Parts counter problems

[OldSkull]

Originally Posted by ambrola

Years ago I went to my local NAPA store to get a simple part. Was in the process of telling the parts counter guy what I needed and the phone rang. He picked it up, and left me just waiting. I swear I spent 10 minutes standing there. Finally, he finished the call and back to me. I just stood there with a red, pissed off look. I couldn't help it, I said why would you answer the phone when you have a customer with cash in hand just standing when you have no idea if the phone guy would ever buy anything? He began talking but I didn't hear a word he was saying I was so mad. Ever since that episode, I buy everything online. Not just mechanical parts, but things around the house.

Same here at my local NAPA! There is a CARQUEST not far from me who is own by his founder (Clermont auto parts) , some of the employees are still there today and one have been there for almost 50 years! (Raymond) He sell me parts for my first car! I have to admit I feel at home and welcome every time I get there and they always give me a better quote then NAPA.

Place like that still exist, let's hope they never close.

[john hall]

Originally Posted by DieselDoctor

It's too bad that the NAPA stores you both had problems with didn't educate (or care to) their countermen. NAPA has one of the most diverse product lines in the parts industry. In addition to auto parts, NAPA carries farm, lawn and garden, marine, heavy truck, industrial, construction, and on and on. If you would like to see their product line, go to their website and click on e-catalogs, you'll see the list. And yes you can look up an oil filter for a 2072 Cub Cadet by application in the Cub Cadet listings or the Kohler listing. Been there done that. Here's a link to the E-catalogs ---
https://www.napaecatalog.com/erack.p..._partnumber%3d

Same Napa last fall. I needed a master cylinder for my 1974 F-600 grain truck. Called them up, had trouble identifying what we needed over the phone. I said you got me a brake booster for this truck a few years back. He looked up my name and found it, back in 2011. OK, now he knew what we were working on but wanted to make sure he had it. Wanted to see if I could get any numbers off the old one. I described how it was made and a casting/id number on the side. Yep, got one in my hand, I'll put it on the counter for you. Now THAT is a real parts man. Makes working on stuff enjoyable when you get to deal with folks like that. I sure hope guys like that get paid what they are worth--probably does if the boss has a brain.

[dvogtvpe]

its like that pretty much everywhere these days. The shop I work in don't want to pay for decent people in parts so you get people that aren't very interested in looking things up. also stocking parts is a problem. at the shop I work if you want brakes , brake drums or anti freeze they buy that in bulk and get a deal but go ask for other parts and you get we don't have that in stock but can have it tomorrow if you would want to pay extra for shipping. its just a crock. as you can tell there's no love loss with parts dept at the ruck shop I work at

[gsomersjr]

It's a different market now. I started working for NAPA right out of the army. Bought a house raised a couple kids, took vacations, had good benefits. I had my own store by the time I was 27 and hired good people and paid them as much as I could afford. They also bought there own homes, raised a family, etc.
I was diagnosed with MS about 12 years ago but NAPA accommodated me better than they really should have until I finally retired on disability in 2011. NAPA HR was proactive years ago and made sure I had the proper short term and long term disability policies in place. I'm now on SSDI and my disability insurance through NAPA also pays me on a monthly basis. I didn't lose a dime of income thanks to this amazing company.
This type of employee commitment isn't free and I can't tell you the times a customer would tell me "Auto Zone" has this same brake rotor for $2.37 less than NAPA." Those lower prices have to come from somewhere and payroll and benefits is the first thing to get cut.
I can't speak for every NAPA but I'm proud of the guys I hired and the job they did, and still do. I believed in lots of training, both online and classroom. That's not cheap either. Unfortunately we're in a price-driven market now and I don't see that ever changing. So careful when you wish for lower prices. You just might get them.

[bugeye]

Within 4 miles is an Autozone, Advance Auto and a NAPA. The Autozone is new, less than a year. Nice clean store, but everything is list price and no end of year oil sales like I read about. The Advance has had many employee changes and I don't recognize anyone anymore. The Advance website does not match what is in stock. The NAPA store has been in the same location for decades. Mostly the same people. Always helpful, even the "new" guys in their 30's. Local Cub Cadet dealer parts guy has been there at least 25 years. I shop NAPA and CC or on line.

[green 4 acres]

You are the counter person at. Rock Auto.com
I start there first for car parts ,depending how bad I need it ,price difference,shipping

I cant stand the ones who are always right
( in their minds) or cannot remember what you said 2 seconds ago

[J-Mech]

Anytime I get a parts person (sometimes they are girls now) who is adamant they they can't get something, or don't know how to look it up, I educate them. Usually, I already know what I'm after, and either have the numbers, or already have looked it up and know they carry it and can either order it, or they have it in stock. My favorite is when I go to the store with that information, but ask them to look it up anyway. More than one time, I'd already looked up the part and knew they had it in stock..... Them: "We can't get that." Me: "Really? You sure?" Them: "Yes, I'm sure." Me: "Funny, I already looked it up and you have it in stock." Them: Blank stare... Then the education starts. It usually winds up with me making them look stupid, and informing them that they shouldn't tell people they can't get something unless they know for certain that they can't. Once the part comes out that they had.... they usually feel pretty stupid without me saying too much. Oh... I do have fun with stupid parts people.

My wife was with me once. She said I wasn't very nice. I told her that if the parts person can't look up and sell parts, especially when they stock them, that they shouldn't be allowed to work there. They deserve to get their feathers ruffled by an informed customer. I gave one new girl a really, really hard time the first time around. Next time I dealt with her, she asked right away if I already had the numbers. I did. Much easier to deal with the second time around. Actually,,, that girl has since become much better at her job.


BUT,,,,, on another subject. What irritates me even more than stupid parts people who can't look up parts, is that so many parts places (Advance, O'Reilly's, Autozone) ADVERTISE that they will diagnose your cars issues and sell you the parts you need!! These young kids have NO DEGREE in auto mechanics, can BARELY play parts people and the unwitting general public goes to the store thinking they are getting real help!!!! How on earth can they diagnose an issue with a very involved computer controlled engine, when they don't even know what it is that an oxygen sensor does, let alone what other issue can cause the computer to say the oxygen sensor isn't working???? OOOOOOHHHHHHH that pisses me off. I was in a store one day and a guy came in and wanted his check engine light diagnosed. I turned to the guy and said, "You came to the wrong place!!" Guy: "What?" Me: "Yeah, you came to a parts store. These guys are parts salesmen, not mechanics. You need to go to a mechanic shop, not a parts store!!" I said it really loud too. And I've listened in on these conversations with customers and these wannabe parts people playing mechanic. It's entertaining to say the least. Outside of laughing at the advice out loud, I try to stay out of it. I don't have time to play mechanic for free in the parts store. It was this kind of stuff that made owning a shop harder and harder. The very stores that sold me my parts, worked against me trying to be the shop. REALLY pisses me off.

[J-Mech]

Originally Posted by gsomersjr

It's a different market now. I started working for NAPA right out of the army. Bought a house raised a couple kids, took vacations, had good benefits. I had my own store by the time I was 27 and hired good people and paid them as much as I could afford. They also bought there own homes, raised a family, etc.
I was diagnosed with MS about 12 years ago but NAPA accommodated me better than they really should have until I finally retired on disability in 2011. NAPA HR was proactive years ago and made sure I had the proper short term and long term disability policies in place. I'm now on SSDI and my disability insurance through NAPA also pays me on a monthly basis. I didn't lose a dime of income thanks to this amazing company.
This type of employee commitment isn't free and I can't tell you the times a customer would tell me "Auto Zone" has this same brake rotor for $2.37 less than NAPA." Those lower prices have to come from somewhere and payroll and benefits is the first thing to get cut.
I can't speak for every NAPA but I'm proud of the guys I hired and the job they did, and still do. I believed in lots of training, both online and classroom. That's not cheap either. Unfortunately we're in a price-driven market now and I don't see that ever changing. So careful when you wish for lower prices. You just might get them.

You know, as a shop owner, the cost of parts was just marked up and passed along.... so price wasn't top of my concern. I didn't want my customers thinking they were getting shafted on parts, and as you can imagine, they did check prices. Usually at the cheapest places (Autozone, and online) and would complain. I usually stopped that dead in it's tracks. I told them this was a shop, and there were just certain things that were not negotiable. I bought the parts, and I got to choose what I installed as I was the one warrantying the work. If they wanted to buy their own parts, then they would have to diagnose the problem and fix it themselves, or I would be happy next time to just diagnose it.... for a fee.

Back to where I was headed with this... So, the issue I have with Napa isn't the service... as most of the Napa store I could deal with had impeccable parts people..... it was the price. I had two Napa stores in my "area". They were both owned by the same guy. One was literally 1 block from my shop. I seldom ever bought anything from them. They would not deliver, as they said I could just walk over in less time, whereas my other guys would deliver..... from the next town over (about 18 miles away). Second issue was, their prices were so far out of line it wasn't funny. Example: I needed a gallon a G-05 antifreeze one day. Walked up to Napa. They charged me $34 for a gallon. I knew I was paying more for it than I should, but paid it and left. Out of pure curiosity and frustration, called O'Reilly's. My price there, DELIVERED, $18. HALF!!! That's a lot of money for a gallon of antifreeze!!! It was the same thing for other parts. They were most always 30-50% higher for the same quality part. I could buy from O'Reilly's, mark it up and resell it for less than I would have PAID for it at Napa. That's ridiculous. Now... it may have just been my local store owner..... but good grief. Just no reason for those kind for prices! He only had 3 or 4 employees between the two stores. Other parts stores employ around 8 per store. Pretty sure it isn't overhead that drives those prices.

[gsomersjr]

Originally Posted by J-Mech

You know, as a shop owner, the cost of parts was just marked up and passed along.... so price wasn't top of my concern. I didn't want my customers thinking they were getting shafted on parts, and as you can imagine, they did check prices. Usually at the cheapest places (Autozone, and online) and would complain. I usually stopped that dead in it's tracks. I told them this was a shop, and there were just certain things that were not negotiable. I bought the parts, and I got to choose what I installed as I was the one warrantying the work. If they wanted to buy their own parts, then they would have to diagnose the problem and fix it themselves, or I would be happy next time to just diagnose it.... for a fee.

Back to where I was headed with this... So, the issue I have with Napa isn't the service... as most of the Napa store I could deal with had impeccable parts people..... it was the price. I had two Napa stores in my "area". They were both owned by the same guy. One was literally 1 block from my shop. I seldom ever bought anything from them. They would not deliver, as they said I could just walk over in less time, whereas my other guys would deliver..... from the next town over (about 18 miles away). Second issue was, their prices were so far out of line it wasn't funny. Example: I needed a gallon a G-05 antifreeze one day. Walked up to Napa. They charged me $34 for a gallon. I knew I was paying more for it than I should, but paid it and left. Out of pure curiosity and frustration, called O'Reilly's. My price there, DELIVERED, $18. HALF!!! That's a lot of money for a gallon of antifreeze!!! It was the same thing for other parts. They were most always 30-50% higher for the same quality part. I could buy from O'Reilly's, mark it up and resell it for less than I would have PAID for it at Napa. That's ridiculous. Now... it may have just been my local store owner..... but good grief. Just no reason for those kind for prices! He only had 3 or 4 employees between the two stores. Other parts stores employ around 8 per store. Pretty sure it isn't overhead that drives those prices.

My guess is that the NAPA store owner was cutting you no slack and charging you full retail price. If you really do treat parts people like you said you do in the previous post I would charge you full price too. Luckily I had some of the best people in the world as customers and none of them ever treated us like that. Sometimes your price is a direct reflection of your attitude. My guess is they don't want your business.

[J-Mech]

Originally Posted by gsomersjr

My guess is that the NAPA store owner was cutting you no slack and charging you full retail price. If you really do treat parts people like you said you do in the previous post I would charge you full price too. Luckily I had some of the best people in the world as customers and none of them ever treated us like that. Sometimes your price is a direct reflection of your attitude. My guess is they don't want your business.

Well Gary, I'm glad you think you know what's going on. Never had to tread the Napa people sh!tty because they were good at what they did. I did business with them long before I owned a shop.... and before they owned it. So, I doubt that was the case. Thanks for your attempt at an answer though.