RockAuto customer service fail

Funny you bring this up, as I just ordered a pair of front struts from RockAuto for my Infiniti.

When I put the items in my cart, I noticed one of the struts (front left) gave me a dropdown menu with the option of choosing a closeout price of about half what the actual strut cost. When I tried to select it however, it said the item was no longer in stock and automatically removed the item from my cart.

Rockauto specifically says on their website that anything you see listed is IN STOCK. I called the same number you did and got the same recording telling me I had to send an email, so I did along with a screenshot image showing the dropdown menu. I guarantee you this email-only tactic is so that they can just click one button to send you a generic form email reply. Here is the one I got:

Hello,

To view pricing and availability, please select your vehicle and part category on RockAuto.com. Everything listed is in stock, ready to ship (unless a delay is noted). Shipping costs appear when you put a part in the shopping cart and enter your zip/postal code. For more information, please see: Help with Finding Parts For Your Vehicle

If you need help deciding which part to choose, what is included with a part, or what quantity to order, please see: Help with Choosing Parts

If the part you're looking for is not listed on RockAuto.com, we do not have it and do not know when it may become available. However, we add parts to the catalog daily, so please check again soon.

Thank you for your interest in our products, and for helping to keep our prices low by using our online resources!

Rodney
RockAuto Customer Service


That has nothing to do with the issue I was having (except to confirm what their website was saying.) When I sent a reply back saying that did not answer my question, this is the next (and final) reply I got:


Since the Closeout Part is not available I am not able to replicate what you saw.


Even though I had sent a screenshot image the first time. And when I tried to send another response, I got the automated reply saying the ticket had been closed.
I don't think RockAuto ever had stellar customer service but taking away the phone contact option, closing tickets out that aren't resolved, and forcing buyers to pay return shipping and not offering full refunds tells me they are having serious issues, probably trying to compete with Amazon.

(On a side note I will say that while the front struts I ordered--and yes I did end up still ordering them through RockAuto-- were significantly cheaper than the same ones on Amazon, the rear struts were actually quite a bit cheaper through Amazon with free shipping. So be sure to shop around!)
 
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Incidentally, Tom Taylor (RockAuto founder along with his brother Jim) is a frequent guest on Motor Week.
Watch him squirm in this segment where Pat Goss discussed cheap Chinese parts (don't think it was intentional but lots of what RockAuto sells is exactly that.)

 
Even big names are made there. Whether its the company off-shoring manufacturing or the company closed and someone bought the name I don't know. Its kinda worse when someone buys the name because they have no incentive to QC stuff. I bought a set of Bendix rotors for my truck, and when I went to put the wheel on the studs were not in the correct spot. Both sides too, you can imagine how amused I was to have to re-install the old rotors so I could put the wheels back on the truck.
 
On regular maintenance items like brake pads, it's smart to buy local. Advance has real good online discounts, at least 20% off. Their parts are often lifetime warrantied.
I got the short end of the deal a few times trying to save money buying online. A window regulator saved me thirty bucks and lasted two months. Local vendor has a lifetime free replacement guarantee.
As far as rock Auto goes, they have been pretty good to me. I had a fuel pump go bad under warranty, they sent me a new one free. Naturally I had to get another one local to get me going again so I have a new one on the shelf that will probably never get used.
 
Many good experiences with RA, a few duds, but overall, not too bad.

I think once they sent me the wrong brake drums.
 
Rock Auto has been ok for me but ive also gotten great deals on amazon and the bay. If ive had to return anything on amazon or the bay its been fast and painless.I only use prime on amazon and on the bay I make sure the vendor has lots of sales with excellent feedback and good return polices if I need it which has been only once for both.Once bought an item from China and 3 months later it wasn't to be found so I emailed and complained and they sent me a replacement by fast mail and told me to keep the other item if it showed up and apologized for being such poor vendors .An American company did the exact same thing for a center hubcap for my ford f150 on the bay.One tab was busted and they apologized big time .2 good examples of excellent vendors ,I check their storefronts first now!
 
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Wow A bitch session and i get to join... cool. Have been on and off ordering when needed for a few years but after this summer, Never Again. Ordered Pads around, and two rotors I needed to replace now. I too have the wheels up and off, pads off and putting them back together realized they had sent the wrong rotors. Long story short, after sending the required pics as ordered by EMAIL they admitted I received the wrong parts and their solution was to have me print a RMA and send back the parts. They would then send the correct parts. I ate the cost and went to the dealer for the correct rotors. They could have sent the parts I could have waited a day or two but not 4 or five. I gave the rotors to a neighbor as they fit his vehicle and will get 12 beers from him over time.
Rock Auto can go pound salt. Which reminds me I need to call BBB.
 
My take on what happens:

Your actually making the order (cutting those parts counter jobs, management, and brick & mortar store costs) which goes directly to the wholesaler that ships to you from their warehouse so no one else is retyping what you ordered. The system tracks how many items the supplier has in stock also showing this to you. There are a number of wholesalers, so you can end up getting parts with a big order from all over the place. To cut costs you have to try and pick parts from the same wholesaler to save on shipping costs by playing with the offered brands and adding them to your cart (if there are multiple brands offered and seeing the total shipping cost.

So if you get the wrong part in the correctly marked box , that originates with the manufacturer. Rock Auto likely looses there totally and they are making a really small % profit per part at their prices (they have to sell big #'s to make a decent profit) overall I would bet and the internet would really help them there. Amazon (coping them) offers lower prices to break into their business so they sell at a loss for a while to steal customers. Walmart does it all the time killing the small businesses in that stores area and now too are the offering online sales.
 
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actually, amazon does not do jack in most cases.

whereas amazon does have 'fullfillment centers' for some things, most of what they sell, even amazon 'fullfilled' does not come from any building they own but rather a vendor. the 'amazon-ness' of the item just dictates if it participates in prime - which in todays age is worth its weight in expensive stuff. (and even then its not a guarantee, amazon fullfilled, but not supplied goods sometimes cannot have shipping eaten by the actual supplier.)

since ebay went rogue amazon has invited all the larger ebay resellers (read: unwashed people in the basement who think a 9-5 job is too stressful) to sell via amazon retailer accounts and even walmart now does the same (put in some obscure part walmart would NEVER carry in a store and you will find that they can sell it to you, from an outside vendor.

the only root commonality among them all is now: no one knows jack about the item they are selling, therefore any customer service is worthless (which is why amazon, ebay and walmart ask me to review products or answer questions people pose on the website.)
 
More and more I buy stuff from the local NAPA. I know the guy that owns it, and really their prices aren't out of line for a lot of things. If there is an issue, they can deal with it. Sometimes the things they can actually get me have just bowled me over. I needed the two power steering pressure lines on my Continental. 1984 diesel model with hydroboost brakes. I thought there wasn't a chance in hell I could get those lines, and honestly I went in to find out if I pulled the lines if they could re-use the steel parts and crimp new rubber to it. They got me brand new lines for a total of under $50 and i had them in 2 days.
 
the only root commonality among them all is now: no one knows jack about the item they are selling, therefore any customer service is worthless (which is why amazon, ebay and walmart ask me to review products or answer questions people pose on the website.)

And THAT is a good reason to keep buying locally, is what I get out of this thread.

My mechanic complained endlessly that the reason the rotors kept warping on my '93 Mazda MX-6 was that he couldn't get decent quality rotors for the car anymore. Cheap scrap iron origin I guess. Glad I finally let go of the car last month.
 
More and more I buy stuff from the local NAPA. I know the guy that owns it, and really their prices aren't out of line for a lot of things. If there is an issue, they can deal with it. Sometimes the things they can actually get me have just bowled me over. I needed the two power steering pressure lines on my Continental. 1984 diesel model with hydroboost brakes. I thought there wasn't a chance in hell I could get those lines, and honestly I went in to find out if I pulled the lines if they could re-use the steel parts and crimp new rubber to it. They got me brand new lines for a total of under $50 and i had them in 2 days.
I'm not crazy about certain items from Napa, like most of their electrical parts like sensors and solenoids, but I have had similar experiences where they could order obscure parts that none of the other parts houses could. The last things were these ~2 foot long curved aluminum tubes that the emergency brake cables went though on my mom's old 2000 VW Jetta (total POS BTW).
 
write a letter to the CEO. tell him/her the problem. suggest a great solution. wait for response.

I no longer shop/dine/visit ANY store that has had its customer database hacked. I do not
buy anything at Sears after they dented my car. I stop eating at restaurants that serve
left-overs as new. I do not eat at any restaurant that screws up my order.

However, at restaurants that do it right, I tip well. at stores that help me find something
I always buy from them regardless of price.

your dollars - your needs - MUST be recognized by who you buy from.

You'll run out of restaurants. Any restaurant I've frequented has eventually screwed up. Just yesterday I went to Malone's steak house in Lexington ordered a medium rare New York strip. The waitress watched me cut into it and it was medium. No questions a new steak came with all new sides. I'll certainly be back they have great food. If they make it right there's no reason to not go back. I used to be a waiter in a fancy steak house. Your dealing with humans there will be mistakes just keep it to a minimum.

For car parts I'm a buy local guy. It's a lot easier to take something wrong back and quite a few of the clerks are knowledgeable and give you some good advice. It does help to be a car guy.
 
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run out of restaurants? not even close. But since you mention it, its the steak houses that have given me problems.
I can see where there are 25 tables with 100 steak orders, and the steak masters need to keep track of
well-done, medium, medium-rare, and rare. difficult unless you have perfect memory.

I won't name the city but there was a restaurant serving western food and it was famous for
their flaming baked ice cream but it was really one of their waiters. the oldest guy there
took orders from the eight of us, with different sides, without writing anything down, and
delivered with no errors. went back there several times and his performance was repeated
perfectly.

I've lived in quite a few cities and many cities have such competition that bad food, service,
pricing, gets known real fast and closes.

support your local stores or one day your main street will only have stores that don't download
like Pizzas, and exercise clubs.
 
I could go into volumes about this (not only what I've personally seen, but what has happened to others that I know), but I will only say this:

F*** Rock Auto.

NEVER will they get any money out of my pocket.

Regards,
Gordon.
.
 
I could go into volumes about this (not only what I've personally seen, but what has happened to others that I know), but I will only say this:

F*** Rock Auto.

NEVER will they get any money out of my pocket.

Regards,
Gordon.
.

I'm guessing that Gord did NOT have a satisfactory customer experience:rflmao:


Wait, let me grab a beer quick this has got to be good! :rflmao:
 
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