I just told you, 1987."

"ok, what car?"

"arg, CHRYSLER CONQUEST!"

"Ok sir, what part did you need again?"

"sigh"

 

I give them all the information they need at the beginning of the conversation and they ALWAYS ask me again. Very annoying, makes me wonder if they're gonna give me the right part since they weren't listening to me in the first place. Only one store near me has notepads by every phone so the employee can write down all the info and not piss off the customer. The local Kragen has some good guys and they know me. So when I go in there I jump on an open computer and find my parts. Then call them over point to the screen and gimme that one please. Works better that way. I never get the wrong part that way.

[ColdScrip]

I hear ya mike....I loved the last sentence of your post lol. I had a guy yesterday come in to where I work for a washer. I picked out the correct nylon washer which was 30 cents. He asked, dead serious, if he could return it if he doesn't use it. Some people are just incredibly cheap.

[Nykon]

I am the Manager of a NAPA. I have fortunately handpicked and trained my crew here so we don't have much of that but I understand both sides of the story. I would rather put a person on hold and help the person in front of me because they are garaunteed money. I asked one guy to hold and he started to yell and protest so I told him that the guy in front of me was about twice my size and could hit me, so if he would like to come stand in line for the chance feel free but until then I was not concerned with him having to hold for a bit.

 

All my people have notepads, their own so that they can go back and look over their notes if they need to.

 

I also train them to use catalogs because if the power goes out, what do they do and the computer sucks for correctly cataloging info.

 

I hate customers that take up all your time for nothing, especially when you have a line behind them. I hate having to pull teeth out for information at times.

 

For piston rings

"What size motor is it?

"It doesn't matter they are all the same!"

 

I also hate the people that have to give me their whole life history before they get to the point.

 

"Thanks for calling NAPA how can I help you?"

 

"Uh yeah, I uh got this car from my uncle. It was sitting out in his field and then my grandma died and we had to go to her funeral and she had the title in her jeans when she got hit by the bus so it really has been like about 20 years that it sat there and so I pulled it out and have been restoring it but then I had to go in to have my gall bladder removed so it sat in my garage and my son removed all the plug wires and then rearranged them so when I went to start it it backfired and sent my great aunt wilma into a seizure, so after that I bought new tires for it. Its blue and I need an oil filter."

 

Irritating.

 

I also get a lot of "stupid kid doesn't know what he is talking about" because I am young. I am 30 but been working for NAPA since I was about 16 and been working on cars for longer so I think I have a pretty good grasp of what I am doing.

 

Yeah so I feel your guys pain on both ends.

[BrazilBoy]

I go to CSK online order all my parts pay for them then go there pick it up and walk out...done deal......

[Tim_C.]

I am the Manager of a NAPA. I have fortunately handpicked and trained my crew here so we don't have much of that but I understand both sides of the story. I would rather put a person on hold and help the person in front of me because they are garaunteed money. I asked one guy to hold and he started to yell and protest so I told him that the guy in front of me was about twice my size and could hit me, so if he would like to come stand in line for the chance feel free but until then I was not concerned with him having to hold for a bit.

 

All my people have notepads, their own so that they can go back and look over their notes if they need to.

 

I also train them to use catalogs because if the power goes out, what do they do and the computer sucks for correctly cataloging info.

 

I hate customers that take up all your time for nothing, especially when you have a line behind them. I hate having to pull teeth out for information at times.

 

For piston rings

"What size motor is it?

"It doesn't matter they are all the same!"

 

I also hate the people that have to give me their whole life history before they get to the point.

 

"Thanks for calling NAPA how can I help you?"

 

"Uh yeah, I uh got this car from my uncle. It was sitting out in his field and then my grandma died and we had to go to her funeral and she had the title in her jeans when she got hit by the bus so it really has been like about 20 years that it sat there and so I pulled it out and have been restoring it but then I had to go in to have my gall bladder removed so it sat in my garage and my son removed all the plug wires and then rearranged them so when I went to start it it backfired and sent my great aunt wilma into a seizure, so after that I bought new tires for it. Its blue and I need an oil filter."

 

Irritating.

 

I also get a lot of "stupid kid doesn't know what he is talking about" because I am young. I am 30 but been working for NAPA since I was about 16 and been working on cars for longer so I think I have a pretty good grasp of what I am doing.

 

Yeah so I feel your guys pain on both ends.

 

 

Yeah, my local NAPA has a good staff like you describe. They all have their own hot rods they are building too. However, sometimes I find myself telling my life story to them, but it is always after telling them my needs, while they are looking it up, etc... They all know I am a problem child from the start. I have about 7 cars I try to keep running. 6 of them Mitsus, and 5 StarQuests! I think they run when they see me coming! No, they are all a good gruop of guys who usually find what I need. The price is always a little more than other parts houses, but a lot better quality worth paying for, along with their professionalism to get me the correct part the first time. Plus, I can return parts when I made the mistake. My friend's alternator shop goes to them exclusively first too. However, I must say that CarQuest has the same professional workers, and even CSK has 3 very knowledgeable people. Just about all of the parts houses has one or two people that know enough to get you what you're asking for.

[Komeuppance]

I am the Manager of a NAPA. I have fortunately handpicked and trained my crew here so we don't have much of that but I understand both sides of the story. I would rather put a person on hold and help the person in front of me because they are garaunteed money. I asked one guy to hold and he started to yell and protest so I told him that the guy in front of me was about twice my size and could hit me, so if he would like to come stand in line for the chance feel free but until then I was not concerned with him having to hold for a bit.

 

All my people have notepads, their own so that they can go back and look over their notes if they need to.

 

I also train them to use catalogs because if the power goes out, what do they do and the computer sucks for correctly cataloging info.

 

I hate customers that take up all your time for nothing, especially when you have a line behind them. I hate having to pull teeth out for information at times.

 

For piston rings

"What size motor is it?

"It doesn't matter they are all the same!"

 

I also hate the people that have to give me their whole life history before they get to the point.

 

"Thanks for calling NAPA how can I help you?"

 

"Uh yeah, I uh got this car from my uncle. It was sitting out in his field and then my grandma died and we had to go to her funeral and she had the title in her jeans when she got hit by the bus so it really has been like about 20 years that it sat there and so I pulled it out and have been restoring it but then I had to go in to have my gall bladder removed so it sat in my garage and my son removed all the plug wires and then rearranged them so when I went to start it it backfired and sent my great aunt wilma into a seizure, so after that I bought new tires for it. Its blue and I need an oil filter."

 

Irritating.

 

I also get a lot of "stupid kid doesn't know what he is talking about" because I am young. I am 30 but been working for NAPA since I was about 16 and been working on cars for longer so I think I have a pretty good grasp of what I am doing.

 

Yeah so I feel your guys pain on both ends.

 

Portland!! I see that this is your first post, welcome!! What NAPA do you work at?? I'll get my friends to start "testing" your crew... LOL...

 

I always look up the part number online at their website before I go into the store... saves me time!!

 

-Robert

[strang3majik]

yes, as I said, my NAPA here is very good about that. Just the fact that they dusted off and looked through the book for my part put NAPA at a much higher place, to me.

 

I think they do select thier crews a lot better than Autozone/Advance...don't get me wrong, they have their informed car guys too...but, most are not that way.

 

Also...another thing that ticks me off...

 

me and my dad got a valve cover gasket for his 440 from Autozone, and, he told them, it was a 68 Dodge Charger...they asked engine size, he said, 440.

Their response was...no, not the horsepower rating, what size is the engine. 5.2L, 5.7L... No offense, but, i don't know anyone that goes around saying their Charger has a 7.2L...but, w/e...lol

[TexasQuest]

I used to work at Napa before I got laid off and I would answer phone calls sometimes. You would not believe the retards that would call.

[jszucs]

I'm about to make you even madder.

 

When I worked the parts counters, that was policy. Management had the misguided idea that the guy in front of you would wait. Happily, too. So, you could snare extra customers to get them in the store by working the phones.

 

Sadly, what is a good theory is sometimes not good mechanics. As in the customer saying "F-this! I'm going down the street to Pettiscrew-Smith, or Hi-Lo, or ANYONE THAT WILL GIVE ME THE TIME OF DAY!"

 

Tim

 

That happend to me this weekend. I'm standing in line with everything my arms and cash in my hand waiting to pay. Dude not only help someone who walked in after me to look stuff up but took two phone calls. I droped everything where I stood and walked out.

 

And yes Napa is the best around me the guys actuly know cars/ work on cars and take care of you when your in the stor. But they have taken most of our Napas away. Then advance only in emergency A/Z Was in A/Z to get a little section of hose to blead breaks . Said I need a 2 foot section of hose to bleed breaks and the kid came back with about 1/2" hose. I was like no little hose like to slip over the nipple about the size of a bic pen.

Edited September 22, 2009 by jszucs

[Hoosierquest]

I am done with autozone, their employees have insulted me to many times. The other day I went in for a tranny pan gasket for a 99 Kia Sephia. Guy says we have th kit in stock,I say I only need the gasket. He said I will order it from our hub it will be here tomorrow at 9am price is 7.99.

So I come in the next day at 9am and talk to another guy tell him i am supposed to have a part waiting so he takes my name and goes checks comes back and said maybe we put it in stock. So I watched him type transmission filter and he walks back and comes up with the filter/Gasket kit 18.99. I said, that is not it I ordered the gasket only he says we dont sell just the gasket and rolls his eyes. I said the guy showed it to me yesterday on the computer, it was 7.99. He says well I dont know what he showed you but we only sell kits. I say ok thats fine and turn to walk out and i look over my shoulder and he is looking at the customer that was behind me shaking his head rolling his eyes agiain like what a dumb arse!.

So I went home got online at the autozone web site got the P/N and called back and said tell the big head guy I just talked to that the tranny pan gasket only for a kia is P/N ******. I was pissed! Rant done.

[dmyers151]

Happened to me a couple weeks ago. I went into the local parts store on my way home from work for some stuff. Counter dude was on the phone when my turn came, so I stood quietly for a few minutes and waited. I eventually got sick of waiting and put my stuff back on the way out the door.

[Whiplash]

I've been on both ends of the phone. Customer, retail parts, wholesale parts, and now manafacturing tech rep. We get so many crazy calls that we started to write a book. One of the most oddest calls I got was a customer that was referred to me by the sales team. The guys calls me (very angry) and states that he ordered parts three times for his engine and they keep coming in wrong. Says our parts are boxed wrong.

 

So I ask. What engine do you have.

Him. Ford

Me. What size?

Him. Don't know.

Me. Why do you think it's a Ford?

Him. Because it's blue.

 

Well after doing research with casting numbers I found out it's a Continental engine.

[87conquest_TSi]

I had a guy call me and ask for parts. I tell him this is parts what can I help you find? He says he needs parts for somehting I have never heard of before. I ask him what he needs and if he can bring it in, I could probably match it up. He tells me he needs bearings. So I ask if there is a number on the bearings or a size.

He tells me " bearings, like the round type ones " .............