Rockauto bait and switch on brake rotors -- how to proceed?

[SC Maintenance]

Local is local man, sure better if you find locally owned but your mentality, and others like yours is why so many brick and mortor stores have closed and will continue to close waiting for the magical Amazon truck to arrive.
Thanks for the dystopia future man.

Another clear point is OP and others would not go through this if they simply would walk into a store, and get whatever they had based on their budget.

There is always something better out there...but honestly, who cares.

You should buy from whomever you prefer. I am not going to pay Wall Street twice as much for an inferior part so the 16 year old at the counter can have a poorly paying job. If it was the same price for the same part I would.

My UPS driver is local and makes union wages.

 

[repairman54]

Just did rear brakes on my Equinox, pads, rotors and parking brake shoes. Raybestos Element 3 coated rotors and pads, Bosch parking brake shoes. Total cost with tax and Fedex ground delivery for everything was $139. Local parts stores want $100 just for one rotor, and not coated, just painted. I like to support the brick and motar so they make a living BUT not a killing.

 

[Hootbro]

Local is local man, sure better if you find locally owned but your mentality, and others like yours is why so many brick and mortor stores have closed and will continue to close waiting for the magical Amazon truck to arrive.
Thanks for the dystopia future man.

We are way beyond that and nobody here is blameless in that regard. Kind of like the anti-Walmart types that want to blame them for the same but when nobody is looking, they are hitting up Walmart the same because they are not going to pay double for their toilet paper either.

The few independent auto parts stores in my area really do not want walk in customers anymore. They have forsaken them for just being jobber suppliers running parts to independent shops. Most are closed after 5pm on the weekdays and all day on the weekends. Plus they are employing the same nose pickers that just type in your vehicle info into computer as the parts store chains, so no value there.

 

[John105]

We are way beyond that and nobody here is blameless in that regard. Kind of like the anti-Walmart types that want to blame them for the same but when nobody is looking, they are hitting up Walmart the same because they are not going to pay double for their toilet paper either.

The few independent auto parts stores in my area really do not want walk in customers anymore. They have forsaken them for just being jobber suppliers running parts to independent shops. Most are closed after 5pm on the weekdays and all day on the weekends. Plus they are employing the same nose pickers that just type in your vehicle info into computer as the parts store chains, so no value there.

I remember being a little kid and going to the parts counter with my dad. They’d ask if he’s a business and he said yes (literally his own computer software business), and he’d get a discount. That’s when the counter guy actually looked up parts and presented offerings and prices.

I had the same experience at Graybar about 13 years ago, what a throwback.

These are the “local” businesses that I would support, meaning the people are adding value. But not when they routinely fill 16 lbs of propane and charge for 20.

 

[IndianaDIY]

I agree with all of you
I buy all my groceries online because it is 100% organic, I get 3 times as much at literally half the price of Kroger.
It is our only grocery store in town but someone in Miami owns it so thats another reason I don't shop there.

I was talking my friends at our Tesla Friday meetups and we were wondering why people waste so much money shopping in store.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Local is local man, sure better if you find locally owned but your mentality, and others like yours is why so many brick and mortor stores have closed and will continue to close waiting for the magical Amazon truck to arrive.
Thanks for the dystopia future man.

Another clear point is OP and others would not go through this if they simply would walk into a store, and get whatever they had based on their budget.

There is always something better out there...but honestly, who cares.

If I spent the last 20+ years making poor money choices like spending 2X the price on auto parts from the local chain store to fix my vehicles that brings no added value (it's so bad I have to look up my part number in advance so they don't screw up); I wouldn't have the money to pay the local real estate agent to buy my home, the local concrete contractor that built my shop slab, the local repairman to fix my home HVAC, etc. Those true local guys doing a real service are making a decent living @ $30 an hour or better, I think that better stimulates our local economy and tax base.

The nail was hit on the head by another poster who mentioned the chain stores' profit largely going to shareholders. They don't live in my town. And I'm not sad that lack of business might not bring on more $15/hr store employees with crap benefits.

 

[IndianaDIY]

If I spent the last 20+ years making poor money choices like spending 2X the price on auto parts from the local chain store to fix my vehicles that brings no added value (it's so bad I have to look up my part number in advance so they don't screw up); I wouldn't have the money to pay the local real estate agent to buy my home, the local concrete contractor that built my shop slab, the local repairman to fix my home HVAC, etc. Those true local guys doing a real service are making a decent living @ $30 an hour or better, I think that better stimulates our local economy and tax base.

The nail was hit on the head by another poster who mentioned the chain stores' profit largely going to shareholders. They don't live in my town. And I'm not sad that lack of business might not bring on more $15/hr store employees with crap benefits.

Thank you for sharing,
I too am against local jobs and stores.
I just don't see the point of have any local $15 an hour jobs, I mean really what's the point.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Thank you for sharing,
I too am against local jobs and stores.
I just don't see the point of have any local $15 an hour jobs, I mean really what's the point.

Seems like you zeroed in on only my last sentence. That was directed at the corporate chain stores where short term profit and max shareholder value are prioritized over employee retention. Fortunately we have a "free market" economy where I can choose to spend my money where I want to. If that means the greedy chain stores charging twice the price can't survive, someone else will fill the vacuum. It might be Amazon, Rockauto, so be it. Finding an entry level job making ~$15 wages isn't hard to come by around here provided you have a pulse and some semblance of work ethic.

 

[eljefino]

The veil was lifted on one chain store when I went in to special order a rocker arm pivot ball thingie. I was fine with it coming on the next "hub run". It turns out the store was going to UPS it to themselves with the requisite wait and fee.

Shoot, I can do that to my own address, I thought... and I did!

I don't like stores that give a preferred group (eg seniors) a 10% discount every day. That just says to me they're ten percent too expensive if they can eat that cost. If the chains can give a 30+% discount to garages I vow to use them only in emergencies for the convenience factor.

 

[92saturnsl2]

I was fine with it coming on the next "hub run". It turns out the store was going to UPS it to themselves with the requisite wait and fee.

Shoot, I can do that to my own address, I thought... and I did!

Reminds me of our last welding supply vendor at work. We'd upgraded to automated plasma equipment that required some relatively expensive copper consumables. Of course they could supply them to us and we were warned lead time could be up to a week. After a couple months they got lazy and kept forgetting to take the label off from the local vendor they were getting them from. We switched to that company and saved 25% with less lead time.

I don't like stores that give a preferred group (eg seniors) a 10% discount every day. That just says to me they're ten percent too expensive if they can eat that cost. If the chains can give a 30+% discount to garages I vow to use them only in emergencies for the convenience factor.

I can stomach the senior / military discount. Almost the garage discount because those folks know what they're doing and won't be sending in returns because they bought the wrong part. Ordinary folks come with a large percentage of scum (I know many) who buy parts / tools to troubleshoot and promptly return them because they either don't know how to troubleshoot or just wanted to borrow them for testing/repair.

 

[John105]

The veil was lifted on one chain store when I went in to special order a rocker arm pivot ball thingie. I was fine with it coming on the next "hub run". It turns out the store was going to UPS it to themselves with the requisite wait and fee.

Shoot, I can do that to my own address, I thought... and I did!

I don't like stores that give a preferred group (eg seniors) a 10% discount every day. That just says to me they're ten percent too expensive if they can eat that cost. If the chains can give a 30+% discount to garages I vow to use them only in emergencies for the convenience factor.

On my 1998 Maxima my uncle was fixing a clutch fluid leak. I bought a clutch hose on Amazon (still have it).

He calls up and says bad news, the clutch hose has sections and the one you need is only available from the dealer. I had visions of the Wild West and stagecoaches getting ambushed and robbed.

Then I saw the shop discount and said dang, never seen such a thing with any online (and back then it was 33% online left and right). Somehow I guess as online matured, the discount was almost halved.

For me, only rockauto has these discounts, like a hood strut for $8 when Amazon is $25, a wiper blade for $8 when Amazon is $16, etc.