Does anyone else feel this way?

[Canyonero]

We have two auto parts stores in this town. A NAPA store and E&L Auto/Machine Shop. I hardly bother to visit them. The employees are far less helpful and friendly than all y'all here and they're not all that great pricewise either. So why do I bother?

Example: I needed some M12-1.75x70mm bolts to get my 3.4L on my engine stand. I figured E&L would be my best bet since they're a machine shop too. Nope. Guess where they sent me... Hi-School Pharmacy. A drug store. Well, they do actually have and awesome nut and bolt selection in their hardware deptartment - and I knew that, but I thought I'd give E&L a shot first. I mention that I'm doing an engine swap figured maybe they'd strike up a conversation, ask what kind of car or engine, offer some helpful tips, anything.
Nope, we don't have those.
Fine.

I want to support the local economy and all that jazz, but it just doesn't feel in my best interest and I think that's sad. What's a guy to do...

Well, that's my rant for the day. Maybe the exhaust shop will treat me different, I'll have some time on Thursday to find out...

[1988GTU]

I know what you mean so I try and order all my stuff online and bypass all the bullsmit. The exhaust shop is one of the very few places I can go in and chit chat and make me feel they want my business.

[RebelGT]

the guys at my Napa rule, and they're 2 blocks away, I go there all the time, I have a question, ussually one of them will know, or be able to find out This definitly isn't the norm for autoparts retailers, but I'm just happy I have some intelligent peeps right near by.

[tijuana_no]

where you live ,oh ! the west coast,isn't just north of that state with unfrandly people CALIFORNIA.sorry,man i lived 5 years in the west coast ,and i couldn;t wait to get back to the south and all because of that unfrandly people.i made good friends ,but it was hard,if they don't know they don't care.

[Canyonero]

Oh I love the West Coast. Just not the auto parts stores.

This is a tourist town, they can be a little irritating at times. Stuck up rich people. We cope.

[tijuana_no]

i hear that ,west coast is beautifull,just needs more smiles.

[Husky]

Hm... Now here, I can get to a Napa, an O'Rielly's, an Advance, an Autozone, and a CarQuest all in a short distance(1 mile for Advance, the others are all clustered together about 3 miles away). Of them all, the most helpful is either Advance or O'rielly's. Even before I worked at Advance, there were like three guys there that were all building their own cars, a Honda Civic, a GTO, and a Malibu, all shooting for some really high HP numbers, so I could always get help there. O'rielly's, it was usually pretty good, but they had this one guy there that used to work at a dealership, and he thought he knew everything, and ended up being pretty clueless. As long as he wasn't there though, I could get some good solid advice there too.

[Stewart G. Griffin]

Based on recent experience:

Pepboys is better than Autozone.

Autozone is better than advance.

Pepboys generally has better pricing and selection than either Autozone or adavance.

Although, i have to give credit to autozone with their tool loan program.

Now, as far as counter service all three suck. Every now and then, you'll get someone knowledgeable. But they're probably there moonlighting part-time for extra cash.

[sharkey]

i always go to lordco. most of you wont have heard of it, but its a huge chain in western canada. most of they guys there are alright. i got to talking with the assistant manager one day and ended up helping him that week with his engine swap (b18c1 in a mid 90's civic hatch), and sice then, i get wicked ausome deals.

[Stewart G. Griffin]

I have heard of Canadian tire but haven't had a chance to go in one yet ( i used to come to canada weekly on business).

Tell me, are all canadian men like the guy in the canadian tire commercials?

[Canyonero]

Another trip to NAPA - those guys are worthless. The guy that "helped" me looked like a doughier Russell Crowe.

Is there a good bolt supplier online. We don't have any specialists persay, and I'm having trouble finding what I need? I'm missing most of the bolts for my accessory mounting (both the aluminum mounts, and the accessories themselves).

[lone_wolf025]

I know the feeling a little. I went to buy a 180 tstat from autozone. I figured t-stat and gasket like it said on their site. No one there had the answer as to why no gasket showed up when they checked. I stopped by a local independant guy who is real knowledgable about replacement parts and asked him for a gasket. He looks it up and says there is no gasket. The tstat is self sealing. I only wish everyone was that helpful.

[prophiseer]

Pepboys is better than Autozone.

Autozone is better than advance.

Pepboys generally has better pricing and selection than either Autozone or adavance

and funny thing is, here it's the other way around, go fig.


I'll tell ya, the most irritating thing for me is walking into a parts store in my work uniform (which has a nice big ASE patch on the left sleeve), and having to deal with the dipshits behind the counter trying to diagnos why I need the part I asked for or giving me "tips" to properly install the part I'm trying to buy. Like the other day I went in trying to buy some wipers for my car and they didn't have an 17" in the brand I wanted in the aisle, so I asked one of the guys behind the counter if the carried that brand in 17" and he wanted to look up if that was really the size I needed for my vehicle.

[Superdave]

i looked everywhere for those bolts.... found them at a commercial bolt place, got 6 bolts and 4 nuts for free


Maybe they should add those bolts to the 60 degree store

[lone_wolf025]

and funny thing is, here it's the other way around, go fig.


I'll tell ya, the most irritating thing for me is walking into a parts store in my work uniform (which has a nice big ASE patch on the left sleeve), and having to deal with the dipshits behind the counter trying to diagnos why I need the part I asked for or giving me "tips" to properly install the part I'm trying to buy. Like the other day I went in trying to buy some wipers for my car and they didn't have an 17" in the brand I wanted in the aisle, so I asked one of the guys behind the counter if the carried that brand in 17" and he wanted to look up if that was really the size I needed for my vehicle.

I can't blame the guy for asking...It was probably more out of habit than anything. I bet they're supposed to ask that question to keep the idiots coming back with more guesses. I'm sure you're well aware of how low the intelligence level of the general public can be...