I refuse to shop Autozone now...

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Most people remember bad experiences for a long times and forget all good experiences as soon as they get out of the store.

I did not go to AZ many times because they are a little far from my house. I went to 2 different AZ stores the last 6 months and did not have any bad encounter at all. People there were friendly and did not try to sell anything extra.
 
There is actually an AutoZone manager here on BITOG that works there part time. He seems to really know alot about cars.
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Lets face it, customer service sucks every where you go. I had one AutoZone manager yell at me cause the STP air filter I needed wasn't on the shelf, but was located above the display case where all the excess air filters are located/kept.

When the manager saw me reaching to get the air filter from the very top, he told me that was going to mess up his inventory ..... cause that air filter part # would no longer be on the excess inventory shelf.
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Originally Posted By: zulu
Is this something that AZ corporate teaches, or just an uninformed individual with poor salesmanship?


Hi Zulu,

Actually its a little bit of both. Corporate since day one says to put the customer first. (we even have a company cheer that says Autozoners always put customers first!) The problem is, some of the employees at Autozone are really bad (poor literacy, theft, unprofessional appearance, etc.) and corporate in its eyes thinks that all store managers will make good hiring decisions. Problem is, most of the time if you don't have a good stable crew, you'll need to hire, but you can't hire the best because you are given a relatively low pay wage bracket to start with. All SM's are required to work 50hrs per week, and if you don't have anyone to fill those extra shifts, well you know who will end up doing it. (yes the OT is nice, but you'll have no life) Furthermore, add in my previous post about my less than educated colleagues, and you'll find that it starts with bad store managers hiring bad employees. Once someone gets hired, its very, very hard for me to terminate them! Given I'm a store manager and I make all of the hiring and firing decisions in my store I can tell you that I look for personality first, parts knowledge second. Reason being, I can teach good salesmanship, but if you aren't a people person, you can't survive in this business. Think about it, more and more people are turning away from their mechanics and are turning to a repair manual and the guy behind the parts counter. Most of my competitors just sell parts and will never walk out from the parts counter. Autozone corporate strategy is something called Drop/Stop 30/30, where you greet and assist the customer within 30 seconds of their entrance or 30 footsteps in your store. Its great if you do it properly, but implementing it into 4,000+ stores is a big pain in the [censored].

Sorry to go off the path there, but in a nutshell, if you don't want to work open to close 7 days a week, you have to hire someone... anyone really. I am fortunate to have awesome people in my store that want to get promoted and look long term, so I don't have that issue. That person you speak of was probably ordered by his SM to push that product because it was our checkout challenge (its like the item of the month we offer at the register and we have contests to see who can sell the most)and more than likely is making minimum wage.
 
Zero,

Can you answer this? Out of all 4 stores I have in my area, they shift personnel constantly. The same counter guys are never there. How can this make for a good store when you can't refine your employees?
 
Originally Posted By: chestermo
Yesterday my local AAP had a sign on PP 10W30 for $4.98/QT. It rang up $5.99/QT. I showed the sign to the clerk and got it for $4.98. She took the sign down, but no argument.


Yeah! I've had this happen quite a few times. No arguement but, the sign came down after I made my purchace. I've also gotten the arguement and no purchace but more often it went my way.
 
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
There is actually an AutoZone manager here on BITOG that works there part time. He seems to really know alot about cars.
thumbsup2.gif


Lets face it, customer service sucks every where you go. I had one AutoZone manager yell at me cause the STP air filter I needed wasn't on the shelf, but was located above the display case where all the excess air filters are located/kept.

When the manager saw me reaching to get the air filter from the very top, he told me that was going to mess up his inventory ..... cause that air filter part # would no longer be on the excess inventory shelf.
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I work part-time as a manager at Auto Zone. What that manager should have told you is that the area you were grabbing the filter from was "overstock". It is a pain because overstock needs to be correct. Instead of saying something to you, I would have noted what part you had taken and then removed it from that overstock slot. It's not that big of a deal.

Also, people act as if their bad experiences are exclusive to Auto Zone. OTOH, I get customers coming into my store telling me they will never shop at the Advance next door and they only shop at my store. It makes me feel good, but at the same time, I'm grounded enough to know that people are going to have bad experiences with any parts store. It's the nature of the beast. Working in a parts store, you know that half the people entering the store are already upset because their car isn't operating properly. If you have that attitude going in, it's easier to try and satisfy them. BUT, you can't satisfy them all. If that happens, I try to be as polite as possible.

Regarding the other stories, we have had signs that were left up after sales because we simply miss all the little tags hanging around the store. If there was a question with a sale being advertised and you showed me where it was advertised, I would give you the advertised price through override and then remove the sign. This has happened on occasion and I've done it many times.

As far as turnover is concerned, until a few months ago when we hired a manager from one of the local Advance stores, I was the least tenured manager at almost 3 years at that store. The other managers have been working with Auto Zone for 4, 13, 13 and 19 years respectively. There is very little turnover at this store, as you can see. People come to our store because they know the employees. I get people calling to speak to me or one of the other managers specifically, all the time.

In the end, your experiences aren't exclusive to Auto Zone. You will get people who don't care and just want you to leave the store as quick as possible EVERYWHERE.
 
I know from my restaurants that the best way to wake up a company or a particular store location to have better service etc. is to vote with your wallet. Take your wallet elsewhere, even if the price is a bit higher.
 
Wow. I personally and quietly banned AutoZone a few months back due to just generally bad stuff I kept seeing. Ironic to see this post. As for all the "it's everywhere" comments. Well, all I can say is I'm 35 yrs old and this is the first parts store I've pledged to myself to never return to. Sign of the times? Maybe, but I'll never know until all the other parts stores in town get banned as well.
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I have done the same thing with Canadian Tire and their new Parts Place called Partsource. I refuse to shop there because they always have snot nosed kids working their that couldn't give a [censored] about anything. They never have what you're looking for, and the their answer is, if it's not on the shelf we don't have it. No effort to try and find it. I shop in the US even though I have to drive an hour. At least they carry what I want when I want! I have voted with my wallet!
 
Its obvious that you are a professional and im sure the small accounts give you most of their business, now if the rest of the auto zones managers would do the same Auto Zone would be by far number one.
 
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I work part-time as a manager at Auto Zone. [/quote]

I live in a sparsely populated area that any auto parts store is about a half hour away. AZ is one of them. One of my biggest gripes is that AZ does not carry any parts for a vehicle over one ton. I found that out when my brother needed a starter for an F600 Ford truck. Also, there are no parts books that the employees have access to. It's all on the computer. The help was clueless when it came time to look for an oil filter for an Oliver tractor. Your computers didn't support any tractor applications, but they MIGHT be able to cross-reference an old number-once again only with the help of their computer. Like any parts store that "gives a low-price guarantee", some of your rebuild parts are of marginal quality. I found that out last week when I got a MAF sensor for my van. It worked, but looked like it was pulled off of a junk yard vehicle. It was that dirty.

An advantage that your store (and the O'Reilly store across the street) has is that the inventory is better and the store has better hours and is open longer, especially on the weekends.
Locally, the O'Reilly store is staffed by 16 year olds. At least the AZ store hires people that are old enough to buy a beer. (Nothing wrong with minors, they just have no experience when it comes to knowing that an Aerostar is a van and was built by Ford)
 
Originally Posted By: Fordiesel69
Zero,

Can you answer this? Out of all 4 stores I have in my area, they shift personnel constantly. The same counter guys are never there. How can this make for a good store when you can't refine your employees?



Honestly, it doesn't. More than likely the DM caught wind of theft/lazyness and got rid of the bunch. It's really bad for business to keep shifting people, as the cost to hire and train, then to teach salesmanship keeps growing. As for my store, I have guys that have been around from 1 year to 4 years in the same store. The ones that stay any longer than that get promoted usually.
 
Originally Posted By: steve20
Stevie
didn't you say you came across the borfer cause it was cheaper?
steve


I do shop south of the border 'cos it's cheaper... ???
 
In some states, like NY, not honoring stated, advertised sale prices is a clear violation of the law. Here, you'd have been entitled to some form of compensation I believe (such as half price?).

In any case, perhaps that's why I have no problems with my local AutoZone...
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
Wish we had those laws...


It became a big stink here in the 80s and early 90s and the dawn of digital scanners. Many consumer groups claimed that stores (mostly grocery stores) were advertising one price on the shelf, but scanning a bigger one at the checkout and that most wouldn't notice or make any sort of stink out of it. I doubt most realize this anymore and the penalties are subject to the stores at least voluntarily admitting either their mistake, or small instance of consumer fraud.

But, at the very least, one can threaten them here and state agencies have sent in undercover "mystery shoppers" in the past and fined stores for this...
 
I know that we have had a few stores that have said something was on sale for say $10.00 but it was always $10.00, they just marked it up the week before to $15.00 then marked it back down to claim a sale. We have laws against this... But not yours...

Most retailers here though, if they see the wrong price still marked on a shelf, they usually honour it, but once and a while you get one that won't..
 
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