@S****in’Metal I have a long time friend who worked for one of the big chains. His job was to read through complaints/suggestions from the stores and customers and verify the parts applications. Each month, he would check the part, confirm (a LOT of the time) the issue was an issue and correct it in the store's lookup along with notifying the vendor. Each month, this database was updated with the latest from the vendors. He would have to flag the same thing again, and was not allowed to have a backup overwrite of the past month's corrections. He started drinking more. Rock Auto is the best layout for digging into parts IMHO. They don't ask for details beyond YMM and engine until it affects the part.
I worked for NAPA a few years ago, in their local DC.. I don't really think that this is a bad thing. They are great for finding parts for old stuff like what we all own on this forum, I remember being able to find suspension parts on the shelves there for my jailbar. but an alternator for my at the time girlfriend's 89 Honda Prelude? that was impossible. the website they have also ****s and its very difficult to find specific parts for later model cars. Can't really say I am shocked they're talking about selling.
Facts. Their website always did ****. Once in a while a big page with real spec would happen but I never knew how to get there. Parts roulette. My shocks for the 39 was the last lookup, found a pages with top n bottom mounting styles as well as length extended and bottomed out. Haven't found it since, was gonna share it with a pal.
Ya their Napa website ****s..i have a Napa a block away so i phone and they are very good at searching out what im after..usually with success but always call back with results whether ye or ne.
Needed 2 each 1 3/4 exhaust clamps, so I looked at the Advance website, (closest store is13 miles from my place), and according to them, they were "out of stock" on almost every exhaust component they listed. Looked at the website using a different store, same thing, "out of stock". Called the first store and talked to a guy who's been there several years. While I was on the phone, he walked over and confirmed that they did have those clamps in stock. Drove into town the next morning and bought the two clamps I needed. Got home and called Advance corporate and asked them what was happening with the website. Lady said that couldn't be right, so I pulled up the website on both stores and read off the first two pages. Yeah, some of those listed are a different size, but 48 items overall, all out of stock. C'mon, really? She said it was probably a regional problem. How can that be if it's a national website? She said they'd get back to me. Right!
@alanp561 I hate to break it to you, but the people that answer the phones have incredibly little to do with how the company is run and their input is filtered so much before it reaches anyone in power it could probably be labeled Distilled. If the place is your local go-to, ask when the regional manager is in. They have to turn numbers to get their bonus. They have slightly more pull up the ladder. If possible, explain that you want to buy things and you save them time and effort by looking non stock, non current parts up yourself. Explain how having nothing in stock makes you go to the compe***or and puts you off their store. Regionals prefer not to deal with the general public, just 'motivate' the staff below them. If you are reasonable and explain how this is an issue to the bottom line and bad business, it will be heard and shared.
After working in Corporate for 50 years, I can tell you any SUCCESSFUL company that the chain of command ( local employees , to store managers, to region managers, all the way up to the CEO “ wants” to know the voice on the street and has no issues meeting with the public. My entire career was built on people, client relationships, from the janitor to the CEO, small mom +pops to multi billion dollar Fortune 500 behemoth’s. Yep I was a starched shirt that got my hands dirty, what ever it took to take care of the client. Feed back is crucial for all successful businesses to operate. The success of those companies are the people who work for it. What’s changed to industry/ darn near all industries, ( Automotive, Industrial, Electrical, Retail or Wholesale) is the consumer has the power in their right pointing finger to educate themselves on what, where, and how much $. You made the comment that Regional’s don’t like to deal with the public. That’s a Regional that is interfering with the over-all companies success. Ask any customer out there who they do business with and why, and darn near every one will say because they were listened to, treated with respect, they cared about me. And no matter what, you ALWAYS, ALWAYS thank the customer for their business. That’s the missing link in so many businesses today. Business of how to treat people ( the customer the moment of contact) and fellow ***ociates correctly in any business. And the customer ….. thank you for your business. It costs nothing to be kind to people. I would require it, made expectations very clear from the beginning to ***ociates to be successful.
I switched from NAPA to O'Reillys about 6 years ago when local NAPA changed hands. The only complaint I have if a part comes overnight from the New Mexico warehouse, no charge. If the part comes from the Denver WH, I have to pay a freight charge.
You could demand it all you want but if you treat your front line workers like most corporations do as expendable minions you ain't going to get it. The thing corporations, especially those in retail have lost the most is the respect for their employees at the cost of making as much money as humanly possible in the name of shareholders. "Successful" companies are based solely on dollars a cents by CEO's these days. Retail especially has become a race to the bottom as to who can run things with the fewest people possible in the name of profits and then people expect those few (usually understaffed)people dealing with customers getting paid peanuts to be cheery and helpful.
@corncobcoupe While I fully agree that is the way it should work, consider how many corps have the automated rat maze phone system. How many times have you heard "Your call is important to us" and snorted in disgust while the bad musak loops again? How about Call Volume is Higher Than Normal at all times you call? That is the decision to understaff customer service. There is a great deal of panic over the website going down, but if it's showing what @alanp561 shared, which is as bad, it's not an emergency. When I'm in the supermarket, there are more employees picking orders than there are staffing the registers. One thing I have seen that shows auto parts stores have listened is they have placed helping the customer in front of them over answering the phones. I used to have to wait, holding purchases I wanted cash in hand while the counter person took 2-3 phone calls.
I'll never order from Rockauto again. Some years back I was installing e brake parts in the Pontiac rear axle in my '37 Austin and needed various small parts that had been removed. The parts came to a whopping $17 which I thought was very reasonable. Then I discovered Rockauto doesn't have any parts, they're simply a middle man! The parts shipped from three different sources, and each one added a $7-$8 shipping fee! The shipping cost me more than the damn parts. That was the last time I ever ordered from Rockauto!
In fairness to them they do tell you where they are shipping from when you are ordering and you can usually pick parts that all ship from the same warehouse although they may not be the same brand but it does add an additional pain to the ordering process trying to make sure it all comes from the same place.
I am never surprised by shipping costs from Rockauto, when I fill in the order the total with shipping is clearly displayed, along with several shipping options, each clearly priced. Rockauto is a Godsend to us in the Great White North, who used to regularly pay high shipping costs, surprise brokerage fees and having to pay yet more duties and customs and make a special trip to a customs house or post office to pick up an order. I made an order a few months ago and compared the shipping cost to a pickup point in the US just south of me, and found it was slightly cheaper to send direct to me in Canada!
Only way to fly, part number in hand. Went in local green store other day. Gave counter person part manufacturer and part number I needed. He asked what vehicle it was for. I told him it didn’t matter, just need the part.
I support buying local if you can. I'm lucky in that I have two fully-stocked, franchised but locally owned parts stores in my town of around 2000 souls: NAPA and Carquest. I give them as much business as I can. They're knowledgeable people and realize where their bread is ****ered. The local NAPA store is now under the ownership of a 30-something guy, but he's been around the parts business ever since he was a kid. He even kept the big rack of printed catalogs that's been there for years. So I'm really hoping a merger/buyout between O'Reilly and NAPA won't affect my local store much. Even if it does I have confidence they'll manage to overcome it. And we old dogs will survive!
Everyone who has made comments in this thread has valid points. When it's all boiled down, it's how much profit can be made for the investors and to hell with service. It's the same with any business, and as much as I wish that all businesses still operated in the manner that @corncobcoupe described, in most cases it just isn't so. @anthony myrick says he can walk into his local parts house or houses with part numbers and get what he wants, and I don't doubt it a bit, but how long has he been dealing with those stores and people. I've been in the Cleveland, TN area for 10 years. There are now 10 chain store parts houses and one independent, and in all of them, most of the counter people would be equally effective if they were working in fast food joints. I'm not saying this out of spite, I'm saying it because I'm tired of looking at useless websites, then having to call to find out if the individual stores actually have the product and then being told that they can order it for me. As much as I would like to establish a relationship with the people behind the counter, it's hard to do when I can order something online and usually get it faster and cheaper than the locals can supply me.
Actually, the two are very much connected. If you don’t give good service, people will go elsewhere and you won’t make a repeatable profit.
In all the years of my long career, one of the best questions I asked so I would know Customer’s frame of mind….. Put in order of 1,2,3 the following. Price Quality Service Quality Service Price Service Price Quality Etc. Etc. Etc. What is the most important to you ? Put in 1,2,3 order. You would be surprised on the answers I received.
remember, when listed, if web site says a part is in stock check where it is in stock. local, or China. this week shopping online for radiator cap. want 16 lb, not 13lb shown for my car. on Ebay found US sold cap with lots of info. Price cheaper than most could find. almost bought but, instead searched part # listed found same cap, same company, on Amazon 1/2 eBay price. then noticied company is in Turkey. not US made part.
They are kind of not connected anymore because there are so few options that are not all owned by the same company these days. That's their MO buy up all the compe***ion then start making cuts. When all the large corporations are doing the same thing there is no where better for customers to go and the majority of people will 100% sacrifice customer service for cheaper prices. Walmart is a perfect example of that. They didn't build an empire on great customer service they did it by going into small areas who only had small mom and pop stores and undercut their prices.
Recent example of what I think is wrong in today’s business mindset. Needed a power steering cooler for my DD. Called around to local parts stores, but nobody had it and said it was a dealer only item. So, Google it, and come across a website with car company name. Looks legit. Price is around $290. So, call up local dealer to order the part. They quote $379. I’m like it’s listed for $290 on this website. Then claims he’s never heard of the website, but then lowers price to $299 (one time only offer). I order it and pick it a couple days later. I then later confirm the website was a legit corporate site. That there says it all.
I don’t have to build a relationship with my method. I do have that on the commercial side with Autozone but I rarely have an issue with a new hire elsewhere. I find the stores part number online then call. For newer rides, I take a pic of the vin. Hand that to the counter person. I needed a bearing a few months ago, took my old one and showed the new counter person how to use the part number on the bearing and how to use their dial caliper to confirm measurements from their site. the customers at***ude is usually mirrored by the employee.
I guess I try to build a relationship in order to get a good-guy price. This used to work a lot better than it does now.
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