Auto Parts Store Rant

[84dragcutlass]

I love when the guys dont want to look for a part for you so they just tell you to take it off. I went to the local Oreillys and there was this punk kid in there that i always seem to get. i wanted a smog pump belt, for my all original 76,000 mile Salon, well he didnt have any answers and obviously didnt want to look so he just says " just rip all that stuff off, thats what i done on my elcamino, dont need that junk anyway" so i tell him either look for the belt or ill go something else and when Indiana moves to testing emissions good luck with his elcamino. I went in there a couple weeks later for a ac compressor and he actually looked that up after 5 minutes of getting it through his head that it was a 307 and not a 6 cylinder. But said it would be cheaper if i just took all that ac stuff out of my car and just rolled my windows down... amazing logic considering its been 104 lately

 

[bill]

I love when the guys dont want to look for a part for you so they just tell you to take it off. I went to the local Oreillys and there was this punk kid in there that i always seem to get. i wanted a smog pump belt, for my all original 76,000 mile Salon, well he didnt have any answers and obviously didnt want to look so he just says " just rip all that stuff off, thats what i done on my elcamino, dont need that junk anyway" so i tell him either look for the belt or ill go something else and when Indiana moves to testing emissions good luck with his elcamino. I went in there a couple weeks later for a ac compressor and he actually looked that up after 5 minutes of getting it through his head that it was a 307 and not a 6 cylinder. But said it would be cheaper if i just took all that ac stuff out of my car and just rolled my windows down... amazing logic considering its been 104 lately

In cases like this, where you have an older car like ours and a newbie looking up the part, go to a parts store that has an older fella working, who has probably seen, worked on, or even owned a car similar to ours. If ya cant find an older guy, ask for a "Parts Pro" or a Commercial Sales Manager...they can usually find what ya need in a matter of minutes...and they usually wont try to convince ya to take it off and throw it away....

 

[bill]

It is so hard to find decent help for my counter positions because of the pay and the hours. It is $8/hour, 6 days a week and less than 30 hours per week.

That is true. I would work for that, then again I'm just a teenager with 1 bill a month. What do auto parts stores do to put you through training?

Training in Corporate Auto Parts Big Box stores is basically a "trial by fire" process. They dont train for several reasons...costs too much and they dont have qualified people to train people. The computer is the trainer...and at most, the newbie will get a quick walk through on how to find a part or cross reference the part number...and thats about it. Properly trained/qualified parts people usually work at Napa or Carquest.....or at least they used to.

 

[RITTER]

In cases like this, where you have an older car like ours and a newbie looking up the part, go to a parts store that has an older fella working, who has probably seen, worked on, or even owned a car similar to ours. If ya cant find an older guy, ask for a "Parts Pro" or a Commercial Sales Manager...they can usually find what ya need in a matter of minutes...and they usually wont try to convince ya to take it off and throw it away....

I am a 27 year old store manager and I will tell nobody "NO"

If NAPA doesn't offer it, I will find it and get it. My employees know this as well. I work for a jobber NAPA so I am not limited to just what NAPA offers. I have a company credit card and I will get parts from anybody. I will tell people that I am getting it from an outside source and they can get it for the same price that I have to buy it for (and obviously I have to mark it up) but most of the time they just want me to do it, so they don't have to mess around with an online order.

With dealership items, I get a discount on the part from the dealer and sell it to the customer for the same cost they would pay if they went to the dealership and got it themselves.

I will admit, I don't know everything, but nobody in the parts industry knows it all. It is an every day learing process.

 

[kornball426]

:lol: We don't buy stuff from other people unless it's for a good customer aka 10 grand or more a month sales, there's no money to be made doing that most of the time unless it's just a good will thing. And 99% of the time shops don't want to wait for it anyway and they just call another place and see if they can get it there instead. Cash customers aren't worth the effort most of the time with all the damn returns because of their incredible retardedness buying the wrong part for their car because they're too cheap to have a shop do it, when they clearly have no business working on cars. Like 80% or more of our cash customers don't even know what kind of car they own and expect you to figure out their problems like I have some kind of car parts crystal ball. And then there's the never ending questions about the most RIDICULOUS things "Will this sun shade fit my car?" hmmm I don't know maybe you should look at the back and see if your model is on the list. "Well can I take it out of the sealed package and go try it?" yeah sure, go right ahead, knock yourself out. Hey, while you're at it why don't you check if it's also effective as a helmet as I can see you're so stupid you should probably be wearing one for your own safety. People like that always happen to be in the store with all their asinine problems during the most busy time of day when I've got 4 or 5 cranky old fart farmers, township workers, barely English speaking construction people, and other extremely impatient people who then take it out on me for having to wait. And then there's 3 or 4 lines of shops on hold blinking away who are now pissed because they had to wait, with just two people on the counter and our manager screaming at or about drivers because they're waiting around for more tickets to take, or one of them is AWOL taking an unscheduled break. UGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
So anyway, people like that who throw a wrench in the works and ruin my day, I just tell them I can't get stuff just out of spite and to hopefully get them the hell out of the store. Unless it's an expensive item so it's worth the effort for the store and I jack up the price near list and if they don't like it they can take a long walk off a short pier. But if someone wants to buy a part for a couple hundred bucks it's no where near as irritating if they ask a ton of questions... As it is when it's someone asks a million questions about wiper blades, light bulbs, car wax, fuel injector cleaner, spark plugs, sun shades, motor oil, etc.

I gotta get out of this job... It's driving me crazy. I can't wait for this weekend.

 

[CHRIS.O]

If the counterman says he cannot get it ask to see the books if they still have them. I had regular customers that would simply ask for the book so they could find the part number if we were super busy. Not a problem for us. Go ahead and find the part number yourself and let me know what you need. Kinda nice actually haha. But ya sometimes you gotta do the counter persons job for them. Sucks I know but tis the world of untrained and uneducated parts jockeys.

 

[79malibu350]

i wanted a smog pump belt, for my all original 76,000 mile Salon, well he didnt have any answers and obviously didnt want to look so he just says " just rip all that stuff off, thats what i done on my elcamino, dont need that junk anyway" so i tell him either look for the belt or ill go something else and when Indiana moves to testing emissions good luck with his elcamino.

As a guy that turned driving age in one of the four counties right around the time the four counties in Indiana that used to do emissions testing abandoned it, I sincerely hope you are wrong sir and it never becomes statewide. Of course by the time it does get reinstated, the Malibu will probably be old enough to be excluded.

 

[bill]

If the counterman says he cannot get it ask to see the books if they still have them. I had regular customers that would simply ask for the book so they could find the part number if we were super busy. Not a problem for us. Go ahead and find the part number yourself and let me know what you need. Kinda nice actually haha. But ya sometimes you gotta do the counter persons job for them. Sucks I know but tis the world of untrained and uneducated parts jockeys.

You forgot the "poorly paid" part.....

 

[CHRIS.O]

Bill,

Is there any customer service job where people aren't poorly paid?

 

[bill]

Bill,

Is there any customer service job where people aren't poorly paid?

Not that I know of..... so there ya go....which explains why customer service stinks these days for the most part.