Advance auto parts sucks.

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I go to advance because of the selection and high stock. But today I was unable to find a FL820 motorcraft oil filter. Four (yes four) workers stood at one register having a conversation in a language other then the one spoke in the rest of the country. I had to finally stop them to ask for a filter. One very helpful man punched it into the computor and says "we have one", he then goes to the same shelve I looked at to find no filter. Without saying anything he walks to the back. Five minutes pass. Next time I see him hes eating a sandwich. When he sees me still waiting he goes into the back again. Two minutes pass.
I go looking to find him and one other employee wathing a tv in the back.
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I don't like Advance bc of the selection of their stuff. But in my store, they are very friendly/helpful and when they don't have stuff in stock they order and it comes in promptly. Also I dispose of my Used Oil there.

So all it all, it works for me.
 
advance, just like any store in the nation is subject to the compitence of its employees.
my advance in palm beach is manned by ignorant wannabe rednecks who mock my vehicle because it isnt a ford chevy or dodge. they are most unhelpfull and are only taking up space in the store.
my advance at my place in sebring 100 miles away is manned by real polite southern folks and a customer cant step foot in that store without one of them nice folks rushing up to greet them and offer assistance in shopping.

so whats the difference? its the same brand of store. same products, same prices. the difference is in the employees. in one store the employees actually appear to care, which is incredible from my standpoint.
in the other store they make fun of my car because its a honda and duck from customers to avoid doing any real work.
 
Didn't it used to be, "The best part is our people."?

Now the mission stmt. is "...Our friendly, knowledgeable and professional staff will help inspire, educate and problem-solve for our customers.

This will assist them in obtaining the appropriate accessories, diagnosing their vehicle operational problems and accomplishing their repair projects. And as a result, customers will love to shop at Advance Auto Parts Stores."
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Are these corporate owned or franchised stores? In any case, the manager of the store Bagger went to needs to be fired.
 
Advance Auto Parts isn't that great in the local Morrow area either. One dumbs*** tried to sell me fuel hose, when I specifically asked for transmission/oil cooler hose, and tried to say it would work because it has to be able to handle gasoline...

I eventually just bought the 11/32" pre-packed 4 feet hoses, since I know those were made for transmissions.
 
The AA in town here is pretty good. Given the choice of things being in stock, I'll go there. The staff is very helpful there. They even opened up a repair manual for my neighbor and let him flip through it when they couldn't answer a question he had.
 
The Advance stores around here are pretty decent I guess. I still prefer Oreilly out of all the major parts store chains.
 
All comes down to manager. Good managers are hard to find for pay scale at these stores. Reigonal manager superintendent (or whatever) may have hard time can't allways find replacement for underacheivers.

Bob
 
Advance auto is fine around here, ive gotten the wrong part once when replacing an alternator belt, but besides that they always have the lowest prices and they're friendlier than autozone or pepboys.
 
I like my local AAP. I have 2 of them close by and each is very helpful on finding parts and quick delivery.

I have only had trouble with Pepboys. The punks that work there seem bugged when I ask them to do silly things for me. You know like "treat me like a customer". I have gotten too many sighs and rolled eyes when I ask for parts. And their prices are ALWAYS higher than AZ and AAP. Goodbye peppunks.
 
I like our local Advance autos best, their prices arent always the cheapest but I usually still go there. Ive even had My local Port Orange Advance Auto call across the street to Autozone, because they didnt have a part and he was trying to locate the part for me. I still buy all my oil at Pepboys becuase of the rebates. I hate Autozones because they are too helpful, Iam usually subjected to all kind of free advice on oil, filters, spark plugs, brake pads etc... most I dont agree with. I would report that Advance auto on thier website, that is not a typical store and thier behavior seemed out of line.
 
The AAP, and same at AZ, Home depot, etc. all have the same problem.

The market for skilled, knowledgable labor is high enough apparently that most folks that know the answers arent working at these places. Couple that with the desire to have diversity of various sorts in stores that are historically men's fields, and what do you tend to get?

Untrained, un-knowledgable women (more and more) and men that dont have the answers and dont have any useful help to find them. Youre better off finding someone walking the isles with a t-shirt that is for a company that is the sort that you are looking for.

This wont get better. Fortunately the internet gets ever better, so that people who actually do care can still manage to find most of the info that they need.

And since things are ever more disposable, those that dont care can just continue on, as is.

JMH
 
AAP is fine, although I prefer NAPA. The one that I go to depends a lot on what I need.

At NAPA, I can get reasonably accurate answers to questions.

At AAP, dumb looks are always free.
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