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The Parts Counter


gribly

Well-Known Member
U.S. Military - Veteran
Joined
May 1, 2010
Messages
1,195
City
Maine
Vehicle Year
2002
Transmission
Manual
So I have been to the parts counter at two different stored FOUR times today trying to fix the brakes on my mother's Subaru. She told me the brakes were really bad, I test drove the car late the other night and agreed, brake pedal was softer than the clutch. I assumed the calipers seized since I just replaced the pads last summer, so I bought new calipers, pads, and rotors for $430. Well, I removed a front wheel, and everything looked brand new. So I am really puzzled and walk around to the back of the car and look at the brakes, and discovered both rotors had disintegrated. They literally crumbled off the car. So I took all the crap I had bought back, and bought just the rear rotors since I had a set of pads for the rear already. Then I get it all apart, clean out the caliper and go to insert the pads, they were fronts. :mad: So I drive 45 minutes to the closest open parts store (previous store closed at 5pm) and get rear pads. Then I drive home, finish that side of the car, and take apart the other side. I had the pads in the caliper, grabbed the rotor to throw it on the car... ....and the bolt pattern was different. :temper: Now I gotta squeeze a quick run to her house in with all the other crap I gotta do tomorrow. I'm planning on rebuilding a 1986 Evinrude 9.9hp 2cyl outboard tomorrow to get the 26 foot Cape Dory sailboat in the water!! :icon_hornsup:

Clffs - Anyone else hate buying replacement parts at the parts counter?
 
ya when i rebuilt my 2.3L 1983 ranger i went in and ordered the gasket kit. All was well except for the intake manifold gasket......evidently they ordered a kit for a 93 instead of a 83 so the bolt patterns were different and i found that bad vacuum leak. Thanks alot napa....
 
i love how everychain say they have there expert parts people yet they pay them just over minimum wage. I also hate how there is one or two people there working there getting the phones and getting parts and it take 30 min just to get a thermostat.
 
i love how everychain say they have there expert parts people yet they pay them just over minimum wage. I also hate how there is one or two people there working there getting the phones and getting parts and it take 30 min just to get a thermostat.

I know what you mean, nothing like an employee from these stores that jump to the answer the phone before they will help the people who are there to actually spend money.. Autozone here is real bad about that, I can't go there, I get more pissed off by that place than at what I am working on.
 
Yep. I have this happen almost everytime I go to advance auto. I can't stand it. The small mom and pop place in town never screws up so they get most of my business (and rightfully so).
 
i hate impatient customers that come into my store and dont want to give me enough info about what they are working on. i constantly get the guys that say "i need spark plugs and wires for a small block" or "i need a trailer connector", and then when i ask them to elaborate and give me more info they get defensive and say " what do you mean, theyre all the same!" i do agree with you guys though, before i started working in a parts store i hated going to auto zoo or o'really auto parts because i knew i would be making more than just my one planned trip to the parts store because the employees were going to screw things up for me. i dont know what ill do when i stop working here, its awesome having free range in all the parts books that most people dont even know exist!
 
^ I hear you on the customers without enough info. Same problem where I work.
 
I usually go there with the part #s in hand, f- all of the other bullcrap lol.
 
Worked for autozone right out of highschool. They train employees to answer phone calls first. Phone calls are potential customers, people at the counter are already there to spend money.

That being said, I usually let the phone ring, or made someone else get it.

And don't get me started about the "packets" of grease.
 
Those people on the phone are customers too. And they can't see that you are busy.
 
The one guy at autozone here, thinks hes gods gift to car parts.... Well, hes a complete idiot! And he gets mad if i dont buy a bottle of fuel injector cleaner and acts like i dont know what im doing if i dont buy a bottle, or a pack of grease..... I have all that shit at home!!!!
 
that usually works out good, as long as the store youre going to uses the same numbering system as the one you have in your hand. i cannot cross duralast part numbers at my store, same goes for most gm ford and chrysler OE #s. the manufacturer's numbers are usually what we label and catalog our parts with, so sometimes the parts just need to be looked up. the big difference between the parts store i work at (Auto Value / Bumper to Bumper) and the other stores like Azone and o'reilleys is that everyone who works in my store comes from some sort of automotive back ground. one guy was an repair technician for 20 years before joining our store and is always doing side work which he picks up from walk in customers who are in over their heads, another guy in his mid 60s has been on the hod rod scene since the 60s and has built close to a dozen of his own custom cars, another guy went to UTI and worked on turbo cars (hes building a toyota supra with the 2jz) and heavy trucks while wrenching and studying there. i worked at an express lube and built 2 rangers before joining the crew here and i also do side jobs that i pick up from neighbors and walk ins. so i guess the point of all of that is to show that we all work on cars and we know exactly what is involved in changing every part we sell. we are certified parts professionals because we want to be, not because the company put a sign in the window that says we are. time to find some more parts to mod my ranger!
 
I never have a problem at the local parts plus. But they close at like 4pm, so i get stuck sometimes.
 
I have all three local parts stores and a local dealership on my speed dial here at work. Everybody but dealership will usually deliver them to me within half an hour.

All four places have people that I ask for that really know their crap and they all have people that are pretty much filler to tell me that the guy I want isn't in and when he will be back. Some stuff it doesn't really matter, like a case of brake cleaner... but bearings and seals are one of the true tests of a parts guy. Getting the right ones seem to baffle some guys, and when the farmer is beating on my counter wanting to get to the field right now I can't dink around for a week ordering in weird bearings to see if they can find the right ones.

It is amazing you can give two different people at the same computer the same number, one will tell you that it is not available or dink around ordering wrong parts and the other will have the right part in tomorrow if it isn't already in the bin. :icon_confused:

Kinda wierd if some places can't cross GM or Ford, the locals (Carquest, O'Reilly's and Napa) can usually cross John Deere and International Harvester with ease. (if you get the right guy)
 
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yeah, lots of people complain about our hours but were open 8-7 on week days, 8:30-6 on sat, and 10-4 on sundays. im here for 11 hours (minus 1 hr for lunch) mon thru friday, i doubt the pople who are complaining work an eleven hour day so they should be able to get their asses in here during business hours. dont even get me started on back door customers! if you go to walmart and theyre closed, do you go to the back door and let yourself in? NO! so why is it ok to do it at the parts store?......end rant.
 

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