hey...i decided to get the word out, so i made my story of partsource a whole new thread...DIE PARTSOURCE, DIE





Well, got the oil change done...came out good, except for the POOR service at Partsource. They were horrible! There is two filters available for the '94 5.8...A longer one, and a shorter one....I told my Mom to get the SAME serial as the one i read her over the phone while she was at partsource...I read the serial right from the filter. But according to Partsource, that filter didnt exist. Oh, I imagined it. Hmmm... So they gave her one, and it was the wrong one. Good ol Murphy's law for ya...So we bring it back, and the guys like i cant take that..(no big deal, it's 5 bucks)
So i looked bummed, cuz now im stuck with a bum filter, so the guys like "i cant sell that to a customer, it's of no damn use to me...He was a real smartass about it...He's like it';s not my fault you got the wrong one...Maybe you should learn your stuff first"...That was it...I was like who the HELL said I was complaining? Inever said anything! It's five bucks, no big deal! He's like...well i own the store, son...I'm like i dont care, i never asked for your life story, and your not my Dad, so dont call me son.I asked for a Fram oil filter,pal. thats it. he responds with "you always talk to your elders that way"? I was about ready to snap...so i did...JUST GIVE ME THE DAMN OIL FILTER!" So he shut up, and gave it to me...I purposely left my member card on the counter,and he called back, "you forgot ur member card, son." I walked over to the counter, and picked it up bent it in half, and threw it at him. (not a nice thing, but given the circumstances)
So I will NEVER ever shop there again.For all those in/around windsor, it is the partsource on howard...seeing as we have two...:

 

HI!... I agree totally!!!!! The guys in the parts department at CANADIAN TIRE or PARTSOURCE are all idiots!!!!!! If the computer in front of them does'nt show it. Then "IT" does'nt exist. I went to CT a few weeks ago. It was a saturday. I asked for a price on a brand new set of premium front rotors and pads for my F-150. The parts guys told me they were $89.51(CAN) each and the pads were $61.80(CAN). I then asked him if they had any rotors in stock. He said we have 6 rotors in stock. This was at 6:00p.m. I had no money on me at the time so I said I would come back SUNDAY morning and buy two front rotors. So I get there at 10:00A.M SUNDAY morning and go to get my rotors. The parts guy goes in the back to get them. He's gone for about 15 minutes and comes back. He checks the part # again and then go back in the back again. He's gone for another 15 minutes. He finally comes back and tells me that the computer says they have 6 front rotors for my truck but he can't find any. So he calls the next closest CT store and they tell him that they have 4 front rotors for my truck at $89.51(CAN) each. I tell him to get them to check if they PHYSICALLY have them in stock, and not what the computer tells them. I had to wait about 10 minutes and then the guy gets word on the phone that the OTHER CT store does'nt have any either. So he calls the other store here in WINDSOR. (We have three). Now this guy tells us over the phone that he has 4 front rotors for my truck at $89.51(CAN) each. So we ask him to go find them PHYSICALLY. Another 10 minutes goes by and he tells us over the phone that he does'nt have any either. So I ask the parts guy to call the CT store in ESSEX. It's about 35 minutes away in a smaller town. Now that CT store says they have two front rotors for my truck at $89.51(CAN). So we ask HIM to go see if he PHYSICALLY has them in stock. 10 minutes goes by and he tells us over the phone that he can't find them either. So as a last resort I get the parts guy to call the CT store that's in LEAMINGTON. Now this store is about 45 minutes away, a few towns from WINDSOR. Now we call them up and they say that they have 6 front rotors for my truck. So again I ask for them to PHYSICALLY find them. 10 minutes goes by and the other CT store tells us over the phone that he only has 2 front rotors for my truck in stock. So I tell him to hold them for me under my name and that I'll be out there in 1 hour to pick them up. So now I hall a$$ all the way out there to gets these rotors. I wasted a 1/4 tank of gas getting there. I get there and go to the parts counter. I tell the guy what I wanted and he gets the rotors. I make him open the boxes to MAKE SURE they are the right ones. They are. Now I bring them up to the cashier and the cashier tells me they are $133(CAN) EACH!!!!!!!!! I say WHAT!!!!!!!!! They are $89.519CAN0 each, not $133(CAN) each. She argue's with me so I set the rotors off to the side and go back to the parts counter. He looks the prices up on his computer and it shows that store's price on my rotors and all the other CT store's prices on my rotors. Every other CT tire store has my rotors listed at $89.51(CAN) each but....... this CT store!!!!!!!! I demand to see the parts department manager. She come's over and I explain "EVERYTHING" to her very politely. She starts get b!tchy and asks me if I'm telling her how to do her job. I got pissed of with her at this moment and said "YES" because some body should know how to do your job. Her customer service SUCKED bigtime. Now she starts geting mouthy with me. I told her that she can't be selling the same part for more than the other CT stores do. She say they charge more because the rotors came from the U.S and they are farther from the border than the other stores. She then got mouthy again so I grabbed the boxes of rotors and threw them on the floor and proceeded to walk out. She started to yell at me to come back and pick them up. I just called her the four letter "C" word that woman luv so much and continued to walk out. She then said she was going to call security. I yelled back, "GO AHEAD"! The time they get here I'll already be on my way back home. I left. I then drove all the way back to WINDSOR and went back to the 1ST CT store I was at. I explained to them what happened at the LEAMINGTON CT store. That CT store's service manager called her up at the LEAMINGTON CT store and asked why their prices were so much more. She again told him about them being farther away from the border than the other stores. He then started yelling at that they get all their brake parts here in CANADA from LONDON, which is closer to that store than any of the others!!!!!!! He then told her that he was going to report her to the CT corperation head quarters and hung up on her. I then had to place a order for my front rotors and got them the next day for $89.51(CAN) each. IDIOTS!!!!!!!!! By the way I ended up wasting a half tank of gas ging out there and back!!! Let's just say I was pissed. Never again!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yup, my most recent event was while putting a remote start / keyless entry into a friends F-150. Anyone who has done this knows that there are two relays needed for the door locks. I send my friend to the local Auto-Zone with the scamatic for the door locks from the instruction manual. I told him "show the guy at the part store this & tell him you need these two relays". He showed back up with the wrong relays. So, I went back with him & talked to the same guy. He had a bit of an attitude & told me your friend asked for two 30 amp relays. I told him "well, you gave him the wrong ones". We got his $$ back & drove to a NAPA where I had bought these relays before. I told the guy what I needed and he went through the "what kind of vehicle are they for" deal. I expalined what I was doing and he told me I need to go to a specialty store. ???? I then told him that I had bought them there before..."I know you have them". He wouldn't let me go back and go through the relays they had in stock. I finally grabbed the catalog from across the counter and showed him what I wanted.

Guess what....they had 5 in stock!

 

Alot of them guys in part stores are "want-a-be" real mechanics but just couldn't make it. Some of them DON'T even know how to look things up in the damn book you have to take the book from them and do it for them.

Anyway as far as the FRAM oil filter DITCH it quick they really suck and are not good quality at all. Use a Motorcraft filter if you really want a good one.

 

HI!... I've been running the FRAM XP filter on my truck for over 4 years now and have never had a problem. I've actually cut many filters apart and they all pretty much look the same IMO.

 

I hear ya, especially about auto zone. I prefer auto zone because they usually have the cheapest prices and give a lifetime warranty on all of their parts but the idiots that work there are worthless. I hate the kids that can only look stuff up on the computer.

My latest one was going in for a bottle of touch up paint. I went to the paint section and all they had was the spray cans. The nearest guy says that they keep the bottles in the back. So I go up to the guy and tell him I need a bottle of touch up paint for ford silver color code XX (I forget what it is now but I looked at it on the sticker right before I walked in) He proceeds to go through the what vehicle is it for deal. Rather than argue with one of these idiots I amused him and told him 01, F150, 4.6, 2WD. (do they not offer the silver for for 5.4's or 4WD's?). So anyways he looks it up and says it's not in the computer, your truck must be too new. I tell him it's ford silver color code XX, the same one they have been using for years, why don't you just go find the bottle that says color code XX? The response I get, "It's not in the computer, we don't have it". I tell him fine look it up for a '97. Same response from the computer, N/A. I tell the kid fine, forget it I'll go across the street.

Walk across the street to Kragen and go their paint section.(they keep the bottles out front) Took me about 10 seconds to find the silver bottle that said Ford color code XX.

I walked back across the street and went back to the kid and said "I just got this across the street, it's what I needed, didn't you say that they didn't make it for my truck?". The response "I'm sorry sir, the computer said we didn't have it". I tell the kid next time to take 2 minutes out of his busy (yeah right) schedule and go look for something, it will make all the difference in the world to the customer.

 

We have several Discount Auto Parts stores(Now Advanced Auto Parts) here in town. Everytime you go in there and need something that this on one of the isles and need help, you have to stand there for probably 5 minutes for someone to ask if you need any help. I am usually like Duh, I would not have stood here for so long if I didn't need any help. several workers will walk right by you, too. I went in there a few weeks ago and was looking for some car wash and wax for my truck. I stood at the isle for 10 min. looking while a worker stood right there next to me and never said a word. I was doing this on purpose just to see if she would ever ask me if I needed any help. I have had the same problems with them about not knowing what they are doing. We brought a battery for my dads truck right a Christmas. We told the guy it was for a Ford Ranger and gave him the engine size. He asked if it was a side or top post battery. We told him we thought that it was a top post. At first he didn't even look at the computer to see which one we needed. He just looked at the rack and said they did not have any. he then went and looked at the ccomputer, and guess what? They had just gotten some in on a truck. He had to did through the pallets and boxes and we could hear him complaining about that. That is the way that store is. They are not very knowledgeable(even though they think they are) about the products that they are selling. We are going to keep having this problem until they either learn what they are doing or learn to be more friendly to their customers.

 

Just my opinion, but you can't judge a franchise store by the experience in one.

My local AutoZone gives good service, and overall is one of the best parts places I've used. Pep Boys locally isn't that bad, but they seem to have a hard time finding things.

Keep in mind that these people deal with a lot of car and trucks variables..... we may know what we need for our 19XX F-150 but chances are the guy behind the counter doesn't have the same vehicle.

The best place that used to exist locally for knowledge was a performance parts place. They knew their stuff, and had a much better selection of aftermarket mods as well. They even had little performance stuff, indexing washers and the like. They went out of business a few years back. My guess is that we (the enthusiasts/modders/fanatics) are by far the minority, so there is more money to be made selling basic DIY type stuff.

 

Here's my story.

I had heard about the K&N air filter and was getting coaxed to get on for my F-150. One day my wife wanted to stop at the local fabrics store, which was next to an AutoZone.

I walked into the parts store and went right to the counter. I was asked: "Can I help you?" I said yes, I would like a K&N air filter for an 01 F-150. He looked up K&N and found nothing.
Then he asked for make, model, year, and engine. While he is working the keyboard I'm wondering if my expectations were to high thinking I had given all the informtion he needed except engine. The screen comes up, and he says "we don't carry that air filter for your vehicle." I respond: "oh,,, well,,, do you know where I can get one? He says: "No, I have never heard of that brand."

I still have time to kill, so I browse around and end up by the air filters where I find a full selection of K&N air filters and K&N oil filters. I fiind my truck in the book, select the right filter and take it right to his counter. He was the only one busy with a customer, but now really have time to wait for him.

When my turn comes, I get the standard question: "Did you find everything ok?" I said: "Yes! I found what I was looking for." He looks at the box which has a large "K & N" on it, looks at me and says: "I don't even know we had these!?"

I can see that!