Biggest dummies you've encountered at a auto parts store

[Sand_Man]

Just in case you think dealers are any better at all, here's my latest go-around with the local GM parts counter: My Suburban got a pin-hole leak in the upper radiator hose fitting. For those that don't know GM engineers decided that it took too long to shove a rubber hose on a brassfitting at the assembly line, so they came up with a multi-piece quick-connect fitting so the $30/hr assembly-line workers could do it 1/10second faster per unit, thus saving GM (how'd that work out?) Anyways, they used paper-thin aluminum for the crimp-on fitting and over the course of 100,000 miles, it got a leak, likely from some of the same manintenance-free GM coolant (the red stuff) that ate away the intake gasket 20,000 miles earlier. No big deal, I just went to the Chevy dealer and ordered a new one. A weel later, I call to check on my part, and he tels me that GM had discontinued it. "Excuse me?" I reply. "They don't make it anymore" he says again. Now I know that a '97 Suburban isn't exactly new, but with the huge number of '89-'98 GM trucks on the road, all of which use that heater hose, you'd think that even GM might see the value of supplying parts that WILL go out. So I ask, "where else do I get it?" "I really don't know" he says. So I say, " so you're telling me that if this thing were in your service department, you'd just scrap it?" "No" he says, after some thought. " Then how do you guys fix it, after all it's a common problem from what I've read" I ask. With that, he just shrugged his shoulders and walked off to the next customer. So I went home, took out the fitting, went to the local Auto parts haven and bought a brass fitting the same size (1/2 NPT) and a chunk of heater hose ($8 total) and fixed it my way. I know it sounds snobby, but I realy don't like to do that. I like to use the same parts the car came new with, and this bothered me, but it was fixed and that's what counted. Fats forward six full months and the phone rings. It;s the same parts guy, and he tells me , "hey your hose and fitting came in." I couldn't help but laugh. "Are you serous? That was last winter!" "yeah well, the total is $76, you can pick it up anytime" I laugh again and tell him, "well now you have a spare for the next guy, I needed that in December and I fixed it myself" There's a pause, then he says, "so you don't want it then? Ok, I'll take care of it" So when GM went tits up last year, I wasn't exactly shocked. Nor was I surprised to learn that one of the delerships they'd be closing was that some one. Customer service evidently IS important...

[ericsmith32]

Originally Posted by Rusty_S

Well I saw Orielly had lots of these harness connectors but no photos. I went in and they said they didnt have one. I said well I looked online and seen alot of them but no photos thats why I came in. He proceeded to say that they dont carry that. I said well why does it list it on your website then. He said "how many times do you go to the store and they have what is online in the store" I said "all the time" and he cut me off mid sentence to do a smug jokenly laugh like im joking as i proceeded to say "I even do it here I go online get the part number of what I need and tell you clowns this is what I need and even then you clowns still **** it up and bring me the wrong part and try to pass it off as being the same when its not". At this time I asked again "but tell me why list it on your website if you dont carry it. I mean that is false advertisement right there". I asked 4 to 5 more times without a answer from him before he got all pissy and walked off. I got pissed off at this time and told him off as well as the manager who was standing there as well (hes the one that got the wrong carb for me 4 times as well as telling me a Accumulator and a receiver-drier are the same thing).

Same thing happened to me. The part number they had on the internet they couldn't find in theirs. What a load of.. you'd think it would of been the same system.

[Rusty_S]

Originally Posted by ericsmith32

Same thing happened to me. The part number they had on the internet they couldn't find in theirs. What a load of.. you'd think it would of been the same system.

Thats the thing though the part numbers online are the same on their computer. Its just that the people they hire are plain idiots. Given this guy is like in his 50 same as the manager but neither one of them knew a thing. The manager was the one as I stated told me that an accumulator and receiver drier are the same thing. Even though the truck has a receiver drier on the fender apron.

Either way I just dont get it, I do it at all part houses but now I strictly go to advance they seem to know more than the other places. I go online look up the part I need and go in with the part number and say I need this part and they come out with the part none of this "year/make/model" bs they show it to me and see if its right i look it over say its right and they ring it up.

[93 mix 'n match]

the only complaint i have about my local AZ is that every single person that works there is a member of a local honda car club. so the parking lot is fileed with hondas all the time.

the other day i went in looking for a valve cover gasket for my truck. im stuck waiting in line behind 2 hondafags talking up the hondachick behind the counter. finally after 10 mins, she asks me if she can help me. we go through the 20 questions, then one of the kids standing next to me goes there. ever went there? well he just did.

he says "ha! fixin a ford! what else is new!"

i...lost it. i flipped out on him. thank god there were no kids in that store.

but i got my part, and he walked away with his tail inbetween his legs.

[Rusty_S]

Originally Posted by 93 mix 'n match

the only complaint i have about my local AZ is that every single person that works there is a member of a local honda car club. so the parking lot is fileed with hondas all the time.

the other day i went in looking for a valve cover gasket for my truck. im stuck waiting in line behind 2 hondafags talking up the hondachick behind the counter. finally after 10 mins, she asks me if she can help me. we go through the 20 questions, then one of the kids standing next to me goes there. ever went there? well he just did.

he says "ha! fixin a ford! what else is new!"

i...lost it. i flipped out on him. thank god there were no kids in that store.

but i got my part, and he walked away with his tail inbetween his legs.

For some reasion those honda idiots dont say **** to me. Maybe because the part I am getting for my car I am driving to the store to get the part. I asked for brake rotors. I drove the car there. Oil pressure sending unit. I drove the car there. Valve cover gaskets. I drove the car there. Like wise half those honda idiots there tried racing me in the past and ive walked all over them with my stock 351w. Personally I think its stupid. Hondas are nice and ok if your looking for fuel economy and for driving from point A to B in the city. So is the smart car. But if you want performance or luxury or room you dont get a honda.

[mercman86]

Heres a good one:

Had a guy come in our parts dept and asked me for a voltage regulator for a 1959 merc outboard. He had his serial number and part number so it was a no brainer. I said that the part is no longer produced but i would look in the attic to see if i still had one. Believe it or not, we did. I got it out and he said he would take it. So i rang him up and he asked "how much would you guys charge to install this?" I said that it was fairly straight forward and we would only charge one hour at $85. Then it got funny. He says: "85 bucks, thats robbery!! I know that its easy, i just dont have time to do it, How does 40 bucks sound?" I was holding back laughter but i still wanted to be professional so i told him that it sounds like you're gonna do it yourself because its $85 no matter what! I told him to try and find someone else cheaper, let alone someone who is willing to work on a 50 year old obsolete engine!

[wolfsmurf]

once i had a guy come in and buy one of those epoxy putty sticks in a plastic tube, i wont type the brand but most parts stores have this brand in a display on the counter. anywho he left, came back the next day and bought another one, next day same thing. finally i got to ask him "hey man, what you makin? cuz with all that epoxy you buying you aint fixin crap". he said to me " ive put 4 dammed tubes of this stuff in my radiator and it is still leaking.".

[ReadOrDie_WoW]

Heres one for you, but technically it wasn't an auto parts store. A couple of years ago I was driving from WI to OK and while going through missouri I hit a snag with my 84' ford F-150, it would drive a little ways and then shut off and wouldn't start for a good while, I finally got fed up with this and called a tow truck, who brought it to a popular ford dealership. After two days I got tired of waiting and called a taxi to take me to the dealership. The young man who was working on my truck would tool with a few things, stop, talk to his manager for a minute and then would go back to the truck, after an hour of this (Bigfoot was at the dealership that day so I was entertaining myself) I got pretty irritated. So I go to ask the kid what he was doing and he replys "Well like you said I am fixing everything wrong that I can find, its finally running again." and so I ask him why he was still messing with it and he says "Cause I haven't done anything except tighten the fuel filter" I stared at him for a moment, anger starting to build. "And why haven't you done anything with my truck thats been here for two days?" to which he replys "Cause I don't have anywhere to plug my computer into and can't find out whats wrong with it."...

Needless to say I was leaving there shortly afterwards, not twenty miles down the road she quits again, and I sit there with no phone service for an hour intil someone finally takes me to napa, where I bought every fuel filter and solenoid they had and a spare battery, this got me to OK where I parked the truck at a shadetrees shop who flushed the fuel system and redid some wiring in less then a day. I was 19 at the time and have pretty much learned to do all the work on that truck myself, except that damned vacuum system :P

[1OldFordMan]

Just finished reading this whole thing. I used to work the parts counter in a lawn mower shop & you'd see this all the time. Lawn mowers are different from cars because one company builds the mower & another company builds the engine ( except hodna ) People come in all the time " I need an air filter. " " Okay, waht engine do you have/ " They tell you what mower it's on. Sometimes the company that made the mower gives you a parts breakdown of the engine, sometimes not. So you tell them, " That's the kind of mower. What engine is on it? " They seem to think you're an idiot because you don't know what air filter they want. Or the other way around, everybody knows Briggs & Stratton, so they come in & say " I need a belt for my mower. " " Okay, what's the model # of the mower? " " It's a Briggs & Stratton. " " Okay, that's what kind of engine you have. What kind of mower is it? " " I already told you, it's a Briggs & Stratton. " The model # & serial # make a big difference, they will sometimes have a part change & you need it to know which one they need. " They're all the same " is one you hear all the time. Or it's the ( fill in your own color here ) one. Then they get upset when you show them the different choices. Guess they're not all the same, are they? Like they say, " You can't fix stupid. "

[ReadOrDie_WoW]

actually, the blame here would go towards the vendors in my opionion, its not the customers fault that they bought a mower from a store that couldn't identify what they sold... sometimes your just to busy to bother checking every little detail about something that you bought from someone else, after all -they- should know what they sold you, yes? The same applys to parts stores, you don't know how many times I've been frustrated because a store wasn't able to bring up what I needed, even though I give them my make, model, year and engine size. Bottom line is, the stores need to get thier **** together, at least in a since to know what they sold or are trying to sell... sometimes just putting a young kid behind a computer isn't enough

[Grems4ever]

Ever wish that the kid would just let you use the computer?

I had a kid fart around for 15 minutes before clicking what I told him to click the first time.

[ReadOrDie_WoW]

lol, yea more than once :P

[ford12508]

Went to the local AZ with my friend a few weeks ago and we had called ahead to see if they had a thermostat and gasket in stock for a 1992 Acura Integra. They said they had one, he says to get it out and that he was on his way, so I drive him over in the expedition, we get inside, he tells the guy he just called and wants to pick up a thermo and gasket for his car. The guy makes him go through the whole "Make/Model/Year" crap again, fine whatever.

Clerk - "OK we can order your gasket now".
My friend - "Uh you said you had both in stock on the phone".
Clerk - "Both what?"
Friend - "The thermostat and gasket"
Clerk - "Oh I thought you wanted a gasket for the thermostat"
Friend - "I want both"
Clerk - "We can order both now then"
Friend - "So you dont have either in stock like you said?"
Clerk - "You never mentioned a thermostat, so how would I have it in stock?"

Needless to say, we left, went to a local store our friend works at and had everything in under 5 minutes and got the employee discount.

[fishforlife2007]

i always like calling up to autozone while at the shop and asking them to order me some pistons for a mazda rx-7(rotary engine) and seein how long that they look for it. i even had one guy tell me he couldnt find them in the system, but made me a promise that he could get them. at that point i just hung up. what a riot...

[fellro86]

I have calls like that every so often. Glad people have nothing better to do than to call us for nothing... Maybe some of the other stores aren't that busy, but we are. So who is more intelligent, the person who hasn't had proper training to know better, or the ones calling to harass them, knowing that they may not have any idea?