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Yep, shipping is the issue and unless I’m doing it wrong their site doesn’t make it easy to quickly determine if items in your shopping cart are coming from same warehouse until you check out
I've bought a ton of items from Rock Auto, in many transactions. 99% of the time, things go great, the parts arrive quickly and are what you ordered. However, when that 1% happens, and a problem does occur, it can be frustrating as Hell to get it resolved.
The problem is, especially now, they do not have people that you can actually reach via phone to resolve the problem, you have to do it on their website. Their recording says they do this to lower the costs and to be more efficient, but there are times you need to speak one on one to a customer service person.
I have only had two major problems with them. First time, I returned a part and they said I returned a cheaper part. I said NO, and they made me jump through hoops, even having me take a picture of the cheaper part still in my possession, before they would believe me. I actually had a friend, who is a friend of the CEO of Rock Auto, call him, and then miraculously, it got taken care of.
And, just last week, I ordered a complete brake setup for a car I am building. It came, looked great, but one bag in it contained some parts I could not identify, and some parts I needed were not there. So I went on their website, and a pink line came up and said I needed to call them or email them to get it resolved. Since I had already tried calling, and that failed, I emailed them.
I got a return email telling me to go on their website and do the complaint there, so I tried again. What I got was the same pink line, saying call or email us. This time I posted the pink line, sent them another email, and a lady sent me an email and said my correct parts were coming. I just got them, and they are fine.
Bottom line, yes, you can save a lot of money, especially on a larger order, but if a problem happens it can be frustrating. They need to staff some human beings who will actually speak with you and resolve your problem that way.
I love rock. I recently had a pretty comical shipping issue with them. I ordered new rotors for my 20,000 LB motorhome. They were stupid heavy, name brand, and dirt cheap, literally about $50 each. I later spotted them stacked on the porch, and the pile looked suspiciously tall. They had charged me for two and shipped four. Being honest, I emailed them to let them know to pick them up. They responded with an email that had PDFs for me to print out shipping labels and directed ME to get them back to UPS. I then had to respond with, "maybe you aren't getting the concept here? I'm nice enough to tell you that you gave me two rotors for free. The boxes are trashed, and probably should be repaired before another trip through shipping hell. After I fix them, I'm supposed to print and attach shipping labels to them, then drive them on a twelve mile round trip to the UPS store, or PAY a fee to have them picked up. Sorry, if you want these back, you are going to need to do better than that." They responded that they didn't really handle this correctly, and I should leave them on the porch and it will be taken care of. When the UPS guy showed up, he told me that he delivers of a ton of Rock boxes, but that was his first time delivering a ridiculously heavy of rotors to a residence.
I ordered front and rear rubber brake hoses. They were from separate warehouses and I had to pay two separate shipping charges. Received two days apart. But what confused me is that email stated shipped by DHL but delivered by my local regular post office truck.
I ordered front and rear rubber brake hoses. They were from separate warehouses and I had to pay two separate shipping charges. Received two days apart. But what confused me is that email stated shipped by DHL but delivered by my local regular post office truck.
It's called "the last mile" shipping. DHL is apparently latching on to a system that Amazon spends billions on. Amazon ships UPS, then UPS drops the packages off at your local post office and pays USPS to deliver it to your door. In the last rural area I lived in, UPS would unload truck(s) at our local post office every morning, then the boxes would get loaded into rural mail carrier vehicles, or stacked and waiting for PO BOX customers. I knew the postmaster there, and she told me that it was a huge part of their mail volume now. It's a money maker for all involved.
Mod cut.
Last edited by PJSaturn; 07-25-2018 at 08:35 AM..
Reason: Off-topic; political commentary.
^^^^
Makes sense. DHL doesn't have a big fleet. There is a shopping channels/800# shopper on my street and UPS and FedEx are there at least once a week.
Yep, shipping is the issue and unless I’m doing it wrong their site doesn’t make it easy to quickly determine if items in your shopping cart are coming from same warehouse until you check out
When you add an item to your cart, doesn't it show a truck icon with a letter in it? That letter indicates the warehouse. So you should be able to see what items will be shipped from one warehouse and what items from others before you checkout.
Once I place the main specific items in the cart, if I'm not stuck on a specif items and have 2 or 3 acceptable choices, I put them all in the cart and delete the ones that are not from the same warehouse as the main specific items.
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