Amazon or Rockauto returns

Petey

Original poster
Member
Aug 27, 2012
105
Has anyone had experience with either Amazon or Rockauto with warranty claims? specifically the lifetime claims.

How are each of them to deal with or is it worth it to pay a little more and go with the parts store chains?

who pays shipping on the defective parts and the replacement parts?
 

Expeditor

Member
Nov 19, 2018
35
Nashville
I have never bought anything from Rockauto, but I have from Amazon. I bought a radiator cooling fan from a seller on Amazon, with a three year warranty. After 11 months the fan stopped working, locked the motor. I called the company that makes the fan and as the guy was taking my info asked me who I worked for, I told him I was the end user. At that point he advised me that they only work with the distributors if there is a warranty claim, since I bought the fan from Amazon I had to go through Amazon.

I called amazon and spoke to a customer rep that I try to tell me that my problem was between me and the manufacture. I kindly told her I had called the manufacture and they won't talk to me because I wasn't a distributor. She put me on hold and spoke to the same person I had spoken to at the manufacturing company. After about three minutes she comes back on the phone and tells me she has never heard of a company only working with distributors, I told her she had learned something that day. She finally agreed to give me credit for the fan on my account. I told her I had order the same fan as I couldn't wait weeks for a new one. She agreed and sent me a UPS pickup number for the old fan.

So my experience with Amazon was good. They paid for shipping and refunded my purchase price, at almost one year after purchase. You bring up a good point on buying local for warranty, if price is almost the same I would go local. Its better to get a refund or replacement from a local company versus someone thousands of miles in a cubicle you cant see. Hope this helps
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,257
Ottawa, ON
All I can say is that Amazon Prime is the best as long as it was from a Prime seller. And it's free, well kinda as you pay for the Prime membership.

RA, well, that's a different story. The time's I've had to return stuff, no matter the reason, I had to pay the shipping back. I still order from them from time to time despite this but have to be careful with what.
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
Some parts can have warranty done elsewhere. I had a Moog part warrantied thru Advance even though I didn't buy it there originally. Not sure if the local store was just being friendly or if this is standard as they're a Moog distributor or what.
 
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Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,257
Ottawa, ON
@Sparky , did you have to bring the original bill? They might not be so friendly if they see you bought it online.
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
No I did not. It was clearly stamped Moog also.

This was several years ago now, not sure if all Advance stores would do that or not.
 

Eric04

Member
Dec 3, 2014
392
West Michigan
Dittos on Amazon experience when I was a Prime member. Fill out information online as to the nature of return(defective, warranty, etc), print shipping label, drop off at convenience. Credit would hit my account when the part hit their warehouse.

I don't get a good service vibe from RA so I doubt I'd ever buy anything other than filters or the like from them.

In the end it ends up being about how much that local warranty costs you. If you can buy two internet parts for the price of one local, which more often than not I can, then for me it's worth the possible hassle.
 

Petey

Original poster
Member
Aug 27, 2012
105
I'm trying to decide where to get a set of Bilsteins. Amazon is the cheapest, rock is closer to AutoZ. But it seams they are really only warrantied against major failure anyway, not really rust causing leaks (which is probably how they will fail on mine anyway)


I also read that Amazon has in the past done nothing about the lifetime warranties on parts, they say its between you and the manufacturer and if the manufacturer doesn't talk to the end user then ...
 

Reprise

Lifetime VIP Donor
Supporting Donor
Member
Jul 22, 2015
2,724
I haven't had to do a warranty return (for auto parts) via Amazon. Generally, I don't get anything with a 'lifetime' warranty through them.

With RA, while I've not had to return anything yet for warranty purposes, I do know that when I look up items from previous orders, that if anything on that order was 'eligible', a button appears next to that item to initiate a return. The benefit there, being that I don't have to worry about receipts, registering the item, etc. So that's a plus, I guess.

I know that I would *not* like having to pay for return shipping of the new part / old one; if that's what I have to look forward to (per @Mooseman), I may reconsider my purchase strategies to lean more toward retail (most of the time, the retail stores are easily double the price - but if I'm paying shipping both ways, especially on heavier parts (lower control arm assemblies, anyone?), I could see that delta narrowing between RA and retail, in a hurry.

I know that my local parts stores (AAP, AZ) also keep a record on their 'lifetime' parts they sell me, and I don't have to register them or save receipts. About the only 'lifetime' thing I have on this basis from the local stores is the alternator in my Envoy (bought 'new' AC Delco, not 'reman', etc. I remember the store recorded the S/N on the item) Maybe a couple of Moog parts; not sure.

Since the Moog parts aren't serialized, maybe that's why @Sparky was able to return them to his local store - ? (figuring that they do so much volume with Moog that it'll 'all wash out', anyway)

I do like 'local' - but I'll admit that since most of my parts purchases are not 'need it today' items, that I don't purchase local as often as I'd like. Other times, I can only get the part via shipping; at that point, we're just talking price, since that's my only option from all sources.

One thing I *do* buy 'local' on are batteries -- at Wally World -- because they're everywhere in the country. Like Sears used to be. Only more so. So if I'm out camping, etc. - it's the easiest way to get a new battery via warranty, should I ever need one. Most are open 24hr, too.
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,257
Ottawa, ON
To be fair, the couple of times I have had to return to RA were totally different. The first time was a long time ago and were Raybestos hubs that self destructed within a month. I had them shipped to Ogdensburg NY and brought them across the border myself. I had to pay the difference in shipping from Canada instead of the US. And this was when they had telephone support (yeah, it was that long ago)

The most recent were u-joints just last summer for my wife's CR-V that clearly didn't fit despite what their catalog said. Those I had shipped here. They did provide a pre-paid label but was with DHL for a drop off only, no pick-up. So I went to the closest DHL drop off (A UPS store oddly enough) and they charged me $12 so they can have DHL come and pick-up because they don't do a regular run there.

I do prefer local shops however I can't support overinflated, overtaxed prices but do when the price is right. Not much choice when you need it today although Amazon has become really good with their 2 day shipping here lately. Unfortunately, Amazon Canada's choice of parts is lacking or is even more expensive than local. Heck, I've even ordered stuff from Amazon US and shipped here at more $$ and it was still cheaper than Canada. Very weird.
 

HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
I'm trying to decide where to get a set of Bilsteins. Amazon is the cheapest, rock is closer to AutoZ. But it seams they are really only warrantied against major failure anyway, not really rust causing leaks (which is probably how they will fail on mine anyway)


I also read that Amazon has in the past done nothing about the lifetime warranties on parts, they say its between you and the manufacturer and if the manufacturer doesn't talk to the end user then ...

They wont warranty shocks or struts as they are a "wear item"
 

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