They are so useless there. If it wasn’t the closest parts store (1.5 miles) to my house, I’d take the 15 minute ride to Advance in Tonawanda.
You go in, the sales people look bored off their ass.
I brought in a power steering pump and the parts counter kid asked me what it was.
You think they were too lazy to walk to McDonalds which shares the parking lot. It might have been to far to drop off an application.
Ask them for help finding something on a shelf and they point you in a direction and hope that you find it.
I was there once and two guys were goofing around near the stereos. A minute later they left and the alarm went off at the door. The salespeople hardly looked up.
I do however like Advance Auto Parts. The one on Niagara Street in Tonawanda is where I mostly go. Mike, Big Mike, and John actually know what they are talking about there. Worth the extra distance to talk/shop with them.
I used to work with Hutchins Automotive and AutoZone. We had customer service skills to the max there. What ever happened to that?
I use Advance out here in depew. That is where John came from now he’s at that store.
I like the group of guys I have now for parts guys. They know their shit and that makes my job just a little easier.
I used to love to work with Skrapper he had lots of experience and was always helpful and kind. Skrapper went out of the way for me on more than one occasion and I will never forget that kind of stuff.
I like the group I deal with now, Randy, Chris, steve and Adam at broadway are good guys to deal with.
pep boys is srsly like a 2 minute drive from my apartment. i needed an exhaust gasket. i brought the flange in with me. i went to the parts counter and said
“i need a exhaust gasket similar to this.”
“we dont carry anything liek that.”
“really?” he didnt even look.
“no, we dont have gaskets for triangular flanges”
“can i look? i’ll cut something if i have to, just as long as the hardware lines up.”
well, i guess so…"
dude let me in the back behind the parts counter and points out the giant box of gaskets. low and behold, within 2 minutes of looking i found the exact gasket i needed. IT WAS TRIANGULAR. fucking tards, srsly.
Never been to a pepboys (except to meet for some tiburon gauges a couple years ago- was the elmwood one)
But i’ve had awesome luck with autozone - the ones in lockport/medina specifically. The guys there seem to know what they are talking about. i dont really have a preference w/ advance. It just seems like with what i need they are usually more expensive/longer wait for the part.
I can back up the stories about Elmwood PepBoys. They are the worst!!! Last time I was there, some kid was pretending to have a British accent while he helped me with some rotors. He knew nothing and I wanted to punch him for using a fake accent.
Advanced on sheridan near eggert for me. Black dude with the cripple hand is great, as well as fred. Asian guy is really nice, not as knowledgable tho, but super eager to help so that works for me.
The Cheektowaga Autozone on Union sucks. Some of the people are ok, but the others… ugh. You tell them you need an XXXX, and they argue with you saying they wouldn’t carry anything like that, even though you can find it on their website… then they mysteriously stumble upon it in their system, and have to order whatever it is anyway. Which then may end up shipping back to their warehouse by the time they get to calling you to tell you its there. If it wasn’t within walking distance and super convenient for me I’d probably never go there.
That pep boys on elmwood is ghetto, recently I was waiting to checkout with a item and I must of waited at least 5 min or more for someone to come to the register to take my money. I was tempted to just leave money on the register and go, or just flat out steal it because apparently they dont care.
-1 for Elmwood Pep Boys. It’s the only place I can easily walk to from my house, so when I have major issues, I am stuck with them. I broke the head off of a bolt in the middle of the winter, so I went there looking for a screw extractor. The kid behind the counter said they don’t carry anything like that, so when I asked if he had anything that would help, he suggested “Freeze Out” - which might help if it wasn’t -2 degrees out.
I think they should hire someone to stand at the door so that you can kick them square in the junk when you walk in. At least then you’ll know that you will enjoy some aspect of your visit.
I hate pep boys. I went in there a few months ago (the one in Blasdell) because it was the closest store since it was raining out and my drivers wiper arm just broke on my truck. Ask the retard behind the counter if they have a wiper arm. Takes him about 10 minutes to figure out how to look it up until he realized they don’t have one.
Says “I can order it, will take about 3-5 days to come in. Should I order you one?”
Me, “No, mines broke, its raining out, I’ll go somewhere else that actually has one in stock.”
Pep boys moron, “We’ll do you want me to order it, I can have it in 3-5 days.”
Me, walks away without saying another word. Go the extra 5 miles to Autozone to buy the wiper arm. Only times I still go to pep boys is when they have oil on sale, at least I don’t have to have any personal interaction with anyone except the cashier.
NAPA on Wherle FTW. Any time I’m looking for something obscure that’s where I head. That older lady who’s been there since before I moved to Williamsville really knows her shit. When the computer can’t find a part, the point where autozone or advance tells you to piss off, she’ll pull out some old time manual from under the counter and start matching up parts that way.
Then when they find it the part is almost always there since there Wherle store is also the NAPA warehouse for WNY. Sure, you have to wait a couple minutes while the warehouse guy finds it in the acres of parts out back to bring it up front but it’s better than the autzone “I can have that in 2 days” line.
we use bridge auto, do you guys have it up there? it was napa, but they got bought a year or two ago.
they are usually ok. the guys there knida know their stuff, mostly. they do try to help, but sometimes they just get annoying. i buy some non-stock stuff (plugs, belts, etc) and they’re always trying to make sure that i got the right parts. i think it’s because i’m female and they assume i’m an idiot (they are a little sexist in there lol, not that i blame them, most women are idiots). but when i walk in knowing part numbers and belt sizes just give me what i want!
the local rice boys (aka pep boys) is the worst ever. it’s full of led lights, shift knobs and fake hood scoops. sometimes it’s the only option though for belts and stuff, but the people that work there are complete freaking morons. i went in one time with a cut and measured belt and handed it to a guy working there and said “match this to something that you have in the back. i need a belt exactly this size.” he proceded to ask me what year make and model it was for. i told him that it didn’t matter, it wasn’t stock. he said that he refused to do anything unless i told him what car it was for. fine i told him. 1990 mustang lx. he looked at me and asked if it had a/c or not. i looked at him and said no, it also doesn’t have any smog equipment. just get the damn belt. at that point one of the old school guys came over and asked what was going on. i told him that the guy here was being an idiot and i needed a belt this size. he got me what i needed.
i find overall that if there’s someone working at one of these stores that’s under the age of say 25 they’re usually just an idiot ricer that has no clue. the older guys seem to be able, and want, to help.
i was in an advance auto once. seemed ok but i was laughing because they had on an “instructional video” in the store about how to install underbody led’s lol.
I miss skrapper @ napa. I used to go there for everything. Discount or not.
The cripple is Kenny.
I hit up this Advance all the time because it’s close, and they are actually helpful.
When I need something “rare” or unusual I head there too.
IIRC they are a local distribution point, so they are most likely to have it on the first try (although I call ahead). Plus those guys actually know what you’re talking about most of the time.
I almost refuse to go to pepboys unless it is a MUST HAVE NOW ordeal.
couple weeks ago i was in need of another bottle of redline mt90 trans fluid… i knew KS had it but didn’t feel like driving all the way out there, so i figured i’d check the local places first…autozone/advance didn’t have it, so my last stop was carquest.
i walk in, older guy asks if i need any help and i say " yea i’m just looking for some redline tranny fluid, do you guys carry that?" he gives me this WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT look, and says " never heard of it…" and turns around and walks away. so as i’m leaving i say “never heard of it huh…thanks anyways…” and he turns around and says " i’ve been in this business for 40 years and i’ve never heard of it".