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RockAuto Customer Service Gone Downhill


MY1PATH
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There was a time when I thought Rock Auto had great customer service but I think those days are gone. This is not my first run in but felt this one was worth documenting...
According to rockauto the reason 1 out of 4 of these links showed up wrong is MY FAULT because no other customers have complained about it.
Watch the video if you don't feel like reading the rest...

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This issue has been "resolved" but I will get to that at the end...
I ordered 4 stabilizer links (also known as sway bar links) MOOG PN K80435 for both of my pathfinders from ROCKAUTO and I received 3 good ones and one that didn't fit. The one that didn't fit came with bushings that were too tall to allow installation on any vehicle.
On the good ones you can see how all the bushings, washers and nut fit on the the link.
On the bad one you can see how I cannot get the last washer, let-alone the nut, on there.
So I sent it back With a picture showing the problem and they sent me another bad one. I'm aware I could CUT or MODIFY these parts to fit but that is not the point. They should install unmodified just like the other two I installed.
I contacted them again and this time they wanted me to return the entire order which makes no sense... what do the other parts in my order(which were already installed) have to do with this mistake? I wrote them again to clear things up and they want me to pay shipping. For a part listed as fitting my vehicle but it did not. They told me it should work because nobody else has complained about the part and therefore the mistake is mine. (But My other 3 were correct, so maybe they got the correct ones too) I re-stated that the bushings were too tall and that it's like trying to put a square peg in a round hole. The fact is it will not fit ANY vehicle unless you modify it to get that nut on.
I how have a "One Time Exception" to return my part and the only reason given that it should fit is because "nobody else has complained about the part."
So resolved yes, I get my money back without having to pay for someone else's mistakes. But I'm still unhappy because I had to go through, about a dozen emails, they fail to recognize there is a problem and that people are probably being treated with this ignorance on a regular basis.
Lastly I am going to send a courtesy note to MOOG about their product bushing change (they might be totally unaware and willing to change) since rockauto will probably not and hopefully this will fix things for future customers of this product.
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Andy (ex brit) has apparently had an equally bad experience with rockauto, so it's not just you.

I don't know the details as I didn't hear it directly from him, but during my many discussions with karmann, he had mentioned trying to avoid rockauto. He simply uses it for the part numbers and then goes on amazon, where they are usually the same price, If not cheaper, have free shipping and a WAY better return policy/customer service. I tried it with a recent order I had to make for some suspension parts I needed, and I must admit, it makes it hard to want to use rockauto to any extent beyond just getting part numbers. Hope the rockauto goes don't see this. Lol

 

Sorry for your troubles, and thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and experience.

 

-Kyle

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I had issues with them a few years ago over a fuel pump that didn't last a week and was supposed to have a year warranty. I got every excuse possible trying to blame me from installation to ordering incorrectly and got absolutely no help. I rate them worse than CarID (which I had a terrible experience with as well) and don't understand the way people praise them over some 'exclusive' 5% discount nobody can ever find because google is too complicated...

 

And I hope they do see this, places NEED to see their negative feedback to try to correct a problem that could cost them MANY customers. Word of mouth is way more powerful that a cheap commercial with a terrible song...

Edited by nunya
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I've bought from them a number of times and to date have not any problems. Since I have never received a bad or wrong part I can't speak to their customer service because I have never had to interact with them on that level. My only interaction with them beyond ordering on their website has been for NPORA and that is with their marketing department, which has never been a problem.

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Once upon a time I bought some starter motor brushes. They were like $1.
They were wrong. 1mm too wide and 2mm too long to load.
I sanded them to fit did some research and emailed RockAuto the correct part number for that vehicle. I got an apologetic phone call the SAME DAY and a full refund (wow $1) even though I did not ask for one.
Over the last 10? years I have had about a 50/50 mix of good customer service and bad. The bad just wastes hours of my time, makes me mad and I want all the clueless idiots involved to GO TO HELL!!!

lol i would kill to be able to get mine off to change them... sucks that they were dicks to you though..

How do you mean? One of the ones I changed was so beat up the rear nut just spun in place so I cut it off! Done deal.

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Too bad that is your experience with them, it certainly doesn't sound like they tried to work with you. I wonder if there was some sort of management change...

 

I haven't ordered too many things from Rock Auto, but only once was there a problem. I ordered an ignition cylinder for a Toyota Matrix and what I got wouldn't physically fit; there was a lug on the OD that prevented installation. We were leaving on a trip in a few days and I didn't have time to mess around, much less deal with/wait for an exchange so I ground the lug off and installed it. It still works to this day, but it was still the wrong part.

I'm pretty sure I emailed them just a heads up, but do not recall any responses. :shrug:

 

B

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The last time I bought something there was fall of 2013, I bought a new gas tank for the truck, a set of rear sway links, and a bunch of other little parts. The gas take was supposed to come with the o ring and new hardware for the sending unit. It did not, I emailed them and they offered to send it to me, or refund the cost of a seal kit. I chose to have them refund the cost of a kit and I bought it locally as it was time sensitive. I have had to call them once because they didn't answer an email. But I'm the kind of guy where if you don't respond same day I will call the next...

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A while back I bought a door handle from Rockauto that came marked for a Sentra and didn't fit (mounting stud spacing was wrong). I didn't send it back because I was tired of getting in from the passenger's side and I found that I could swap the bracket from the old handle onto the new one and make it work, but when I emailed them a heads up I got the same "we've sold loads of these and you're the first to have an issue" response.

 

When the other handle snapped, I just went and got a set of metal ones off eBay.

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A while back I bought a door handle from Rockauto that came marked for a Sentra and didn't fit (mounting stud spacing was wrong). I didn't send it back because I was tired of getting in from the passenger's side and I found that I could swap the bracket from the old handle onto the new one and make it work, but when I emailed them a heads up I got the same "we've sold loads of these and you're the first to have an issue" response.

 

When the other handle snapped, I just went and got a set of metal ones off eBay.

 

But still. Failure to admit a mistake. It must be YOUR FAULT because nobody else has bothered to complain about it. That's just wrong thinking. Or maybe everyone else did you what you did. Or maybe your the 10th person they've said that too because they think its easier than doing the right thing :(

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I've only placed one order from them, and it will probably be the only time. I ordered 3 parts - 1 was right, 1 was wrong (box had the right product code but it was the wrong part), and 1 was broken. It took over a week to get them to make it right.

 

There's just too much drama and hassle, regardless of the discount.

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The larger companies like that seem to have bad customer service. Although customer service in general seems to suck from everyone. I have ordered from Rock Auto in the past and have had no problems. I usually won't order from them or the other whores like that. All they care about is moving products.

 

I try to keep my money local if possible.

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I've had only two run ins with them out of about a dozen orders. First was a wheel cylinder boxed wrong, right number but wrong part. They sent me a new one, correct, in about 3 days and told me to scrap/keep the wrong one as well. The other was a bearing that went bad under the 12month/12K mile warranty. They replaced that as well with no issue. The bearing was crap though... never buy pronto wheel bearings again

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I came across this topic about RockAuto and I thought I would put my comment in also. I have a 1995 Pathfinder SE 3.0L auto trans. I love this vehicle and as a result I like to keep it in great running order. I found a re manufactured long block listed on RockAuto so I ordered it. About a week or so later the engine arrives. I open the engine pod to inspect the engine only to find that the pod contained a Ford V-6 long block. I contacted RockAuto and told them of my findings. I was given instructions on how to return the engine and get credited for it. The engine was returned and that's the last I heard from them. They never attempted to send out another engine.

I finally had to go back to their web site and place another order for the long block. The ad for the engine states that all finishing gaskets necessary to complete the engine change would be included..less the gaskets used to assemble the long block. Ok that makes sense. I get the engine and it appears correct. The gaskets for the oil pan consists of a form fitted single neoprene gasket. I go ahead and use the provided gasket as instructed . Once I have the engine back in the vehicle I notice a oil leak at the rear of the engine. Thinking it was a rear main seal leak I pulled the engine again. The seal was not leaking but the oil pan gasket I had been provided to use was now leaking at the rear lip area. I went on line and discovered that the gasket I had been provided by the engine builder was not the correct pan gasket. I contacted RockAuto and was told that they would not cover the gasket because it had been improperly installed. I explained that the proper gasket for this engine was a two piece gasket with silicone gasket material for the side sections. They still refused to reimburse me for the correct gasket. I realized that trying to conduct business with customer relations rep was useless so I fired off a letter to corporation. This issue is still pending.

I also ordered a speed sensor for the transmission which arrived quickly. This sensor does not fit. How hard can it be to send out the right part? I contacted RockAuto and was told that it was my resposibility to pay return postage on the wrong part. REALLY!!

My contact with RockAuto has not been stellar by no means. I do like the prices on some parts but I also just use their site to get part numbers and shop elsewhere.

Happy trails..Croz

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Surprised you went with them for a long block. A rebuild from Napa or other parts store would have been my choice. As dealing with any warranty or discrepancy might have been easier. Plus shipping to said store is usually covered.

 

Sent from fat fingers on S6

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I came across this topic about RockAuto and I thought I would put my comment in also. I have a 1995 Pathfinder SE 3.0L auto trans. I love this vehicle and as a result I like to keep it in great running order. I found a re manufactured long block listed on RockAuto so I ordered it. About a week or so later the engine arrives. I open the engine pod to inspect the engine only to find that the pod contained a Ford V-6 long block.

my BRAND NEW vg33 (zero miles) short block came in a box that said Ford on it... But that's cause The Nissan Quest is a Ford Villager.

Edited by MY1PATH
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  • 2 weeks later...

Well I have been added to those affected now. I bought a clutch master back in December and only just got around to installing into it. The only that's right about it, is it's bore, everything else is wrong. Has a remote resoviour, studs instead of bolt through, and the output is in totally the wrong place. They pulled the "return policy" is thirty days.

 

But I think those are only for customer screw ups, I feel like this should be different, the box it came in was right but the product was wrong, whatever. It's only thirty bucks. But I've pretty much all but switched over to Amazon now. Ships faster and for cheaper. And now that top gear is going to be on amazon, I have an actual reason to own prime, so hello and welcome 2 day shipping! Lol

 

-Kyle

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