The guys at my wife’s work order from them quite often. Haven’t heard anything about them as they did recommend them when I needed parts. They just said watch the freight rates as we’re in Canada. A month ago I was going to order struts for our Kia. Freight killed the deal and we ordered locally. Last week I ordered a blower motor for my 2013 Sierra locally. Piston Ring sent wrong one. I was on the phone with them and the correct one was 460 bucks. So on May 28th I ordered the Rock Auto one. They had 12 numbers from different suppliers. I picked the genuine GM one and on Thursday the 30th, I had it installed in my truck already.

 

They sent me a faulty distributor recently. I used the return process on their website. I did not have to pay return shipping. Once the confirmed receipt of the faulty part they gave me a full refund.

That’s my most recent experience with Rock Auto

 

Not to defend them but returning parts can be a big risk for the sellers. Unscrupulous persons try and often succeed in returning parts that they themselves damaged or swapped out for bad part. Friend manages a local big box auto parts store and has some horror stores how they got screwed by a customer. You would be surprised the lengths some go through to con them out of the parts in the return. Substituting used, bad or worn out parts hoping the store won't verify it. Lots of scams people run on returns and get away with if the business does not scrutinize, thus the process some implemented to make is not worth the effort.

 

I had a similar experience where I ordered some caliper pistons and seals that were supposed to fit for my truck, they specified they were the fronts for the extended cab. I got my caliper apart and destroyed my old dust seals in the process, only to find that the new parts were too big. Ended up having to buy a caliper to get back to work. Other than that I’ve had only positive experiences with rockauto.
I think that part of the problem with the return policy is you have to be very careful when answering the questionnaire. One of the questions is something along the lines of “ did the item description match what you intended to order” you must answer yes. If you’re rushing through you may misinterpret that as “did the description match what you received”. Once you submit the return form and they authorize it with a decision as far as who pays for shipping, I don’t think there’s any way to go back to the questionnaire and reverse the decision. It would be nice if there was a customer service phone number.

 

Never had a problem with Rock Auto.
Have purchased parts for 5 different vehicles.

 

No problems here. Been buying from time to time for over 15 years

 

Never had a problem in 15 year's

 

I have used them quite a bit.. lately their shipping has not been the greatest....Hope they get it together!

 

Been ordering from RA probably 20+ years. Had plenty of the “collectible” magnets to prove it. Too bad they all got destroyed by the fire…

All in all, guess I’ve been lucky and never had an issue with anything I’ve ordered. Don’t think I’ve actually ever had to return anything.

Sucks for the OP, but I don’t think that’s enough for me to stop using them. Good to to hear people’s experiences, of course.

 

Rockauto definitely has no customers service.

I order with my amex and chargeback anything that is wrong, out of spec, etc. They have yet to win one of the disputes due to their lack of CS abilities. That said, it is still a wonderful resource with lots of parts.

 

Love rock auto. I have bought and returned plenty of times. No issues. Way cheaper than the parts store.

 

Love rock auto cheaper parts than most but same quality. Never had a problem The past 12 years I've used them.

 

In the years I have used them, I did have one return. I ordered a fuel pump for the wife car and they sent the wrong one.
It was listed for a 1993 caravan .... It really was for a 1993 Caravan AWD. They use a different pump and I had to investigate to figure out what they sent me. ..... Remember it was listed for my FWD .... but it was for AWD.

To top it off, it clearly had been opened and repackaged/returned before .... so I'm not the first one to run into this with this pump.
So I really tried to talk with someone to explain the issue and zero human interaction. I was pissed I had to pay return freight ... think there was a restocking fee also.

Be careful on the closeout deals .... I bought some gas shocks & front gas struts. The struts I had to use my die grinder and lengthen the adjustment slot 1/4" to get proper castor. Then 1 gas shock only returned 95% of the way like maybe it was low on gas .... They were stupid cheap $5 each. The struts seem fine other then needing a adjustment and were ridiculously cheap also.

I'm thinking if you stay with Name brand or quality parts you have a better chance of getting what you need. While the cheaper or closeout parts can be a crap shoot.
I just got $150 worth of AC DELCO ignition parts delivered yesterday and everything is spot on.

 

Only issue I have had was a few years back when UPS went on strike and LOST a few items in an order. Took a while for RA to straighten it out but they did refund what I did not receive.
Like I said,, it took a few months and a few CS phone calls!

 

I agree, total crap shoot.
I bought this oil filter " AC DELCO" online, but when i got it ,it didn't seem right and of course it's past it's return date ,so,i'm still contemplating on using it or not.
I was going to use Rock Auto on something but the shipping was so expensive.
Does this look right ?

 

Hope someone has a answer for you, I use Wix filters.
The packaging I got yesterday, there is no foreign writing on the boxes .... looks like a different shade of blue to me ... the lower right hand corner of your box has 3 white dots, I do not see that on mine .... The packaging just looks different.

On the other hand, my spark plugs are different packaging, has foreign language on them and has 2 out of 3 dots .... suggesting possibly that is quality level? I have 2 where 3 are better ... I really do not know .... now wondering if my plugs are counterfeit.

 

rockauto just sent me some new emergency knuckles haha

 

Shipping rates are likely due to UPS & FedEx jacking up their costs to Rock Auto just like they have to everyone else.

 

Stay away from Rock Auto.

No problems here. Been buying from time to time for over 15 years

I use rock auto nerely weekly, and like latech, almost zero issues in the many years of usage.

Im guessing you have 1 bad experience with them, therefore you want to tell the world of your travels..
It's almost as bad as saying a i bought a crappy truck, i hate gm, never buy again...

drink some wine, get a sammich, enjoy the weekend.

 

Rockauto has saved me literally thousands of dollars on parts over the last 8 years that I've been buying from them. Even with shipping to Canada the price is very often far lower than local.

And I have returned 1 or 2 parts, and it is a bit more of a hassle than taking parts back to Napa, but hey, I don't mind the slight inconvenience in 1 or 2 of 50+ orders.

But generally, don't buy the cheapest parts anywhere. I just buy the better quality parts from rockauto, usually costs similar to the economy level parts locally.

 

But generally, don't buy the cheapest parts anywhere. I just buy the better quality parts from rockauto, usually costs similar to the economy level parts locally.

I feel the same way, by buying through RA I can afford better parts then what I can get locally for less money.

 

Ordered plenty from them. Damaged radiator replaced free, wrongs parts sent and told to keep and correct ones sent. Returned parts I didn’t need. Zero issues. Also have my parts delivered to a business and shipping is always cheaper.

 

A year ago I ordered plugs and wires for my truck. One of the wires kept springing off of the plug. I don't remember if I talked to a live person or not but they sent a whole set of wires and I didn't have to return the first set.

 

I've literally ordered hundreds of parts from them for over 10 years now and never had a single issue with anything including returns and refunds/store credit.

 

...is this horse dead yet?

 

Seriously glad to see the Rock Auto lovefest here, hope it continues for your sake. But when I get screwed on returns that's it for me and I'm not alone just do a quick Google search, not by a long shot. To the guy who said I'm reacting from one bad experience well that "experience" was finding out they have NO actual human customer service no matter what happens to your order, that's it for me. On top of it, I price comp'ed that last order and after RA's shipping I didn't save much over buying the same brand parts w the free shippers. But the guarantee of having no-hassle returns elsewhere is worth a hell of a lot more IMO.

 

NO actual human customer service

Ok. Actually not true, I've emailed back amd forth with a couple actual people there, but whatever, suite yourself.

Although I am sorry you've had a bad experience. That does suck.

 

I really like the Rock Auto catalog. Even if i dont buy from them, the catalog is a decent research tool.