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Unknown Parts Counter Guy: The Sad Saga Of The Chevrolet HHR’s Baby Moon Hubcaps


Unknown Parts Counter Guy: The Sad Saga Of The Chevrolet HHR’s Baby Moon Hubcaps

Sometimes, the customer’s refusal to do any kind of research of any type can and will bite them hard in the ass, and the result becomes comedy gold for us (and you, readers.) I want you to think about this for just one second: would you go to an O’Reilly’s, AutoZone, NAPA or Advance Auto Parts and order a set of wheels? Of course not…you’d rather head over to a Discount Tire, Big O, or surf Tire Rack before you would walk up to the counter of your local parts store and plonk down hundreds of dollars for wheels, right? Not in one case. Parts Guy “J.” sent in this story and it’s too good to pass up:

“Eight in the morning, a customer comes in, red in the face, screaming something about how we are f-ing liars, cheats, and how he’s going to get the police involved, how he’s going to sue our asses to oblivion, and so on. Lucky me, I’m the one in charge, so I go out and try to figure out what is going on. Customer had recently purchased a set of 16” factory steel wheels for a Chevrolet HHR panel van through us (which meant that he overpaid, since we could only get them from the local Chevy dealership) and was pissed-off because, and I’m quoting here, “his Baby Moon hubcaps would not fit on the wheels”.

hhr steel wheel

Here’s how all of this happened: a week prior, the customer had insisted that we get these wheels for him. He was absolutely adamant that he wanted stock steel wheels for his HHR. He told the clerk who waited on him that he used the Chevy for work and wanted a good steel wheel that would hold up. As far as I could see, the clerk did just that. But what wasn’t mentioned at all were the Baby Moon caps. Apparently, “work” meant that the Chevy was going to be delivering flowers, and he wanted to give the little tin can a bit of pseudo-classic look to go with his pretty white-and-purple irises business card wrap job. I had to explain to him that the caps, which looked like they fit a 15″ wheel, wouldn’t have fit even if they were the right size, because there was no way that the cap would lock on to the wheel. I even gave him a link to where he could get a smooth disc cap for his new 16″ wheels. I don’t know if that calmed him down or just shut him up, but he left and hasn’t come back yet.”

As I was reading this story inside my old parts store (it’s oil change time), a customer came in to buy some of the cheap hubcaps behind the counter. The guy really liked a set, and thought they would look great on his Honda Civic, but after purchasing them, he almost immediately walked back in and tried to return them. Why? The hub caps were for a 14″ wheel and had five lug nuts. His 14″ steel wheel only had four lug nuts and they would not work.


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3 thoughts on “Unknown Parts Counter Guy: The Sad Saga Of The Chevrolet HHR’s Baby Moon Hubcaps

  1. Matt Cramer

    To be fair to the Civic owner, for some reason the factory Honda wheel covers on a lot of Civics were held on by the lug nuts instead of clamped to the rim. He may have expected the aftermarket wheel covers to do the same.

  2. ANGRYJOE

    I try my hardest to not sell rims. It’s not that I don’t want to make money on a sale it’s that I know that the customer is expecting me to figure out exactly what size rim they need. For me there are too many variables, back spacing, tire size and so on. Most if not all of my customers will do no such research for themselves and I am no expert in wheel fitment. Plus, if they do not work out I don’t feel like dealing with their anger when they come back in. I will often tell the customer to do some research to figure out exactly what they need and come back to see me. They rarely do which leads me to believe they were never serious about the purchase to begin with.

  3. Roger

    Been in the parts business for almost 25 years, seen far too much of this kind of stupidity. Just the other day I get a call:

    Caller: Do you sell Honda fluids?

    Me: Uh, no, this is a Lincoln dealer.

    Caller: That’s what I thought, kthnxbye.

    If that’s what he thought, then why did he waste my (and his) time to answer a question he already knew?!?!?

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