I am wondering if anyone else has had any problems ordering Rock Auto radiators? I received the following shipment damaged; if you shake the radiator it sounds like a couple bolts in a coffee can. Also the top radiator hose fitting is pushed in about 1/8 of an inch and is angled at 10-30 degrees. Several fins are torn completely, the tubes are damaged (they have been dented so badly that they have holes). This box was poorly shipped, the whole point in the long metal straps in the front and rear of the main core is to protect the tubes and fins in shipment (you are supposed to put cardboard and/or styrafoam to protect them). They were not covered, the styrafoam end cap protectors were broken in several pieces and the hose attachments are not protected. I am pretty unsatisfied with their response and lack of consistency. The first guy I called last night after immediately opening the box and inspecting the contents said "send us pictures, we don't want it back, we will ship you another radiator as soon as we see the pictures", which were sent 5 minutes after calling them initially. I called them back this morning, after getting zero headway last night with them, and the first girl states that it doesn't look that bad and procedes to tell me that they won't ship out another until they receive it back there, inspect it, and then make a decision whether or not to ship another. I am patient when it comes to customer service, I have had to work in Warranty for along time and know how lousy of a job it is, but I could hardly get a word in with this girl talking, she kept interrupting me, and after asking to be connected with a manager because of the inconsistancies she refused. I get a hold of the manager states that as soon as the ticket is scanned they can send the order to the other facility to ship, but says that the place where they send the radiators (in Iowa) may or maynot listen to the request to have it marked as fragile or even provide additional packing on the fins and probably won't ship it today anyway. I have heard good things about this company, but WTF, so now I have to wait another 3-4 days for this thing to arrive, possibly as bad as the first one. They do not understand by using FedEX and not labeling something as fragile it is free game to put anywhere under anything in the truck, even under heavy objects. I worked there for a time after graduating college and know how poorly everything is handled by their minimum wage workers. Here are some pictures:
Take a breath! If they said they were sending another radiator, give them a break and let them send one. I have had nothing but great service from Rock Auto. Was this a dealer closeout? It could explain why the box was damaged. I recently bought some brake pads from them that were a close out and came missing the hardware. They told me to keep the pads and sent another set. The second set were also missing hardware. They told me to keep that set and gave me a full refund including shipping. What more can you ask for?
The box is a red flag to me, I know how much you want to pull it out for a peek but I've refused shipments that are torn up like that, and they, not Rock Auto, but other vendors have always shipped another one out. The neck loks like it was damaged from very poor packing! good luck with your next one.
Heard this story before , I like to walk in to a parts store and talk and show them in person. They take care of it and I have a new part then or the next day.
I am calm, I just expect to get the same service and products as everyone else, which as you stated is "great". I would also expect that their employees are correctly trained on their policies so they do not give wrong information out as well as allow me to speak when I call. Also, it shouldn't be too much to ask to be connected to a manager when I ask because of inconsistencies, while being told they refuse to connect me... It seems like you didn't have to go through the trouble of sending your parts back, do you think that has to do with the parts you ordered? Does anyone know if they have a minimum dollar amount that doesn't require items to be sent back? It is out of my way to get to a FedEX location and this vehicle is my daily and I need to use it this weekend to do yard work and stuff like that. The reason why I am a little bent about sending it back is because I now have to hitch a ride to FedEx because they do not allow for it to be picked up from my house, which is like 5-10 miles away... too far to walk. To answer your other question, this is not a dealer closeout item.
I do too, I unfortunately have to do their job for them and use their computer system in order to look up a part because they are poorly trained and also do not have any automotive skills. The local shops said they could have one in one week (last week) making today the day I would have received it. I will probably have to start denying them as well because of this, the neck is very damaged and some of the welding/soldering appears to be cracked.
yes , that's a good reason to buy from a local store... you can bring it back into them and deal with it in person
If you can do rock autos job of looking it up why not go to NAPA, Oreilly sites and look it up have it delivered to your local store or just go pick it up if they stock it. No more work than your doing by ordering and waiting days to get something you haven't seen.
Because it is $60 cheaper for the same product and its readily available, lessoned learned though. All autopart stores were at least 2 weeks before they could have something. I will just go local next time
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