Technical Northern auto parts

You guys use them? I've used them for a long damn time, every engine I've built for 20 years or so. I've been helping my buddy/boss redo his Corvette for the past few months, we've got the chassis back on its wheels, decided to assemble the LT1 that's fresh from Jamie's machine shop, so if course i recommend he order everything from Northern as i always do. Opened the box last big and stuck the main bearings in the block, sat the crank in and it won't fit. Hmm... pulled the crank back out, scratched our heads, and looked at the box for the main bearings, .010, was supposed to be standard. Looked at the rod bearings, .010 again. Laughed as we looked at the rings which were supposed to be .060, they're standard! No big deal right? Looked up his order and showed where he specified standard bearings and .060 rings. So he called them this afternoon, they said he fucked up when he ordered it, even though the order plainly shows that they are to blame. So they told him that he has to order the correct parts and pay for them, then return the wrong shit. Yeah, I know, so what huh? Well they fucked up, and since they wouldn't own up to it, I'm done with them.

 

I bought a lot of re-ring kits from them over the years and never had an issue but they may have a different breed of cat working there now.

 

And I divorced my wife of 23 years after she burnt the popcorn last night and blamed it on the cat.....

 

Yeah I've never had an issue either, just pissed that they wouldn't admit they fucked up. I'm still a speedway customer even though most people on the hamb hate them, they've never screwed anything up for me lol.

 

I agree with you 100%. I've been at this a long time (too long) and nothing is worse than a company refusing to accept returns when they made the mistake. Right up there with restocking fees and not paying for return postage. It's strictly bad business practice. When this happens, like you I'm done with them.

Companies like Summit, Jeg's, Speedway all clearly state their policies and honor returns if the mistake was theirs. Now if I buy stuff from Speedway I know what I am ordering could be junk, but that's on me too.

If the policy is stated up front that's one thing. But shipping the wrong stuff is all on them. If I ordered the wrong stuff it's on me. Simple.

While I'm bellyaching another thing I despise is RMA's. Just a dodge for companies to discourage returns. Buy a fuel pump, hook it up, it doesn't work. Why do I need an authorization to send it back? Honor your warranty dammit. I never buy Wilwood stuff because they have no warranty, I believe it's illegal in many states, but they say it up front. So buyer beware.

 

Yeah big Mike looked at me and said "I knew not to listen to you! I should've ordered it from summit!" Lmao!

 

Bye.

 

I think I would send Northern Auto Parts a copy of this thread and tell them you are advertising for them, but would be happy to tell everyone that they finally stepped up and did the right thing, if they step up and do the right thing.

Advertising their business practices to 400,000 hot rodders around the World should have some impact on how they do business. Advertising for a company that has screwed up has always been a pretty powerful tool to get things corrected for me.

 

Is it slander if it’s true?

 

This doesn’t seem right. “Look at my order, see what it says”?

“yes, but we didn’t make a mistake”.

Mercy.

I’d be asking for someone in charge to get to the bottom of it, use up enough of their man hours to cover the shipping back if that’s the end result.

It’s the little things in life that please me

 

Oh I'm slandering lol. I stuck my neck out for them, have multiple times, always recommend them for rebuild kits. Mike paid them for the correct parts, they are on the way, and they're sending a return label for the wrong stuff, so, in that sense the world is in harmony again, but when he told me that the guy that answered the phone said that he placed the order wrong, even though Mike had the online receipt in front of him and showed that wasn't the case, I got ill. Just a delay on putting this engine together because Mike messed up, now we know that standard means .010 over on bearings I guess. I'm sure you guys would've been pissed and came on here to rant about it too like all the Hoffman- speedway- rodders journal rants I've read.

 

I'd call back tomorrow, hopefully getting another person, and just tell them you're trying to clarify what went wrong with the order. Maybe the person today screwed up during the phone call, and then won't man up and admit a mistake.


Wrote this while you sent your note.

 

I’ve come to expect everything wrong.

 

I have ordered from them from the other end of the planet, no problems. Maybe call them and ask to speak to "the Manager". Could be you just got the work experience kid .

 

I’m with you Brother ! My Dad always told me “ stand tall for the little man “ ! They should of owned up to the mistake and sent you , the correct parts ASAP ! I have witnessed bad things happen , because of being an ass like they have been to you .

One thing that lights my wick fast , is treating my like common white trash . I worked on multi million dollar mechanical machines , I value down time and my time have to wait on corrections to be made . I always ordered the best parts and tools as I could get . If I didn’t have enough time to fix it right the first time , how in the hell can I make time to fix it again ?

 

When you purchase a product, part of what you pay for is customer service. If they don't give proper service, it may reflect on future customer purchases.

 

Hey Lloyd,
When you say “Mike paid for the correct parts…”. He didn’t have to pay again and wait for the refund on the returned parts I hope?

 

Loyds, At least you caught the mistake. Someone somewhere would have "Made" those parts work in the engine and had a huge failure upon start up.

 

"There are none so blind, as those that will NOT see"
"There are none so deaf, as those that will NOT hear"

Through out my life, I have learned that the old saying,
"One voter, has the power to influence and sway 10 voters"

That is a very true statement !

You have a rare opportunity there @Lloyd's paint & glass to shake up the owners and management of Northern Auto Parts,
by printing off this thread, and it's responses, and making sure a copy of it is delivered to whom ever the person at the top is!

Simply by this thread, being posted here, is a very powerful form of " Publishing and publication "
One thing companies hate is bad press especially when it's factually true!

I say go for it Lloyd, send a copy of this to the owner or chairman of the board of Northern Auto Parts! I bet you get some type of response, hopefully a response that reflects that Northern Auto Parts made a mistake !

 

That's exactly how it went.

 

Mike text me last night and said he just realized they didn't ship his oil pump shaft either, but the $13 charge was on the receipt. I told him he should call today and ask to speak to the head mother fucker in charge. He said fuck em. Cheap education. I'm done with them, he said that he'll never deal with them. Drop in the bucket, I know. But I thought that you guys deserved to know how they handled this customer relation.

 

This is terrible, they used to be my go to for engine kits just like you mentioned. When happened to you guys would be forgivable IF they stepped up and admitted THEIR mistake. But, since they took the chicken shit way out, piss on them. Some idiot in packing and shipping wasn’t paying attention to your order and put the wrong parts in your box. Instead of punishing their employee for the mistake, they punished you, the paying customer. Their loss, thank you Lloyd for letting us know about this. If this happened at Summit, not only would they happily send the correct parts, they would have send you a hat. There are too many places that sell parts to put up with this.

 

Better check JEG''s policy. They state you pay for returns no matter what. I ordered to tires, one had deformed bead. I had to pay return shipping but did get my money back after much complaining. I will not order from them again although thru the years I have used them with no problems. If I order wrong or change my mind, I pay return shipping. If you goof up you send me a return label. I am not taking the chance on getting a damaged or wrong parts.

 

Sounds like they hired Flaming River customer service person

 

This thread really makes me appreciate Joe's Antique Auto and Shoe Box Central, among others.

 

I’ve never bought anything from them, I find their search engine to be one of the worst in the business. The above is the result of a simple search for “350 Chevy Scat crankshaft”.
Scat would be surprised, 6,670 results. Really?

 

Lloyd, I have all the respect in the world for you, but since you are the one who brought this up and Mike is the one with the problem, either one or both of you should make Northern Tool aware that their reputation and customer base are at stake here. What @41 GMC K-18 said is the proper way to approach this. One or two unsatisfied customers aren't going to bother them, but if Northern Auto Parts (not Northern Tool, my bad) is made aware of a group's interest in how the company reacts to a problem such as this, especially a group with a membership such as this one, they have to take notice. If they decide to ignore the problem, let the outcome be on them.

 

Forward thread to their email.

 

The owner of Northern was on the HAMB years ago.