Advance Auto Doesn't Care.

[Mudderoy]

I was informed Tuesday that one of the headlight were out on the 1999.

My oldest daughter drives it to her job, retail, so that means she often drives home at night. She was off today, so I had time to get the replacement headlight today.

If you recall, I moved the Sylvania SilverStar headlights from my 1998 to the 1999, after first upgrading the head light harness to a LMC Truck harness. Really bright lights now!

I ran those head lights for several years in the 1998, so they lasted a good while.

Tuesday night I checked Amazon.com for the head light. It was about $18 and since I have Prime, it was free shipping. Now for $3.99 I could get it over night. Now these that we had I had purchased for $19.99 so I figured I'd just get one locally and not risk my daughter driving at night again with one head light. Of course I didn't think about how long ago I bought those lights!

I stopped by Advanced Auto today near Saums and Fry Road in Katy, Texas. It took me a few minutes to find where the head light were. I could barely read the cross reference book to look up the specific part number, getting too old. But the helpful kid behind the counter looked it up for me without even asking him to, he just started asking if he could help, etc... So that was good customer service.

They had ONE Sylvania SilverStar head light that would fit the Jeep! It was $24.95!!! I didn't like that I was going to have to pay SO MUCH more for this head light than what I could have purchased it online. I'm the type person that tells the people working at the business things. I know they probably don't care so I'll start with, "You might want to let your manager know..."

So I said, "You might want to let your manager know that this head light is $18.95 on Amazon with free shipping." The boy says "Oh we don't online store price match." {pause} "I'm not asking for a price match, I just want your people to know that this is much cheaper online." "Oh they know all about that."

"The only reason I'm buying this here is I need it today, otherwise I would have bough it from Amazon." Again he says, "Oh we don't online store price match."

{blank stare and long pause}

"I'm not asking for a price match, I'm asking that you let your management know that this is cheaper at Amazon."

Holy crap. Short sighted people. He may not care that it's cheaper online. Well not until he loses his job because people stop coming into Advance Auto to pay $6 more for the same thing. I'll add that when I buy through Amazon I don't go ANY WHERE to get the product, it's brought to me!

So what I have done is ordered two new Sylvania SilverStar head lights. One square (rectangle) and one round. Now I will have replacements for the 1999 XJ and the 2004 TJ. Because FU Advance Auto!

Lesson? If you work in retail and you don't care what the customer is complaining about (I mean who would really?) at least say "Yes sir! I will let them know that! I sure am sorry about that price difference. Hopefully my manager will be able to do something about that before you need the next one, so please come back here before ordering online!" lol yeah I cracked up just writing that.

I checked the head lights today when I got home. The low beam driver's side was out. High beam just fine. Since the low beam on the passenger's side was working I suspected the head light and not the harness (relay for example).

1141

Oh and if you buy from Amazon, be sure to click on our Amazon banner ad first, blah blah blah... lol

[bigjim350]

I dont know what your getting so worked up about. Sure it cost more, but your paying for the convenience of getting it right now. Yeah i know you can get overnight shipped from amazon for 2bucks less, but still for 2bucks more you can get it...now. I would probably act just like the kid behind the counter did. Because if I was working there as just a cashier/parts counter guy, I wouldnt care either. Just my opinion of course :D

[cantab27]

i care

[XJ Wheeler]

Sounds like more of a issue with the employee not caring about his job, although Advance did hire him. So...

[Mudderoy]

i care

Thanks but I know that's the pain meds talking... :beer:

[OrangeXJ]

I dont know what your getting so worked up about. Sure it cost more, but your paying for the convenience of getting it right now. Yeah i know you can get overnight shipped from amazon for 2bucks less, but still for 2bucks more you can get it...now. I would probably act just like the kid behind the counter did. Because if I was working there as just a cashier/parts counter guy, I wouldnt care either. Just my opinion of course :D

I'm with bigjim on this

[Mudderoy]

Oh no, I've lost the crowd! :rolleye0012: :beer:

[Pookapotamus]

I don't like to order anything off line, just don't trust it, ya the prices are better but I really prefer to deal with someone face to face and don't really mind paying a couple extra bucks for it.

And i'm just going to toss this out there, but its never a good idea to replace just one head light, Has something to do with the filaments degrading overtime with use, and adding a new bulb (with less resistance) into that system with a degraded bulb (more resistance) means that the older one will degrade more rapidly and burn out sooner. Witch means you will be back at the part store buying a new bulb sooner than you think and the whole process starts over again. But hey that's just my 2 Cents.

Pook

[Mudderoy]

I don't like to order anything off line, just don't trust it, ya the prices are better but I really prefer to deal with someone face to face and don't really mind paying a couple extra bucks for it.

And i'm just going to toss this out there, but its never a good idea to replace just one head light, Has something to do with the filaments degrading overtime with use, and adding a new bulb (with less resistance) into that system with a degraded bulb (more resistance) means that the older one will degrade more rapidly and burn out sooner. Witch means you will be back at the part store buying a new bulb sooner than you think and the whole process starts over again. But hey that's just my 2 Cents.

Pook

Ordered the second one from Amazon last night. $18.96

[nickxj94]

I don't shop at advanced so I don't have to worry lol I use Oreally or Autozone cause I get a 10% discount through work and friends lol

[Sneedle Vision]

Just for future notice, if you order online and choose to "pick up in store", you're able to get the online prices as well as whatever bonus discounts they offer. IE: 20% off when spending over $50

Granted, this is still not as cheap as Amazon sometimes, but when you need something that day, it's better than the inflated in-store prices.

[Carves]

Oh no, I've lost the crowd! :rolleye0012: :beer:

:smiley-laughing021:


I may as well kick ya while you're down too .. ;)

I prefer face to face shopping too ... and will pay for it ... within reason.


Basically, online sellers have way less operating expenses than a normal store.

You need to track the supply chain, staff costs, freight, property cost/rental, etc., to see how the final item cost ... adds up for an individual store.

Im not excusing price gouging tho ... pisses me off no end - that its $100's cheaper to buy an ARB bar, and other "local" brand stuff, from the U.S. ... than here in Aust ... and that includes freighting it back .. :rolleyes:


X 2 with Pook on changing bulbs in pairs .. :thumbsup:

[editedforsafety]

Work for a corporate giant retail chain, and you'll understand why he didn't care. An e-mail would have to be forwarded up the command chain like 27 times to actually reach someone who could change pricing, and that person would already know about the pricing difference and wouldn't do anything about it. Prices will always be higher in a brick and mortar store than an online retailer, unless the market eventually deems that unsatisfactory.

If you toss out the added cost of overhead, it's still probably worth it to charge extra because enough people will pay for the convenience. I love shopping online, but 90% of the time if I determine I need a car part, it's because I need it today.

That guy probably hears that 10 times a week, and can really do nothing about pricing or any other policy. You're better off e-mailing or calling customer service. That's their job.

[Metlic53]

I usually wont buy something online unless its alot cheaper, say my buddies clutch was 299 at advanced, we looked it up online and it was 100....i dont know why but it was...I'd wait a few weeks for that one lol.
Usually i do what my dad does, if its not more than 10 bucks cheaper online i'll just buy it at the auto parts store, especially warranty items, i dont like dealing with shipping back and forth even though its easy. Most young auto parts guys think they know it all, I had a guy at oreilly tell me when i was asking about getting another alternator if it was 4x4 or 2x4 and i said either one, their the same, he went on this whole spill how they were not the same and he actually said i was "Stupid", then i had him compare part numbers and told him "i'm not some idiot that comes in here all the time not knowing my crap. He has done this on many occasions, complaining to me how i shouldn't put 10w40 in that jeep i have... just my experience. I go to autozone more than any, after i spend 100 bucks i get 20 back...