RockAuto has screwed me for the last time....

I have it with Rock. I have been using them for years but I have run out of patience for them after this last mess....FLAPS or Amazon from here out

Background - ordered front struts and wheel bearings for my wifes 2012 A3 TDI. Shipping was quick and everything was in the boxes (so it appeared). Got up early to get the job knocked out before work a couple weeks ago. Got the drivers side torn down, knocked the old bearing out, went to put in the new one and noticed that one of the two bearings i ordered didnt have the stretch bolts in the box (it was supposed to, i paid for the PN that included bolts). Frustrating, but not the end of the world, Ill find another day to do the other side. Went through the RockAuto returns thing and they shipped me the bolts set in a few days. 

Got back on it this morning, got the passenger side stripped down to the knuckle and I go to put the bearing in (the one that was missing bolts originally) and guess what, ITS THE WRONG BEARING. The part number on the box matched what i ordered from Rock as well as the bearing from the other side that was correct. The plastic bag had been opened and i suspect someone did the old switcheroo and returned the one they didnt need.

Ok, now Im fairly pissed as i have used up two of my mornings (which are precious free time when you have 3 kids) and my time has been wasted because of incorrect parts. The last straw was when i went to enter the return in RockAuto AND THEY WANT ME TO PAY RETURN SHIPPING. FOR THE INCORRECT PART THAT THEY SENT ME. W.T.F

this is probably the 3rd time ive had something similar to this happen to me with Rock in the last 5-8 years so not the first time. 

When money was tight earlier in my life, i was willing to put up with these schenanigans to save a buck but at this point my time is too valuable. 

I think part of the issue is that there is no support line to call or email and its really difficult to get help when there is an issue. I am sure that this is part of their business model as it would cost to much to offer support. Maybe its worth it to other people but I dont have the time or patience for it anymore...

anyone else had this experience?

In reply to metty :

Been saying the same thing as well for a while. Been screwed too many times. 

For German stuff, I've been happy with FCP Euro

that's the downside of using cheap places.  little to 0 oversight to prevent issues like that.

Amazon is basically a pipeline for professional parts counterfeiters. But, I'm certain their return policy is better, so maybe that will make up for it somehow.

Not defending Rock Auto here, but I'm pretty sure the cure is worse than the disease if you're going to use Amazon instead.

The person to blame here is the shiny happy person who switched the parts. Rockauto could certainly have done a better job of checking the returned part, but usually that sort of check is mostly "does it look unused" and not "is this the exact wheel bearing it's supposed to be?" - especially if there isn't a part number on the actual part. Can't really blame Rockauto for shipping that out again. Amazon would have done the same. 

Customer service should have paid for the return shipping, I agree. But nobody goes to Rockauto for the service. You go there because it's cheap. People give us a hard time because our prices on commodities are not as low as the cheap stuff, but that's because we've got a quarter of the company (actually a bit more than a quarter) dedicated to answering phones and solving problems.

This is the cost of cheap.

Yep, I've had almost the exact same thing happen a few times. Finally gave up--the customer service is just too bad, and the parts too unreliable, to be worth using. Amazon sells the same cheap crap, but usually with no-questions-asked returns and way faster shipping.

Keith Tanner said:

You go there because it's cheap.

You go there because it has the best parts search interface, period.

But yeah, its not worth the pain.  Lately, I find the part number I want and go buy it elsewhere, even if it costs a few bucks extra.

I still prefer the local shops so I can see the part before I leave, but stopped using RockAuto a while back.  As noted, same stuff can be had from Amazon, and the free (faster) shipping is usually better than break-even on price.  And, if necessary, the returns are much easier.

I recently used Amazon had a picture of the part and the part number.............................and I got a completely different thing.

Knock wood I've only had one issue with Rockauto over the years and they did a refund. Admittedly I don't order a lot. 

When I do order from Rockauto I know I'm ordering cheap parts but I've had similar experiences with the chain parts stores.

For any sort of specialty parts I go with specialty places.

Interesting experience. Knock on wood, this has never happened to me.

I've been burned on this, too. I've learned to check multiple sources to verify part numbers. Ideally, if the part manufacturer has a searchable catalog on their website, you can almost always trust that. But if I find something on RockAuto, I check for it on Amazon, Autozone, if it's a European car places like FCP, AutohausAZ, BMA, etc.

RockAuto is OK, but you have to do your homework, in other words.

I only use them as a resource for part numbers unless the cost difference is so staggering that it makes up for their inflated shipping prices. Between getting bad calipers out of the box and wanting me to pay return shipping or getting the flat out wrong part in the right box and also wanting me to pay return shipping, they can suck it

I have a commercial account with Oreilly's so I can get many parts at a comparable price to ordering online.  The bad thing is that 90% of the time Oreilly's also has to order the parts and it's much slower than ordering it myself.  And I'm not working on off the wall stuff either, Chevy LS's and stuff, lol.

I also look up what I need on RockAuto and end up ordering it from Amazon but I try to stick to the big name sellers like AC Delco, Gates, etc.

RockAuto wrote:

Am I responsible for return shipping costs?

In most cases, yes. We offer discounted return shipping labels through our Order Status & Returns page. See, "How much does return shipping cost?"

The only exceptions to this are if you received a part number that is not what you ordered, an item arrived defective, or if the manufacturer confirms our catalog information is incorrect.

If the part itself defines the 'part number', then regardless of the box it's the wrong part. But even in a crazy world where the part number on the box defines the 'part number', then the item is defective because it does not meet manufacturer spec for that part number. Either way, per their explicitly stated policy, you are owed free return shipping in addition to the correct part being shipped out free of charge. I'm sure there is a way to do this through their system, even if not as straightforward or easy as it should be.

If you're having trouble getting this set up correctly, perhaps try the email at the bottom of the self-help pages:

RockAuto wrote:

Question not answered above, nor on the other tabs at the top? Email us at service@rockauto.com

Not to defend RA against their legitimate mistakes or shortcomings, but the outrageous 'last straw' in this case looks to actually be user error. The only thing I can see that would have been more likely to go better, would probably have been the ease of setting up the free return shipping online, but can you even get name brand hub bearings for your car from them?

Pro tip: Always check the parts before starting the job.

I only use their part numbers as a secondary verification. Their catalogs have been wrong before and that was how I got stuck with a $14 fender liner that they wanted me to pay $12 to ship back. And the wrong wheel bearing as well. Listed the Accent and Rio SX as the same. They are not. I think it's fixed now but that was another $20 lesson learned. 

In reply to Driven5 :

Their "system" has you answer a few obscure questions and then gives you a yay/nay pay this answer. Sending them an email has yet to work as I have NEVER gotten a reply (yet I get all their spam). They shot themselves in the foot when they killed their human CS. At least with amazon you just drop it off at a return location and your money is back as soon as you get into the car. 

Keith Tanner said:

Can't really blame Rockauto for shipping that out again. Amazon would have done the same. 

Amazon doesn't ship things back out that were returned, they usually destroy returned merchandise or sometimes sell it in bulk.

Oddly, I had a similar problem with FCP which surprised the hell outta me. And it was with the wife's A3, like the OP.

Car needed rear brakes so I went onto FCP's site, selected the car, looked at the various rear brake kits for an '11 A3 S-line Audi. There were no variations in brake size amongst the distractors so I bought what looked like the best ones for the money. I think the kit cost 100 bucks.

Took a week to get here and then it turned out there are different rear brake sizes and the ones FCP sells are different from what the spousal unit's A3 needed. I contacted CS and was told I had to pay for return shipping to get my money back. There was no other available recourse so I spent 65 bucks in shipping to return 100 bucks of brake parts. Shoulda just spent the time and got them from my local parts guy. At the time, I didn't have the bandwidth to do that but it was a false economy on my part.

So now, I use FCP for non-mission critical parts orders that I'm not in a hurry for. In a hurry? Amazon. Mission critical? LPH. Saving money is third...

ProDarwin said:

Keith Tanner said:

You go there because it's cheap.

You go there because it has the best parts search interface, period.

But yeah, its not worth the pain.  Lately, I find the part number I want and go buy it elsewhere, even if it costs a few bucks extra.

I get my part numbers from marque specialists :) I wouldn't trust a generic reseller database, I know of too many errors in the sources all these guys use. Just checked Rock Auto and yup, if you depend on them for brake rotors on your 2004 Miata you're probably gonna be paying to ship them back again. 

Even for the 2002 where there are two potential correct options for front brake rotors on a US market Miata, you have to choose from:
Normal suspension
Standard suspension
Sport suspension
w/o Sport suspension
Sport/Hard suspension
255mm rotors
269mm rotors
(suspension type not specified)

Even if you know what suspension you have, there are some gotchas in there because of the way they're listed. For example, if you have the Hard suspension, is "w/o Sport" correct or not?

For the 2004, you're given all those same options but they all use the same front rotor so half of those will be the wrong part.

That's not a good parts catalog in my opinion.

GameboyRMH said:

Keith Tanner said:

Can't really blame Rockauto for shipping that out again. Amazon would have done the same. 

Amazon doesn't ship things back out that were returned, they usually destroy returned merchandise or sometimes sell it in bulk.

That has not been my experience but maybe it is dependent on the product. Bought a $300 set of ARP head studs with washers and nuts (sold by amazon, not a third party seller), when they arrived inside the box was a set of normal, $20 aftermarket head bolts. They listed 2 in stock back in the summer when I bought them and 2 again after I returned them even though I listed exactly why I was returning them.

Krazy Bins seems to be where most of that stuff ends up though up here, there is one in Kitchener but I've never bothered with it.

GameboyRMH said:

Keith Tanner said:

Can't really blame Rockauto for shipping that out again. Amazon would have done the same. 

Amazon doesn't ship things back out that were returned, they usually destroy returned merchandise or sometimes sell it in bulk.

It's at the discretion of the seller. I have a friend who sells reusable litter trays. He got Amazon to ship me four. One of them was used and dirty. One was a competitor's product in his box. One was the single-use cardboard tray that you get with the litter box.

After that, he changed to having all returned items thrown away.

Rock Auto drop ships parts from the same kinds of suppliers that independent repair shops use.

We get this sort of thing all the time.  Calipers boxed wrong, damaged new parts.  Today I got a converter for a V6 Accord that was missing all of the gaskets.

To explain those examples:

Calipers boxed wrong is as simple as someone opened up the boxes, found out the application was wrong, reboxed them for return in the wrong boxes.

Damaged parts - part was damaged, possibly was returned and labeled incorrectly as a new return and not a new defective return, and it went back into inventory.

Missing parts - someone needed a gasket, gasket not on shelf but an assembly with gaskets was.  Assembly gets its gaskets liberated, someone forgets to put new gaskets back in the box.

Happens every day.  This is why a smart service manager is cagey about when your car will be done, we simply can't guarantee that we get good parts the first time.

It isn't a Rock Auto problem, it is a people and a parts supplier issue.  You merely get to experience it mail order instead of from a delivery truck.

pkingham (Forum Supporter) said:

For German stuff, I've been happy with FCP Euro

ipd is a Volvo specialist, they had a sale on brake pad sets for my S60R, which has Brembo four piston calipers at all four corners.  I put the front pads in a couple months after getting the parts.

18 months later, I decide to do the rear brakes.  Open the box... and they are pads for ATE single piston rear calipers.

Everyone makes mistakes.  I would not expect ipd to accept a return after almost two years, so I just ate it and chalked it up to shoulda known better than to not check the parts when they arrived.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

It isn't a Rock Auto problem, it is a people and a parts supplier issue.  You merely get to experience it mail order instead of from a delivery truck.

I don't know any other business that charges you shipping when they make a mistake. That's a RA thing.