I'm all choked up.
- Thread starter Swampdog
- Start date
choppedtop
Well-Known Member
Know what you mean. I went into a parts store with a drum brake adjuster and ask for one like it. They didn't have a clue. One even said it wasn't a car part. Nuff said there. Left
Yeah we go through the same thing here. I went to local parts house a laid a one wire gm alternator on the counter and the guy said what year. I said pick a year. He said I can't help you if you don't tell me a year and I said 1923 and he was scratching his head and said computer doesn't go back that far. I would rather pay more money for better service than buy cheap parts and get cheap service. Just my two cents.
iroct
Member
I'm on the other side of the fence. Thehotroder comes in and says I need a waterpump for my small block chevy. I ask what year they say dosn't matter they are all the same. No they are not He says just give me a small block pump. Ok I give him a small block pump. 10 minutes later he is back in screaming at my boss that I gave him the wrong pump. Wouldn't line up with his pulleys. Seems that there not all the same. Take a little time to explain what you need you might make a friend for life. Was a counter man at A Z for a few years. Dwight
Mike
Well-Known Member
The bottom line is the cut-rate shops are having negative impact on the real hard-parts stores. The cut-rate places don't want to pay anyone anything, so they end up getting the employees they are paying for. Which is a real shame, because a good counter man is worth his weight in gold.
I can't blame anyone, because I am just as guilty as the rest, but when we start shopping for price, only price and nothing but price, that means we are going to be dealing with online businesses, or brick-and-mortar stores that are hiring part-time help with no product knowledge. Back in the mid-70's, we had three NAPA stores, two CarQuest stores, three AutoPro stores and 3 independent parts houses. Today, there is one NAPA store, one CarQuest store, one independent and you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a discount house. It is all about who you want to support with your dollars. I won't walk in the door of the discount houses, because I spent enough years in the business to know why they are selling for less. But for every person who thinks like me, there are hundreds that are looking for price. I had an old plaque that hung behind the counter, at the speed shop. It read, "We have no quarrel with those who sell for less, they know exactly what their product is worth."
People gripe, piss and moan about WalMart's business tactics, but every time I drive by a WalMart, the lot always looks like they are pulling people in. Because people like those low prices. Heck, even the discount places are struggling to survive. Places like Staples ran out the mom-n-pop business supply stores, here in town, but now Staples is singing the blues, as they prepare to close some 225 of their own stores.
If you want good customer service, then you are going to have to accept that will require paying a bit extra. If you want bargain basement prices, then you are going to get bargain-basement sales help.
I can't blame anyone, because I am just as guilty as the rest, but when we start shopping for price, only price and nothing but price, that means we are going to be dealing with online businesses, or brick-and-mortar stores that are hiring part-time help with no product knowledge. Back in the mid-70's, we had three NAPA stores, two CarQuest stores, three AutoPro stores and 3 independent parts houses. Today, there is one NAPA store, one CarQuest store, one independent and you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a discount house. It is all about who you want to support with your dollars. I won't walk in the door of the discount houses, because I spent enough years in the business to know why they are selling for less. But for every person who thinks like me, there are hundreds that are looking for price. I had an old plaque that hung behind the counter, at the speed shop. It read, "We have no quarrel with those who sell for less, they know exactly what their product is worth."
People gripe, piss and moan about WalMart's business tactics, but every time I drive by a WalMart, the lot always looks like they are pulling people in. Because people like those low prices. Heck, even the discount places are struggling to survive. Places like Staples ran out the mom-n-pop business supply stores, here in town, but now Staples is singing the blues, as they prepare to close some 225 of their own stores.
If you want good customer service, then you are going to have to accept that will require paying a bit extra. If you want bargain basement prices, then you are going to get bargain-basement sales help.
Francis Blake
Active Member
I buy all my parts at car quest, a little more money than auto zone but the guy there knows what I am talking about.
bigblk1177
Member
I worked at an Oreillys part time awhile back. One thing I told everybody I know was there are people working on autos that shouldn't be allowed to work on tricycles. I especially liked the guys who get drunk on Sat. and then decide to work on " The Old Lady's" car. Or the guys who don't know diddly about auto mechanics so they send their wife to the parts house or get her to call so they don't expose their stupid arses. I was thoroughly surprised at the number of parts in that store Made In China, of poor design and materials. So I think we as a country are starting to reap what we have sown. Sad times I'm just saying
We got spoiled back in the old days with all the small mom & pop stores. The guy behind the counter knew the part number for everything or knew exactly where it was in the store. We relied on them so we didn't have to do the research to learn. Those days are mostly gone. Now, like was mentioned, the stores are filled with kids that are there as a stepping stone to the next job. It's no longer a destination as a career.
Fortunately, we have the internet and can look up almost any part known to man. That's what I do. I look up the part, call the part number in to AZ to check stock, then go pick it up. I find it quite convenient. And they have a great return policy. Dealing with the Napa guy was a nightmare. If I needed to return a defective part, I was interrogated and practically accused of being a shyster.
The big stores aren't as personable as the small ones, but they do have parts, and that's what I go there for.
Fortunately, we have the internet and can look up almost any part known to man. That's what I do. I look up the part, call the part number in to AZ to check stock, then go pick it up. I find it quite convenient. And they have a great return policy. Dealing with the Napa guy was a nightmare. If I needed to return a defective part, I was interrogated and practically accused of being a shyster.
The big stores aren't as personable as the small ones, but they do have parts, and that's what I go there for.
iajjpop
Member
Where my son lives they have a N A P A store , the first time he went in there to get a oil filter , the guy asked all about his truck . Now he goes in to buy something , the guy says for your truck and goes and gets the part. Kind of like going into a bar and the bartender knows what you drink... Some people have it and some don't.. And never will..
cptn60
Member
Dad used to say "Cheap aint good and good aint cheap." I've been in parts for over 30 years both at a jobber store and at dealerships. Mike told the absolute truth in his post earlier. I would add there is no excuse for not knowing what you are doing. If you are gonna take that paycheck at the end of the week: EARN IT. If you don't know parts, learn em. I'm still learning after 33 freakin years. And that goes for both sides of the counter. Get a casting number or better yet bring it in if it's a modified vehicle.
TriodeLuvr
Member
I waste huge amounts of time and spend thousands of dollars every year buying - or attempting to buy - non-Chinese parts. It's became a major thorn in my side.
Jack
bigblk1177
Member
Good Luck with that!! Actually there are still a few parts left made in the US but not of the same quality as in years gone by. I figure from trying to compete with the world market. God I miss the Good Old Days even if they weren't really that "good"
Mike
Well-Known Member
I started working behind a parts counter in July 1973. And without it ending up sounding like the 'I had to walk back and forth to work, and it was 10 miles, uphill, each way,' story, you simply did not get a parts job if you did not have some pretty solid automotive experience.
I interviewed for a commercial sales position at the local O'Reilly, a couple years back. What an absolute joke. They wanted someone with the kind of experience I have, but they wanted to pay minimum wage for the position. Thanks, but no thanks. They were then willing to offer me a position at their counter, but I had to agree that if I were scheduled to work a given day and they could see they were not busy on that day, they could A) call me and tell me not to come into work, or B) send me home early. They want professional sales help, but they want to treat employees the same way the fast food chains treat their employees. Any wonder the average counterman in those places doesn't know spit from Shinola?
And let me just share that @cptn60 called it. For every dummy counterman story that gets told, a counterman with 30 days experience can tell a dozen dummy customer stories. I dealt with hundreds of people that had no business trying to even drive a car, let alone buy parts to work on one.
One of my favorites (and it would happen almost once a week), would be when someone would bring a bare block into the speed shop, wanting us to hot tank it. No other parts, just a block, but they would want a price on what it would cost to hot tank the block, then balance (?!?!) and blueprint it.
Of course, these would be the same people who would howl, when I would explain we were going to have to knock out the cam bearings and freeze plugs, to tank the block. And yes, I did have an old cam under the counter, that we had cut the rear 4 lobes from. When the numpties would walk in asking for a '3/4 cam', I would lay it up on the counter for them.And here's a phone conversation every counterman is painfully familiar with -
Counterman answers ringing phone, to hear woman's voice, asking, "How much are your (fill in the blank) _______?"
Counterman - "What did you need that for, Ma'am?"
Woman - "For our car." (Gee, imagine that!)
Counterman - "OK, what kind of car is that, Ma'am?"
Woman to husband - "What kind of car is it, dear?"
Husband to Woman, loud enough for counterman to hear on the phone - "It's a Pontiac."
Woman to counterman - "It's a Pontiac."
Counterman - "What year is it, Ma'am?"
Woman to husband - "What year is it?"
Husband to woman - "It's a 1992."
Woman to counterman - "It's a 1992."
Counterman - "What model is it?""
Woman to husband - "What model is it?"
Husband to woman - "It's a Firebird."
Woman to counterman - "It's a Firebird."
Counterman - "Ma'am, can you just put your husband on the telephone?"
Woman - "Oh, no, he's busy watching the game."
GRRRRRRRRRRRR...
How about the customers (yes, that was plural) who would have us build race engines, then call 3 or 4 months later to complain of a ticking noise. And when asked about the last time they had checked/set valve lash, they would ask, "Well, didn't you guys do that when you built the engine?"
I once sold a guy a mechanical oil pressure gauge. He was back, the next day, complaining they gauge wouldn't work, that I had sold him a junk gauge. He insisted I go to the parking lot to see how this gauge would not work. He started the motor and I had him shut it off. I pulled the dipstick and showed him it was bone-dry. Junk gauge, indeed!
A local guy was running an Alcohol Dragster with a Mopar B-motor (strange, but true). He had me order a new camshaft for the car. He was back, a couple days later, with a box full of broken and bent pushrods and some bent valves. I'm walking him through how he had installed the cam and I asked him if he had checked piston/valve clearance. He told me he had used strips of clay on the pistons and had not seen that first impression in the clay. When I asked how he had set valve lash for the test, he looked at me as if I had a third eye. He had simply bolted the heads on and had rolled the motor over a couple times, with no valvetrain on it. Any wonder there were no impressions in the clay?
I've seen instances where more than one individual had put a small journal 327 crank in a large journal block, because, "all 327 cranks are the same." Or people who put 427 balancers on a 454, because, "all big blocks are the same."
I always loved the customers who would go buy parts elsewhere, then come to me for help on how to install those parts, or how to make them work properly. Give the other guy your money and then expect me to provide tech assistance for free? Sure, hold on, I will be right back with you. Don't hang up, this may take me a moment or two, but trust me, I will be right back.
Trust me, the customer side of a parts counter sees its own share of losers. Any counterman, with any experience at all, could write a book on some of the silly things they have seen and heard.
jimbo01
Member
I had a similar experience @ Advanced Auto about a year ago. I was looking for lug nuts & nothing fancy. Asked the kid behind the counter for ten 1/2 x 20 lug nuts. He asked for the vehicle year. I too had to throw the 1923 at him and received the same response of "the computer doesn't go back that far". I pointed out that I gave him the size and the thread count but he didn't know how to use that information. Someone else behind the counter that's been in the parts business for several years pointed him to a bin in the back with such items. I've since moved on to O'Reilly Auto Parts. I found a couple of old farts working there that can see beyond a computer screen and willing to help a guy out. These were the same two that can help find radiator hoses using bent coat hangers.
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