Beware of Rock Auto

BobbyFord

BobbyFord

Secret Agent Man
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Any DIYers out there, beware of Rock Auto.
I normally buy my parts from the local auto parts store but for performance parts or other goodies I use Summit Racing. I looked for a specific part on Summit's website and they didn't have it in stock and the estimated delivery date was the first week of January. I did a Google shopping search and Rock Auto came up. I've never bought anything from them so I thought I'd give them a try because the item was "in stock" and would ship immediately. I normally use a web based email address when ordering online but I screwed up and used my primary email address. Within one day my email was blowing up with spam from alphabet jumbled email addresses. All of it was home related stuff; window replacement, home loans, time share, solar, house warranty, etc. Non-stop now for four days. The only other thing I order with my primary email is coffee and I've never had a problem with spam ordering from Keurig.
It gets better. The parts arrived today. I ordered Moog tie rod ends and shock absorbers.
Moog is Moog and comes in factory boxes. The shocks arrived in plain wrap boxes. When I took the shocks out of the boxes I could tell that the factory product labeling stickers had been peeled off of the shocks leaving the sticky adhesive behind in a rectangle shape. Upon further inspection it was obvious that the shock boxes had been opened and resealed with a glue gun. I have no idea what brand shocks were in that box and I've never seen quality brand shocks without factory product name stickers. Clearly, bait and switch. The shocks are already on their way back to Rock Auto and I sent them an email to alert them.
I'm curious to see how they respond.
 
wow. I'm a half hour from a rockauto WH, I've only bought once but dad has bought several times without issues.
 
BobbyFord said:
Any DIYers out there, beware of Rock Auto.
I normally buy my parts from the local auto parts store but for performance parts or other goodies I use Summit Racing. I looked for a specific part on Summit's website and they didn't have it in stock and the estimated delivery date was the first week of January. I did a Google shopping search and Rock Auto came up. I've never bought anything from them so I thought I'd give them a try because the item was "in stock" and would ship immediately. I normally use a web based email address when ordering online but I screwed up and used my primary email address. Within one day my email was blowing up with spam from alphabet jumbled email addresses. All of it was home related stuff; window replacement, home loans, time share, solar, house warranty, etc. Non-stop now for four days. The only other thing I order with my primary email is coffee and I've never had a problem with spam ordering from Keurig.
It gets better. The parts arrived today. I ordered Moog tie rod ends and shock absorbers.
Moog is Moog and comes in factory boxes. The shocks arrived in plain wrap boxes. When I took the shocks out of the boxes I could tell that the factory product labeling stickers had been peeled off of the shocks leaving the sticky adhesive behind in a rectangle shape. Upon further inspection it was obvious that the shock boxes had been opened and resealed with a glue gun. I have no idea what brand shocks were in that box and I've never seen quality brand shocks without factory product name stickers. Clearly, bait and switch. The shocks are already on their way back to Rock Auto and I sent them an email to alert them.
I'm curious to see how they respond.
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I got an upper control arm from them about 2 years ago, it showed up in a Moog box for a ridiculously low price. So far, no issues with them
 
I wonder if it was a re-stocked return or something. Previous customer might have scammed them uncaught.
 
Magnethead said:
I wonder if it was a re-stocked return or something. Previous customer might have scammed them uncaught.
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All of the bushing and fastener hardware packages were still there and intact as well at the straps that hold the gas shocks in the compressed position.
I don't know what happened. My buddy suggested that it was the work of whomever was the drop-shipper.
Cost me $29 to ship them back. I expect that to be refunded also.
 
That's even more odd. What we order usually comes from the warehouse a half hour away.
 
Magnethead said:
That's even more odd. What we order usually comes from the warehouse a half hour away.
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From the email correspondence: Please do not send parts back for any reason before obtaining return instructions! Parts do not necessarily go back to the location from which they shipped.
This is something they're going to have to figure out without me, I shipped them to the return address on the box mailing label sans any return instructions. :)
 
They may use the same returns network that Amazon does; all national returns go to a dedicated processing center.
 
That sucks Bobby. I've ordered from Rock Auto several times without issue. Cheap prices, fast shipping, always get what I ordered. I still prefer NAPA though.
 
I've used Rock Auto quite a bit and never had a problem. If I need something today I go to the local NAPA but lately it's been ''I have it at the warehouse, can have it here in two days''. I WILL NOT go to Auto Zone, Auto Palace, Pep Boys or any other chain.
I look forward to your rant because you returned the parts without a RA, return authorization number.:)
 
Bobw said:
I've used Rock Auto quite a bit and never had a problem. If I need something today I go to the local NAPA but lately it's been ''I have it at the warehouse, can have it here in two days''. I WILL NOT go to Auto Zone, Auto Palace, Pep Boys or any other chain.
I look forward to your rant because you returned the parts without a RA, return authorization number.:)
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Not sure there’s anything they can legally do but refund my money. I sent the unknown product back via USPS and I have a tracking number to prove product arrival.
I’ve already blown them up on our car forums. They’re a big company and they’ll survive without me. Bait and switch is a fraudulent business practice.
 
Ordered the same product from a local parts store yesterday. Just picked these up.
No plain wrap boxes, no rectangular adhesive patch where the oval Monroe sticker used to be.
 
The legal part of it is that they have their parts and my money.
Legally, they cannot keep both.
The ball is in their court.
 
I’ve blocked all of the spam mail. I won’t use my real email address again when ordering online. I’m certainly never ordering from Rock Auto again.
Like I said, they’ll survive. We have thousands of members on our truck websites, many of them won’t be using Rock Auto.
I’ll stick with Summit Racing, Jeg’s, Amazon and other more reputable companies...and I’ll get my money back from Rock Auto.
...and I have a weight slip from USPS that exactly matches the weight of the package delivered by UPS from Rock Auto
 
I contacted them again last night because it was clear they weren’t getting back to me. Girl emailed me this morning to ask what I returned. I gave her original order number and USPS delivery confirmation number. Their records indicated I ordered 4 shock absorbers, not 2 shock absorbers and 2 tie rod ends. She asked which pair of shocks I returned. I asked her to check the part numbers. She sent email confirmation of the refund about an hour later. I got the purchase price back but not my shipping costs.
I also got a cheap lesson.
 
Did you ever ask them why the product was shipped in that type of package so you could see what their explanation was? Just in this thread alone there are 4 satisfied customers and 1 dissatisfied customer so you are probably correct they will survive. But, hopefully someone will contact you to figure the problem out. I hope you have better luck with your next online order because shipping isn't cheap. But, sometimes it's cheaper to have it shipped instead of picking it up and paying tax on it. When I was working for a race team that was based in Illinois we had windowed 2 blocks at the Winter Nationals in Pomona Ca, so after the race I took the blocks over to BAE to have them repaired and ordered 1 new block. I went to pick them up 2 weeks later when I was heading to a race in Florida... but it was cheaper for me to just haul the repaired blocks and let them ship the new block to the track so that we didn't have to pay sales tax on the new block.
 
I've never ordered from RockAuto but I do order things online all the time. Any time I've run into a problem with something I've ordered, I've simply obtained a RA from the seller and returned the merchandise according to their instructions without issue. Because of this thread, I looked at their website. I see things that I'd order from them. I looked at their return policy. It doesn't appear any different than any other place I've ordered from.
 
Nitro Dude said:
Did you ever ask them why the product was shipped in that type of package so you could see what their explanation was? Just in this thread alone there are 4 satisfied customers and 1 dissatisfied customer so you are probably correct they will survive. But, hopefully someone will contact you to figure the problem out. I hope you have better luck with your next online order because shipping isn't cheap. But, sometimes it's cheaper to have it shipped instead of picking it up and paying tax on it. When I was working for a race team that was based in Illinois we had windowed 2 blocks at the Winter Nationals in Pomona Ca, so after the race I took the blocks over to BAE to have them repaired and ordered 1 new block. I went to pick them up 2 weeks later when I was heading to a race in Florida... but it was cheaper for me to just haul the repaired blocks and let them ship the new block to the track so that we didn't have to pay sales tax on the new block.
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I just kept getting a computer generated email. Finally last night I emailed a “service” email address instead of going through the website. A girl emailed me back but the computer generated reply was visible below her text. I told her about the obviously opened and resealed items. There was never an apology or anything. I won’t do business with them again.
They’re a drop shipper and likely have very little control over what actually gets shipped. The customer service girl didn’t even have an accurate record of what I ordered.
 
My rockauto package came yesterday. I thought 9 pounds for 4 MOOG ball joints was a bit heavy.

I had no idea a lower ball joint weights 3 pounds.

$37 at RA versus 80 dollars each at O'R or NAPA.
 
BobbyFord said:
Incidentally, Monroe shocks are made in the USA if anyone is considering shock absorber replacement.
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That’s not entirely accurate. Most might be USA made, but not all, especially the front struts for my car.

As for the OP issue, I too have used RA for about the past 10 years, no problems. I did have a set of sway bar end links, the ones that have tie rod like ends, arrive that had clearly been installed before. A couple emails later they sent me two new ones. Didn’t even ask for the used ones to be returned.

Last time I used them, about 3 years ago, their website indicates if a part is shipped from another W/H. Not sure if it still does.

They have some cool stuff at pretty awesome prices if you dig deep enough. E.g. wiring harnesses for old cars. They carry, or at least did, American Auto Wire. M&H seems to be the preferred manufacturer, but many like AAW. Their prices are like 25% cheaper than resto companies, and you can order them customized. I asked about getting an engine harness for my 69 Pontiac set up for HEI as opposed to the points deal. No problem. There was a charge, but it wasn’t out of line.
 
Big John Kordic said:
That’s not entirely accurate. Most might be USA made, but not all, especially the front struts for my car.

As for the OP issue, I too have used RA for about the past 10 years, no problems. I did have a set of sway bar end links, the ones that have tie rod like ends, arrive that had clearly been installed before. A couple emails later they sent me two new ones. Didn’t even ask for the used ones to be returned.

Last time I used them, about 3 years ago, their website indicates if a part is shipped from another W/H. Not sure if it still does.

They have some cool stuff at pretty awesome prices if you dig deep enough. E.g. wiring harnesses for old cars. They carry, or at least did, American Auto Wire. M&H seems to be the preferred manufacturer, but many like AAW. Their prices are like 25% cheaper than resto companies, and you can order them customized. I asked about getting an engine harness for my 69 Pontiac set up for HEI as opposed to the points deal. No problem. There was a charge, but it wasn’t out of line.
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I learned my lesson.
They’ll only get one shot at me :D
 
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