Parts store stoopidity

kaiser715

kaiser715

Doing hard time
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Location
7, Pocket, NC
So, I needed a battery today. Out of a genset....Interstate MT-75...like in 80's chevys and a million other cars.

Go into Advance Auto...set battery on counter....parts girl asks what I need. "ummmmm, maybe a battery??" Strike one.

Year, make and model? "Not out of a car. But it's a battery...give me anything about this size, with side terminals, and about the same cranking amps."

I can't do that...I have to know what kind of car it's from. "I told you, it's not out of a car."

She goes to the back to try and cross reference. (Meanwhile I could have walked over to the battery rack ten times over and just picked one up). She gets another guy to help her. They both come back to the counter, he asks for year, make, model.

I told them....walk over to the rack....pick a battery. Get one with side terminals, about this size. We can't do that...we have to know what it goes in.

Well, at that point I flat out said that this was the most ridiculous thing I've ever experienced in a parts store. Parts girls parting words were.... "maybe you can find one at Tractor Supply". My parting words going out the store were "rediculous...rediculous...rediculous...rediculous...rediculous..."

Went down the street to autozone...said I need the cheapest battery you have that is like this....guy walks over, picks up a battery, sets it on the counter and rings it up. Three minutes tops.

Parts people used to know stuff. :(
 
You went into Advance AUTO parts and are mad because they dont sell generator parts
:flipoff2:

And its ridiculous.
:flipoff2:

What kinda generator is it out of?
 
Ran into the same issue on home rigged serpentine belt set-ups I give you the length and rib count and you can't figure it out?? I just say hey can I just walk back there? Then just look at the belts and pull the one I need. Its sad how the parts people game has deteriorated over the last few years, even the dealership parts guys are clueless unless you know an old timer.
 
I used to live in a small town with only one parts store and the dudes behind the counter sounded exactly like your Advance employee. I was building my jeep with a 305 tpi motor from a 92 firebird formula, tranny and t case from a 70 blazer, axles out of a scout 2, steering column from a fiero, etc. I go in one day to get 5 quarts of oil, 4 sets of scout 2 brake pads, oil filter from a firebird, reverse switch from a 70 blazer and injectors for a 5.0 mustang. Parts store dude asks how many vehicles I have? Just one.....

And he argues with me about needing 4 sets of pads. I tell him mine has 4 wheel discs. This didn't end well.
 
Heh, try getting forklift parts, or parts for other equipment, say, Zamboni or Olympia Ice Machines i DO NOT go to Advance, or Vatozone. Car Quest can be trying enough.

I HATE that Advance Auto bought CQ, parts shopping is gonna really start to suck once they figure out which stores need to be where.
 
Man stories like this make me glad I have a parts house with at least one knowledgeable guy there. Heck I can go in and say I'm trying to rig something together and tell about what I need and he can find what I need to make it work... The rest of the guys in there are idoits
 
tknopp said:
I just walk around the front counter to the commercial sales side. Never have any issues.
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there was a time at AA that I would, now its a waste of time, they aren't any smarter back there anymore
 
I try and beat them at their own game when I walk in. I'm needing a part for a project,I just tell em thats what I'm doing and then go soooo let's look up (example on my Willys) brake master cylinder for a 72 jeep cj5...6cyl(whatever size they ask is ok) 4 wheel drums. Sure I'm putting it on a 1950 Willys and it isn't in their books or puter that way but hey,I'm using "the force" to manipulate their hands to type in their puter what I know I need. Life's too short to sweat the small shit and to me this kind of ranks that. When you sat the battery down on the counter and she asked you what you wanted,did you think she might have thought you needed it charged or checked before replacement? When she asked you for a year and vehicle,couldn't you have taken the 5 seconds to explain to her that it wasn't out of a car,from a genset instead and come up with just a rudimentary vehicle(in this case a 1980 chevy impala) and a small engine (say a 305) and see what she came up with and gone with cheapest?
Not bustin your chops but you should have expected what you got when you walked in and worked with the cards dealt ya and you could have walked out with your battery and a fuzzy feeling on the inside.
 
Was it the AA on horner? That's the one I go to 99% of the time. They know I get stuff for the race car and don't question it. I usually deal with Ernest though.
 
ord.sgt.26NC said:
Life's too short to sweat the small shit and to me this kind of ranks that. When you sat the battery down on the counter and she asked you what you wanted,did you think she might have thought you needed it charged or checked before replacement? When she asked you for a year and vehicle,couldn't you have taken the 5 seconds to explain to her that it wasn't out of a car,from a genset instead and come up with just a rudimentary vehicle(in this case a 1980 chevy impala) and a small engine (say a 305) and see what she came up with and gone with cheapest?
Not bustin your chops but you should have expected what you got when you walked in and worked with the cards dealt ya and you could have walked out with your battery and a fuzzy feeling on the inside.
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Then we wouldn't have been able to have this conversation....
 
oscar80 said:
I usually deal with Ernest though.
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Is this him?

ernest.jpg
 
oscar80 said:
Was it the AA on horner? That's the one I go to 99% of the time. They know I get stuff for the race car and don't question it. I usually deal with Ernest though.
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Yep, that one. Ernest wasn't there, or the other guy that knows his shit (Steve??). I just got the losers.

The battery I took in was kinda rough looking...to any idiot (except that one) it would be obvious that it was probably a core.
 
I go to NAPA if I actually need to find something. We have a bunch of good guys at the one here. Apparently a lot of people go to that one when they're restoring antique tractors, oddly. At least that's what the guys say.
 
The last time I bought a v-belt at AA they went through the spill and I said it would just save a lot of time if we could just stick it on the belt measuring tool. The guy said we don't have one of those. I said yes you do. He said no we don't. I walked around the counter and to the endcao of the belts and low and behold there hung a belt measuring stick. I said here now measure it. He said he'll I didn't even know what that thing was much less how to use it. So I had to school him on it.
He never did figure it out. Dumbass
 
I have a good parts guy. I sent him a text the other day asking for a certain length v belt. He walked one across the road. Told me to try it that night, if it worked, stop by the store the next day to pay for it. Turned out to be an inch too long. Then he asked me what I was doing. Told him the ac comp clutch died and just wanted to bypass the comp to run the alt. He did some research and cross referencing and brought me the right belt.
 
What's the make, year, and kw of the generator?
 
Serial number please, then we can help on gens.
 
Blkvoodoo said:
I HATE that Advance Auto bought CQ,
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Are you sure? They all keep telling me that CQ, is buying AA & AZ! Anyway, they all sell the same parts, even Napy. Example = I needed a PS pump, searched AA & Napa on -line, & both sites showed the same pump. The one pictured, had a dented reservoir > same rebuilder.
 
Advance bought car quest, from what an advance employee told me. I didn't know about it but made some fun when I asked for 10' of heater hose and they pulled it out of a box with car quest logos on it.

Around here auto zone is the worst and napa is the best.
 
The guy that works at advance told me that almost all of car quests stuff is cheaper than advance even with his employee discount. He was saying I could pull the part number take it to car quest Pay for it there and if its not in stock go across the street to advance and pick it up. Idk if that's true or how it works but he said be did it all the time
 
shawn said:
What's the make, year, and kw of the generator?
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It's a mil MEP016....with a Mitsubishi 12v starter...so even my generator is a mix-and-match, like my Jeeps.

My front axle is a mix of Jeep, chevy, ford, and international parts....I don't even know what to ask for part to part...it had better have numbers stamped on it.
 
A friend of mine used to be assistant manager at that store and he knew stuff, when he left i was heart broke. Steve is pretty good also. The problem is they don't pay anyone that works there enough to know anything. When they get someone that is pretty sharp they work there just long enough to find a better paying job.
 
The lady at the AutoZone annoys me everytime. I go in there and say I have a commercial account.

"What's the name?"
"S....C...H...O...C...H....Auto"
Does not type, just looks at me. "How do you say that?"
"Shuck Auto"
Just stares at the screen
"S....C...H...O...C...H....Auto"
Starts typing.....

Seriously, if I spell it just type it, no chance in hell you will spell it right if I just say it. :lol:
 
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