Koz

Every now and then I come across a women working the parts counter and I've yet to have a positive experience. I called the dealer and spoke to the women parts person. Told her I needed a lip seal and transmission side cover gasket for my 80 vette. I gave her the part number I got off the leaking seal.. She looked it up in the computer by the number I gave her and said she could get it tomorrow. Today I go to get my parts and she's got the wrong seal. I look at the part number and it doesn't match. She said, after she got off the phone she researched my part some more and found that my car listed a different part and that part was cheaper so she ordered what was listed for my car instead of the number I gave her. WHAT??? The parts manager came by to see what was going on and said, why don't you just order the part by the part number. She says.. OK but it's $14.95 and this part is only $3.95. We both looked at each other and just grinned... He said, just order the part by the part number.. I have family comming in for the holidays and they haven't seen my car yet. I planned on fixing it this afternoon then wash, wax.. you know the drill... but I can't move it now.. I guess she ment well but just didn't make sense..

Just venting here.. For the women on this forum who work parts departments I'm sure you do an excellent job. :blueangel:

flood

Yeah, I don't think that its just women though. Whenever I go to a parts store it is a hassle. I suppose that its half my fault, I usually don't know the part number when I try to get something. But I would expect these people that work in these stores to have a good understanding of cars, and customer service. The problem lies with the understanding of cars. Most are really nice and try to get you what you need. I have found a woman at a GM dealership that has been working there for at least 10-15 years. Experience pays off and that girl that you had the encounter with will learn from her ecperience (hopefully).

e3pres

There is a woman who works at the Advance Auto in Cookeville. I wanted a Fel-Pro engine gasket set for a 350. I told her what I wanted, and she said that there is no such set in existence. So I explained to her that I had bought one from her store two weeks earlier. She still denied the set's existence. So I pulled the piece of paper from my jacket on which I had written the part number for the set, to which she refused to even look in the backroom for the box. Upon hearing her final refusal, I told her where she could stick her gasket set if and when she ever found it, and left about 30 ft. of rubber in the parking lot on my way to AutoZone... where I bought the kit.

I'm not blasting women here. I'm blasting auto parts stores. For some reason they think that putting an unqualified woman behind the counter will get more men into their stores than a well-qualified man. Theres nothing wrong with having a woman working in your store. Just make sure she knows what the hell she is doing.

Koz

Your right.. All you parts women out there.. I'm sorry.. Parts guys suck too.. :lol: When I replace the same cover gasket a couple months ago the local dealership guy found one gasket in a 20 year old envelope. $8.95. I asked him if there were any more seals that could be replaced as long as I'm in there.. I didn't have any of my manuals yet.. He said nope and your lucky to find this gasket too. When it still leaked and I got my books I found these lip seals. Called him back for the seals and he tells me discontinued and good luck finding them. When I spoke to this girl yesterday at a different dealership it's available, 14 in the warehouse and they don't come up discontinued. I also got 5 new gaskets for $9.90 where the first bone head charged me $8.95 for one. :mad

Pedro'74

It seems that the auto-parts stores in my neck of the woods prefer unqualified men behind the counter.... Tried to buy points for my '74 at Autozone, and the guy didn't know what the heck I was talking about. Tried to buy a thermostat housing gasket, and the guy looked up on the 'puter only to conclude that if I wanted the gasket, I'd have to buy the thermostat housing (I had bought a gasket at that same store two days before). Tried to get a heater shut-off valve at Lappen's, and the resident specialist gave a big sermon on how what I was trying to do was wrong. The same expert later said he had no idea a distributor had springs and weights--but he proudly knew about the points, though! :D

Sometimes I wish they would just let me look up the parts on the computer and go get the parts by myself.... :mad

-Pedro

1LE

I have had both good and bad experiences with parts people in the past. I think this person was just trying to save you a couple of $$$. She mad a mistake, and most people learn by their mistakes.There are plenty of parts guys out there that have given me the wrong parts too.

71coupe

A good auto parts store is hard to find these days. Most of the new style part store just plain suck. I have a good parts store that I've been going to most of my life. My dad would take me there when I was just a liitle kid. It was old, dusty, & always had a burning smell from the machine shop in the back. They had everything there. They even had a Coke machine with beer in it - you had to press the "out-of-order" button. :cheers:
I loved that place. They relocated to a newer shop, but they kept the crusty old parts guys.
I don't think you can blame women. It sound like she was trying to help you. But try to avoid the young trainnies.

Stoge

I'll tell you what's worse, and that is when a woman goes to a parts store like Auto Zone for example.

My ex fiancee is quite knowledgable when it comes to SBC cars. She went to one of these stores to get parts and they kept telling her that she was wrong on her carburetor choice. They sold her an Edelbrock carburetor for her 81 caprice and sure enough, it was the wrong one. The one she wanted was the right one, but the guy at the parts counter couldn't handle a 19 year old girl that was knowledgable of cars and car parts.

This didn't just happen once, either. :cuss

We have a little cutie that works at the Auto Zone in my hometown, and she has been helpful as can be... even knows of good area stores to find performance parts for my car.

Juliet

Seen it, been there, done that... MANY TIMES! I have a very low threshold for incompetence - be it a man or a woman behind the counter! And for the looks I get when I look at the part and say - No, this is not a throttle body gasket, it's a Quadrajet gasket... Hrumph. There are morons everywhere. 'Tain't linked to an X or Y chromosome. :jester

Koz

Well, if she's cute that a different story.. ok.. I'd still be pissed but I'd have something to look at while whe was looking up the parts. :jester The girl today was beasty with greazed hands and black crud under her finger nails. Based on her hands she looked like she knew something about working on cars.. Maybe that's her specialty... sure wasn't parts..

VolVette

If only y'all lived in Tidewater, VA and could work with Linda!

Linda is a parts lady at a local auto store and she knows cars better than anyone in there! Sometimes that doesn't say much, and it probably doesn't considering her fellow workers. But I know that if I want something done right, and good advice, she's as good as they come!

Cheers to having the best part lady! :cheers:

Stephen

Monkeywrench

The main problem is that they rely on their computers too mcuh. I had one guy go get a set of gaskets and come out and they didn't match the old one I had in my hand. It wasn't even close. He insisted that I had the wrong gasket and that his was correct. I asked him how my old one fit on the car and he replied "I guess you were lucky" :confused:

Another time I bought brakes for my Del Sol and ended up with the wrong ones. Took them back (wih the correct shows in hand) and it ended up that the part # was listed under another Honda. I told them they should fix the part # in the computer and they said sure will. Guess what happened the next time I wen in for brake shoes? :mad

DaveL82

The real issue is wages. It doesn't matter if the person is male or female. More and more of the old parts stores that knew what they were doing are going out of business. The percentage of people working on their cars has dropped a lot over the last few years and the people behind the counters are making less (in real wages).

This means that people that would know how to look up parts and be able to work with the information provided are taking better paying jobs.

Just imagine, in ten years people that work on their cars will only be able to order parts over the internet doing thier own search, but you'll be able to pick up some great waxes, cheap replacement mirrors and maybe even spark plags at the local auto zone/ buger joint combo shop (do you want fries with that headlight).

Dave

Xracer

I used to manage a parts store in a previous life. Women parts people get crap no matter how good they are. We had a very capable girl that when answering the phone would almost always be asked to have a guy get on the phone. She would do so and then we would ask her the question the customer was asking. Even if she did not know the answer we would right it down and have her read it to us so the phone customer could hear. It would make us mad as guys that other men would not give her a chance.

On the subject of bad parts places. You need to go to the local parts stores not the chain ones. The best counter guys are in the non-retail stores. Use the ones the garages use then you will get the right stuff. Oil, filters stuff like that use the chain stores but hard parts need to come out of a local store. After a few times in you will get dealer prices that will compare to the chains. Plus your sanity has its price.

Joe

Hershey

I agree with Xracer. I too managed one of these chain parts stores and had a couple of very good females who worked for me. I only hired according to automotive knowledge and sometimes what kind of car they drove and what mods they had done themselves (whether they were male or female). I also agree that most knowledge is in the non-chain stores, or develope a friendship with someone in the chain store. Most now let me look up my own parts. Wages, inexperience, and varied hours (late) all contribute to the down fall of the true parts person. Hershey :chevy

majglc

My former sister-in-law is one of the best parts persons with whom I've delt. Also, I've delt with 3 different Harley shops that had excellent female parts staff.

However, it sounds like you found a real "winner". Bettter luck next time.