5 day refund policy at local NAPA

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I bought some organic brakes pads for my Camry at a local NAPA store. A week latter I realized I should be using semi metallic pads so I got some at Autozone and today brought the organic pads back to NAPA and they refused to take them back as they have a 5 day return policy, and a 25% restocking fee. This is absurd and I will never go back.
 
Had this problem,my father took back a set of Carquest brake pads which were cheap ones that did not last.The rep from Carquest was there and this was his question: What did you do wrong?My father was ticked off and handed them to the owner.The rep was fired after this happened and thought it was installer error.
 
The brake compound on the pad is "organic". This is a loose term, but generally "organic" pads have much less heat resistance, and a shorter life than other pad compounds. Old school mechanics like them because they think they are easy on brake rotors, and don't make any noise.

Originally Posted By: Donald
I bought some organic brakes pads for my Camry at a local NAPA store. A week latter I realized I should be using semi metallic pads so I got some at Autozone and today brought the organic pads back to NAPA and they refused to take them back as they have a 5 day return policy, and a 25% restocking fee. This is absurd and I will never go back.


You did say a "week" later. A week is 7 days, two longer than the 5 day return policy.

That said, Autozone has a 30 day return policy with the reciept and there is no restocking fee. Without the receipt, its store credit. If the part has warranty information, you don't need the receipt.
Also, Autozones warranty covers the actual pad wear...so once they wear down (before they are to the backing steel), bring them in for a new set. I never understood how they made money this way, but customers loved the warranty. That said, I remember many heated moments when the pads were at the backing plate and the warranty was voided....read the fine print people.
 
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Just a thought, but if when you returned the organic pads you got the semi-metallic pads from them instead of AZ they might have been more "cooperative" on refunding even though their policy states otherwise. Also, were the returned pads used? That might affect their policy.

Whimsey
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
I bought some organic brakes pads for my Camry at a local NAPA store. A week latter I realized I should be using semi metallic pads so I got some at Autozone and today brought the organic pads back to NAPA and they refused to take them back as they have a 5 day return policy, and a 25% restocking fee. This is absurd and I will never go back.


The pads were unused, still in the box and they STILL refused to exchange them? That would be absurd on their part. Man I hope you didn't remove them for the car just because they were non-metallic. I'd just assume ride them out if that was the case.

Joel
 
I bought some brake pads at Orielly's before I needed them, then figured out they were the wrong size. They sat around in our shed for maybe 6-8 years. Then we moved. I was going to throw them away, but I noticed they had a sticker that said they had a core charge....

I didn't feel right asking for a refund, but figured I might as well get the core charge back. So I walked into the Orielly's by our new house, and asked if there was a time limit on turning brake pads in for the core charge. The guy looked at me funny and said they haven't had a core charge on brake pads in years. He looked at them and said "uhhh these look new". So I told him what happened... He looked up when I bought them in the computer and gave me a full refund.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
I bought some organic brakes pads for my Camry at a local NAPA store. A week latter I realized I should be using semi metallic pads so I got some at Autozone and today brought the organic pads back to NAPA and they refused to take them back as they have a 5 day return policy, and a 25% restocking fee. This is absurd and I will never go back.


Got to draw the line somewhere. If they had a 10 day policy and you brought them in on day 11, you would still complain. Your fault, not theirs.
 
Restocking fee? That`s the most asenine thing I`ve ever heard. Guess it`s really hard for the employee to put them back on the shelf in the stockroom.
 
Napa`s prices are a joke too. They`re proud of their stuff,huh!
 
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Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Napa`s prices are a fu**ing joke too. They`re proud of their stuff,huh!


I know, they want $18 for Zerex G-05 coolant here. I can buy Mercedes Benz coolant for $18 at a local auto performance parts store.
 
Not the nicest of return policies, that much I agree with. Being mad they won't take them back outside of their policy is your problem. You chose to buy them there, and I highly doubt they hid their return policy from you. Vote with your feet...

I will say this sometimes helps to have a consistent relationship with a parts place. The regular help at the Napa I regularly use knows I stop in on a fairly regular basis - and they have bent the return policy for me once when I asked nicely and told them I wasn't expecting anything. The response was we value regular customers like you - don't hesitate to ask.

The other comment I'll throw out there is not to lump one Napa in with another - even more so that an AZ or Oreilly's, your local branch may or may not be a good one - all depends on the staff. Locally, pricing at Napa is all over the board - depending on which one you use. As an example, I see G-05 priced at $18 above - the last jug I bought at mine was 10.00 +tax. YMMV...
 
I've only been to two Napas before and my experiences were positive. Got G-05 for $11 and Peak Global Lifetime for $11. They both listed for $14 and $13 retail respectively.

It also helps to do research and get the right part in the first place.
 
Originally Posted By: CentralNY1
Pardon my ignorance but what exactly is an organic brake pad?


An organic brake pad is one step down from semi metallic. I assume all brake pads say 20 years ago were organic.
 
Originally Posted By: Whimsey
Just a thought, but if when you returned the organic pads you got the semi-metallic pads from them instead of AZ they might have been more "cooperative" on refunding even though their policy states otherwise. Also, were the returned pads used? That might affect their policy.

Whimsey



The brake pads were not used. They had never been out of the box. NAPA did not carry semi metallic, only organic or ceramic (much more expensive).
 
Originally Posted By: CentralNY1
Pardon my ignorance but what exactly is an organic brake pad?

They're the ones with carbon in 'em, as opposed to all those silicon brake pads out there.
LOL.gif
 
I went into Advance with a stretched out snowblower belt, they couldn't read the numbers so they gave me a size small and a size big, saying try them both and return the wrong one.

I brought back the wrong one with touches of grease and pulley grime, slipped back in the cardboard sleeve. They gave me my money back and tossed the belt in the trash as being "shelf worn".

Liberal return policy? You betcha!

NAPA used to have a shop online feature I could use for a price check. Most local dealers were inline with the online price but one sheister was 5-10% more. I avoided him when possible. NAPA redid their website not long ago making it harder to get real pricing info... talk about having a bass-ackward implementation of brick & mortar and the Web...
 
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