Interesting conversation at O’Reilly

dlundblad

dlundblad

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Sep 30, 2013
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Location
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I had a gift card to burn up and some used oil to take in yesterday so I went to Oreilly.

The young man working the counter asked what the oil was for just to strike conversation, I told him. He then went onto say that if it was for a Chevy 5.3, he’d recommend Castrol as opposed to my Mobil 1 because of what it did to his truck, which he was likely the 4th or 5th owner of. He also expressed his feeling towards foreign brands even while suggesting a foreign branded oil, Castrol. He and his co worker got to talking and then said M1 had no detergent in it and that it’ll destroy my engine.

Basically calling me stupid without calling me stupid IMO. I still kept my mouth shut. Told him to have a nice day and left. Where do they find these people?
 
"The young man..." like so many young men, exhibits the well known Dunning-Krueger effect. A corollary might be: there are a lot of simple answers to complex problems...the only thing is, the simple answers are wrong. This type of uneducated certainty is ubiquitous, and is the root cause of many personal, community, and societal issues. Your response was correct, wish him a nice day and leave.
 
IMO - Aside from dealership parts counter sales people, the folks working at AZ, Orilley, NAPA, and Advance etc. have less knowledge about what they sale than the clerks at a grocery store. I went into a AZ and was greeted at the door with “how can we help you”. I said “all I need is an 1157 clear bulb”. The counter person asked “ give the year, make, and model of the vehicle”. Enough said.
 
Ah, yes...the guy behind the counter who knows everything.
It's been a few years ago, but my mom bought a riding mower from the local farm store. The guy who sold it to her swore up and down that you CANNOT run a detergent oil in a small engine. Now my mom is quite up on running modern oil, but he had all of his "facts" and "figures" and was such a good salesman that she even bought some non-detergent oil for the next few oil changes. He had her completely convinced. Without saying a word, I opened up the operator's manual and showed her the factory oil recommendations. She didn't say a word, but took the oil back the next time she went into the store.
I also had a co-worker who took his car to the Ford dealership for engine work and his car had sludge in the engine. The "mechanic" (that's a compliment that's probably not warranted) went to my co-worker and told him that the only modern oil that sludges up engines is Valvoline. "Do you run Valvoline in your car?!!!" It turns out that he did. "See, you've got to get rid of that Valvoline!"
My co-worker also had a mileage reminder in his car that the mechanic saw that showed he put Valvoline oil in his car at the quickie lube....20K miles previous and was dated several years earlier. I'd bet the "mechanic" also hates Fram filters.
 
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That’s like the parts guy at Advance Auto one time I went there to pick up an oil filter and he kept trying to sell me oil which I said no I already have some thanks I bought it at Walmart. He then proceeded to tell me any oil from Walmart is not legit because it’s sold at a cheaper price and there was no way they could sell it that cheap if it was real 😂. Finally I just had to go cause he wanted to argue about it and got all his coworkers to come out there and try and say the same nonsense lol. I understand he wants to sell me his oil but don’t make up crap like that and tell me that. But I do have two friends who actually believe that so maybe he can sell to more of their type haha. That was like 3 years ago and he still works there just haven’t heard him say anything about the oil again.
 
AutoMechanic said:
That’s like the parts guy at Advance Auto one time I went there to pick up an oil filter and he kept trying to sell me oil which I said no I already have some thanks I bought it at Walmart. He then proceeded to tell me any oil from Walmart is not legit because it’s sold at a cheaper price and there was no way they could sell it that cheap if it was real 😂. Finally I just had to go cause he wanted to argue about it and got all his coworkers to come out there and try and say the same nonsense lol. I understand he wants to sell me his oil but don’t make up crap like that and tell me that. But I do have two friends who actually believe that so maybe he can sell to more of their type haha. That was like 3 years ago and he still works there just haven’t heard him say anything about the oil again.
Click to expand...
That bs. is everywhere...
I even had a boutique oil blender tell me that about Walmart... geez..
 
My uncle used to say: "The wrong oil is better than no oil". This was from a man who substituted one quart of motor oil in his 1972 Corvette for Wesson cooking oil. :oops:
This, by the way, IS a true story. Not sure how long that SBC lasted because he sold it when he went through a divorce. Maybe my aunt was pissed that he was using 30w motor oil for cooking?
 
dlundblad said:
I had a gift card to burn up and some used oil to take in yesterday so I went to Oreilly.

The young man working the counter asked what the oil was for just to strike conversation, I told him. He then went onto say that if it was for a Chevy 5.3, he’d recommend Castrol as opposed to my Mobil 1 because of what it did to his truck, which he was likely the 4th or 5th owner of. He also expressed his feeling towards foreign brands even while suggesting a foreign branded oil, Castrol. He and his co worker got to talking and then said M1 had no detergent in it and that it’ll destroy my engine.

Basically calling me stupid without calling me stupid IMO. I still kept my mouth shut. Told him to have a nice day and left. Where do they find these people?
Click to expand...
At O'Reilly's 😂
 
CarDocDude said:
You have to remember the majority of people that work at these stores are "wanna be, backyard or drop out" technicians. I don't debate nonsense. There isn't a M1 product that I wouldn't trust.
Click to expand...
Like Colion Noir said on his first magazine review...put product out and if it's good, it's good and people will buy it. Pennzoil had to redo their image and for most they did except the marketed an "Ultra" line that was hard to come by in stores and the settling out of material in the bottom of jugs scared the same people about wax from the 1980s. If a product is selling enough to stay in business they are doing something right.
 
In my experience, this type of "advice" from AP store counter jocks, pretty much par for the course. Knowledge about oil especially and even parts, not a requirement to get the job. Might even be a disqualifying factor.

Best to do one's research beforehand, know what you want, enter store with that done. Or like AAP, buy online with code, just pick up. Avoid the static.
 
Dave Hess said:
I had a Ford mechanic at dealership tell me Quaker State oil sucks. LOL
Click to expand...
Quaker State is a blue collar, non commercialized budget oil with lots of fans and a good solid oil. It's QSUDHM is a great oil especially if it's under 25$ a jug. I do wish they would do a foil safe seal. Never had a complaint using QSUD especially when Menards did 11 percent off. I'd be more worried about my mechanic than the Quaker State.
 
My father lost an engine back in the 70's using Quaker State. I was a little kid then but I remember there was a big "recall or lawsuit" because something happened in the manufacture of the oil and a lot of people lost engines. I think it was around the same time the Firestone 500 was a "suicide" tire and had to be recalled.
My Dad was so cheap he used a set of those 500's that we found dumped (brand new, still had stickers on them) and took them home. My poor mother was a nervous wreck driving on those. He also made a Pontiac dealer take the power steering off a new 1971 Lemans he purchased, just to save 60 dollars. My mother had forearms the size of a giant after parallel parking that car for years. :LOL:
God bless my parents souls, they sacrificed everything to put food on the table and clothes on our backs.
 
CarDocDude said:
You have to remember the majority of people that work at these stores are "wanna be, backyard or drop out" technicians. I don't debate nonsense. There isn't a M1 product that I wouldn't trust.
Click to expand...
Yup. When I first bought my Toyota, I went into an AAP to see if they carried 0W-16. Two different employees informed me that there was no such thing as 0W-16 and that Toyota recommends 5W-30 for all RAV4s.
 
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