Getting pissed at rock Auto

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volaredon

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I ordered some pistons and cam bearings from them on 12/7.
I ordered a rear main seal, a set of freeze plugs and a timing set from them on 12/14.
I have my 12/14 order in land already.
All that I can find out is that a shipping label has been created on the pistons order.
Nothing that says they have actually left the warehouse. The pistons are holding me and the machine shop up.
I found n actual phone number for them azzholes but all I get when I call is a bunch of recording's saying they don't do customer service by phone, refer to the f@ckin website and hunt/peck thru the FAQs. Lotta good that does. There is ONE number they say to push for a receptionist, and every time I try I get ANOTHER recording saying that the receptionist is away from the desk leave a message. What a damn circle jerk.

I have ordered there many times before, and it always seems that the speed at which something is shipped is directly related to how much of a hurry you are in (or not) for a given part.
For those who say "go somewhere else" I would have if anyone else has shown stock of 0.020 over, slant 6 pistons.
Yet they didn't have the rings, had to get those from summit, yet summit didnt have pistons.
 
my very first order with them was about 5 years ago. it was a complete cluster FK. that was my only order. never again.
 
volaredon said:
I ordered some pistons and cam bearings from them on 12/7.
I ordered a rear main seal, a set of freeze plugs and a timing set from them on 12/14.
I have my 12/14 order in land already.
All that I can find out is that a shipping label has been created on the pistons order.
Nothing that says they have actually left the warehouse. The pistons are holding me and the machine shop up.
I found n actual phone number for them azzholes but all I get when I call is a bunch of recording's saying they don't do customer service by phone, refer to the f@ckin website and hunt/peck thru the FAQs. Lotta good that does. There is ONE number they say to push for a receptionist, and every time I try I get ANOTHER recording saying that the receptionist is away from the desk leave a message. What a damn circle jerk.

I have ordered there many times before, and it always seems that the speed at which something is shipped is directly related to how much of a hurry you are in (or not) for a given part.
For those who say "go somewhere else" I would have if anyone else has shown stock of 0.020 over, slant 6 pistons.
Yet they didn't have the rings, had to get those from summit, yet summit didnt have pistons.
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That sucks. I won’t buy from them because you can’t get a human on the phone. Ever. I’m too old to deal with a bunch of web pages and crapola.

You are between the proverbial rock and a hard place. You didn’t have much choice.
 
I don't like them because they charge you multiple shipping charges If you order 3 different items and they come from 3 different locations they charge you 3 separate shipping charges.
 
It depends on how much I order from each shipping place, if only 1 thing from alternate warehouse I'll usually delete it unless it's kind of expensive.
I agree about it being BS, not being able to physically talk to somebody.
And I never order anything there that requires a core charge
 
I have found that you need to go all the way through the buying process and then review just before you click the "submit order" to see what it is really going to cost and when you might see it. I was about to order a new bumper cover for my son's 13 Dart Rally, it was $61 and I thought "awesome" until I saw it was $192 in freight...

They also don't really know what are listing in many cases. I once was looking at 1970 426 Hemi motor mounts; they listed some for a 70 Roadrunner but even though they said "right and left" they were the same mount (which they aren't) but then they had the opposite for a 70 Charger.

You really have to look at whatever you are wanting to buy.
 
I get they are trying to keep costs down, but how much business are they losing by not having real people to help.

I used to order a lot from them, but its been awhile since.
 
I still doesn't matter if the parts are coming from 4 different warehouses. The amount you pay is still less than you can buy the parts for local. I've compared it to many times. Sometimes there is a shipping delay, especially this time of year with this Covid crap going on and the Holliday seasons.
 
I've been buying from them for many years. I think I only had a minor problem only once. As said above, even with shipping from 3 different warehouses anything is still cheaper than the local parts houses.
A guy down the street works on a lot of customer cars, mostly paint and body work. He was working on a guys 69 Road Runner and needed to rebuild the front end. He doesn't have a computer and does nothing online. I got him all of the Moog part numbers. I told him I could order it and save him some money. He told me the parts must be seconds. Anyhow I priced my list, and it was around $350.00. He declined, and ordered the stuff from our Car Quest that he said he gets a discount from. A couple weeks later, I stopped by and he had gotten all of the parts. He said it cost him right at a thousand bucks for the same parts. What a fool?
 
heres what is really pissing me off. Pistons have to be pressed on the rods and it is best for the machine shop to have them on hand to bore the engine. While I dont like the possibiliuty of having to order pistons twice because an engine needed bored more than they "guess" it might be, they do have mine rough bored so they could get me an answer on which pistons Id need. Now Rockauto is not only holding me up, they are also holding up the machine shop up in completing this job. I NEEDED those pistons and cam bearings before I needed the timing set and freeze plugs, the pistons were ordered a week before the timing chain and freeze plugs but are not here yet. and the timing chain and freeze plugs which I can pop in right here without needing the machine shop to do for me, are here already.... Doesnt make sense.
 
yellow rose said:
I’m too old to deal with a bunch of web pages and crapola.
Click to expand...
Yet here you are! :poke: lol

My issue with them is returning something. Had multiple customers that insisted on purchasing parts from RA only to have the part fail on install. Pull the part, return to sender and wait. This is why I try to buy parts like that local.
 
Have you gone to the KB - Silvolite web site and tried ordering the .020 os pistons directly from the manufacturer.
More than likely your pistons have not shipped because RA is finding the same thing that you already found, no one has .020 os pistons in stock.
That is why it is always best to have the pistons (and rings) in hand prior to machining the bores. Now you know why.
I know you said you did not know how much it would take to clean the bores up, any competent MS would be able to do that.
When you get to the RA ‘Attendant’ recording. Leave a voice message, try to contain the anger and leave a reasonable inquiry with a return phone number, I bet you get a call back.
 
yellow rose said:
That sucks. I won’t buy from them because you can’t get a human on the phone. Ever. I’m too old to deal with a bunch of web pages and crapola.

You are between the proverbial rock and a hard place. You didn’t have much choice.
Click to expand...

Don't you mean between a Rock Auto and a hard place??? :rofl::rofl::rofl::poke::realcrazy:
 
I'm with yellow rose, i only buy from places where i can talk to a human on the phone. The few times i have tried to buy anything on line have been horrible experiences, without fail. Never again.
 
Your shopping at '.99 Only' and expecting 'Nordstroms' customer service? I buy stuff from there when I got time to kill, ie. they have not gone bad yet! I got 2 sets of brake pads for my truck...they were $3.80 close outs! Whole Mazda MA timing kit (2 chains, 2 guides, tensioner and both cogs...$19.88!). Yeah, shop with caution and check the part numbers offered on other web sites to see if they match. The timing kit number had a K on the end and the standard chain and tensioner didnt so they priced the $$ kit as just the chain.
 
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RammerJammer75 said:
Yet here you are! :poke: lol

My issue with them is returning something. Had multiple customers that insisted on purchasing parts from RA only to have the part fail on install. Pull the part, return to sender and wait. This is why I try to buy parts like that local.
Click to expand...
That's why I never buy things like starters alternators, power steering pumps, calipers, and such from there, anything that requires a core. If there's a problem it's easier to go back to town and set it on the counter than to wait for shipping.
 
my68barracuda said:
Have you gone to the KB - Silvolite web site and tried ordering the .020 os pistons directly from the manufacturer.
More than likely your pistons have not shipped because RA is finding the same thing that you already found, no one has .020 os pistons in stock.
That is why it is always best to have the pistons (and rings) in hand prior to machining the bores. Now you know why.
I know you said you did not know how much it would take to clean the bores up, any competent MS would be able to do that.
When you get to the RA ‘Attendant’ recording. Leave a voice message, try to contain the anger and leave a reasonable inquiry with a return phone number, I bet you get a call back.
Click to expand...

With as often as I see RA listings that say "out of stock" (as did every brand/choice of rings for a slant 6 in more oversized choices than what I currently need) the pistons I need weren't. I got Silvolite brand coming, but the other choice they showed said "out of stock". These didn't. If that was the case then I wish they'd have listed them as such.

On another note, looking at ebay I see tons of 20-over stuff for a slant coming from Aussie land. With shipping costing more than I gave RA for the parts and shipping combined.

And many of the Aussie sourced parts were the same brand and PN that I am supposed to have coming from RA
 
It's better to be pissed off, than pissed on....
wetting-pants.gif
 
When i watched their commercial...
THAT was when knew I'd never buy from them.

Northern autoparts , especially for oddball stuff.
 
There IS an office somewhere, someone has to manage the influx of orders. My thoughts are, they just don't want to deal with anyone. I had a friend that owned speed parts store years back when the dot com era started. Once he started selling mail order, he closed his store down & relied on the monies rolling in. He's been taken to court a few times & won all but one of his cases due to the "fine print". I don't agree with this type of merchandising, but it comes with the electronic age we live in. I had someone approach me at a swap meet a while back & asked about something I was selling. We talked, I dropped my price a little & his comment was; "I can get the same part on the internet for half of what you are asking. I turned around & went back to sit in my chair without dignifying his comment with an answer.
 
Here's how how RA works... Its business model is very simple, RA doesn't own anything except the software and an office or two. They have contracts with automotive warehouses to drop ship parts to RA's customer's. RA takes the order, places the order with the warehouse, who places the parts in a RA box with a RA invoice, magnet etc. and sends it off to the end customer. RA takes their cut, pays the warehouses, everyone is happy.

It's a brilliant concept, just sit back and take in the money and not get your hands dirty. The warehouses may have a RA employee or two to take care of things "on site" or they may not, I don't know. Their software does interface with the warehouses, so I'm willing to bet that it also has a benefit of being a low cost/free inventory tracking system for the warehouses too.

The downside is that RA wouldn't have a lot of control and everything would have to be done via warehouses that may not have any true customer service. RA has also taken their own customer service and removed any personal phone service and if I had to place a bet, they just forward your complaint to the warehouse, who may or may not really care if you get your car together tomorrow or not.

I use RA occasionally. I often use their website to look up or verify part numbers and then order from Amazon...
 
I don't do Amazon, but I do often use their (RA) site as a look up tool
 
66fyssh said:
I get they are trying to keep costs down, but how much business are they losing by not having real people to help.

I used to order a lot from them, but its been awhile since.
Click to expand...

My company only communicates through web/email. We used to take phonecalls, but you get people who have nothing better to do than tie up a customer service rep ALL DAY and then the next day THEY CALL AGAIN.

The vast majority of people can't be concise and are so ignorant of their own lack of knowledge that it can take several days of conversations to even determine what their actual question is. We get between 200 and 500 inquiries a day. If we did it by phone we'd need 25+ operators. As it is, we have two guys who can keep up by email. Having fewer people doing customer service also cuts down on inconsistencies and errors - its hard to find good help these days, let alone 25+ qualified subject matter experts.
 
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