Advance Auto Parts, store of last resort

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I needed a power steering drive belt for my 2001 ES300 so I called an Advance Auto Parts because it is the closest. The store was out of the belt for my car but offered to get one by this afternoon, provided I come in and prepay for the belt. They would not take payment over the phone. Two trips for one part makes little sense to me so I went a bit further and bought elsewhere. Advance is not very customer friendly.
 
That's not great service at all. I have called our Part-Source store here and ordered stuff over the phone similar to your situation. They always order it in without prepayment over the phone or in store prior to the order coming in. They can always stock it in the store or send it back to the depot with other returns, so I don't know why they would be giving you such a hard time.

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I would send an e-mail or letter to corporate and explain the problem and that you went elsewhere. Also include a copy of your receipt so they know you're not B.S.-ing.

Working for corporate as a District Manager, I can tell you we hate hearing stories like this and try to rescue these guests back to our brand so I'm sure they should do the same for you with a coupon or at least an apology.

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Sure nuf. Called the local AAP, asked if they would even take a credit card over the phone for a special order part and he said nope. Guess that must be SOP at AAP. Sorry it didn't work out.

That said, I'd take them over AZ. As a general rule their oil combo deals are better, especially now with AZ not listing a price of the deals, just savings. And, they carry Purolator.
 
I lost the little ball that holds the rocker arm on on a 96 chevy 2.2. Pretty common, you think?

Dealer wanted $22 for the part and could get it tomorrow.

AA wanted $3.50 and also needed to overnight it.

I would have paid the $22 to get it right away.

Their computers are probably set up to prevent credit card fraud... so they need the card right in front of them to make it work.

Also consider online ordering thru them, you can prepay with CC that way.
 
^
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Originally Posted By: eljefino
Also consider online ordering thru them, you can prepay with CC that way.
Now that sounds like a plan, hadn't thought about that.
 
I have gotten parts from AAP and they order them all the time and dont take a deposit or anything, no skin off their teeth, they would jsut send them back if I didnt pick them up.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Dealer wanted $22 for the part and could get it tomorrow.


Only way I buy parts from dealers is if I want an OEM factory part,which is usually the best option imo,depending on the pertinence of the part and the kind`ve car you own.
 
I would pay way more for little stuff if I were in a pinch, which I was. They say dealers are more expensive b/c of all the inventory they're sitting on... not around here.
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I can call the local NAPA and order a case of something. They don't even ask me to come in. I guess they figure if you're motivated enough to look up the part number so they can find the stuff to order, you're motivated enough to come in a pay for it.

The dealers that I dealt with had an extremely good parts distribution system. Nothing was too much beyond a day away if it existed in their inventory.

AAP has it's problems/quirks. I went to buy an air filter for my wife's Wrangler a while back. It fits over 6 years of all Wrangler offerings in all engine configurations and I think a few of the Cherokee line too. They listed 1 in inventory ..but it wasn't there. I just checked last week ..same deal.
 
Ive tried to buy hoses for a common application from NAPA by us, and they wanted to do the "two trip" thing... had to be there in person to pay...
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
That's not great service at all. I have called our Part-Source store here and ordered stuff over the phone similar to your situation. They always order it in without prepayment over the phone or in store prior to the order coming in. They can always stock it in the store or send it back to the depot with other returns, so I don't know why they would be giving you such a hard time.

21.gif


I would send an e-mail or letter to corporate and explain the problem and that you went elsewhere. Also include a copy of your receipt so they know you're not B.S.-ing.

Working for corporate as a District Manager, I can tell you we hate hearing stories like this and try to rescue these guests back to our brand so I'm sure they should do the same for you with a coupon or at least an apology.

cheers3.gif



StevieC, A couple of years ago, I had an issue with Advance that I thought they had mishandled. I looked at the corporate website to identify the CEO and then wrote about the issue to him. Some weeks later I received a reply, from an assistant, that said, essentially, tough luck. Sometimes the not-customer-friendly demeanor of employees comes from the top down; I think that may be the case at Advance. This morning, I had already removed the belt from my car and chose Advance because it is close enough for me to bicycle there. Sometimes it takes a little "booster shot" to remind me not to patronize Advance.
 
We won't order any radiators unless they are prepaid. 99% of the time when we did order one for a customer they didn't show up.

20% restocking fee from one supplier when this happens and a credit from the 2nd.

The credit wouldn't be so bad untill you look at it like this.

We bought a radiator to resell at a higher price.

Radiator not picked up by customer that asked us to order it.

Credit issued but we didn't make any profit so we spent $ with no immediate return.

Kinda of a big deal when you order 20 radiators a day, each one costs over $100 each but only 3 get picked up.

Cash out to buy em....$2000...Per day!
Profit....$60 per sold radiator.

$180 profit that day but $1700 lost to "credit".
 
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Advanced screwed my brother Andy on a ball joint with their no good lifetime warranty.The sales person would not warranty one because of the tires he put on his truck including a set of brake pads.Their liftime warranty is no good: One use only.All Advanced sells is junk,my father's friend Dave will not go back there ever again.He put in 6 axles in a Neon which were defective.All Advanced cares about is the lowest price,not on quality of their parts which are cheaply made.
 
I was happy when they opened an Oreily's here and started buying almost everything there instead of AAP. That included brakes all around complete with redoing the wheel cylinders and calipers on both the truck and car plus a clutch for the truck.

Let's see, the brake hardware for the back of car wasn't right. The calipers I rebuild for the car didn't work right until I rebuilt them again with kits from NAPA. A bunch of the stuff didn't come in when they said. The last straw was the clutch throwout bearing going bad after replacing it less than a year and no more than 3000 miles. All of you realize replacing the throwout bearing means removing the transmission?

I think NAPA will be seeing more of me.
 
Advance doesn't seem to be that bad around here...in fact, they are pretty good.


Autozone, on the other hand.


Personally, NAPA is my fave around here....
 
Quote:
Their liftime warranty is no good: One use only


There are different "life time warranties".

Before people started keeping cars and average of 10+ years there used to be a bunch of cheap life time batteries. They were warranted as long as you owned your car. If you were on your second battery, you probably wouldn't own it in another 2 years. The batteries were junk ..but cheap enough and loaded with profit.

Now you don't see those batteries anymore.

Anyway. Lifetime can mean ONE free replacement or perpetual replacement. There's one other configuration that I can't pull out of my behind at the moment ..but you need to look at the fine print.
 
Do you want a horror story? I have only paid for one battery in my 77 truck. When the OEM died, I picked up a Firestone ''Forever'' battery. Unfortunately, our Firestone store didn't last forever.

It did outlast the lifetime muffler from a local shop.

How many of you remember Jack Benny and his Maxwell?
 
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