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this may sound trival to some but when your retired scrounging for dollars .....then get back to me with a heart felt answer.
A few months ago i bought a starter without a core to exchange & burnt the box in the trash.....fast forward to today i got some parts with a starter i didnt need, same yr as i purchased, so i returned it to get my $31.00 core charge back.......WOULDNT TAKE IT BACK W/O A FREAKN BOX......whoa.... charge me $31 & wont refund it?????? because its not with a box. a call to the DISTRIBUTER he say's we'll supply a box for $5......... idid u a favor....WHAT USPS.... give's em out free & there goin belly up........SO NAPA you lost a good customer........for a box.......please dont reply unless a $5 bill hurts your pocket. OREILLY"S I'M SO SORRY I WENT TO ANOTHER PARTS STORE....LIKE ARNOLD SAID "I'LL BE BACK"

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.....

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I stopped going to NAPA except on rare occasions for a couple of reasons. They often have the same parts as O'Reilly, but they're way more expensive. But I lost all confidence after I went in and told the counter guy, "I need spark plugs for my 97 Ford E-350 with a 5.4 liter motor." His first question was, "Gas or diesel?" The next time I went in there I was looking for a differential cover gasket for my 12 bolt. I went in and told the girl behind the counter I needed a gasket for a 72 Chevy 12 bolt. After spending an incredibly long time and initially telling me they didn't have anything like that, she went in the back and brought me out a gasket in a shrink-wrap package (I could see the gasket) that had 14 bolt holes and the wrong shape. I told her it was the wrong one, but she said, "Why don't you go out and match it to your differential?" Just to amuse myself, I went out and came back in and said, "Nope, I still can't get the 12 bolts to fit into 14."

I sympathize with you.

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I use Napa and everyone at the counter where I go is as good or better than anyone I've seen anywhere. The story above holds no water. That has nothing to do with where you go,but is who you talk to. I'm sure you could go to O'Reilly's and get a knucklehead,too

Sorry for your luck. That's how it is most anywhere. Normally you bring a starter in and exchange it for a rebuilt,they hand you the rebuilt,and put your old starter/core in the box to send to the rebuilder...no core charge. Or,you can go buy a rebuilt starter,pay the core charge,go remove your old one,put it in the box,take to parts store and get core charge refunded. That's how it's been as long as I can remember.
Think about what you said about USPS giving boxes away AND going broke. You can remove boxes from the post office for free to return filled with stuff to ship. That's when you pay for the box. They expect you to ship with those boxes,not abuse the system and use free boxes for whatever.
I'm not retired and doubt I'll ever have the luxury. I've been through financial hell for the past 6 years,though,and every dollar counts. I know $31 is a big hit. I'd test the starter and if it's good try to sell it.

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They have the absolute worst customer service in my experience as well. And they hire counter guys with zero knowledge outside of what the computer tells them. But I guess that's par for the course these days.
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My small town parts store has two guys that run it the one guy insists on the computer the other uses books. Gets them looked up in half the time and also the computer is usually wrong the first time
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It all depends on who you get to wait on you, not so much where you go. I went to Vautozone once looking for a carb kit for a Holley 4130. Monkey behind the counter asked me what car it was going on. I explained that it wasn't an oem set up and pointed to the Holley Book on the shelf behind the counter. He was like a deer in the headlights. I had to look it up for him! From then on I go online, find what I need, pay for it and pick it up later or have it shipped to my house if it is over $100 as its free shipping.
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I don't trust anyone behind a parts counter. Especially because if it's something obscure half the time I'm not even right on the first shot...

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as an ex counter guy, don't care where you are it's the box with the part number that tells the idiot rebuilder what it is.
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I didn't mean anything personal by it. The guy at my Napa is great, but the autozone and pepboys near me... :banghead:

I just make it a point not to trust them right off the bat, so I can be pleasantly surprised later. Or not.

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There is only one parts store in my small town and the sign says NAPA. The guys know their stuff and are easy to work with, and if I have questions they'll help me figure things out. The only problem I ever had there was getting a couple bad water pumps (a long time ago).

I bet you can get good service at most any store..... and you can get bad service at most any store. Yeah, that $31 lesson was kinda expensive, but I bet you'll never burn another box again.....

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Years back my Dad would only go to Napa, my forst job was with Pep Boys so I was biased. Fast forward 16 years, I have a Napa down the street and an AutoZone. The later of the two has a bunch of yuppies. The Napa guys are old and argue with me about everything. I went in last week cause my new 1 3/4" freeze plug in my 454 started to weep. The S.O.B. argued with me for 5 minutes as to how BBC's never had a 1 3/4" freeze plug. only 1 5/8". So I told him unless your 1 5/8" measures 1 3/4" O.D. I won't take it. After going back and forth for about ten minutes, he finally got up and went to the back, took forever and had a single 1 3/4" Freeze plug in hand. Had I not needed it like yesterday status and anyone else in the area had it, I would have left and never gone back. they where the only ones who had 1 in stock at the time. WTH, really? Argue with me about a dump 1 3/4" freeze plug????? Good help is hard to find now a days.

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Truckster.....LMAO good response would like to have been there to chuckle with ya.
Special-k.....thanks for the reprimand but u totally missed the freakn cardboard box
joke bout usps.....they at least know business & work with there customers
to gain there business same box shipped @ UPS was $5 more.......NAPA doesnt
know jack bout customer relations. yes i had problems at Oreilly's also but
didnt cost me yeh , yeh, i know $5 bucks but 5 x 5 add another $1 here
there everywhere.....oh my retirement luxury is not elected.....im a
disabled firfighter sucker went through divorce, lose of business' x 3 and live
in f'n drug infested trailer parks for 4 yr's worken on my 67 on a rock driveway!
test the starter & sell it? will sell for $15 here & most of the time 20-30 in
gas to get where i live to pick it up i have a garage full of parts that wont
sell in this area. NAPA is like my local chevy dealer for a particuliar create
engine they wanted $200. more than i could get SHIPPED to my
door from summit .........hello ever hear of your newest competition its
called the internet
im not payn anymore for that huge glass house you call a dealership. yes
im on a rant but open our eyes.....$5 for a box from a decent customer
that obviously has a build goin on sorry im old school but i believe in loosn
5 freakn dollars to get another $500 out this customer do the math
Stocker....i promise ya dude iwont burn anymore boxes until i read ALL the small print in
this case it said IN 1/4" tall letters " core must be returned in this box" or close to that so
when was the last time (not u Stocker) Y'ALL read EVERY f'n word on a box.

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Quadriplegic here. Understand ur pain with saving. It's impossible
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Scott..... \/ piece brother some guys born with a silver spoon in there mouth will never understand itd kinda like some response's here "yep i put a different one in and it works better than the other one i had........WTF did u put in dude should have been i put a 67 in didnt work and tried the 72 ......so now i know what to or not to do.
ive done hours & hours of research tryn to figure out what the hell a guy tried .....he said it works but wtf did he use

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I guess it centers on what you like and what you believe in. The NAPA in my town has a good group of people at the desk, and even though their process is just as F*&$ed up as the OReally guys and the Autozoners, that the computer is the Hamburger joint process. Many of the kids of today, you all know them-- many of them are from your loins, don't know a freeze plug from a corvair radiator; use the computers to get to some knowledge point so that they can at least walk to the back and find the right shelf area. The real problem is that there is no criteria of a knowledge level for job employment. The federal gubament makes that part hard, due to discrimination laws and what they can do to you if you don't hire them. There are stores that have a good staff of wrenchers and they can tell you what you want right off the bat. However for the most part it takes a person that cares about his job and for what they pay a counter guy, he can't care to much. We have all the stores in my area, NAPA, O Reillys, Autozone, and Carquest, thee out of all of them has kids at the counter and they have to use the computer to find parts.

I prefer the NAPA, due to the fact that the parts from it may look like the ones down the street at the others, they seem to last longer when I get the premium part. Don't ask me why, but they do. Maybe the rebuild shop put them out the front door, instead of the back. I believe you get what you pay for.

The ones that argue with you, for the most part are screwing with your mind more than anything--don't show them that they are getting to you and they will stop.

Next time don't throw the box away and expect the process to see it your way, just my .02 worth. Hate me for that if you must, but I ran a Farm parts outlet for several years and there were days where the guy BEHIND the counter is just as pissed at the person on the public side of the counter, as the buyer is at the guy behind the counter. I have actually had to tell people that their business was best being provided to my competitor.

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I have a bad habit of burning the boxes also:lol: till a while ago it came back too bite me. now I hold on too them for a while.

we have a local auto store called burnville auto they are the biggest rip offs around cause they are the only auto store in surrounding 20-30 mi.
I called there one day too get a 12" peice of 3" exshaust pipe
he told me I dont have any but I can have it here by 3pm and it would cost $48
thanks I'll try else where the very next place i called a(a exshaust shop) I asked for a 12" peice of 3" pipe
"didnt you just call here for a 8' lenght?"
sorry no i didnt
oh well a 12" peice will run around $4
but you can get the 8' peice for $26!!!

or how about the kid bought a tps from there the fellow sold him the wrong one and when the kid tryed too take it back he wouldnt except it because HE TOOK IT OUTA THE BOX! ITS A ELECTRICAL COMPONIT HE COULD"VE FRIED IT FOR ALL I KNOW

but it wouldnt even plug in!
and on top of it you charged him $63 for a TPS SENSOR for a 92 s10?????

how about this one the kid bought a angled heater hose nipple that screws into the intake $28 thats right i said $28
on top of that the kid checked his account some time later an realized the fellow put a "1" in front of the $28 so the kid payed $128. for a freaking heater nipple. when he went back too show the fellow he gave him a hard time about it and took a lil over a week too return his $ oh an by the way it was a "help item"

so if you think your napa screws you be glad you dont have this place near by and a gulible kid that needs stuff RIGHT NOW!
I think i've pounded into his head too stay the h*ll outa there

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I feel your financial pain and I'm not connected anyway shape or form with NAPA. I do not shop there either. But, to the point, this would have happened at the other parts stores as well. Your penalizing NAPA for an industry practice. It's not NAPA's fault you did not have a core or that you disposed of the box. Peace.
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Okay guys, I'll play devils advocate here...

When I go to a parts store these days, I expect to be served by someone less knowledge than me on my particular vehicle (even though some think they're more knowlegeable that this old geez,,, er, man). Over here, a lot of the counter guys are either college students trying to make a buck or young people just starting out. Parts companies don't pay very much so you're going to get some newbies. One other thing to consider is that there are literally hundreds if not thousands of different vehicles and combinations of parts out there. No one can know everything about them.

Yeah, I get angry when I get the wrong part and say a few cuss words but then I blame myself for not thoroughly checking it in the first place or bringing the old one with me. The days of counter guys with extreme knowledge are gone.

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This thread is so amusing especially for being a NAPA employee of 5 years. Every company has their policies, I am sure the companies you have worked for in the past or work for now has them. Its not any easier not being able to help out the person on the otherside of the counter.

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It's not just NAPA. Most people that work behind the counter are there for a reason. They need the job. If they had a great deal of mechanical/automotive knowledge, they would probably work as a mechanic or in a mechanical field and not as a counter person. I use to get irritated almost every time I went to a parts store until it dawned on me that the counter folks have to deal with hundreds of makes, models and years. I think that most of us here are real gearheads that not only know just what part we need but also know the parts inside of that part. When I go into a parts store, I assume the counter person only knows how to operate a computer and relies on the information that I give him/her. I'm wasting my time if I go in blurb out something like "I need a left wheel cylinder for a 71 Chev C-10 with 2WD, 350CID, Automatic etc.
Instead, I state "I need a part for my truck" and let them get on the computer so they can ask me all about my truck.

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I TRY to know what I want before I go in (part name, the store's part number, price, availability, etc.) to avoid as much hassle as possible. Plus, it makes the guy behind counter's job a lot easier.

When I worked at Grainger Industrial Supply as a counter guy, I always appreciated the guys that would come in with a list of what they wanted with part numbers for me. It made my job a lot easier than having to scour our system and the catalog to try and find what they need (NOT what they think they need/want).

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That's what I was trying to get across.

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It seems to me that there are people in all industries that can help or hinder when it comes to customer relations. What I am getting at, is it is up to the employee to know when and how to circumvent the rules. A lot of times that will depend on the mood they are in that day, the way they were approached by the customer, whether or not their boss just told them in the last meeting that they have to collect a box (no matter what), etc. etc.

Ultimately, the rule is "bring back the box". I know my local Napa guy by first name, and he knows mine. I've been to his house, met his wife. I guarantee that he'd make me bring back the damn box, too.

One question, if they had just accepted the boxless return, would you have written a thread about how great Napa is?

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lol... I have been dealing with parts people for over 50 years and basically know all the rules. No box, no refund is one I don't forget.

Many years ago I took a part without a box for a refund. When the old guy apologized and refused it, I griped at him about having to drive back to get the box. The old guy behind the counter told me they had several hundred parts in the back room waiting to be picked up, a lot of them going to different vendors. He said if they allowed no boxes, a lot of people would bring them in without the box. I guess it made sense. Boxes are neater, keep the grease and oil contained somewhat and easier to stack by type and pn.