Note: I tried to post this in the vendor reviews forum, but I had no permissions to do so. If appropriate, may the powers at be please move this thread over.
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The point of this review is to document the service that I got from RockAuto. I understand that many have had good experiences with them, but, unfortunately, my one and only interaction with them has not gone well.
A little background: I'm a college student, and I get a fairly decent discount at NAPA, as well as a smaller one at O'Reilly (due to their arrangements with my school). I was looking for parts to do a tuneup on my mark viii, as well as replace the alternator, and I figured I'd give RockAuto a shot, as I've heard good things about them.
On Thursday, March 12th I ordered ~$230 worth of parts from them, among them eight spark plugs (Motorcraft AWSF32E). Two of those sparkplugs came from one warehouse (the last two), and six came from another (inventory said there were 11 there).
I received an email the following afternoon, March 13th, stating:
"We are sorry to tell you our inventory records were incorrect and some items you ordered are out of stock." As it turns out, the incorrect inventory record was the 11 sparkplugs at the second warehouse. They actually only had 3, not 11. I quickly canceled those three, but the other two had already shipped out, and it was too late to cancel them.
I then sent a follow up email: "The parts that are out of stock are spark plugs, and I don't want to mix and match spark plugs. Because the plugs are in two different shipments (2 and 6, and the shipment with 2 plugs has already gone out), I'm going to have plugs that I can't use. Is there anything you can do to help me out here?"
I did not hear back until two days later, on the morning of Sunday, March 15th. Their response email stated:
"I apologize for the rest of the plugs being out of stock. The other wholesaler close out parts have already been shipped out. If you do not want to use them, please send them back using the Order Status and Return page. Because these are wholesaler close out products, you might want to weigh your options in returning them because it might be more expensive to return the product.
On the other hand, you might want to go to a Ford Dealer and see if they have the remaining six available so you can keep these ones and the great savings on them!
Thank you,
Ben C.
RockAuto Customer Service"
I responded to this email an hour and a half later:
"Hi Ben,
Yes, it's more expensive to ship them back. Similarly, it's quite a bit more expensive to get the remaining plugs from the dealer. The fact of the matter is this:
I'm a first-time purchaser from RockAuto, and I went in with a fairly large order because I had heard good things about you from others in person, as well as on three forums I'm a part of: Lincolns of Distinction, JeepForum.com, and NAGCA. I would not have purchased those plugs if I had known there were less than 8 in stock. Your website showed that there were more than 8 in stock (a combination from two different wholesalers, at two different locations). As it turns out, you really only had 5. They're not a large part of the order, but they still cost enough to affect me, as a student. I really don't feel that I should have to choose between eating the cost of the plugs, or eating the cost of return shipping because you lost track of how many plugs actually had.
As it stands, I get a pretty large discount with NAPA due to a relationship that they have with Cuesta College and Cal Poly here, so while RockAuto does still beat out Napa pricewise for me, it's not as much as it would be for others. And, at the end of the day, they've always made sure to do the right thing. I hope you guys do, too... because if not, the slightly lower prices that you have won't be enough to get me to come back in the future.
Regards, "
It has been two business days since my email, and I have not heard a peep.
It seems that RockAuto has good prices on parts. I can't comment on the quality of the parts, as my shipments haven't arrived yet... but I can say that their customer service is lacking. They would rather pass on the cost of their mistake (a couple of bucks, literally), and lose a customer, than eat the cost of the two spark plugs (1/30th of my total shipping cost), and do the right thing.
As it stands, I'll be going back to NAPA and Amazon, as both have stood by me on matters much bigger than a couple spark plugs.
------------------------------------------------
The point of this review is to document the service that I got from RockAuto. I understand that many have had good experiences with them, but, unfortunately, my one and only interaction with them has not gone well.
A little background: I'm a college student, and I get a fairly decent discount at NAPA, as well as a smaller one at O'Reilly (due to their arrangements with my school). I was looking for parts to do a tuneup on my mark viii, as well as replace the alternator, and I figured I'd give RockAuto a shot, as I've heard good things about them.
On Thursday, March 12th I ordered ~$230 worth of parts from them, among them eight spark plugs (Motorcraft AWSF32E). Two of those sparkplugs came from one warehouse (the last two), and six came from another (inventory said there were 11 there).
I received an email the following afternoon, March 13th, stating:
"We are sorry to tell you our inventory records were incorrect and some items you ordered are out of stock." As it turns out, the incorrect inventory record was the 11 sparkplugs at the second warehouse. They actually only had 3, not 11. I quickly canceled those three, but the other two had already shipped out, and it was too late to cancel them.
I then sent a follow up email: "The parts that are out of stock are spark plugs, and I don't want to mix and match spark plugs. Because the plugs are in two different shipments (2 and 6, and the shipment with 2 plugs has already gone out), I'm going to have plugs that I can't use. Is there anything you can do to help me out here?"
I did not hear back until two days later, on the morning of Sunday, March 15th. Their response email stated:
"I apologize for the rest of the plugs being out of stock. The other wholesaler close out parts have already been shipped out. If you do not want to use them, please send them back using the Order Status and Return page. Because these are wholesaler close out products, you might want to weigh your options in returning them because it might be more expensive to return the product.
On the other hand, you might want to go to a Ford Dealer and see if they have the remaining six available so you can keep these ones and the great savings on them!
Thank you,
Ben C.
RockAuto Customer Service"
I responded to this email an hour and a half later:
"Hi Ben,
Yes, it's more expensive to ship them back. Similarly, it's quite a bit more expensive to get the remaining plugs from the dealer. The fact of the matter is this:
I'm a first-time purchaser from RockAuto, and I went in with a fairly large order because I had heard good things about you from others in person, as well as on three forums I'm a part of: Lincolns of Distinction, JeepForum.com, and NAGCA. I would not have purchased those plugs if I had known there were less than 8 in stock. Your website showed that there were more than 8 in stock (a combination from two different wholesalers, at two different locations). As it turns out, you really only had 5. They're not a large part of the order, but they still cost enough to affect me, as a student. I really don't feel that I should have to choose between eating the cost of the plugs, or eating the cost of return shipping because you lost track of how many plugs actually had.
As it stands, I get a pretty large discount with NAPA due to a relationship that they have with Cuesta College and Cal Poly here, so while RockAuto does still beat out Napa pricewise for me, it's not as much as it would be for others. And, at the end of the day, they've always made sure to do the right thing. I hope you guys do, too... because if not, the slightly lower prices that you have won't be enough to get me to come back in the future.
Regards, "
It has been two business days since my email, and I have not heard a peep.
It seems that RockAuto has good prices on parts. I can't comment on the quality of the parts, as my shipments haven't arrived yet... but I can say that their customer service is lacking. They would rather pass on the cost of their mistake (a couple of bucks, literally), and lose a customer, than eat the cost of the two spark plugs (1/30th of my total shipping cost), and do the right thing.
As it stands, I'll be going back to NAPA and Amazon, as both have stood by me on matters much bigger than a couple spark plugs.
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