The other day I posed as a regular consumer. If you own or work in a parts store, it is a safe bet that I may have made a visit to your place of employment. I won’t mention any names in my secret shopper review because there was no real difference between any of the multiple stores I visited.
My desire was to buy a set of expansion plugs and cylinder head dowel pins for a 302 Ford that I was assembling on a Saturday. The machine shop didn’t send these items with the parts. I expected these to be a little hard to find at the smaller parts stores, but available at the warehouses — there are several major supplier distribution centers in Denver.
First stop was my main supplier. I looked up the part number and found that throughout its distribution center and more than a dozen stores, they did not have them. Supplier No. 2 had them at their warehouse, which was open, but there was no way I was going to get them at 9 a.m. on a Saturday, even if I drove there myself.
Now I was moving to straight-up consumer mode because I was no longer dealing with my normal suppliers. Supplier No. 3 showed the part number on their website, but it was either not available online or in the store closest to me. The only way I could check other stores was to come up with different zip codes.
Supplier No. 4’s website showed that they had what I wanted less than six blocks from my shop, so I wrote down the part numbers and drove to their store. I walked in and asked the counterman to check a couple of part numbers for me. Apparently, nobody had ever asked him to do this before, so I explained to him that I had two part numbers, and I wanted him to check his computer to see if he had them in stock. I gave him the part number and a description of the parts. He said they had them and went off looking for them. After about 10 minutes, he came back and said they were out. He never asked if he could check another store for me or get them for me.
In the interest of keeping the story a little shorter, no parts counter person I came in contact with at any supplier offered any further help than, “We don’t have them.” It may only be a few bucks but, it was apparent that I could have come in and asked for anything and nobody would have offered to locate and sell me the part that was not in their store.
I got out my smart phone and did it myself. To avoid driving across town unsuccessfully, I called several stores, and once sat on hold for 4 minutes and 57 seconds. Customers should never hold longer than a minute. Most will go somewhere else, and if they don’t they won’t like you anymore. Finally the guy who announced the name of his parts store with a mouthful of mashed potatoes came back and said something that I think was his name, never thanking me for holding for him. I asked him to check a couple of part numbers. He checked them and said they had them. I asked if he would put his hands on them before I drove over. After a sort of snort and another 5 minutes he came back and said they did not have them.
My last effort did bear fruit, but was a customer service failure. I went into another store that showed they had them on their website. I asked the assistant manager to check the numbers and had to repeat them three times. He did not write them down, but asked me who the supplier was and then what they were. He moved with glacial speed to an area in the back of the store, walked back and asked me what the part numbers were again, came back after a couple minutes and said he didn’t have anything.
“Your inventory system showed you had them,” I said. He looked at the computer with something bordering on dread and asked me for the part numbers again. He then announced, “Oh, those may be in commercial or on the floor. Let me check these folks out, and I will go look.”
In the meantime, another employee sat there looking on and never lifted a finger to help. After 20 minutes of waiting, he finally found part of what I needed, and I was on my way.
It took me almost as long to find two little parts as it did to assemble a short block. It seems that if sales improvements are what you seek, you need only shop your own stores and make adjustments. If the kids at McDonald’s can learn politeness and process our orders, counter people should be able to do it, too.
The other day I posed as a regular consumer. If you own or work in a parts store, it is a safe bet that I may have made a visit to your place of employment. I won’t mention any names in my secret shopper review because there was no real difference between any of the multiple stores I visited.
My desire was to buy a set of expansion plugs and cylinder head dowel pins for a 302 Ford that I was assembling on a Saturday. The machine shop didn’t send these items with the parts. I expected these to be a little hard to find at the smaller parts stores, but available at the warehouses — there are several major supplier distribution centers in Denver.
First stop was my main supplier. I looked up the part number and found that throughout its distribution center and more than a dozen stores, they did not have them. Supplier No. 2 had them at their warehouse, which was open, but there was no way I was going to get them at 9 a.m. on a Saturday, even if I drove there myself.
Now I was moving to straight-up consumer mode because I was no longer dealing with my normal suppliers. Supplier No. 3 showed the part number on their website, but it was either not available online or in the store closest to me. The only way I could check other stores was to come up with different zip codes.
Supplier No. 4’s website showed that they had what I wanted less than six blocks from my shop, so I wrote down the part numbers and drove to their store. I walked in and asked the counterman to check a couple of part numbers for me. Apparently, nobody had ever asked him to do this before, so I explained to him that I had two part numbers, and I wanted him to check his computer to see if he had them in stock. I gave him the part number and a description of the parts. He said they had them and went off looking for them. After about 10 minutes, he came back and said they were out. He never asked if he could check another store for me or get them for me.
In the interest of keeping the story a little shorter, no parts counter person I came in contact with at any supplier offered any further help than, “We don’t have them.” It may only be a few bucks but, it was apparent that I could have come in and asked for anything and nobody would have offered to locate and sell me the part that was not in their store.
I got out my smart phone and did it myself. To avoid driving across town unsuccessfully, I called several stores, and once sat on hold for 4 minutes and 57 seconds. Customers should never hold longer than a minute. Most will go somewhere else, and if they don’t they won’t like you anymore. Finally the guy who announced the name of his parts store with a mouthful of mashed potatoes came back and said something that I think was his name, never thanking me for holding for him. I asked him to check a couple of part numbers. He checked them and said they had them. I asked if he would put his hands on them before I drove over. After a sort of snort and another 5 minutes he came back and said they did not have them.
My last effort did bear fruit, but was a customer service failure. I went into another store that showed they had them on their website. I asked the assistant manager to check the numbers and had to repeat them three times. He did not write them down, but asked me who the supplier was and then what they were. He moved with glacial speed to an area in the back of the store, walked back and asked me what the part numbers were again, came back after a couple minutes and said he didn’t have anything.
“Your inventory system showed you had them,” I said. He looked at the computer with something bordering on dread and asked me for the part numbers again. He then announced, “Oh, those may be in commercial or on the floor. Let me check these folks out, and I will go look.”
In the meantime, another employee sat there looking on and never lifted a finger to help. After 20 minutes of waiting, he finally found part of what I needed, and I was on my way.
It took me almost as long to find two little parts as it did to assemble a short block. It seems that if sales improvements are what you seek, you need only shop your own stores and make adjustments. If the kids at McDonald’s can learn politeness and process our orders, counter people should be able to do it, too.
