dont u just love dealer parts customer service??????

**redz284u** · 06-22-2006, 12:55 PM

i need to vent......here it goes

so im in need of replacing the valve that controls the position of the ac vent exhaust.......what ever that valve is called....any ways after doing my reseach here, i call the dealer with a part number and ask to check price and availability on part number so and so........guy right off the bat stops me and says, i dont want your part number, tell me what it is....so i proceed to explain the above mentioned.....he comes back and says i cant determine what u need, ull have to come in and point it out from my computer screen....so i say "why not just check on the part number i asked for?""" so he gets it and puts me on hold...comes back and says, dont have, will have to order it and u have to buy 5 of them.....i say i only need one, he all like, well we buy them in fives so u'll have to get five......no, i only need one....he said then u'll have 4 extra.....what an a#$.....hung up called diff dealer, had them available.....

wouldnt it have been easyer to type in the number from the get go???????after all, if i had the wrong part number it would be on me...not him

k....now i can continue with my day.......thanks for listening guys/gals

**FuxOnTheFirstDate** · 06-22-2006, 12:59 PM

Call back, get his name, and speak with his boss. That type of shit is NOT acceptable in customer service. That fuckin' prick needs a different job.

**redz284u** · 06-22-2006, 01:01 PM

i know i shoulda gotten his name.......but at that point i was like what an idiot...why deal with this guy, and hung up.....once an idiot always and idiot....even if his boss get on him he wouldnt change....

**FuxOnTheFirstDate** · 06-22-2006, 01:03 PM

Similar things have happened to me before and when I called back after a few days, Joe Blow didn't work there any more. Customer service ass holes just peeve me, I guess.

**310stanger** · 06-22-2006, 02:50 PM

i hear ya. i am a dealership tech and i gotta deal with arrogant parts guys all day. they think they know everything and they know nothing. if they did theyd be techs. who wants to be some bitch that looks up parts all day. they feel like if you give them a part number they are admitting they are as dumb as they really are. so theyd rather look it up on their own and fuck it up instead. lots of parts they buy in quantities but thats what dealer stock is for. that crap about you having to buy 5 is total crap. the part you wanted isnt even that big. he jus thinks hes gonna have overhead. a lot of dealer service problems would not nearly be as bad if it werent for the shitty parts guys. a lot of customers come into my work and get pissed at us cause the parts guys fucked up. they dont ever have to directly answer to anyone and they dont have any accountability for their actions. so they dont care. i could go on and on about how much i hate parts guys. i jus make it a point to point to nearly everything i ever need so they dont fuck it up.

**minty99z** · 06-22-2006, 06:09 PM

Originally Posted by 310stanger

i hear ya. i am a dealership tech and i gotta deal with arrogant parts guys all day. they think they know everything and they know nothing. if they did theyd be techs. who wants to be some bitch that looks up parts all day. they feel like if you give them a part number they are admitting they are as dumb as they really are. so theyd rather look it up on their own and fuck it up instead. lots of parts they buy in quantities but thats what dealer stock is for. that crap about you having to buy 5 is total crap. the part you wanted isnt even that big. he jus thinks hes gonna have overhead. a lot of dealer service problems would not nearly be as bad if it werent for the shitty parts guys. a lot of customers come into my work and get pissed at us cause the parts guys fucked up. they dont ever have to directly answer to anyone and they dont have any accountability for their actions. so they dont care. i could go on and on about how much i hate parts guys. i jus make it a point to point to nearly everything i ever need so they dont fuck it up.

You sound like the typical tech that hates his life cuz he cant do any better....Well, maybe youre not all that bad. I was a parts guy for 5 years, although personally I would rather give this guy his part number and not look it up myself....you would be surprised how many idiots there are out there that dont know shit and then thank you when you helped them look up the correct part....I would have offered it to him to double check and if he said no, then thats fine. Some Manufacturers DO make the dealer buy more than one at a time, I personally think that the dealer should stock that part if the customer doesnt want it. Not my call, its the Parts Managers call. Dont be the typical tech who thinks he is god's gift to cars...there are PLENTY of moron techs out there that dont know SHIT about cars and ruin more of them then they fix....not to mention fix something that didnt need fixing in the first place. Parts guys are like techs and like every other job. There are some morons and there are some great ones. It depends on the person. I worked at Lexus and got to witness both.

**310stanger** · 06-22-2006, 08:20 PM

cant do any better? its my chosen career path, i wasnt forced into it. i make 70k a year i am pretty happy.

**Marc 85Z28** · 06-22-2006, 08:43 PM

Another dealer tech chiming in. In my experience with parts guys I can honestly say I've only seen one guy who was worth anything. Most parts guys are like fast food workers, you can clearly order a double cheeseburger, but half the time you'll end up with a chicken sandwich.

Whenever possible I go out of my way, including losing time to retrieve the correct part number myself to avoid receiving the incorrect part. And sometimes even that fails, as they still end up handing me the incorrect part, with the incorrect number on the packaging.

The reason techs gets so fussy over incorrect parts and/or incompetent parts personnel is because in the end WE are the ones who suffer, as you waste our time, and our time is money - unlike you. Handing me an incorrect part is like turning me around, pulling out my wallet and taking a $20 bill - and parts personnel wonder why we get so angry?! Parts personnel have no accountability. If a vehicle is not finished at the promise time due to incorrect parts, the Service Dept gets the blame, not Parts.

Just today I fought with a Nissan parts guy over the phone, stating that I needed an "alternator belt tension adjuster", and identified it with a very comprehensive description. After telling me no such things exists, that only the AC belt and power steering belts have tension adjusters, I asked him how I would set the tension on the alternator belt and he replied "The belt just has tension". Long story short I requested a fax, located the part I needed (should have received a Pulitzer for my description it was so accurate), and ordered it. Upon receiving the part, it clearly stated on the bag, "Belt Tension Adjuster".

On the other hand, a good parts guy is worth his weight in gold. Too bad they're rarer than an honest tech...

**Hi-Po** · 06-22-2006, 09:54 PM

I guess im just another low life no good tech. Work at Cat in MI. Agreed, parts suck! But cat has a good organization system, never get wrong parts. Usually you gotta go bitch for them to hurry up though. Love it.

**minty99z** · 06-23-2006, 04:46 AM

Originally Posted by 310stanger

cant do any better? its my chosen career path, i wasnt forced into it. i make 70k a year i am pretty happy.

Read past that, I said you're not all that bad....

**minty99z** · 06-23-2006, 04:51 AM

Originally Posted by Marc 85Z28

Another dealer tech chiming in. In my experience with parts guys I can honestly say I've only seen one guy who was worth anything. Most parts guys are like fast food workers, you can clearly order a double cheeseburger, but half the time you'll end up with a chicken sandwich.

Whenever possible I go out of my way, including losing time to retrieve the correct part number myself to avoid receiving the incorrect part. And sometimes even that fails, as they still end up handing me the incorrect part, with the incorrect number on the packaging.

The reason techs gets so fussy over incorrect parts and/or incompetent parts personnel is because in the end WE are the ones who suffer, as you waste our time, and our time is money - unlike you. Handing me an incorrect part is like turning me around, pulling out my wallet and taking a $20 bill - and parts personnel wonder why we get so angry?! Parts personnel have no accountability. If a vehicle is not finished at the promise time due to incorrect parts, the Service Dept gets the blame, not Parts.

Just today I fought with a Nissan parts guy over the phone, stating that I needed an "alternator belt tension adjuster", and identified it with a very comprehensive description. After telling me no such things exists, that only the AC belt and power steering belts have tension adjusters, I asked him how I would set the tension on the alternator belt and he replied "The belt just has tension". Long story short I requested a fax, located the part I needed (should have received a Pulitzer for my description it was so accurate), and ordered it. Upon receiving the part, it clearly stated on the bag, "Belt Tension Adjuster".

On the other hand, a good parts guy is worth his weight in gold. Too bad they're rarer than an honest tech...

I agree with everything you said. I have seen those guys in parts...You know what they do? They're the managers....LOL...They are old and dont do ANYTHING anymore but collect a paycheck and occasionally do some work. If dealers understood what a good parts guy was worth I would still be working at Lexus but they are cheap when it comes time to pay up for experience so I took my knowledge to a company that A)isnt a dealer and B) pays me for what I know and what I can do.
I knew every part, every recall, every service and every vendor and tech of ours. Always came to me. They decided it was worth keeping someone who knew less and got paid more...Have FUN! I got a job that paid 20k more, think I was about to stay.....RIGHT! I told them to their face....No pay, no stay....techs still call and ask me for the right part number LOL....I knew the PNC's without looking at a thing....PNC=first 5 of a part number to get you to the part...

**310stanger** · 06-23-2006, 02:13 PM

otherwise known as a basic. youd be surprised how many parts guys dont even know that much. i could deal with imperfection at times but when i get hit with the stubborness and arrogance, thats when i really lose it. every month we get meetings about hittin the numbers, and how we need to make more hours, unapplied time etcetera. nobody likes that. and my wallet doesnt like it. so when i get this fat sloppy parts guy strolling around like hes watchin the trees grow in the park i lose my patience fast. i dont go to work to lose money. when i go home and have a hard time payin a bill, that parts guy isnt there helpin me out, nor does he care then. i have actually on one occasion seen a tech get so mad he yanked the parts guy over the counter. needless to say he was fired which i agree with. i get real pissed but it doesnt get anyone the right to get physical. my ford dealer has a parts guy who can take up to 25 mins to cut a key. a fuckin key. sometimes he comes back with the wrong key. how do u do that? you have the key your copying in ur freakin hand. he gives wrong air filters, wrong wiper blades, and this is after he makes 5 trips back in forth to his notebook which he scribbles nonsense in. its absolutely mind boggling. i think one day parts might jus become automated. have one or 2 managers to do inventory and stock etc. over head and what not. but have computers that list by category and then you like google your request and itll pop up automatically out of the catalog. then itll tell u location. bam you walk back and go get it. and you know ur leaving with the right part cause its in your hand. you also save payroll that way.

**Marc 85Z28** · 06-23-2006, 03:01 PM

minty99z - I'll try to stay away from the "manager" issue, as we all know how that goes. But I must admit that I'll have to add that any manager, regardless of profession, MUST be able to do the job of those he manages. And if you are as good as you claim you are (you sound VERY similar to someone I used to work with), kudos to you. When I was an apprentice tech many years ago, I diagnosed a car incorrect a time or two, and it was the one decent parts guy who saved my ass. He would say "I don't believe I've ever sold that part before, but I have sold hundreds of these ______". Sure enough, the recommend fast moving part fixed the car.

To the original poster, try to find someone who works in the business: tech, service writer, bodyshop, etc. Surely someone you know or a friend of a friend could hook you up. Doesn't even need to be the same manufacturer you need the part for. Dealers cut part prices drastically for other parts departments. I would NEVER walk into a given dealer at the counter and order parts due to the markup. You'd be surprised how much a simple reference could save you!

**minty99z** · 06-23-2006, 04:34 PM

Originally Posted by Marc 85Z28

minty99z - I'll try to stay away from the "manager" issue, as we all know how that goes. But I must admit that I'll have to add that any manager, regardless of profession, MUST be able to do the job of those he manages. And if you are as good as you claim you are (you sound VERY similar to someone I used to work with), kudos to you. When I was an apprentice tech many years ago, I diagnosed a car incorrect a time or two, and it was the one decent parts guy who saved my ass. He would say "I don't believe I've ever sold that part before, but I have sold hundreds of these ______". Sure enough, the recommend fast moving part fixed the car.

To the original poster, try to find someone who works in the business: tech, service writer, bodyshop, etc. Surely someone you know or a friend of a friend could hook you up. Doesn't even need to be the same manufacturer you need the part for. Dealers cut part prices drastically for other parts departments. I would NEVER walk into a given dealer at the counter and order parts due to the markup. You'd be surprised how much a simple reference could save you!

I agree with everything you techs are saying except for the fact of generalizing all the parts guy in the "crappy at your job" category. I was DAMN good at what I did. Techs always asked for me for a reason. When I'm at work I am there to make money. The way I looked at it, if I get the wrong part looked up and the tech wastes his time or the part isn't there when I say it will be there I would lose as well. The tech loses his time and its a bigger loss, but I also lose because we were paid on the gross profit the parts department made. Believe me when I tell you this, managers that I met were either GREAT at their jobs or useless...Mine, other than a joke here or there was useless.....Collecting a check until retirement was around the corner. Is that the way to run a business? Most of the salary for the parts dept was going to the most unproductive member of the department...and no one could get a decent raise so I decided to leave for a BIG raise....Also, I saved the techs a few times by saying that I hadn't seen that part before. I also saw the cocky tech type that hated being told they were wrong and bitched when I told him there was a TSB and he didnt know. He bitched to the Service Director and the director made a speech to all the parts guys about not telling the techs how to do their job. So next time he was wrong, I smiled and ordered what he wanted. It came in wrong, he came back and couldnt understand why the part didnt fix the car. I smiled and told him, "well, I would have told you that, but we parts guys dont know about cars and I didnt want you to get pissed if I tried to help you out"...
He apologized and took advice and we worked together from then on...I miss working parts, but I dont miss the dealership...Too much bullshit and not enough followthrough with anyone...

**310stanger** · 06-23-2006, 05:21 PM

i have to say that the worst part about doing my job comes down to jus the dealership bullshit. theres more to it then jus working on the cars. theres so much politics involved. that tech was a real jackass cause i nearly start any job that has complaints on it with a quick look at the ford computer for tsbs. it makes life so much easier and saves so much time and problems. you look like a total jackass if you fuck up and theres a tsb for the issue. my best parts guy jus left today for a better job. i dont blame him. but it sucks for us cause i have to admit the kid actually rarely fucked up. and he was fast. but all good people go to better places if they arent compensated. he got stuck doing eveyrthing for less money as the idiot next to him made half the money for the company he did but took home 10k more.