AAP warranty exchanges with online orders

[dlundblad]

I had to do my first lifetime warranty exchange yesterday at AAP with a seized brake caliper for the Jeep.

First, the guy questioned the seized caliper asking how I was able to get it off and push the pistons back in. I told him the pistons weren't pushed in and pointed to the 1" or so they were sticking out and and how it needed persuasion with a hammer to remove it from the rotor. I then explained to him that it was coated in black brake dust from being driven 55-60 mph for 30 minutes. Then he didn't want to honor my lifetime warranty because it was from 2014. :facepalm:

According to the parts guys, since it was an online order, they'd have to return my old caliper as defective and sell me a new caliper. I ended up buying the caliper for 35% off back in 08/2014 so they refunded me roughly $40, but were going to charge me $60 for the new caliper. At first the guy told me to pound sand or go home, reorder the caliper and come back to pick it up, but I told him I'd like it for what he refunded me without the hassle. We waited on the manager who was able to override it. Then the guy wanted me to pay the $30 for the core.. Told me the same as before and that I was asking him to "complicate [censored]" and told me to call AAP's 1-800 number. Once again, waited on the manager and he was able to over-ride it.

Kudos to the helpful manager, but boo to the lazy parts guy. The savings is still worth it in the end, but just be hopeful a helpful manager is working that is willing to override the additional price and core charge when needed.

 

[toneydoc]

I feel your love of the lazy parts guy. I doubt he has the authority to do anything other than sell parts at price marked or maybe a genuine price match.

However, he should not be rude to you. He should get the manager to help you since it was not a "simple" return for him.

I think that is pretty much how it happens in my parts stores as well. Counter employees do not have too much say so in some areas.

 

[bullwinkle]

I have had to do this twice now with AAP-both on parts for my GMC 6.2. The oil pressure switch/gauge sensor & the wiper delay timer board (both of which are known failures on the '88-'99 GM pickups). It was a little hassle, but once I was able to find the receipts online (AAP saves all of them on your account), they were able to adjust the price on the new part to match the old. I would try a different store, I've had cranky employees before too, but once you find a friendly manager-go there for everything. Fortunately my "friendly" dude got sent to the main hub AAP!

 

[stephen9666]

Sounds like a bad experience. You may want to forward this info to corporate, including the employees name if you have it. Is there a name or employee number on the receipt.

 

[Wolf359]

This is commonly what they do, nothing about a bad experience here. What I've done is just buy another one, kept that receipt and then when I finally did the swap, bring in both receipts. What they end up doing in that case is just refunding me the new one so you don't end up paying extra for the new part because typically between the time you bought it and now, the price of the part will have gone up. Usually the manager will end up doing it the way I want to. The managers are typically pretty helpful all the time no matter which store I'm in so they do have good training, they don't really give me any problems when returning anything. I never go too crazy with the explanation, I just say it doesn't work or it's broken and that's the end of the matter. I could go into more detail, but what's the point, you're just wasting time.

 

[JustinH]

I have had good experience with AAP.

Bought some brake pads for my application, got them home, wrong brake pad.

The parts guy said no problem he matched up my used brake pad to a higher priced make (akebono), then gave me a direct exchange, the cheap house brand AAP brake pad for the top dollar akebono.

I sent my wife to get her batter replaced (mistake 1) at AAP.

The guy sold her a battery of a smaller size and put a spacer on it. He put the spacer on backwards and the battery would wobble and the car wouldn't start sometimes.

I took the battery in about 2 months later (after I figured out the problem).

Store manager apologized, and said the battery was installed wrong, and that it was the correct application, but the spacer was wrong.

Without asking, he offered to put a Gold battery in the car, that is full size with no spacer. This is probably a 75 dollar more battery. He did an exchange on the spot with no questions, and left me with a perfectly installed new battery.

He even put felt guards on the terminals and sprayed with battery terminal spray grease.

 

[01rangerxl]

As long as you had your order information, that should have been an easy return.

It doesn't hurt the stores at all to return an online order. The system knows it was sold online and the store/salesperson are not penalized at all for it.

A manager is required to approve all in-store returns at AAP by keying in their password, but the other people on the counter shouldn't have given you any trouble. The only time a return/exchange is difficult there is when a customer has no receipt, and can't give the name or phone number they gave when they bought the part. At least the store manager made it right. The 1-800 number does get results, even if it's the customer who is in the wrong, but the manager will get chewed for it, so if they made it right I'd call it good.

A lot of the counter people you deal with at a retail parts store as a retail customer might be making $8-10 an hour, so quality of service will vary widely.

 

[zzyzzx]

I tend to avoid AAP due to their poor "Limited Lifetime Warranty" that seems to cover nothing.