i like to call and ask for parts that arent even real. Like a canooter valve or flux capaciter or muffler bearings. it fun because they will be like "hold on a minute" then you hear someone laugh in the background and then then they pick back up "sir sorry but you will have to call the dealership" lol

 

Or blinker fluid. That's always fun. Or fillopian tubes

 

This has to be some of the funniest **** I've ever read on ordering parts. So, I'm not alone?
My bro had his ex call on parts a long time ago. Somewhere in the convo, a quip was, the truck is green (or blue, I forgot which ride he had back then). Does that help? It coulda been on either end of phone tho.

68haywagon nailed it, the right questions to ask are the key.

01Blue4.8, when did liquid nails move from paint to hardware?

TX Tahoe Z71, so you're sayin on an '03 Tahoe, size engine, flex fuel & $WD don't matter when gettin wiper blades?

cc21, think again. The worst ran co. to work for is...
As far as idiots, if mgmt. hired em, what does that say for mgmt.?

Like 454navyss, I too have tried the p/n only. Then, it begins. I just want the part!!!

Scott, I do blame the co's, not the people working there. Less pay in retail balances out w/. customers. That's fair, right? No answer needed.
Sorry buddy, but I really hate goin into what is now an O'Reillys. Or any parts place, incl. dealers. All they'll give is a price, no p/n. A good parts guy is like gold, no matter where they work. Treat em well!
Bumpers calling to ask for parts that aren't even real, like a canooter valve, flux capaciter or muffler bearings. Call Scott.

 

my dad and i went into a local autozone, in his camaro, he told the woman i need a water pump for a camaro with a 350, woman replied "who makes that".

 

Oh yeah forgot to add, try buyin a filter and gasket kit for like a old *** turbo 400. They ask, whats it out of, and I say....I have no idea, its been sitting in my buddies garage for like 10 years.....its eventually goin in my '85.....

so after 30 minutes of tryin to tell them the difference in the pan shapes I gave up....

 

Any parts place is going to be the same way. The only tools they give us to research parts are application driven tools. If someone doesn't tell me what year their "tree fiddy" is, I cannot access any part numbers to help assist them. Don't sit here and tell me that it doesn't matter what year it is, because honestly you have no idea and no experience in a parts house. Sure maybe 5% of those situations are the exception, where every part for that particular vehicle is the same, but I don't know that and I'm not going to take the chance. You have to realize how many different vehicles there are on the road.

If you go into a parts house with the attitude that we should know every part number for every make and model of car since the 1950s, then I'm sorry but you're **** out of luck. I've been in the business for over 2 years and I have learned more at work than I ever have in school. I don't get paid extra to go learn the skills and develop the knowledge I need for my job. I do it because I enjoy it and I like knowing that I do my job well. Is the pay worth it? Hell no.

For every parts guy you guys deal with that asks you dumb questions or gives you dumb answers, there are 30x as many dumb customers that I deal with on a daily basis. Half the people that walk in my door don't even know what kind of car they drive, let alone what engine size, SOHC or OHV, ABS or no ABS.

Also, a lot of the work I do is on pointless wastes of time like wiper blades, or oil change specials. There is a hard customer thrown in once or twice a day, but the majority is just crap, so don't get mad at your parts guys for not being ready for your custom truck problems. If that's all I dealt with on a daily basis, then yes I should and would be prepared for it, but that isn't the nature of the beast. I do get out of practice sometimes, because frankly there are a **** load of cars out there on the road, and I rarely deal with the same vehicle twice in a week (unless it's a ford).

Turn over is also something else you need to understand. A lot of employees you might come into contact with have under 1 year experience, and won't know all the products they sell. I'm fortunate to know the majority of the products I sell, and can walk directly to where they are and hand them to the customer. I've been around long enough to know of common mistakes that customers might make in choosing what parts to buy, or what models are more common than the other.

Trust me, real parts guys hate those idiots that give us a bad name, but the only reason we do it is because we enjoy it. Simply put, the amount of money we get paid reflects the service you receive. I put more effort into my job because I enjoy it, not for what I get paid.

 

Yeah scott, I guess you are right. There are a huge amount of dumbass people out there that have no business even trying to buy parts for their vehicles in the first place, much less attempting to install them.

I guess what I look for in a good parts guy is

1. He works on his own vehicles
2. He can give helpful tips based on his experiences
3. He's not afraid to look in the big book on the shelf for a part number when the computer doesnt show it
4. Has a basic knowledge of parts-When you say you need a filter for a T350 transmission he doesnt say "what year 350 motor did you say it was"? No, not the 350 as in engine, as in transmission.....
5. hes willing to look up 8 different things for you over the phone knowing theres a chance you'll never come in and buy em.

I agree the pay sucks for what the job requirements are. And I've had my *** saved several times by my parts guys, like one time I bought a new A/c compressor for a neighbors van, also bought a drier and an expansion valve. I loaded up on refridgerant and compressor oil.....he looks at me and says, why are you using the heavy viscosity oil, you know different systems take different grades of oil....well no I didnt know that. He looked it up on the 'puter and turns out it called for 46 weight oil, whereas I was buying like 120....lol I woulda blown that new 'pressor all to hell.

The 19 yr old girl that works the early shift wouldnt have known better and wouldnt have said **** and I woulda fugged up.

That kinda helpfullness deserves a better pay IMO.

 

Quit your bitching, its like that in most job fields. I know more than half the civil engineers I deal with and on occasion had to show them how they need to re-grade the site so it wouldnt turn into a pond or fix some problem. But guess what, I get paid half what they do and do their job because I dont have that piece of paper that says I wasted 4 years of my life and a 100K to say I know something but have no tangeable experience and grasp of how things actually work in the reall world and not in a text book.

Sorry Im done with my rant, just been quite annoyed lately about that fact of my life


On subject, I always like to mess with them and say I have an 01 silverado 5.3 4wd but its got an 05 6.0 out of a 2wd, the glazed eyes almost always ensue.

 

lol, yeah I work for a union....Pay is real good, but its the same ****, doesnt matter if you know twice as much or work twice as hard as the next guy, you both get paid the same. So its a bittering deal sometimes

 

I have no problem giving the parts guy as much info as they need...at Toyota/Lexus, you'll get the best results by giving the parts guy your vin. I realize this is the same for GM, which is why I keep an old copy of my registration in my wallet and just hand it to the parts counter guy before telling him what parts I need...but something as simple as a standard 5 pin relay shouldn't bring such glazed looks. If I had asked for chrome body accents I would have gotten a great response, and probably tips on how to install it I dunno, seems like some automotive knowledge should be a prerequisite...

I agree with you 100%...this is true in both parts and service...good mechanics feel the same way about the idiots and rip off artists that give us all a bad name

I have to say, as far as parts guys go, the guys that work at my dealership are some of the best, as is my buddy who is the parts manager at the GM dealership down the street. We all make mistakes, but these guys make less than most. I used to go to places that would give me the wrong part...every single time...and you usually don't find out until it's too late, and the vehicle that you're working on is disabled...and the vehicle that you're driving that day