NAPA screws with me again...$#@&!!!

[COBALT]

I definitely have a love/hate relationship with the NAPA store I go to (Lake City, north of Seattle if anyone cares). I don't go there exclusively, but if I need a part and I'm in Seattle then usually that's where I end up. Well, it's turned into a hate/hate relationship now.

They're one of these "know-it-all" stores where every clerk has been reprogrammed to act like the salty old parts counter men from days gone by. Every last one of them are like that there. It takes a while to figure out exactly who knows stuff and who doesn't. Literally, they all act the same! They all swagger around behind the counter. You know, like they're working too hard, and are bored with how easy my "complex" question is. They josh with each other like they're a bunch of sailors. It's really anoying, because you know a bunch of them are full of crap. 2/3 of the clerks are women, and they over-compensate by acting tough, and getting defensive when you correct them on something. The remaining 1/3 are guys of various age ranges who simply don't listen very well. They all sometimes act like they don't care if they're wrong about something or not.

4 months ago I went there to find some obscure part, and the manager was the only one there. He flat-out told me he couldn't be bothered right now because he had commercial customers to deal with, since it was friday afternoon and everything. I got so pissed I stomped out of the store. Shortly afterwards I started my suspension rebuild for 3 months, and wasn't in Seattle, so I went to a different NAPA for a while...but now I've got the truck back home and needed something there, and here's my latest experience:
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Friday morning at 9:00 AM I called this store asking for a '67-72 non-A/C heater core. "Is it 2wd or 4wd?...6-cylinder or V-8?", one of the clerks asks. It didn't matter, because they only carry two: A/C and Non-A/C, but I play along anyway.

"We don't have it in stock but we can get it from the warehouse by 3:30. Is that ok?", they respond. What if it's not "ok"? Are they willing to get it faster???

"Sure, I'll pick it up later". I had to work anyway.

When I get there at 5:30 pm the part turns out to be for a truck with A/C. Totally wrong. They had a 50/50 shot of getting it right even if I hadn't told them I needed non-A/C, and they still got it wrong. Luckily they had the correct one in stock, so they sell it to me (I took a peak in the box to make sure it was the right shape), and I drove home.

As I'm coming in the house I put the box on the coffee table, when I hear a rattling sound, so I open the box again, and this time take the heater core out, and shake it. It sounds like broken glass inside. The one they sold me was broke, and now they're closed. Damnit!

Next morning I call them bright and early, and they say (you guessed it):

"We don't have it in stock but we can get it from the warehouse by 3:30. Is that ok?"

"No that's not ok. I'll go get it myself." It would save me two hours anyway. It gets dark here around 4:30-5:00 around here, and I had work to do.

"Well, then just take it down to the warehouse and they'll swap it for another one for you", they say.

"...so I can just show up with my receipt and they'll swap it outright? No call from you or anything? I thought you guys were independently operated?", I ask.

"Well, we are, but the parts distribution is shared, so...blah-de blah blah..." You know the rest.

"Ok....", I respond, and go out and get in my truck.

When I get to the warehouse in Kent (30 minutes south of Seattle), and after waiting in line for 20 minutes the guy gives me a funny look when I tell them I need to swap parts.

"Wha-? We don't do that. Where did you buy this?", the parts guy asks.

"Lake City NAPA", I respond with anoyance.

He sighs, and tells me how it's SUPPOSED to work.

Aparently, Lake City is supposed to charge me for the new part (even though I already paid for a broken one) attached to an invoice for a part that's at the warehouse. Then they're supposed to refund me for the broken one on the original invoice I have in my hand. The warehouse just hands over the part given the new invoice from Lake City, but doesn't want to see my original, because it belongs to a part they don't care about. Oops.

The parts guy rolls his eyes, but decides to help anyway. This happens a lot I guess. Then he tells me I should have come to the warehouse first, because they would have sold me the heater core for $8 less! You may ask why they just don't give me $8 in cash right now? Because the warehouse didn't sell it to me. Lake City NAPA did. In other word's I'm SOL. This just gets better and better.

When he returns with the new heater core (and takes my sad broken one) he takes it out of the box, inspects it (verifying it's not broken), and puts it in the box. I walk out of the warehouse $8 overcharged with half my day gone (and the previous night stuck in traffic from work trying to get the first core to begin with).

All the bone-head had to do at the Lake City parts store was:

1. Verify the part I ordered was for non-A/C.
2. Realize he has one in stock (of the right kind - see #1).
3. Inspect it to make sure it's NOT broken.
4. Find out it is broke and order a new one from the warehouse.

He could have done all of that friday morning when I first called him. The sad thing is if I bothered to go chew the guy out he'd act like he did nothing wrong. Nothing is his fault, of course. I either didn't tell him enough information, or I should have inspected the part myself before they sold it to me, or it's the warehouse's fault.

A$$holes. I'm not going back there again. It's worth the drive to go somewhere else, or straight to the warehouse from now on.