Dealership and Vendor ExperiencesLet other Maxima owners, or potential Maxima owners, which dealerships and shops you've had good or bad luck with.
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To many screw ups and cheap parts. The one yesterday really ****ed me. Gave me the wrong waterpump on a '95 Audi A6 2.8, which is driven off of the timing belt. Apparantly it went through some mid-year changes based on engine codes and what not, so they needed the last 6 of the vin. I wasn't able to accuratly compare the old pump's impeller against the new since the old one literally blew apart, I had to spend an hour fishing out broken impeller peices out of the block and then flushing out little chips after. Got it all back togethor and now I have to break it all down again and try to get the right waterpump. I've been through nightmares with a DSM as well, every single ****in part for a '90 TSI I ordered through them was wrong, and good luck getting the right axle from them for an A32, nothing better than getting a driverside and seeing a 5 foot box. Their interchange sucks, and there commercial program is a joke, no lie I can get alternators and starters for $70 less if I drive another 20 minutes to a different Autozone.
Napa's delivery where I am sucks, but oh well, from here on out people are just going to have to pay me alot more for driving out to plymouth for quality parts, I'm done with this.
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1998 318 ti,s50 swap, m3 brakes, green house control arm bushings,H&R race springs with bilstein struts,ASA wheels,Magnaflow catback ,sparco seats,two 10” JL audio subs,3.73 rear end,euro headlights and more to come![/center]
I work in the industry and it appears vendors in Mass. are as stupid as they are here in Vegas. I've learned that wrong parts will come no matter who I use. That's just the name of the game. If parts counter people were smarter, they would be doing something else for a carreer.
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I had a similar problem with them I got some pads and rotors from them and the effing ediots gave me the wrong size rotors which I didn't realize till after driving a few hundred miles and they were shot so I went in and complained and blamed it on the nonenglish speaking dude that helped me and the ahole manaeger kicked me out of the store. So I called the coperate office and then complained to them. I later found out that the manager was fired cuz a buddy of mine started working there about a month later and was telling me how the last manager was fired because of too many complaints from multipule customers. Autozone FTMFL!!! I now shop and Advance Auto which I really like great customer service and much better parts selection.
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Megan Racing Catback NWP Spacers & Block Plate DR Mod
UR Pulley Custom Short Ram Intake SSIM Timing Advance
I haven't had too many problems with AZ, yeah a few here and there over the years, but overall okay to deal with. I prefer to use the small mom and pop stores, they go out of their way to find the right parts. I had an old '84 720 which blew out the rear end. I swapped in a '80 720 rear out of a JY for $50. When I finally got the rusted drums off, everything inside was destoyed. Try AZ or Advance for 1980 drums, brake adjusters or spring kit. The small shop here in town made 8 calls across the country to finally locate what I needed, plus they made brake lines to adapt from the '84 to the '80. I will pay extra for great customer service and I will recommend them to anybody else who needs parts.
To many screw ups and cheap parts. The one yesterday really ****ed me. Gave me the wrong waterpump on a '95 Audi A6 2.8, which is driven off of the timing belt. Apparantly it went through some mid-year changes based on engine codes and what not, so they needed the last 6 of the vin. I wasn't able to accuratly compare the old pump's impeller against the new since the old one literally blew apart, I had to spend an hour fishing out broken impeller peices out of the block and then flushing out little chips after. Got it all back togethor and now I have to break it all down again and try to get the right waterpump. I've been through nightmares with a DSM as well, every single ****in part for a '90 TSI I ordered through them was wrong, and good luck getting the right axle from them for an A32, nothing better than getting a driverside and seeing a 5 foot box. Their interchange sucks, and there commercial program is a joke, no lie I can get alternators and starters for $70 less if I drive another 20 minutes to a different Autozone.
Napa's delivery where I am sucks, but oh well, from here on out people are just going to have to pay me alot more for driving out to plymouth for quality parts, I'm done with this.
/rant.
Well not to state the obvious but its kinda your fault if you didn't have the VIN handy and they did ask for it. Plus, your dealing with aftermarket **** so you need to expect the worse. You get what you pay for honestly, you want cheap parts you gotta deal with cheap labor = uninformed parts guys. Obviously the dealer woulda had the right things for ya but of course that means more $$$ but at least you woulda only have to do the job once right?
Cheap "lifetime" alternators are nice, i've had 4 in my Mustang in the last 5 years so yeah.... im starting to think their "lifetime" means your gonna be replacing them for the car's lifetime...
I purchased a Dist cap from Autozone, in less than a year it stopped firing on one cylinder. I took it into my mechanic and he told me that the cap was defective, it just stopped firing on the cylinder for no reason. Completely dead. As a result the raw gas caused the oil to wash out and now the rings were worn and the cylinder had lost compression.
I emailed auto zone, the manager of the store called me asked me to bring the dist cap in with a estimate and they would fix the engine if they found the dist cap to be defective.
I drop off the Dist cap and the next day they call me saying cap was not theirs and to come get it. I go down to the store, they have a used Dist cap and sure enough its not theirs...its not the one I dropped off either.
They have pulled a switch and now I am screwed.
They are no good cheating lying thieves. Never again Auto Zone
I been with AZ for 8 years now. LOL Most of the problems and returns come from people telling us the wrong info at the time they buy the parts. Like coming in and say i need a Dis cap for a chevy 350. umm well what year? they say dont matter they are all the same. LOL If anyone thinks this do not come again go to a mec and then jump off a cliff lol
It's hard enough finding a dealership that can manage the right parts. So when you go to a place that carries many makes and models it's only going to amplify the problem.
I had a 95 continental that needed some tierod ends replaced...it took firestone several trips to the ford dealer to figure out what had happened, because they kept getting the wrong part from the dealer. Turned out there was a recall on the rack for that year Connie, and they replaced racks on the manufacturing line with racks from the SHO taurus. The ends were obviously different, but even the Ford dealer had to do their homework to figure out why...just to get the right part number eventually.
Anyway, my point being, finding exactly the right part takes much more than a computer sometimes, and you can't blame AZ for missing a midyear change on a car. It's just circumstantial
Autozone has been hit or miss for me. The one local to me I know alot of the people who work there and get good discounts and other hookups. However I was replacing brakes and pads on my friend's '03 Lancer ES with an automatic transmission and the parts computer had the wrong # for the rotors. I removed the rotor and the new one wasn't even close. Apparently Mitsu had two different rotor sizes in '02 for manual and automatic transmissions but from what I can tell sometime in '03 they started using the same size rotor for both transmissions. We ended up bringing the old one to the store, compared it to other rotors, and exchanged it.
So sometimes you have to bring the old parts to the store for comparison.
Also never buy the axles for Maximas from there, they are never right especially '02~'03s.
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- Joe
1996 KH3 Maxima SE - 222 WHP / 208 WTQ SAE corrected @ 209,000 miles, VQ30DEK swap
(5 spd - project car, never ending money pit )
If parts counter people were smarter, they would be doing something else for a carreer.
I would have to agree 100% on this one. Once in a while you will get a cool counter person. But 95% of the time they go off the damn computer. This goes for junkyard guys as well.......
They think they know everything about cars..... Dont matter what make or model they know it. The damn computer tells them one thing and they stick by it no matter what.
I remeber i argued with a guy for 20 mins on how a 97 auto ecu would work in a 96 5spd. No they have to be exactly the same blah blah blah. Er i just wanted to reach over the counter and scream in his ear IT WILL WORK DAMNIT!!! JUST SELL ME THE F'ING PART. WHAT DOES IT MATTER YOUR GETTING YOUR MONEY ANYWAYS.
Yeah i know they are just trying to help. But sometimes they are wrong
Sorry i had to vent to. I recently did a 3.5 swap and the counter people have been just complete morons.
I cant wait to try and find a gasket for the vtc solenoid......
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97 Maxima GXE Totalled
96 Maxima Se Blown 3.5 New one coming
90 B12 Sentra My new winter beater
one, for every "dumb" counter person, theres atleast 10 really dumb customers.
two, counter people are not mechanics. they sell parts. the computer gives them every part number. if you know what the heck youre doing, and can ask for the proper part by its proper name (ie the name as it is displayed in the computer most of the time) youll get the right part. but if i ask you what kind of brake system you have on your car or if you have a heated windshield or anything, and you dont even know your own car, how do you expect ME to know? Now of course theres exceptions to every rule. sometimes you know what youre doing but the computer just has wrong part numbers, or the parts are boxed wrong, or if you order something overnight they send the wrong part. it happens, and its not that stores fault. (this wasnt directed at anyone here in particular, just stating that the same things you guys are complaining about here are things that dumb counter people complain about dumb customers)
the point is dont expect a counter person to know every car, or to have tried every damn cleaning product in the damn wash and wax aisle. if you do ur research and have a part name/part number, mental picture of the part, the part in your hand, etc, youll come out much happier.
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one, for every "dumb" counter person, theres atleast 10 really dumb customers.
two, counter people are not mechanics. they sell parts. the computer gives them every part number. if you know what the heck youre doing, and can ask for the proper part by its proper name (ie the name as it is displayed in the computer most of the time) youll get the right part. but if i ask you what kind of brake system you have on your car or if you have a heated windshield or anything, and you dont even know your own car, how do you expect ME to know? Now of course theres exceptions to every rule. sometimes you know what youre doing but the computer just has wrong part numbers, or the parts are boxed wrong, or if you order something overnight they send the wrong part. it happens, and its not that stores fault. (this wasnt directed at anyone here in particular, just stating that the same things you guys are complaining about here are things that dumb counter people complain about dumb customers)
the point is dont expect a counter person to know every car, or to have tried every damn cleaning product in the damn wash and wax aisle. if you do ur research and have a part name/part number, mental picture of the part, the part in your hand, etc, youll come out much happier.
Yeah there is dumb customers dont get me wrong. But when they insist on something that they totally know nothing about is irritating and unprofesional. I do agree with you if you go there prepared for it then yes your outcome will be alot better.
I know you work in this industry so i dont blame you for being defensive.
Dont get me wrong there are some good counter people out there who will go the limit to try to help you out.(basically the good hard workers which these days are hard to come by) But then you will have the guys who dont look outside the box. Or hardly do anything to help you out. Or just say you need to do it this way and my way and the customer way is just flat out stupid and dumb and will never work. Or they dont know the answer to what you want and give you false info or product.
I dont expect the counter parts guy to know everycar. Thats just impossible. But to act like you do thats when $hit gets f'd up.
What it just boils down. And this will go for any type of business. You will have your good workers and you will have your bad workers.
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97 Maxima GXE Totalled
96 Maxima Se Blown 3.5 New one coming
90 B12 Sentra My new winter beater
Last edited by Product_Of_Korea; 07-05-2009 at 09:38 AM.
I gotta give props to the AutoZone that I use. I will admit though, I only go in there when I know exactly what I need. I'm in there so often that I know the manager and the commercial counter guy buy name...usually stand around and "BS" with them for 10-15 minutes everytime I'm in there. I get great prices (discounts off of their "shelf" price), and they will warranty pretty much everything for me.
I would have to agree 100% on this one. Once in a while you will get a cool counter person. But 95% of the time they go off the damn computer. This goes for junkyard guys as well.......
They think they know everything about cars..... Dont matter what make or model they know it. The damn computer tells them one thing and they stick by it no matter what.
I remeber i argued with a guy for 20 mins on how a 97 auto ecu would work in a 96 5spd. No they have to be exactly the same blah blah blah. Er i just wanted to reach over the counter and scream in his ear IT WILL WORK DAMNIT!!! JUST SELL ME THE F'ING PART. WHAT DOES IT MATTER YOUR GETTING YOUR MONEY ANYWAYS.
Yeah i know they are just trying to help. But sometimes they are wrong
Sorry i had to vent to. I recently did a 3.5 swap and the counter people have been just complete morons.
I cant wait to try and find a gasket for the vtc solenoid......
First off, i agree with you for sure. But in that couter person's defense, if they sell you the wrong part for you car (even though it'll work) then thats on them. Typically parts carry a warranty but its only valid if they're sold to the correct model and installed properly. The counter person was prob just trying to protect himself in case you come back with a damaged part or the wrong part and try to get a refund and now it turns into a headache because he shoulda never sold you the wrong one in the first place.... you get where im gettin at?
BTW I have those VTC solenoid gaskets for sale, LMK i can mail em.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1hawaii50
I gotta give props to the AutoZone that I use. I will admit though, I only go in there when I know exactly what I need. I'm in there so often that I know the manager and the commercial counter guy buy name...usually stand around and "BS" with them for 10-15 minutes everytime I'm in there. I get great prices (discounts off of their "shelf" price), and they will warranty pretty much everything for me.
Yeah I pretty much get stuff from Napa or WorlPac since thats who my dealership orders their aftermarket parts from and they deliver to us. But I do use AZ alot since they're cheaper than the other FLAPS and usually have oddball stuff in stock. Plus I really like how i can lookup my own parts on their website and send the wishlist to my local AZ and pick it up without having to explain what i need.
Same problem here
i have access to 4 autozones, one in Location A, one in B farther away, one in C even further and D is same as C.
Location A is a bunch of morons. you ask them a question about a part and they laugh like your the idiot.
location B is a very good store, they know me by name and i have gotten quite a few discounts, but if the customer service manager isent there, sarcasm and simplified answers are their currency. i have grown to hate one enough to walk back outside if he is working.
C just have no idea what their doing.
D is almost 35 minutes away, but they have by far the best service, when doing my 01vi swap the desk man was very interested and went out of his way to get me the right sizes and return my extra items, he got me my gaskets dirt cheap and accuracy was his goal. one of my best experiences ever with service
Location D is in Elliot ohio.
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Mods;custom exhaust, DTM, 01VI,r34's, Shortram, BudgetY- black corners,blues, and no CEL.
Comming soon; nothing.
Autozone has always been good to me, no problems so far, good parts, the pricing on some however..has ticked me off, but oh well, it can't be helped. The dealerships around here will destroy you in parts pricing.
They think they know everything about cars..... Dont matter what make or model they know it. The damn computer tells them one thing and they stick by it no matter what.
QFMFT. i went to Canadian tire here a year ago to get a new muffler on my 3rd gen, it still had the factory one and it was rusted and beat up to death. i was gonna grab a Cherry Bomb turbo. the computer only said my 3rd gen could have the stock muffler again, and a new one installed is $400.
left there, called Thrifty Muffler the next morning, got the Magnaflow Catback installed w/ free exhaust tip and nice/knowledgeable employees for $220, and they did a killer good installation job
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1992 GXE l 414,000km on original tranny and original VG30E l Pioneer Premier 12" 3500w subwoofer l 600w amp l JVC H/U l aftermarket fog lights l 2.5" Magnaflow catback exhaust l Momo summer rims l Stock winter rims l Sparco Sprint driver/passenger seat w/drivers 6 point harness l Sparco Volanti steering wheel l Castrol Syntec oil/premium Vpower gas
Future mods- 5spd swap, Z31 turbo w/intercooler
This winters mods- Z31 hood scoop, digital cluster swap, lowering springs
I've had some better experiences lately, I've been commercial at autozone for awhile now, and let me tell you, the commercial treatment is WAYYY better. The other day I went in to get a battery and one of the guys I'm whicked cool with was like "hey don't get that, check this out" He walked me over to the pile of core batterys and shows me a red top optima and says "Somebody brought it in as a core & it tested good, that was a few days ago, lets check it again" So he tests it, tested good and gives it to me for free!! I pull my car into the shop and use it for the radio almost everyday, I can bump it for 4+ hours and it will fire right up Feel bad for the idiot who brought a good optima in as a core, I cleaned it up and it looks brand new.
Now that my new shop has a Napa 2 seconds away I use them ALOT more though, way way better parts and very knowledgable counter guys, however a few months back I had the SAME experience, they swore up and down that the non-turbo pt cruiser waterpump they were selling me was the right one, if I hadn't read about it online I probably would have had a major problem on my hands since they can interchange but using the non-turbo pump will overheat.
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**** autozone, worst company in the world especially to work for. SO GLAD i got out of that job. Their focus on diversity takes away from them hiring actual QUALIFIED canidates. Sorry, I don't mean to be a hater or a sexist but thats why you walk into one of these stores and find a completely disqualified woman on the counter. Ask her a question and she'll have no idea what youre talking about and have to flag down a manager to help her. I dealt with this bullcrap for 3 years and I couldn't take it any more. I hope no one shops there, it's unreal how they (mis)treat their employees and yet bring their fat checks to the bank and don't distribute the wealth. I have more to say but there's no point. Just to sum it up: AutoZone will hire any bum off the street you don't need to know **** about cars which is why the stores are run by a bunch of clowns. There's a requirement at my local AZ that you cannot have teeth to work there. If you have teeth you are immediately fired. The turnover rate at my store was 150%. DONT SHOP AT AUTOZONE, go to Napa or somewhere where the parts counter has KNOWLEDGE and they don't stay open til 9 PM at night and run their workers ragged.
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2k2 Maxima GLE Automatic
14.73 @ 93.8 on 1/2 tank regular pump gas w/o weight reduction
one, for every "dumb" counter person, theres atleast 10 really dumb customers.
two, counter people are not mechanics. they sell parts. the computer gives them every part number. if you know what the heck youre doing, and can ask for the proper part by its proper name (ie the name as it is displayed in the computer most of the time) youll get the right part. but if i ask you what kind of brake system you have on your car or if you have a heated windshield or anything, and you dont even know your own car, how do you expect ME to know? Now of course theres exceptions to every rule. sometimes you know what youre doing but the computer just has wrong part numbers, or the parts are boxed wrong, or if you order something overnight they send the wrong part. it happens, and its not that stores fault. (this wasnt directed at anyone here in particular, just stating that the same things you guys are complaining about here are things that dumb counter people complain about dumb customers)
the point is dont expect a counter person to know every car, or to have tried every damn cleaning product in the damn wash and wax aisle. if you do ur research and have a part name/part number, mental picture of the part, the part in your hand, etc, youll come out much happier.
EVERY PART OF WHAT HE SAID IS TRUE 100%
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2k2 Maxima GLE Automatic
14.73 @ 93.8 on 1/2 tank regular pump gas w/o weight reduction
I haven't yet had the same problem with Autozone. It's Advance Auto I've have the problem with. They gave me the wrong waterpump on my old truck. I try to never shop there unless they just have the best deal in town.
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You just bumped into the wrong max
Feel bad for the idiot who brought a good optima in as a core, I cleaned it up and it looks brand new. 
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