Rock Auto customer service sucks

[Zukey14]

I recently purchased 5 spicer ujoints to replace all the joints in my drive shafts. I tore down my shafts which was quite a process considering they were stock ujoints on a 1997 tj that has lived its whole life in Michigan. When I went to install my new joints I had four of the correct part number and one incorrect. Frustrated I went online and let them know so they could replace it, thinking they would just send me the correct part and it would only delay me a few days. Well when I got the email from their customer service they said I would need to fedex the part back so they could verify it was wrong prior to sending me my new part. Now a few days is likely to be more than a week. Also in Michigan we are on COV-19 lockdown, in my county we have the highest number of cases in the state so I am trying not to travel much. They gave me the option to return with fedex for free but I would need to somehow print a label and I dont have a printer (I normally use the one at work, but I cant go there) and I need to drop it off at a fedex location. So I checked the option to have the USPS mail it from my mail box and the charge was $40.86! I realize thats not RA's fault but this is now a big hassle to send this back so I asked the customer service rep if under the circumstances if they could just send the part. He replied with a flat out no, basically said its your responsibility to send it back if you want a new part. So its my job to jump through hoops to correct their mistake!

For $17 amazon prime will have it to my door in 2-3 days. I buy most of my parts from Rock Auto but honestly this is terrible service. I could understand if it was a $150 part but this is $17 and extenuating circumstances. I am reasonable, and I will send the part back but with the shipping delays and everything going on you would think they would at least make an effort to make fixing their mistake as painless as possible. Now they lost the sale, because I am still returning it, just later but they lost future sales as well.

Rant over

 

[Rubicon John]

Did you ask them if you could email them a picture of the incorrect part next to the correct ones?

Sorry you have to deal with this. I hate getting the wrong parts.

 

[mrblaine]

I recently purchased 5 spicer ujoints to replace all the joints in my drive shafts. I tore down my shafts which was quite a process considering they were stock ujoints on a 1997 tj that has lived its whole life in Michigan. When I went to install my new joints I had four of the correct part number and one incorrect. Frustrated I went online and let them know so they could replace it, thinking they would just send me the correct part and it would only delay me a few days. Well when I got the email from their customer service they said I would need to fedex the part back so they could verify it was wrong prior to sending me my new part. Now a few days is likely to be more than a week. Also in Michigan we are on COV-19 lockdown, in my county we have the highest number of cases in the state so I am trying not to travel much. They gave me the option to return with fedex for free but I would need to somehow print a label and I dont have a printer (I normally use the one at work, but I cant go there) and I need to drop it off at a fedex location. So I checked the option to have the USPS mail it from my mail box and the charge was $40.86! I realize thats not RA's fault but this is now a big hassle to send this back so I asked the customer service rep if under the circumstances if they could just send the part. He replied with a flat out no, basically said its your responsibility to send it back if you want a new part. So its my job to jump through hoops to correct their mistake!

For $17 amazon prime will have it to my door in 2-3 days. I buy most of my parts from Rock Auto but honestly this is terrible service. I could understand if it was a $150 part but this is $17 and extenuating circumstances. I am reasonable, and I will send the part back but with the shipping delays and everything going on you would think they would at least make an effort to make fixing their mistake as painless as possible. Now they lost the sale, because I am still returning it, just later but they lost future sales as well.

Rant over

Their customer service is perfect if you follow a few rules. The rules are not unreasonable and the only reason you fucked it up is the lack of a 25 dollar printer. That isn't their fault, buy a damn printer.

 

[Rubicon John]

Their customer service is perfect if you follow a few rules. The rules are not unreasonable and the only reason you fucked it up is the lack of a 25 dollar printer. That isn't their fault, buy a damn printer.

It is their fault that they sent him the wrong part. He paid for a part that he did not receive.

They should expedite him the correct part if he can show them through a picture that he has the wrong part.

It’s poor customer service that they did not offer that option from the get go, or perhaps ship him the correct part with a return label for the incorrect part.

It’s not My responsibility to have a printer on hand for someone else’s mistake.

 

[Chris]

For $17 amazon prime will have it to my door in 2-3 days.

And now you know why I almost always order from Amazon. Assuming it's a part that is fulfilled by Amazon and is the same price or cheaper than the same part somewhere else, I'll pick Amazon every single time.

Amazon's customer service will never second guess you, always refund you immediately, pay for return shipping if anything is damaged, etc.

Obviously this great customer service only applies to items fulfilled by Amazon (though some third party sellers are just as good as well, just depends on the seller).

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I don't use Rock Auto, and I don't think I probably ever will.

 

[mrblaine]

It is their fault that they sent him the wrong part. He paid for a part that he did not receive.

They should expedite him the correct part if he can show them through a picture that he has the wrong part.

Oh bullshit. You don't think I can get a picture of the wrong part from somewhere and send it in to get a spare? The reason customer service has the rules that it does is because of all the asshats before you that scammed them.

It’s poor customer service that they did not offer that option from the get go, or perhaps ship him the correct part with a return label for the incorrect part.

It's only poor customer service if you have never sold a single thing in your life. Go sell a few things to the public and get back to me. After about a month you figure out real quick if you don't have rules and follow them, you'll get fucked hard.

It’s not My responsibility to have a printer on hand for someone else’s mistake.

Everyone makes mistakes. Rules are in place to solve them satisfactorily on both sides. If you don't want to own a cheap printer to expedite that process, then put up with the process that dictates or solve it with a cheap printer.

 

[mrblaine]

And now you know why I almost always order from Amazon. Assuming it's a part that is fulfilled by Amazon and is the same price or cheaper than the same part somewhere else, I'll pick Amazon every single time.

Amazon's customer service will never second guess you, always refund you immediately, pay for return shipping if anything is damaged, etc.

Obviously this great customer service only applies to items fulfilled by Amazon (though some third party sellers are just as good as well, just depends on the seller).

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I don't use Rock Auto, and I don't think I probably ever will.

That's not entirely true Chris. If you tell the truth on every return, you will not get what you are describing. That and deciding not to use Rock Auto over this bullshit is fucking stupid and you aren't. RA does 1000's of transactions a day. How many per day are on here bitching about something easily solved?

 

[mrblaine]

And now you know why I almost always order from Amazon. Assuming it's a part that is fulfilled by Amazon and is the same price or cheaper than the same part somewhere else, I'll pick Amazon every single time.

Amazon's customer service will never second guess you, always refund you immediately, pay for return shipping if anything is damaged, etc.

Obviously this great customer service only applies to items fulfilled by Amazon (though some third party sellers are just as good as well, just depends on the seller).

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I don't use Rock Auto, and I don't think I probably ever will.

Better yet, how about a deal on a set of Super 16 knuckles from some shop up in your neck of the woods? My packaging guy put the wrong set in a kit. The asshole shop drilled them out for bolts and rod end steering. Then they complained they had the wrong ones, I sent them the right ones right away and a return label for shipping the wrong ones back. Only upon receiving them did I discover the drilling so now I have a set of useless knuckles they ruined. Who do I charge back for that shit? Conveniently they have decided to ignore any correspondence asking what they would like to do to resolve their fuck up.

 

[Chris]

That's not entirely true Chris. If you tell the truth on every return, you will not get what you are describing.

My experience with Amazon is that if you don't want it, you have to pay return shipping.

If you report it as damaged, missing pieces, etc., they pay return shipping.

Unless it's a high dollar item, they refund they money at the end of the business say after UPS scans the return label.

So if I ordered a part from Amazon and they sent me the wrong part, all I have to do is go to my account online, start the return, choose "wrong item" from the drop down, and they pay return shipping, easy as that.

That's been my experience every single time, never had a problem with a return once.

I have no personal experience with Rock Auto, so I can't comment on their customer service whatsoever.

 

[Chris]

Better yet, how about a deal on a set of Super 16 knuckles from some shop up in your neck of the woods? My packaging guy put the wrong set in a kit. The asshole shop drilled them out for bolts and rod end steering. Then they complained they had the wrong ones, I sent them the right ones right away and a return label for shipping the wrong ones back. Only upon receiving them did I discover the drilling so now I have a set of useless knuckles they ruined. Who do I charge back for that shit? Conveniently they have decided to ignore any correspondence asking what they would like to do to resolve their fuck up.

Care to mention the name of the shop (if not, I understand)? I'm just curious, since maybe they have a reputation. That seems like a pretty dick thing to do on their part.

I ordered a Currie Antirock on Amazon when they were on sale a while back.

I received it and it looked like someone beat the shit out of the end of the shaft with a BFH, as the splines were mushroomed so much it was unusable.

Fortunately I got my money back, but clearly someone else had used and returned that Antirock before I got it.

 

[mrblaine]

My experience with Amazon is that if you don't want it, you have to pay return shipping.

Exactly, they do not have a no questions asked return policy.

If you report it as damaged, missing pieces, etc., they pay return shipping.

And how many lie about that?

Unless it's a high dollar item, they refund they money at the end of the business say after UPS scans the return label.

Again, not a no questions asked policy, it does have qualifications.

So if I ordered a part from Amazon and they sent me the wrong part, all I have to do is go to my account online, start the return, choose "wrong item" from the drop down, and they pay return shipping, easy as that.

That's been my experience every single time, never had a problem with a return once.

I have no personal experience with Rock Auto, so I can't comment on their customer service whatsoever.

I just had to return a long heavy driveshaft to RA. They gave me the option of paying their price for the shipping label. For 7 bucks, I'll take it.

 

[Rubicon John]

Oh bullshit. You don't think I can get a picture of the wrong part from somewhere and send it in to get a spare? The reason customer service has the rules that it does is because of all the asshats before you that scammed them.

It's only poor customer service if you have never sold a single thing in your life. Go sell a few things to the public and get back to me. After about a month you figure out real quick if you don't have rules and follow them, you'll get fucked hard.


Everyone makes mistakes. Rules are in place to solve them satisfactorily on both sides. If you don't want to own a cheap printer to expedite that process, then put up with the process that dictates or solve it with a cheap printer.

You lay the invoice out with the parts you received and take a picture. Of all the u-joints. 4 correct ones and 1 incorrect one. Very simple.

My wife runs a customer service team with 20 employees under her for a large company that is sales focused. The fact that they tried to do nothing short of making the customer do extra work to get what he paid for is poor customer service. Rock auto is not a mom and pop shop that can’t afford to send out a $17 part when their error caused their customer to get the wrong one.

Everyone indeed does make mistakes. As a consumer I’d take my business elsewhere if the vendor I purchased from didn’t do everything to help me out when they messed up, assuming we’re talking about a generic $17 item that I could buy anywhere.

 

[mrblaine]

Care to mention the name of the shop (if not, I understand)? I'm just curious, since maybe they have a reputation. That seems like a pretty dick thing to do on their part.

I'd have to look it up but it was not any that post on here. But it illustrates why policies are in place and have to be followed.

 

[mrblaine]

You lay the invoice out with the parts you received and take a picture. Of all the u-joints. 4 correct ones and 1 incorrect one. Very simple.

I lost the invoice, it's right next to the printer I don't own.

My wife runs a customer service team with 20 employees under her for a large company that is sales focused. The fact that they tried to do nothing short of making the customer do extra work to get what he paid for is poor customer service. Rock auto is not a mom and pop shop that can’t afford to send out a $17 part when their error caused their customer to get the wrong one.

Everyone indeed does make mistakes. As a consumer I’d take my business elsewhere if the vendor I purchased from didn’t do everything to help me out when they messed up, assuming we’re talking about a generic $17 item that I could buy anywhere.

Go elsewhere then.

 

[Rubicon John]

I lost the invoice, it's right next to the printer I don't own.


Go elsewhere then.

The invoice was mailed with the incorrect parts. In the same box.

 

[Rubicon John]

Better yet, how about a deal on a set of Super 16 knuckles from some shop up in your neck of the woods? My packaging guy put the wrong set in a kit. The asshole shop drilled them out for bolts and rod end steering. Then they complained they had the wrong ones, I sent them the right ones right away and a return label for shipping the wrong ones back. Only upon receiving them did I discover the drilling so now I have a set of useless knuckles they ruined. Who do I charge back for that shit? Conveniently they have decided to ignore any correspondence asking what they would like to do to resolve their fuck up.

Should have had them send you a picture of the wrong one.

 

[Zukey14]

Their customer service is perfect if you follow a few rules. The rules are not unreasonable and the only reason you fucked it up is the lack of a 25 dollar printer. That isn't their fault, buy a damn printer.

Even if I had the printer I still have to go out to Fedex while under quarantine, I would have to pay to get the service to have them pick it up. I have worked in sales all my life and never would I expect my customer to jump through hoops like that. Its called listening to the needs of the customer, and managing risk but hiding behind your "process" over a $17 part is weak and shows they don't care. They give you the script and don't care if you are happy or not. This is their mistake and its their responsibility to make it right.

Sure I should have a printer in my house to use it at most 2 times a year, makes total sense to buy ink every time I need to print something because it gets used so infrequently that it dies up. I dont have a printer because I dont need one and if they had done the job I paid them to do, I still wouldn't need one. I even said in the post under normal circumstances I would follow the process there are some extenuating circumstances going on if you haven't noticed. So get off your high and mighty horse because this is terrible business sense.

Also I agree with Chris on Amazon, their customer service sets the standard, and I will pay more to go with them over rock auto from now on. I would tell you how the return process would work with Amazon if I got the wrong part but I don't know because they have never shipped me the wrong part. I get it mistakes happen but not working with people to fix your problems is the issue. I would return the part when all the COV-19 stuff is over. Yes I am asking them to risk $17! HOLY COW THATS UNREASONABLE!

 

[pagrey]

Anybody reading this that is interested in taking advantage of these Amazon folks that don't mind spending "a little" extra for customer service might search for local warehouses that Amazon contracts with to sell off their returns. You can get tons of stuff for pennies on the dollar. Bulldog Liquadators is local to me.

 

[Rob5589]

RA is huge but, sending out a "17 dollar part" over and over adds up. A "mom and pop" shop could do the same once or twice due to their low volume and not lose their shirt. People want instant gratification nowadays, yet won't drive 10 mins to a local shop to make a purchase. Regardless if RA sucks or not, buying parts online can be a crap shoot, if the wrong parts get sent. Best to check that you have the correct stuff before tearing things apart.

 

[Apparition]

In my experience the best customer service has been Crutchfield.

Amazon is second. Had this been an Amazon error they’d have likely said keep the wrong one and refunded the money.

Just last week Amazon did that for a $12.50 item that had no mounting screws included. I go on chat and asked them to send screws but they couldn’t so they refunded and said re-order.