autozone on hold

[eljefino]

From Jalopnik...

So I got an event coming up at the local track...should be a fairly fun event and I want to take the truck out. Well....a few weeks ago, due to my own stupidity, I blew my hub seals on my rear end...and due to me catching the [censored] flu...and other [censored]...I never got around to fixing them. So this is the week OF and I need the [censored] seals, right?

So I call up AutoZone:

"Thank you for calling AutoZone, how can I help you?"
"Yeah, I'm looking for axle seals of a ford 9" rear end..."
"Oooh. umm...hold on a second...." and he puts me on hold.

....15 minutes later...someone ELSE picks up...

"...umm thank you for calling AutoZone, who are you holding for?"
"I'm holding for someone to help me find some axle seals..."
"Oh.. ummm. Huh.. hold on a second." and HE puts me on hold.

...10 minutes in, I'm getting [censored] and I decide that this is a battle of wills. Them waiting for me to hang up....me waiting for them to get tired of the phone beeping and to pick up.

...10 MORE minutes....and I can feel my will about to give in completely to anger. [censored] THIS! While STILL on hold, I jump in my daily driver and drive my [censored] up to the AutoZone I'm on hold with!

I get there about 10 minutes later...and there's 4 [censored] working...and like two people shopping...and one of them hits me up instantly:

"Welcome to AutoZone, how can I help you?"
...as I walk behind their counter to look for their phone...

"Yeah....do you have someone on hold right now?"
"Uh excuse me?"
...I point at the blinking, beeping phone...
"DO...YOU...HAVE...SOMEONE...ON...HOLD...RIGHT...NOW!?"
"Uhh...I guess so."
"You guess so?? Let me help you. You DO have someone on hold...ME! I've been on hold for 45 [censored] minutes! What in the [censored] is THAT all about?? Can you give me one good reason why you've had me on hold for almost a [censored] hour??"
"Well...uhh..I mean....uhhh...I was waiting for him (he points) to pick up.."
"He DID pick up...and put me right the [censored] back on hold!"

"Uuhh..err....ahh...ummm..."
"Don't give me any [censored] about how busy you are...there's no one [censored] in here! If my [censored] question was simply too difficult for you, TELL me."
"Well...what do you need sir?"
"What I needed was axle seals...but what I need NOW is to talk to YOUR [censored] manager."
"Yes sir."...and scampers off to get El Jefe....
Manager: "Yes sir, what seems to be the problem?"

...I tell him, "....and I'm STILL on hold!" That's right...I still haven't hung up...

He looks at the phone....picks it up...and says, "Uhh Autzone, may I help you?"
I yell into MY phone, "IT'S ME [censored]!!!" He jumps and hangs up.
"I'm hoping that isn't your policy here! That if you CAN'T answer the question, just put the person on hold until they hang up?"
"Uh no sir!"
"Well lets see if y'all CAN help me...now that I'm here."
He goes over to the computer...

I tell him, "I need axle seals for a 31 spline ford 9" rear end."
"What's it out of?"
"[censored]...i don't know? Almost any 70s ford truck I'm sure."
"Well I need to know what it's out of."
"I do not know..."
"Well what's it in now?"
"That's not gonna help you."
"Sure it is"
"No...it won't. There's no way to search for the rear end?"
"No...so what's it in?"
"A 2001 CHEVY SILVERADO ok?? Does THAT help???"
"No."
"See?"

He connected me with someone at another AutoZone that actually WAS helpful...and I went over there to get the parts...

 

[spasm3]

I can understand them having trouble narrowing down the seals since they are probably vehicle indexed. But the phone game is ridiculous. I would forward your above exchange to autozone corporate.


Autozone, Inc Corporate Office & Headquarters
123 S. Front Street Memphis TN 38002
Autozone, Inc corporate phone number:
(800) 288-6966

 

[Inspecktor]

Be careful, if you call the corporate office, you may be put on hold........

 

[bubbatime]

Don't feel bad. They even did it to this guy.

 

[bubbatime]

Oh and it is freaking GENIUS to actually drive down there while you are on hold. I would have spared the profanity, but pretty funny otherwise.

 

[tom slick]

I had the opposite situation at NAPA. A coworker and I noticed the water pump leaking on our way home from a trip.
He calls NAPA at 5 pm:
HH: Hi Duane this is HH, I need a water pump for a 2000 Powerstroke.
Duane:I've got new and rebuilt.
HH: I'll take the new one, what about a thermostat also?
Duane: I've got a few in stock.
HH: Great! Can you set it aside and I'll pick it up in the morning?
Duane: It'll be sitting on the counter with your name.

It was less than a 2 minute conversation.

To be fair, this is a small town, HH knows Duane and Duane is the owner.

 

[clinebarger]

This guy called Autozone about a 9" Ford axle seal. How are these young employees suppose to know what to do? You are NOT dealing with a car enthusiast, You are dealing with someone that just NEEDS a job that was not trained well to begin with.....

 

[Justin251]

Me and a friend went to O'Reilly's one time. He asked the guy for a dipstick for a 1980 chevy pickup with a 5.7 350.

The response, "is that for a long block or short block?"

We got a good laugh. He was serious and asked again.

 

[CapitalTruck]

Originally Posted By: clinebarger
This guy called Autozone about a 9" Ford axle seal. How are these young employees suppose to know what to do? You are NOT dealing with a car enthusiast, You are dealing with someone that just NEEDS a job that was not trained well to begin with.....



On another thread somebody was moaning about having to pay people a living wage. If you want stripper priced auto parts you get high-schooler minimum wage employees. Pay more for your parts and you'll get people who are willing to make a career out of it and get a lot of good advice and help. This post above is spot on.

 

[Justin251]

No way. You can totally afford a nice car, nice house, and put 3 kids through college on $7.50 an hour.

On the other hand.

Autozone/McDonald's isn't supposed to be a career job. It's only meant for kids and college students. They don't deserve $15 an hour. "Hey, you stupid idiot why did you mess up my order! I wanted 3 number ones no lettuce on two no onions on one. Three diet cokes one half diet one half regular. Three fries one no salt. Two no cheese one extra cheese. Jeez! How hard is that?"

Why can't you read my mind and give me the part I am thinking of!?!?!

 

[Kawiguy454]

Its not about a living wage or any other garbage like that! NOBODY seems to CARE about what they are doing anymore. Everybody seems to want oodles of pay but aren't willing to put in the mental capital to get there ...that's someone elses job.

...just a minute i'll put you on hold till the the guy that cares picks it up.

When i was growing up everybody from the garbage man to the lady making sandwiches at K-Mart for 1.25/hr cared ...people were just built that way.

 

[Merkava_4]

I think I would've been even angrier than that guy - to the point where I'd get in trouble if I went over to the store like that guy did. I'd stay home instead going over there.

 

[Rick in PA]

I always love the standard recording:
Hello, your call is important to us...

Then you start the button pushing, followed by the long wait with annoying music. At regular intervals during the music, the line will go click and a voice will start, you'll have a momentary burst of enthusiasm thinking you got a live person. No, it's just another recording telling you you're still on hold...

 

[Kira]

Hello, To eljefino: Oddly enough, I loved that post! I enjoyed reading it. There was a rhythm and build to it but I'm going to call you on it......

.....It never happened. It's a story.

That's OK. Fiction is good. Heck, many people live their entire lives in a fiction be it fantasy, selective naiveté or overblown ego etc.

We all know you're a good guy (and now, a good author) who would never be that "franticated" over a parts dummy. {plus you posted it in the HUMOR section}

Keep on writing !

The 2 NAPA stores near me (Wood-Ridge and Lyndhurst, NJ) and the one in Ticonderoga, NY are good ones.
I felt I had to throw that in. Kira

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Amusing story. The phone bit was funny, but anyone who thinks they can walk into an AutoZone or other chain parts place and order items that way is delusional. As common as some parts may be doesn't mean they have simple separate catalogs behind the counter just for Ford 9" rear ends, Fox body chassis parts, or Chevy small block water pumps. It doesn't work that way.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Actually, at some stores, you CAN...the NAPA I used to use (before I moved), I could and did do that. Heck, I needed an oil sending unit for my Gremlin...one of the counter guys turned to the slightly-confused guy helping me and rattled off a part number! If I asked them for a 9" axle seal, the only questions I might get would be, "28 or 31 spline axles, and one or two?"

 

[NHGUY]

This is why in a town of 2 or 3 parts stores,one will always do more business that the others.Its about knowledge,speed,quality of parts and oh yea...pricing.Seems the lowest price places employ the worst help.And good help is hard to find at $9-10 an hour.I laugh when store hire anyone (18 year old kids even)and immediately sticks them behind the phone answering calls.It takes at least 6 months for them to get comfortable and absorb some info from the customers,and the other veteran employees.Some never absorb it as its a stepping stone job to something "bigger and better".No matter the sign out front,its the people behind the counter that makes the difference.AZ,Pep Boys or whoever could have the smartest guy around and do well...the minute he defects to somewhere else...that store is screwed.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

And if the person that wrote the story would have just ordered the parts on the Internet when he needed them he would have saved himself a tremendous amount of aggravation. Even if he didn't feel good he still could have sat down at the computer and ordered what he needed.

Sort of a ridiculous story that could have been easily prevented.

 

[simple_gifts]

The customer doesn't know the model and year of the vehicle, but apparently the guy behind the counter should?

Those guys look up parts by year, model, etc. Those are the tools they are given.

 

[pbm]

No way. You can totally afford a nice car, nice house, and put 3 kids through college on $7.50 an hour.


I don't know about the nice car but I have neighbors living in house like mine and their rent is paid by a program called 'Section 8' (paid by we the taxpayers).
Also, college tuition is not the same for any two people (except those extraordinarily
wealthy people who can afford to pay full price). Low income people generally pay far less than the middle class.

PS: Great story EJ....consider yourself lucky that you even got to speak to a human if only briefly...