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My Advance Auto Parts experience (long) Posted by JerseySaab [Email]  (#666) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from JerseySaab) on Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:41:02
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Please forgive me for venting my spleen here...
I really should not have done it, and looking back I must have realized this even as I placed the order. However I was lured in by the siren song of a 15% discount, free shipping, and "lifetime warranteed" brake calipers from buying online at Advance Auto Parts. What could possibly go wrong?
So I order up a pair of Fenco "semi-loaded" front calipers for my '86 900S. That is, calipers assembled to brackets, ready to bolt on, but without brake pads (which I already had on hand). Parts arrived a few days later. The left-hand caliper looked good, came in proper packaging, and at least looked like a quality rebuild. The right-hand unit came in a smaller and quite ratty-looking box from a different manufacturer. The original part number was crossed off and the Fenco part number hand-scrawled in its place. The caliper itself did not look as well-made. Not what I ordered!
So I called customer service and was told that the part could be returned to a local store and I would have to reorder. Problem was that to get the 15% discount takes at least a $100 order and a single caliper is short of that, so they processed my order over the phone and got a manager to apply the discount. A few days later I receive a proper nicely-rebuilt and packaged Fenco caliper with bracket - but for the left-hand side!!
Now I go to return this (again) incorrect part and think to myself, why not just go ahead and order the correct caliper through the web site and add a couple of items to bring the total to $100? Salivating at the prospect of that 15% discount, I think that surely they'll get it right this time. How hard can it be?
So I did, and tada... This afternoon the caliper arrives. It is pretty much the same as the first one that was shipped: a different brand, different original part number crossed out with the Fenco number handwritten on the box. The direct piston is obviously a used part as the holes for the adjustment tool are all torn up and just painted flat black. And of course there is no bracket.
So I returns to the local store yet again with my tale of woe. I say I don't care about the danged discount at this point, I just want the right part! I'm told there is a right-hand caliper in the Philadelphia warehouse that they can get in for tomorrow morning. I believe it is most likely the first one that I received and returned last week, but we'll see.
If it's the wrong part again (and I'm 99% sure it will be), I'm going to return everything for refund and just order a set of Centric calipers from Eeuroparts. I was not entirely happy with the last set, they clunked badly right out of the box and have only lasted 3 years which is another reason I was looking at alternatives. But at least they're the correct parts, worked fine aside from the reverse clunk, and arrive quickly!
Oh, and just to add insult to injury even if the part that comes in tomorrow is by some miracle correct, I have not saved a dime since the car I've been using all week (AMC Eagle) uses so much more gas than the 900. Any possible savings and more have been pumped into the tank out out the exhaust!
The moral of the story I guess is that places like Advance Auto may be OK for your Chevy or Toyota but for our old Saabs stick to the tried-and-true suppliers!!
posted by 209.188.18...
, Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:41:02 <-- Viewing This Message
, Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:52:36
, Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:58:52, Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:16:33, Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:59:52, Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:01:49, Sat, 18 Feb 2012 04:53:51
, Sat, 18 Feb 2012 05:35:20, Sat, 18 Feb 2012 08:16:45
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