Advanced Auto Parts

Okay, so in my previous review of O’Reilly’s Auto Parts I extol the virtues of service over price… Okay well when you need a larger number of parts price can become a factor. This store is located about a mile from my job. where I’d be working on my car anyway. So I needed a place close. Yes, O’Reilly’s is down the street, but I had a 20% off coupon, which comes into play when you’re talking about saving $ 25-​$ 30. So I ordered the parts online, including my fan belt (which started this whole mess by shredding for the second time, leading me to understand I had a bigger problem than an old belt), and of the four for my car that they carried only one was in stock (remember that… in stock). So I ordered the parts, got my confirmation email saying that my order would be ready in 30 minutes to pick up. Well, I get busy at work and I don’t go for a few hours… thinking it’ll be waiting for me. Nope, I get there and they haven’t even pulled the parts yet. They’re not busy at all, so I’m trying to figure out why my orders not ready for pickup. She starts getting the parts and comes back and tells me they don’t have the belt. She’ll have to get one from another store. It’ll be about 30 min. Well, I’ve gotta get back to work, so I say I’ll come back. Then I tell her. It shows this is in stock here… so you’re telling me your inventory is off? You should probably look into that. And why wasn’t my order ready before? You could’ve called me and told me you didn’t have the belt and saved me a trip. Anyway, I came back about 5 hours later and got my parts, and got ready to install them. Come to find out the parts are right, but the bolts they use to connect with are substandard and in both cases don’t fit. Very disconcerting to say the least… fortunately I have a shop full of bolts to pilfer from and I was able to find good replacement bolts to use… that I was comfortable with. All in all it turned out great, because everything works good now. It sounds better, runs better. so it did the job, but I’m less than enthused with the quality of the parts and level of service. I’ll goto O’Reilly’s next time… that’s the last time I try to save a buck!