Better place to order parts than RA?

To answer your question, summit racing, amazon, and ebay. Way up here in Maine I lose out on "zone pricing" from the California warehouses but do well with "free" shipping.

Rockauto needs to own the damage their drop ship warehouses do. That's why they're the point of contact. I've had a couple problems they've made right. They're curt and all business but cheap.
I hope they help me out as well!
 
There literally is a button on the to[ of their webpage "Order Status and Returns". That will bring up the page to notify them you actually had trouble.

I had an issue with Rockauto one time and they made it right. Of course, I gave them that chance before I went out and had a 2 page thread complaining about them before even trying to contact them, but YMMV...

Sometimes I shake my head at where effort is put at times...
If you took the time to read my posts and comments, you would have seen where I stated that this is the first time I’m writing about this but it has happened with RA on the last 4 orders. The effort was put into writing about my experience and asking for suggestions at a website that has veteran members that are always lending a helping hand.

Sorry if you had a bad day...
 
To reiterate a point that has been made before, RA is an online storefront that has no inkling what each order looks like, or how it was shipped.

There are no RA "warehouses," only vendors (which can be large or small) who get sent the order for fulfillment, and then drop ship them.

The risk in ordering from RA is in not knowing who the actual vendor is going to be, and what/how they will ship. Results can be good, or bad, depending on the supplier.

Whatever the result, your contractual relationship is with RA, so contact them to have them make it right.

If this is the fourth bad order, then do a reverse search on the return address (they don't fake it, like Amazon does), and determine whether they all come from the same bad supplier, or more than one, as a matter coincidence.

In any case, provide feedback to them, so they can become aware (which they should catch internally anyway). If they don't respond satisfactorily, or take that into account, then it's time for an alternative.
 
If it makes you feel any better this was how we had a transmission dropped off last month. Of course it was on backorder and the damage claim was denied. The driver did a drop and run when we were all busy with customer and never bothered to notate that it was damaged. The case is cracked and that strap is not what they come with from the factory. This is not the first time this has happened either.

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To reiterate a point that has been made before, RA is an online storefront that has no inkling what each order looks like, or how it was shipped.

There are no RA "warehouses," only vendors (which can be large or small) who get sent the order for fulfillment, and then drop ship them.

The risk in ordering from RA is in not knowing who the actual vendor is going to be, and what/how they will ship. Results can be good, or bad, depending on the supplier.

Whatever the result, your contractual relationship is with RA, so contact them to have them make it right.

If this is the fourth bad order, then do a reverse search on the return address (they don't fake it, like Amazon does), and determine whether they all come from the same bad supplier, or more than one, as a matter coincidence.

In any case, provide feedback to them, so they can become aware (which they should catch internally anyway). If they don't respond satisfactorily, or take that into account, then it's time for an alternative.
Thank you! I will do that
 
If it makes you feel any better this was how we had a transmission dropped off last month. Of course it was on backorder and the damage claim was denied. The driver did a drop and run when we were all busy with customer and never bothered to notate that it was damaged. The case is cracked and that strap is not what they come with from the factory. This is not the first time this has happened either.

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Why did they deny the claim? The proof is in the pudding!
 
The question stems from my recent order with RA. After spending almost $400 buying new brakes and calipers and other parts for my F150, they didn’t even have the decency to package my parts respectfully, or shall I say with common sense.. The box was nearly destroyed and caved in on all ends, one rotor wasn’t even in the manufacturer’s box (guessing they were trying to just throw everything together to be cheap with shipping) and there was hole in the box where I’m assuming one of my wheel bearings fell out of. One would think to place parts like multiple bearings and seals at least in a plastic bag.. The package came from NY to CA. With that said, one would assume to package it a little better because of the distance coast to coast.. I guess I’m over them for now because of this and want to know if there’s a better place to order from? I have tried Amazon but have received old parts that may have sat on the shelves for a long time (build dates being old).

Thanks in advance.

Rock Auto doesn’t control shipping, tracking etc. Given the current times, shipping companies are being spread very thin too.

Heavy parts can beat boxes up.

Within reason, parts don’t go bad with age and won’t be any older than what’s in service on the truck already.

If you were to buy from Amazon, WM, or eBay, you could very well face the same issue. Your best bet is to pay full retail at a parts store or dealer. 👍
 
I have recently had packing issues with other vendors. Myself, I never had issues with RA. Could have been an issue with one person is shipping having a bad day.
 
Only issue I had with Rock Auto is my last order, where the Ford serpentine belt was too short. The belt they shipped was the belt I ordered so it was the fault of the warehouse that claimed this belt would fit ( on the website). No length of the belt was listed. I filled in the return request and got a prepaid courier label to send it back for a refund. The money lost was the original shipping cost to get it to me. I have over 50 Rock Auto car magnets, one for each order I have made. ( with great success). YRMV.
 
Only issue I had with Rock Auto is my last order, where the Ford serpentine belt was too short. The belt they shipped was the belt I ordered so it was the fault of the warehouse that claimed this belt would fit ( on the website). No length of the belt was listed. I filled in the return request and got a prepaid courier label to send it back for a refund. The money lost was the original shipping cost to get it to me. I have over 50 Rock Auto car magnets, one for each order I have made. ( with great success). YRMV.
It happens a lot where there's different belt lengths depending on the application so they may show you two different lengths but then you have to match it up correctly to what you actually have. I've been wanting to upgrade the belts on my Sierra as they were still the original ones and also upgraded the alternator which was taller and needed the longer belt. I've found through all the research that I've done is that they didn't use the larger 145amp alternator on the trucks and were only available on the Tahoe, Suburban, etc... basically they'll group all those parts together even though they are not model specific but you still need to figure it out for your specific application. I like to look it up on an actual dealers website to get the part number and then search on Amazon or Ebay, for my Honda's I've found dealers in RI & TX but awhile back Honda had changed their dealership pricing on parts and they are all about the same price from one to the other but sometimes you can save on shipping by looking at the overall cost.

I do not order from RA and don't really have any plans to do so but I have a friend who uses them sometimes. They seem to be a company who doesn't have any infrastructure and they just dropship the packages from warehouses scattered across the country so they are more or less just a middle man and don't really offer any support or warranty and leave it up to the manufacturers who most likely won't do anything because you haven't purchased it from an authorized dealer or reseller. I'm not specifically pointing out RA but there are lots of companies that use this business model.
 
It happens a lot where there's different belt lengths depending on the application so they may show you two different lengths but then you have to match it up correctly to what you actually have. I've been wanting to upgrade the belts on my Sierra as they were still the original ones and also upgraded the alternator which was taller and needed the longer belt. I've found through all the research that I've done is that they didn't use the larger 145amp alternator on the trucks and were only available on the Tahoe, Suburban, etc... basically they'll group all those parts together even though they are not model specific but you still need to figure it out for your specific application. I like to look it up on an actual dealers website to get the part number and then search on Amazon or Ebay, for my Honda's I've found dealers in RI & TX but awhile back Honda had changed their dealership pricing on parts and they are all about the same price from one to the other but sometimes you can save on shipping by looking at the overall cost.

I do not order from RA and don't really have any plans to do so but I have a friend who uses them sometimes. They seem to be a company who doesn't have any infrastructure and they just dropship the packages from warehouses scattered across the country so they are more or less just a middle man and don't really offer any support or warranty and leave it up to the manufacturers who most likely won't do anything because you haven't purchased it from an authorized dealer or reseller. I'm not specifically pointing out RA but there are lots of companies that use this business model.
Yes, Rock Auto does not own wharehouses. The warranties do carry through and you can return the defective item to Rock Auto at their cost. I’ve attached the warranty details of AC Delco items sold by Rock Auto. In over 50 orders I’ve only received the wrong part once and could possibly have avoided it by researching the part through Ford like you mentioned.

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