Interesting! This store was inpedendantly owned, but part of several with the same owner. This guy I was dealing with that day I think was just mad at how he was treated by the customer ealier and then took it out on me.
Had a problem at a Tractor Supply one time. I bought an after market bed mat for a 92 GMC. The box was really in bad shape, and the metal screws and washers were missing, but the little plastic bag that held those items was still in the box, but ripped open and empty. Obviously it was a returned item that was re-stocked. After test fitting the mat and finding it didn't really cover all that well, I rolled it up and took it back to Tractor Supply. There was a line at the Customer Service counter that day and the guy manning it was very grouchy and ornery. The guy behind me was getting very angry with this guy's attitude and was telling me the Customer Service rep must not of seen the current flyer. I hadn't seen the flyer either, but I soon found out what it said. When my turn came the Customer Service man told me "no refund, its yours!" The guy behind me comes up beside me, picked up the flyer laying on the counter and says "This flyer says Satisfaction Guaranteed. He's not satisfied, so give him his money back!" The Customer Service guy then grabbed my receipt, the box with the bed mat, and then gave me my refund. I Thanked the man behind me, and he said "that how you do it kid"!

 

I avoid my NAPA. Every time I have been in there, they don't greet you and seem annoyed you are there. I've gone in a time or two after looking up part numbers. Before I give the part number, because I'm not 100% sure it will work for my application, I asked them about the part. The times I have done that, they said they didn't have something like that without even looking. I didn't bother going further with them.
Now my O'Reilly's in California (Missouri that is) are pretty good folk. I'm now living in Jefferson City, but I've had pretty good luck with O'Reilly and Auto Zone.

I work in IT, the root of IT work is providing service for people. It's ingrained in me to find a solution for people. It bugs me when people don't put the effort to help.
I have also noticed that fewer people have basic troubleshooting skills. I figure it's partially due to societies heavy reliance on automation and the throw away culture. If it breaks just buy a new one.

 

2 comments. First Napa. I walked in to get rear brakes for my 48 F3 with an unknown later rear end. I had the old parts with me and a guess that the rear end was late 60's to early 70's. The lady at the counter took about 15 minutes and found the parts I needed. The next time I came in for parts she told me she got in trouble for taking too long. I made it clear how impressed I was with her service and being able to find the parts with the little bit of information I gave her.
Second comment. When I go into O'Reilly's if 1 knowledgeable counter guy is not there the other ones will panic. They know I am looking for parts for one of my old projects. The one part I bought was used in fords from 48 until 1977.

 

Parts counter people are notoriously underpaid. Good ones seem to end up in other professions where they can earn a living wage. Have seen skilled parts people that I have dealt with for decades go away when dealerships get bought up by multi dealer groups.
I was working on my daughters Ford Escape and needed a pair of tools for removing and installing the non adjustable belt that car had on the power steering pump. I had checked the places I normally shopped and they did not have one so I took a chance and stopped at Auto Zone. The kit comes with two tools, one to stretch the belt over the pulley and one to remove it. I even had the KD part number. The counter guy looked at me like I had no business in a parts store and went back behind a partition to get the manager, telling him something to the effect of "you wont belive this" The manager came out and told me in a very condensending tone "sir if you look closely you will find a bolt to loosen that will back off the adjustment and you can change the belt then." I told him to remember this conversation and that stretch to fit belts were being used more frequently and that he would be asked again. Then I left. At the time I was the shop foreman for the local transit agency. We used a lot of parts. A couple of weeks later the Auto Zone comercial sales rep stopped by with his pitch about how they could handle our account. I told him of my experiance at the local Auto Zone store and told him we don't deal with amatures, and would stay with our current suppliers. I rather enjoyed doing that.
B

 

I had one fun experience at my local Advance. For Willard, my 49, I needed the two radiator hoses. I made up wire forms since the upper hose in particular was an unusual shape. I showed the young counter guy the wire forms and requested to go to the rack with the hanging hoses to find a best match. He was at the ready on his computer with the questions starting with make and model. I told him that would not help. He repeated I think 2 more times as did I. After the 3rd time I said it is for a 49 Ford truck with a stroked SBC and an early Dodge truck radiator, whatcha got. His response was "let me take you to the rack". I said good idea! The upper hose ended up being an early Cadillac Escalade.

 

Over 90% of our business was supplying local repair shops. I remember getting requested for the weird questions like "can you find an upper radiator hose that will fit this Suburban with an aftermarket supercharger?", yep walked down the hose wall and picked out options. Had I stayed at the auto parts store I calculate I would be making less than $30,000 per year today. I'm not sure how much business the store would have picked up if they had paid me enough to stay, but given the price driven auto repair business, I doubt it would have made economic sense. I make significantly more than 30K today in an unrelated industry. No regrets leaving.

 

I like Bumper to Bumper in my area.Also known as Crow Burlingame. They will go the whole 9 yards to help me out. If they don't have it they order it form the Little Rock warehouse and and I have it in the morning. I try to use them when ever I can. They have found all the stuff for my 55. That being said I have to go to lowes today and look for a shower door I dread that so we will see. As I have said before I think a lot of this poor service they have they blame it on Covid..

 

My most memorial customer experience happened when I bought my first car as a teenager. At the time the only place in the Milwaukee area you could register your car was the Wisconsin DMV in downtown Milwaukee. As with most state run agencies they were notorious for being slow and not very customer friendly. One of the counter people was an old fossil everyone seemed to have run into at one time. I got down to the DMV early in the morning knowing this was going to be a long drawn out process. The line was long and finally I get to be forth or fifth person in line and of course I get the fossil. The person in the front of the line was some guy and the fossil is just grumping at him as he's taking care of him. Then a little Hispanic lady who didn't speak English very well and the fossil gave her a hard time about not having her I's dotted and T's crossed properly and then sent to out of the line to correct her mistakes. Next up was a really nice looking twenty something red head, the fossil looked up from his counter displayed the biggest yellow tooth smile. The girl had questions about the form she was submitting and the fossil gave her all the help she needed. I was next and the excitement the fossil got from the red head lingered long enough that I was able to complete my transaction in a few minutes and was on my way.

 

You do realize the guy you are now calling a fossil was probably only 40 ? lol

 

No, he was easily in his 60s, late sixties. That was 40 years ago, probably still working their, hard to tell if DMV workers are alive or dead

 

Very good Bob!

 

Hey, Bob. Is this the guy?

DMV; The first real zombie apocalypse.

 

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