I feel for the dealership guys, I really do. Basically, they have all the fun that most any parts clerk does, but they have the expectation of having a genius-level comprehension of what’s going on because they work at the dealership while simultaneously having to deal with the stigma of being a dealership employee…namely that they are spending their day doing their best to hose the customer out of all of their money. While that’s typical in the dealership showroom and in the lots, not every guy in parts and service is trying to figure out how to take the vacuum cleaner to your wallet.
“I guess for me, the kiss of death to a customer is saying that they have been all over and no one has it, all over meaning “the local parts houses”. When I hear “I looked at (insert auto parts store name here) and they don’t have it. Been here been there but no one has it.”…well, I have it! But you were to cheap and/or lazy to ask. Now you are in a mad frenzy to get your job completed when you could have been done hours ago if you only called the dealer. Oh, and don’t bring your pissed off girlfriend in to argue about it. It only costs you more.”
Nobody likes hearing “I told you so”, but seriously: if it’s something like bulbs, brake parts or minor stuff, the parts store is fine. But if you’re needing some in-depth stuff, try the dealer first! I’m not kidding, this one happened at the store I worked at: we had a customer call us, wanting to purchase the driveline for a Chevrolet truck. He had decided that there was no way he was going to give a dealership any of his money and would rather pay us for the driveline…except, we had to purchase the driveline from the local Chevrolet dealership and then mark it up to meet the minimums for store profit! At what point does personal pride get overridden by common sense?
And that last line…I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there is no such thing as price negotiation, and any hope that something can be done can and will be eliminated if I as the clerk have to sit through a firestorm of anger because things don’t suit you at that moment. And for someone to bring in a third party to argue for them? I’ll laugh my way out of the store, I don’t care if I have to hand my shirt to someone on the way out. Learn to fight your own battles and save your screaming…all I’m doing while you’re trying to tear me a new one is imagining you getting hit in the face with a shovel. (By the way, that’s why I’m smiling while you’re yelling. Just a friendly note.) I will never understand the anger people project onto those who are trying their best to assist with the problem. Nobody is going to be all sunshine and cheer when having to get auto parts, let’s not even kid ourselves, but common courtesy and mutual respect are deserved…shame they are a lost art.
Throw enough shit on the wall and somethings bound to stick, simple math.
Sometimes a little cussing the nut behind the counter helps. Like when you call and are told they have 4 head gasket sets for a 318 and you drive 25 miles just to be told by the idiot you talked to on the phone tells you they don’t have any and haven’t carried them for 10 years.
Come in cussing when I’m working, you ass is getting asked to leave..
Yeah, those guys look like dick heads to the other customers too.
The dealership parts stores at times are pretty competitively priced. If you are looking for the bottom dollar price on a part and are calling around, put a dealership on the list.
The computer look ups weren’t as advanced when I was working at AZ, but if I worked there now and someone was arguing over price I’d start throwing out ideas like “Lets see if the price changes if I push the minus button, nope, how about percent, hmm, nope..” The end it with, “Lets try the number G, well dang, that didn’t discount it either. I’m out of ideas.”
I used to work at a dealership that had a “hothead” tech that nobody wanted to deal with. One day in the heat of battle, you know phones ringing of the hook, people lined up out the door and the techs pacing because it is affecting their paycheck, he came in and started griping. He was doing it under his breath at first but because he was way down on the list of people to help next he decided to start getting louder hoping the complaining tech gets bumped up the list. He found that last nerve and I stopped fighting with the focus on the microfiche machine and in front of everyone I told him, “I was going as fast as I can and doing my best to get to him, but if he didn’t shut up and wait with the rest that I couldn’t go any faster but sure as hell could slow down and it won’t affect my paycheck one damn bit.” He learned where I was coming from and I never had a problem with him again. Could’ve heard a pin drop while I was telling him off and it stayed pretty quiet for a little while after that.
Musta been a brother to a guy that worked at the repair shop I worked as a parts man. We were a combo auto parts store / garage. We had one mechanic who, if he didn’t get his parts right away, would sit at the parts counter and bang his old part on the counter to get your attention. All the parts guys feared him. After nearly a year of taking his crap, one day I explained to him that we knew he made his pay day by getting customer jobs done as fast as possible, and that if he didn’t stop harassing the parts department, the parts he needed would be getting to him even slower, and we could do it and no one would be able to prove we were doing it on purpose. That was the last time he banged a part on the counter. We always did our best to get all the mechanics the parts they needed as fast as possible. It was just that sometimes the part that was needed was on the other side of town and back then no one had even heard of computers yet. We had to do all our parts searches with paper books and telephones.
I was a counterman at a KW dealer for over 10 years. At a dealership you get a shop full of grumpy mechanics and all the phone calls and walk-ins. You want to talk about know it all customers? Try truck drivers. They know everything about everything and have no problem sharing their wealth of knowledge. Sure there are a few who you are happy to see walk through the door, but most make you cringe and the slowest guy out of the office gets stuck with them. I always sold them what they asked for and was happy to sell them the right part when they came back.
I’ll never understand why people had so much aggression towards the guy behind the counter. They don’t set the prices or the inventory. Chances are they get paid about as much as a Wal Mart employee, so expecting an expert on all things automotive is ridiculous as well. I worked the counter for 5 years and I would never go back, simply because of the customers.