Funniest lines from the parts counter

And of course, the GMC has lock washers

Many of these posts prove why, when I have to go to one of the "box" chain stores, I first find the part I need on their website, with a picture and part number, print it out, and just take it to the counter- works every time

 

Some stores it works at and others it doesn't but I did learn a key phrase for you guys to tell em when they start asking all the questions - "custom application" but does it have 4 doors? "custom application"- power vent windows? "I know the computer wants to ask the questions but I need valve cover gaskets for a 327 chev in a _____" oh that's a custom application..

 

never assume that the part numbers YOU have pulled up from whatever source are what OUR store operating system uses... even IF they're something you bought from us a year ago. we change vendors sometimes several times a year (wonderful, right?) and part numbers CHANGE.
as far as printing it out from a website, make sure that the store you're going to has it in stock, not has to be special ordered. it's been said a thousand times if it's been said ONCE; come INTO the store with an attitude, and it will get returned in kind.
for every guy that bitches about a nine-dollar pair of valve cover gaskets, i have ten commercial customers buying twelve hundred dollars worth of brake job or suspension work. money talks and bullshit walks, and our counter guys have a quota to meet that rests on the commercial accounts FAR more than walk ins. if you can't stand talking to the parts guy, use the fucking internet.

 

probally need to check google for vw radiators they got'em!!!!!!!

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This is a good idea, only if it worked. I go on their web site, find the part and number and call to verify they have the part. I don't ask them to hold it for me because I have a few of McParts stores near me and like to shop around. When I settle on which place I am going to they always ask me the numerous question even though I have the part numbers.

That's a good piece of advice. I don't have much faith it's going to work with Hunter, Lance or Conner behind the counter but it'll work. I will say this about my local McParts stores, it seems like the younger guys, althought less experienced, are usually a lot easier to deal with the know-it-all old fart behind the counter. One guy at the local Advance store I go to I avoid like the plague. He always knows exactly what part I need, even though he's usually wrong, and parts I can't use even though I've bought the same parts from the store before. Most times it seems the older guy doesn't have a clue about what he is selling and really doen't seem to care.

Please list the store you work at so HAMBers in the area know to avoid it. I can only imagine your customer service skills behind the counter.

Also, if a manager of a store, of any kind, has a problem with an employee or a customer, keep it in the back room behind closed door and keep you voice down. Nothing makes a manager look more like a total ass than to hear him yelling and bitching at a employee in the open. I've seen the manager of the Advance store do this quite a few times. Just a heads up for you manager types.

 

One of our good auto parts stores here was bought out by Bumper to Bumper many years ago. I tried to continue doing business with them but they gave answering the phone more priority than the guy standing at the counter with cash in hand. I asked them about that and they told me they made $400,000 a year with the businesses that were calling in. (and I was a nothing walk in customer) They were nice about it and I understand so I havent walked in and wasted their time for many years.

 

I live in a small town and my local parts guy has been the owner for 25 years. He is a wealth of knowledge and knows part numbers off his head like you would not believe. He is a walking computer. Besides everybody that has a charge account, he knows the number as well. Way cool guy and some of the stuff he can dig up from the back of the warehouse is flat out amazing. Guess im lucky

 

Speaking of attitude
Might want to work on your reading comprehension skills there, Ace, try again-
"Many of these posts prove why, when I have to go to one of the "box" chain stores, I first find the part I need on their website, with a picture and part number, print it out, and just take it to the counter- works every time

In the first place, if you're doing big commercial stuff, you're probably not working at a "box chain store". We are lucky to have a good, old school auto, truck & tractor shop in town, third generation, and the present owner (grandson) was stocking shelves on summer vacation when I started going in there in '73 (probably long before you were born), and I helped him with his first hot rod. His dad still comes in and keeps the stock in order, and once in a while he'll stop and talk about something like the 6-12 volt converter he found for me for that ex-military '44 K-11 5-ton truck tractor with a 450 in it, in '75... About every six months there's a new know-it-all new hire behind the counter with an attitude, and they get a fairly quick education into customer service between the old-timers behind and in front of the counter- sounds like you haven't been to school long enough yet.
And no, you're not a rocket scientist, most folks can find the tabs on a box-store site to find and check availability at their local store- and it's usually on the printout. I don't go in and spout a part number, I hand them the printout from their site, with their part number, a picture of the part, and it usually shows if their store has it in stock
To paraphrase a little, if you can't stand talking to the paying customers, go play on the fucking internet

 

They are SUPPOSED to do a price override and sell them for at least a dollar if they are "expired" or on clearance. I got a bunch of 9 dollar toy cars this way for a dollar a piece.

The 10.53 thing idk.

This thread is great. Reminds me of one of my managers. He went to Wyotech (whoopdeedoo) and I seriously don't think he has ever diagnosed a car by himself. Whether it's his truck or a customers vehicle, he will without a doubt ask me what could be wrong with it because he has no idea where to start.

I now understand the phrase "Surrounded by morons". I can't wait to quit.

 

Customer: I need P&A on a radiator for a Dodge Ram.

me: what year?

Customer: 98 or 99. maybe a 2000.

me: do you have the last 8 of the VIN?

Customer: no, let me go get it. (hear them set the phone down, hear them walking away, a shop door slams...............3 minutes later.......door slams, walking back to the phone) ok, I'm back now. the VIN is XXXXXXXX.

me: sorry but I really needed the VIN. did you have to go out into the shop to get it off the truck?

Customer: no, I had to go to the bathroom...........

 

so what you're saying is that if there's an idiot born every minute ASKING for a radiator for a bug, then there's an idiot to SELL them one?

all this does is keep the balance in the universe.........

 

Walked into Autozone years ago put an altrnator on the counter went through all the what year?what engine? what trans? what color?What phase of the moon crap as soon as I saw him walking back down Isle one look at box I knew it was wrong.He opened the box I said no an alternator not a starter. His response,alot of times people change things and put the wrong part in and I would probably have to go to dealer to get the right brackets to install it because it was a lot different than the one I removed.

 

Ooohhhh, this is going to be good...

HAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

 

That doesn't suprise me, these are the same morons who sold my friend an alternator with the holes wallowed out by billy bob somewhere, when I took it back, they tried to tell me the huge oversized bolt holes, would just make it eaisier to install. I did take it by oreilies first so they could get a laugh at the trash they sell

 

OOOO lawwwdd!! Here is the reason hot rodders stay pissed off at parts guys!! Cause there pricks!! Dude, even if the part number changes you can cross it over in about 2 seconds! I was a parts guy for a while before i wised up and found another source of income. The one thing parts guys are lacking is PERSONALITY....o and basic mechanical knowledge!! When i say i need Ac Delco R45TS plugs and you say...."Does it have air?".....that means you sir are a idiot!!

 

To be fair, I started out with a bang (not a parts guy, but service advisor), got letters all the time from customers and atta boys etc. But after a while you have to work very hard to maintain that, where at first it is very easy. People wear you down. I know its no excuse for poor customer service, but damn, some days are great and everyone loves you, and somedays you just want to be done with it all....

 

the recurring theme is, walk in with a shit attitude and you will get one in return. walk in and be somewhat respectful of the low-paid people you're hacking on, you might get better results.

 

i know how that is....Saturday i spent 40 minutes with a customer for a taillight bulb. had to figure out what tools he needed and borrowed them to him. i violated my own rule that if i have to go outside and look at their car's problem it's 2 minutes or i don't do it. after "we" figured out the old bulb was not burnt out but it was a poor connection he wanted to return it. a bulb that had been out of the $4 package and installed , he didn't even want to keep it in the glove box for a spare

not even a thank you

 

I hope you told him "no return on electrical parts."

 

went to Auto Zone for a trans gasket for a turbo 350. I got the "whatsthe make model year? two wheel or four wheel drive".....than she asks "automatic or standard".....

 

I start with a easy I.Q. question like.... Do you have any "Fallopian tubing"?

The move on the the next thing that I really need...

 

My usual parts girl has that but she wont part with it.

She also drives a 69 Cougar... and could be considered one herself!

 

I needed a rebuilt Rochester 2-bbl carb for a 307 Chevy I was working on, as the carb on the car was absolutely trashed and wasn't worth the effort to bring it back from the dead. The girl behind the counter was quite the looker, but wasn't exactly familiar with basic parts...maybe her daddy was the manager, I don't know...I had the carb in hand and had all the info for her. After providing it to her, she hadn't noticed I had the junk carb with me, and she asks "what's a carb?" with the straightest of looks. I pointed to the carb, and she says "Oh, a carbruetor, I gotcha!" I guess she just didn't hear me right. It was funny! She turned out to be one of the better parts counter people I'd dealt with over the years.

 

Went into a local parts place that is out of business, a long time ago with one of those funky emission vacuum fittings from an air cleaner,,,,,

First thing out of the owners mouth, nope ain't got one.........what is it

boooooob

 

Buddy of mine that I work with told a story about a counterguy he knew "back in the day". Had a customer come up to the counter, needed a steel wheel. When asked what size, he said, "it's for a Ford!! get me any one you've got they're all the same.."
Said counterguy goes upstairs, and lugs down a wheel for an F700..(this dealer serviced medium trucks too, so they had stock)..anyway, the customer does a doubletake andd exclaims that the wheel is too big, won't fit his mustangII, wtf does that fit? Conterguy says "it's from a Ford F700, you said any one would fit!!"

BWAAAHAHAHAHA!!!

Had a lady a few years ago bring back a turn signal lens, said it "didn't fit, must be the wrong one" I pulled it out of the box, you could see where it had been installed and there were still freaking dead bugs on it!! I told her I couldnt take it back as it was used. What she had done was bolt the lens on as best she could to the crumpled fender of her wrecked Taurus so she could get it passed state inspection, then she took it off for her "refund". Anyway, she stood by her story, my manager came up behind me and calmly instructed me to give her money back, as I was writing the ticket up, he took the old part and chunked it in the trash. When the customer asked why he did that he calmly explained to her that we don't sell used parts, and please don't come back again.

 

You guys should know that parts stores now have things called computers, and a computer program won't let you look up a part until you fill in ALL the blanks. So when the parts guy asks if you have air, auto trans, etc that is the computer's fault.

So don't hassle the poor guy for something he can't control. Just give him an answer and he will look up the part. Save both of you some time and aggravation.

 

I disagree. I've been to parts stores where the guys know their shit and all I have to do is tell that I need a so-and-so for a SBC for example and they do their thing and get me my part.

 

Bert Williams rules, really good guys there


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I had an issue at the till in November, I had to buy an O2 sensor, so I got it from the parts counter and brought it to the till and I got rang up for 2, I pointed it out and the girl insisted I had 2... even though she was holding the box in her hand.

I actually had to go to the manger to fix it and even he could not convince her that one box with one part in it was not 2 parts.

 

You would be surprised how many people call or come into the dealerships and have no clue what year the car they are driving is. And when they insist that they (A) don't have the VIN, (B) insist that the car in question is say a 02, (C) turns out to be a 01 because they bought it in 02, (D) it's my fault because the got the wrong part, and the best (E) insist that I "eat" the difference in the price of the parts because they are a valued customer even though it was their fault.

That is why on every invoice I input the VIN given, if no VIN given the invoice has the year make and model on it with the notation "VIN not available, of if the customer supplies the part number, "Customer supplied P/N".

And they will still argue..........