Rock Auto has been pretty good to me. I use them four or five times a year. I would use them more, but the local NAPA store gives me the wholesale hook up price. 
Rock Auto has been pretty good to me. I use them four or five times a year. I would use them more, but the local NAPA store gives me the wholesale hook up price.
RockAuto ftw! I quit counting the magnets. Inside my tool box lid, side of the fridge, have been 100% on everything I've ordered, now for 6 cars. 100%!
speak of the devil, the RA commercial was just on a local TV station after 5 am
Ordered a muffler for the MR2 and it was at my door before I got home that day. (OK, perhaps the next day, but it was really quick) Have never had a single issue in many, many purchases. Sorry to hear you are having a different experience.
I've got a fridge covered in their magnets as well. It's a fairly recent change. Screwed up orders over and over again. Lots of attitude on their part about their screw ups. Less parts, more cost, and a screwier catalog online.
Yesterday, they lost three different orders from or through me.
Order #1 was lost because of bad service in the past. Customer said no rock auto parts any more, period.
Order #2 was lost because while they had many of the parts for the job, they didn't carry several common stock items. I got the whole order elsewhere.
Order #3 was lost because their listings were giberish. "front mount;rear". I don't know what that means when it comes to a brake rotor, and neither did they. Forget it, I'll order the right ones somewhere else.
Ask a question or point out a mistake or confusing part, and get a snarky reply from them like "obviously, your car has been modified" or such. No rock, spark plugs for Jeeps are still made, lugnuts for an old Ford car are not sized for a Peterbuilt semi, those are the Bosal part numbers for the non-turbo exhaust, I need turbo, etc.
Ups and downs in this industry are nothing new. Just kinda sad to see rock on the downhill slide.
But hey, NAPA is doing better these days.
I've had good luck with RA. I particularly like being able to shop for the brand of part I'm ordering.
foxtrapper wrote: I've got a fridge covered in their magnets as well. It's a fairly recent change. Screwed up orders over and over again. Lots of attitude on their part about their screw ups. Less parts, more cost, and a screwier catalog online. Yesterday, they lost three different orders from or through me. Order #1 was lost because of bad service in the past. Customer said no rock auto parts any more, period. Order #2 was lost because while they had many of the parts for the job, they didn't carry several common stock items. I got the whole order elsewhere. Order #3 was lost because their listings were giberish. "front mount;rear". I don't know what that means when it comes to a brake rotor, and neither did they. Forget it, I'll order the right ones somewhere else. Ask a question or point out a mistake or confusing part, and get a snarky reply from them like "obviously, your car has been modified" or such. No rock, spark plugs for Jeeps are still made, lugnuts for an old Ford car are not sized for a Peterbuilt semi, those are the Bosal part numbers for the non-turbo exhaust, I need turbo, etc. Ups and downs in this industry are nothing new. Just kinda sad to see rock on the downhill slide. But hey, NAPA is doing better these days.
this could be the reason for the ad campaign ... when quality goes down... advertise ... bring in new customers that don't have the same expectations as the old customers ....
i'n done with rock auto for good. i've spent thousands with them in the past, two orders were screwed up. one was a CV axle in the right box for the wrong car, another was a PS reservoir with a factory leak. neither is the reason i won't shop with them.
the reason i am done is, i added a $10 set of brake pads to my shopping cart yesterday, and when i checked the shipping it was $22 and change. screw that, i can walk into oreilly and get the same quality for $12.
RockAuto is my family’s auto parts business. Thank you for buying parts from us and for the feedback and words of support in this thread. We greatly appreciate your business!
It is impossible to give detailed responses to anonymous complaints. I just do not have enough information. I would not compromise a customer’s privacy by asking them to identify themselves in a public forum. It is also a lose-lose situation to appear to be arguing with a customer or to possibly anger a customer further by impacting their online persona. If Foxtrapper or anybody has unanswered questions about a specific order or parts, then please talk to us at 1-866-ROCKAUTO or service@rockauto.com.
“Not only do they get it wrong, but they get real snarky and smart mouthed about it.” I am sorry if one of us ever came across as disrespectful. I do not know who the poster is or which conversation this comment is referring to, but I am confident that any signs of disrespect were unintentional. Our Customer Service people in Wisconsin communicate with hundreds of customers every week to help with questions about parts in the catalog, FedEx or you name it. Helping customers get the parts they need is our reason for existing. Once again, I apologize if someone unintentionally used the wrong words or tone and rubbed a customer the wrong way.
“Order #1 was lost because of bad service in the past. Customer said no rock auto parts any more, period.” We hate to lose a customer, but it is understandable if someone prefers a different store that better meets their particular needs. However, I do not understand the need to try to take ten other customers with you out the door by trashing us online. Like I said above, any slight was unintentional and there is no reason to seek revenge or punishment.
It is not really in a do-it-yourselfer’s (DIY) or professional mechanic’s best interest if there are less auto parts retailers. Even if someone never buys from us, the competition from our low prices might help that someone get gouged less at their favorite chain auto parts store. Almost every year the auto parts chains consolidate further. CSK was a billion dollar auto parts chain that bought up numerous other brands (Schucks, Kragen, etc.). Last year O’Reilly bought CSK. That favorite counterman in a chain store likely also uses the RockAuto.com catalog to help research parts. If there is less competition, nobody wins but maybe the shareholders of the last huge auto parts chain left standing.
“Their online inventory has gotten smaller and screwier, making it harder to figure out if they've got parts that actually fit, or not.” Our inventory has actually grown by leaps and bounds for the vast majority of vehicles. As the selection has increased we have tried to prevent “harder to figure out” by making changes like these to the catalog. Some might be easy to miss:
Save a little time hunting for your particular vehicle. Next to your vehicle’s engine in the catalog (for example, 5.2L 318cid V8 MFI OHV) is a little computer disk icon. Click on that disk icon to create a Bookmark that will go directly to your vehicle in the catalog. For example, this link goes right to my family’s van: http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?carcode=1073696
When there are a large number of choices for parts like brake pads, we have divided up the selection of pads into groups labeled “Economy”, “High Performance/Heavy Duty”, etc. so it is hopefully easier to find the pads that meet your needs.
There is also a “Filter by Keyword(s) box at the top of the list of parts that you can use to simplify the number of choices. For example, if you prefer only Raybestos brake pads then enter “raybestos” in the filter box and only the Raybestos brand parts will be shown.
At the very top of the list of car brands in the catalog are boxes with the US, Canada, etc. flags next to them. Unclick those boxes to remove listings for European specification cars, cars older than 1991, etc. That can simplify the catalog quite a bit.
Save your shopping cart or send it to someone else by using the “Available Carts” box or the envelope icon at the top of the shopping cart.
Click on the “Log In or Create Account (Optional)” in the upper right corner of the home page to create an account. Having an account lets you see all your past orders. It answers questions for me like, “did I buy a new timing belt for my wife’s Mazda 323 in 2007 or was it 2004”.
Click on the “Wiki” box at the top of a list of parts. Record and/or read notes there that might help you and others choose the right parts and make a successful repair. It is a good way to remember those tips you forget until the next time you do the same maintenance or repair. For example, here is a Wiki entry I wrote after changing my Ford’s power steering pump: http://wiki.rockauto.com/1989%20FORD%20CROWN%20VICTORIA%20LX%205.0L%20302cid%20V8%20FI%20%28F%29%20OHV_Power%20Steering%20Pump_1434352_7380
“Order #3 was lost because their listings were giberish. "front mount;rear". I don't know what that means when it comes to a brake rotor, and neither did they.” Manufacturers provide us with part descriptions for their parts and tell us which vehicles their parts fit. Our frequently asked questions page can help clarify some part descriptions: http://www.rockauto.com/lang/en/faq.html Our Customer Service people can usually help decode the odd acronym. But we cannot possibly know every vehicle inside and out so it is still up to the customer to choose the best part for their car. The catalog includes photos and the part descriptions to help make that selection easier. If the photo and/or description does not match the part on your car then choose the part with the photo and description of the part that does match. The other part might be for a version of your vehicle built earlier in the model year, sold in a different country, equipped with all-wheel-drive, etc. We encourage customers to let us know if they see mistakes, but we need to research potential mistakes to make sure that we do not remove a part that actually does fit a different version of that model year vehicle. We also are very cautious about ever adding vehicles to the list the manufacturer says the part fits. Customers sometimes discover cool things like this Chevy brake master cylinder fits that Jeep, but we cannot risk the potential liability of making that application claim in the catalog without the manufacturer’s approval. (“My Jeep just rolled over my porch because of that Chevy master cylinder you told me to install.”)
I have no idea which part description or vehicle "front mount;rear" was plucked from. Maybe the rest of the description or the descriptions for the other parts listed helps clarify. If we don’t know and the answer is important for you to know, then forums can be a great place to find other owners that know their particular vehicles much better than we ever could. For example, ask about "front mount;rear" on that vehicle’s forum and somebody might explain it is referring to the caliper mounting bracket found only on 4WD models, they might say it is a typo that you should tell RockAuto about, they might say it is the part for the dually truck assembled in Mexico, etc.
“I havent had any problems with them yet but you gotta watch out for the shipping charge especially if you order a lot of parts and theyre shipping from different locations.” All our parts will not fit in one warehouse and we do not raise prices in order to offer “free shipping”, flat-fee shipping, etc. That would penalize the customer that lives close to a warehouse and orders light parts so that the customer that lives far away and orders a heavy part pays less. We let customers see how many locations their parts choices ship from and charge actual shipping costs. If a customer decides not to order part X because it cannot come from the same warehouse as the other parts, then he can choose part Y that is stocked at the same warehouse, he can choose to find part X locally, etc. We certainly understand if a customer decides to buy a part locally because the higher local price is still less than our price plus shipping. But we hope customers also don’t get mad at us because they understand that it is impossible for us to stock every part in the closest warehouse.to everybody.
We calculate shipping charges using "live" FedEx, US Postal Service, UPS and Con-Way rates. When you add a part to your shopping cart, change a quantity or change your address, the cart automatically recalculates shipping based on the weight and size of your order and your postal (zip) code. As you're building your order, you'll always know the full delivered cost -- before you've entered your credit card number or any other personal information.
To minimize shipping costs:
Use the truck icons in the shopping cart and in the catalog to help you minimize the number of locations your order will ship from. As you add parts to the shopping cart, the truck icons with letters represent the location where your part will be shipping from (location A, B, C, etc.). A blank truck icon in the catalog is showing you that the particular part is available from the same location as a part in your shopping cart.
Ship to your office or business, rather than your home (commercial rates are lower).
We try to make our shipping charges match what carriers charge us. We do not consider shipping a "profit center" -- on the contrary, we pass on to customers the discounts we receive from carriers. For some orders, the shipping cost does include more than just the postage you see on the box you receive. Examples include:
If any of these situations exists with your order, it's reflected in the shipping cost you see before you submit the order. We never add extra charges after the order is submitted--what you agree to pay when you enter the order is what you will be charged.
“got a feeling that their prices are going to start increasing ... a national TV advertising campaign can't be cheap” “here is one... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeiyZWGgoQ4 “ It is good news if forum members are seeing our TV ad! That commercial first went on the air in 2009 and we have created three more. See them all at: http://www.youtube.com/user/RockAutoLLC We are still pretty conservative with TV advertising. Thanks for not making fun of the old Citroen van delivering parts at the end of the commercials.
Word of mouth referrals is still the primary way we grow the business and keep prices down. Thanks again for your support. Growth is important and not just because I needed money to buy my wife another car. (She still has the Mazda 323 but now also owns a ’93 Ford Tempo!)
Some of our costs are fixed no matter how many or how few parts we sell. And higher volume auto parts retailers often get lower prices from the part manufacturers. So sometimes it makes sense to pay for advertising if it means higher volume and therefore, lower prices we pay wholesale. We have been able to both pay for advertising and keep our prices low. Traditional auto parts stores have different price tiers for repair shops, fleet owners, etc. Our catalog makes self-serve shopping possible so the DIY customer is welcomed just like the professional mechanic and the fleet owner. Everybody pays the same low prices.
Once again, if you have questions about a specific order or parts, then please talk to us at 1-866-ROCKAUTO or service@rockauto.com. Sorry for writing a tome!
Tom Taylor
Canoe customer service?
Not a canoe. He addressed some concerns and invited the complaining parties to contact him for resolution.
Tough crowd. I am impressed at how he handled the situation - very clear, well though out response.
Thanks for responding Tom---We appreciate your service and business!
Per tech ed
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