napa stores in general

But the NAPA closer to me in a western suburb bites. I quit going there a few years ago. They made me feel like I wasn't one of their "in" crowd or didn't have what I needed. They always had the part at their "warehouse". So I would just go to the big store myself or somewhere else.

The GC I work for buys about 1k-5k$ worth of napa parts a month give or take.. depending on what type of a job we are on...

That means I'm on the phone or in a store ordering alot of parts..

It's my opinion.. that there is usually only 1 person in each store that knows -anything-.. and the rest are just there to breath up otherwise good air that other people could be using.

Soundguy

But its not comforting to order a water pump for a gas JD 4020 specific by year and when it comes in find its for a previous version that won't fit the auxiliary pipes.

Its less comforting to go to pick up a condenser for a Briggs engine and have the lonely Sunday afternoon help offer me a coil off the special order shelf instead of the condenser I wished.

These two incidents happened in the local NAPA store.

Parts stores that offer stock, knowligible sales help, and good prices will survive. The rest will slowly attrify until they disappear because the service trade will not give them business when it hurts the service shop's business with delays and high cost. We individual customers won't have nearly so much effect but we will gain or loose much the same way, just not three times each day.

Gerald J.

The truck has run fine for the last 6 years so I guess I can't complain to much, it's just they are kind of ugly under there.

In this area, and although just a little inconvienent as it is several miles away, I go to the napa warehouse, it's a busy place, well stocked and the people are good. I went in there one time and saw someone behind the counter that was in the local store when I was in highschool. There are some career guys and some younger ones who are learning, the service is still good.

Now, I had just did some work on the old F-600 and as a rule I just bring whatever it is that I need ( old part ) as much as possible, record parts numbers etc. etc. I try to help as best can be done. I gave the younger guy all the information and as much as I could bring with me, well the exhaust studs he took back to the bin, and what did I get, wrong one, he had the ones I needed in his hand to match, that is plain stupid, but I'm just as stupid for not double checking the order, spark plug wires for the 292 Y-block, wrong ones, one wire was too short, so I had to go to the autozone down the street and correct all this, get a single wire but had to make up the end myself, etc. etc. This really nothing, just inconvienent what can you do. I think it's best to check your order before you leave,who would have known about the plug wires and I needed to put em on and use the truck the next morning so I had to eat them.

I have visited many of the local stores, I believe these are franchised, all of them were staffed by good counter help, although all the local stores may not have the stock like the warehouse, they have a lot of people in those little trucks running parts all the time. Napa is still the best around here, we had a lot of independent, old school parts houses, but they are all gone, these were the only other ones I would deal with, when the big chains came out, same thing, young kids working their way through school or some other transition, not impressive at all behind the counter, computerized system unlike the catalogs which Napa still has on the counter as well as their computer system.

There is one guy who knows fords at the warehouse store, and I've got a few of those, I needed an alternatorb for this old truck and they had to order it, he knew a local re-builder that would have it, so I went over there, got one right away. These guys will try and help you in a crunch, even if it is a lost sale, don't matter.

I avoid the place on Saturday mornings, it's a madhouse with lots of do it yourself'ers, so on the flip side the counter help can be extremely busy at times and have to deal with unreasonable people, yet still keep a smile on their face, it's not an easy job when dealing with the public and some of the modern attitudes, some people can be downright rude to say the least.

I really can't complain about NAPA around here, they have maintained the reputation, even the franchises, Autozone is just closer, I don't like to buy from them if possible.

Case in point. A couple of weeks ago I had a wheel bearing go out on a boat trailer late in the evening. Bearing came apart and wheel came off. Not much left of the bearing and numbers were worn off long ago. I went to the local box store because they are open late. I had no idea of the manufacturer of the trailer as it wasn't mine and I'm not sure that it would have helped anyhow. All I got was a blank stare from the person behind the counter. Was told unless he went through every bearing on the shelf there was no way to find the one I needed. Got on the cell phone and called the local mom and pop parts store which should have been closed. They were luckily still there helping another customer out of a bind. I went there, told the guy what I needed. He knew which part number I needed right off the top of his head. Took the calipers and measured to be sure, and was correct. Got my bearing, got the boat off the side of the road and was on my way. Who do you think will get my business from now on??

It used to be they were real helpful & smart about finding parts for a farmer type.

They are slowly joining the other autoparts stores, with help that smiles & offers to change a wiper blade, but doesn't even know what a common bearing is or where it would be stocked - or heaven forbid one would have to figure out how to order one....

Service is the name of the game.
--->Paul