Re: Is AUTO ZONE REALLY that bad to you guy's????

From: John_Neff@Dell.com
Date: Thu Mar 28 2002 - 18:00:51 EST


<snip>
 You guy's really don't like the 'ZONE ?
 or is it just one or two stores in particular?
<unsnip>

The Autozones in Pflugerville and Round Rock Tx are very good. The people
there are helpful and willing to listen if it's obvious you know more about
your ride than they do. The store in Georgetown Tx OTOH sucks eggs. They are
slow, inconsistent and the two times I was in there one of the guys was
BS'ing on the phone while the line of customers kept growing. The biggest
problem I have with Autozone is there limited parts availability. No
Autolite or Borg Warner. For those, I have to go to two other stores!

<snip>
You can't walk into a store and ask the counter person for a set of N14YC
Champions. You MUST tell them what make, model, year, engine, etc. Example:a
friend has a dirt late model stock car. He asks for a set of 8 Autolite #51
spark plugs. Their first response? What kind of car? He says I want the
plugs. They say what kind of car? So, he tells them, 2001 Pontiac Grand
Prix. "What engine?" Here comes the good part. So he tells them. depending
on which engine is in it, he tells them "380." The Zoner says he can't find
it, are you sure it's not a 3800? No, 380, he says, and the Zoner says no
way, the computer doesn't list it. He tells them, "I know what it is, I put
it in", and the Zoner tells him he doesn't have a 380, let alone a V8. he
tells them, fine, I'll take it out and put in the 434. Just give me the
plugs. They guy says he can't, because it's not in his computer. One guy
there was fired because a guy asked for a part for his car and the Zoner
knew what it was, so he got the part and sold the guy what he wanted. That
was a no-no, because he didn't look it up in the computer. I wanted spark
plugs for my bike, and told them the type of plugs I wanted. Had to go
through the drill, and he said they don't list that plug for my bike. Not
that it wouldn't fit, they didn't list it. I asked if he would cross
reference it, and was told, no, we don't have that, we go by the computer. I
said, fine, me too, and took my $$ to the NAPA. This is when I was told a
Corvair water pump must be a dealer item because it wasn't listed in their
computer.
<unsnip>

This is a classic example of my experience in the Georgetown store. The
other two will happily pull whatever part you tell them you want.

There are good stores, and there are bad stores. You just have to keep an
open mind whenever you go into a new one.

John
http://jndneff.home.texas.net/dakota/dakota.html
<http://jndneff.home.texas.net/dakota/dakota.html>



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