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Unknown Parts Counter Guy: Attempting To Get Blood From A Stone


Unknown Parts Counter Guy: Attempting To Get Blood From A Stone

In the old days, people would take responsibility for their actions and reactions. If you adjusted the screws on your carburetor with reckless abandon, just to find out that the car doesn’t run worth a crap, you just agreed that you tuned the car wrong, got pissed off at yourself and paid the mechanic down the street to get your car back into proper tune. Nowadays there is little to no tuning required for cars that the average Joe can do, the mechanic on the corner shuttered his garage about 1989, and guess who got the unenviable job of plugging a reader into the OBD-II port of your French-fry and energy-drink-can filled Kia Rio? Yup, you guessed it…

“What do you mean I have to wait for you to run a code scan on my car (for free). I’ll be late for work if I have to wait.” Fine, run the code. After that Lean Condition, Bank One, Sensor 2 appears the customer INSISTS it’s just an o2 sensor. I sell one. Customer walks back in next day: “You and your scanner told me to replace this o2 that wasn’t the problem I had a vacuum leak I want my money back…and you need to pay me back for the diagnostic at the shop.”

u kidding

The rule of thumb when running codes, be it the owner, the counter clerk or the technician, is to use the scan tools as a suggestion to start looking and NOT as the be-all-end-all statement of what is wrong with the car. Unfortunately, some of the less-educated or willing clerks in the stores believe that the all-knowing scan tool’s answer is plated in gold and must be followed. Had the clerk been the one to insist that the sensor was wrong, then fine, the customer would have a right to be pissed off. However, there is one caveat that must be said: The counter clerk is just that, a counter clerk. They usually are not a mechanic, and for the safety of the customer, do not believe them when they say they are.

Sounds harsh coming from me, doesn’t it? I know it does, and as someone with a slightly better-than-normal understanding of how vehicles work, you would think I should be offended by that statement. But I’m not. I refer to it as a CYA (cover your ass) measure that saves me the headache of some idiot trying to extort money based on what I did like the poor guy who submitted that story. Always remind the customer that the scan tool is a suggestion to look for the cause and that it’s not a promise that what it reads is wrong. Just because it says O2 sensor doesn’t mean that the sensor has called it quits. It might be reading off the measured parameters, indicating something wrong with the engine or catalytic converter. The wiring might be cooked causing a warning signal. If there is any doubt to what you are doing, save yourself time and a headache and find a trusted technician to check the vehicle out. And don’t ask for us to clear the codes…most stores are now legally barred from clearing codes out.

And as far as extorting money for diagnostic fees, I wish you the best of luck with that. Any court will tell you that unless you took it to a certified technician that you were stupid and deserve what you got. So now you’re out of not only the diagnostic fees but the court costs. Way to go!

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4 thoughts on “Unknown Parts Counter Guy: Attempting To Get Blood From A Stone

  1. TheSilverBuick

    For the short period of time Autozone was doing free scans in California my manager and assistant manager would give me crap for not selling people stuff based on what the code read.

    I would always read the code, then tell them to first look for burnt or broken wires around what ever the code implied had an issue, or tighten the gas cap and drive for a while, etc. ALWAYS recommended the next level of diagnostics, never outright sold a part based on the code.

    Unfortunately people are dumb on both sides of the counter so incompetence in the exchange is going to be introduced at least 90% of the time.

  2. Cletus T Rickenbacher 3rd

    Sometimes the repair shop places too much trust in the code also. I had 3 throttle position sensors put in( 2 at no cost) because thats what the code said was the problem. 4th time I went to a different shop. Actual problem? Speed sensor. Computer was comparing the 2, they didn’t match so it would light up as TPS. Cost for a new speed sensor? $8.

    Sadly with the advent of the OBD systems, actual mechanics are getting pretty scarce. Most technicians these days are at best parts changers.

    1. Ben

      Too true. I am not sure why it has become acceptable for repair shops to throw parts at a problem, bill the customer for parts/labor, then say “well that didn’t fix it, but we can try this instead if you still have money left”.

  3. greg

    I work for CARQUEST and we dont offer the scanning service (thank god),and its too bad the general public dont understand that takin their car to a good “drivability shop” can actually save them money.Classic example,i’m at an ADVANCE AUTO PARTS STORE to pick a part up for work and one of their employees is out at a beautiful 77 eldo convertible tellin the older guy that owns it he needs a new a/c compressor cuz its not blowin cold air out while the car is settin there runnin,i look at them and suggest that the pressure needs checked cuz the clutch isnt tryin to engage,another case of people talkin chit they know nothing about.

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