Dear oh dear, wrong parts

[crankedup]

Time for a front brakes disc's and pads renewal on our daily hack. Used click'n collect through a big National spares supplier branch. Bung in the car reg No and you get the right parts! Wrong, got my discs and pads Saturday and went to fit today. Off with the old on the offside first and find the blasted disc is wrong size.
Use Sons car and back to retailer with incorrect product. They say to me 'yours must be the smaller disc then' yup that will be the ones I ordered. They go through the reg No routine and then tell me I have a choice of two disc sizes, which one would I like! Maybe the disc same size as this old one! donk onto their counter.
So not an infallible system or just people behind counter who give not a 5hit. As I was changing my items another customer came in with a box with his suspension units. Erm you've given me rear suspension units when I asked for fronts!
Not too impressed with the yellow and blue logo.

[sday12]

Same happened to me.

Me: My brakes don't fit, I put my reg in.
Them: you are responsible to check, Sir
Me: There was only one option
Them: you are responsible to check, Sir

No, you are responsible that if you offer a reg service IT BLOODY WORKS!

CP4L

[surveyor]

I've always found that if there are different sizes then they are all shown and I have to have the nous to click on the right one.

If you've clicked on a part, and collected that part I think it's someone else you need to have a word with....

PS

It's bloody inconvenient when you discover the wrong part on a Sunday with a car in pieces.

[paolow]

surveyor said:

I've always found that if there are different sizes then they are all shown and I have to have the nous to click on the right one.

If you've clicked on a part, and collected that part I think it's someone else you need to have a word with....

PS

It's bloody inconvenient when you discover the wrong part on a Sunday with a car in pieces.

Yep - there is always human error - but the part co's cant alsways help when the manufacturers changes/upgrades don't tally with registration. best bet is to always check what you have and not trust 'the system' even if it presents only one option.
To balance the blue and yellow arguement my local blue and yellow place spotted a discrepancy in my order when I picked it up - which would have been a real wounder had it not been as I fitted the parts a month and a half at least afterwards 70 miles away at my parents. On top of this they did get my order wrong once and give me the wrong backbox for a car of mine (although about ten years ago) - and after a quick call and explanation I took it back. Trouble was the new exhaust was ever so slightly more expensive and I hadn't thought to bring my wallet this time....
To thier credit they accepted it and let me have the proper exhaust without an issue when they realised I didn't have the money. It could be argued they hadn't mentioned the cost difference - but it was still the best of the situation and I appreciated it.

Edited by paolow on Monday 24th November 20:15

[sday12]

Ok, if it doesn't work because of manufacturers changes, DON'T OFFER IT!

[PositronicRay]

I've always found it okay, just once an airfilter was wrong. The parts counter guy ordered all the airfilters for that model (not in stock) and we matched one up. He didn't charge me for the difference (more expensive part)

I do tend to cross reference with GSF etc.

[BritishRacinGrin]

In my experience the Blue & Yellow logo people have a great many details on their website normally including disc diameter, thickness, PCD the lot. If they have a system which identifies the correct parts 99% of the time it'd be nonsensical not to offer it just because of the odd exception- the vast majority of customers order the right parts every time.

[crankedup]

surveyor said:

I've always found that if there are different sizes then they are all shown and I have to have the nous to click on the right one.

If you've clicked on a part, and collected that part I think it's someone else you need to have a word with....

PS

It's bloody inconvenient when you discover the wrong part on a Sunday with a car in pieces.

Fair comment, but not in this particular instance, unfortunately for me it was the staff member who brought out the wrong parts and handed them over to me. I suppose I should have double checked the part number on the box, clearly the person who is supposed to didn't bother!

[BOBTEE]

Reg number look up systems go through DVLA databases... Need I say more?!

[Sump]

Anyone with half a brain goes off part numbers not registrations.

[kayzee]

What about people with full brains?

[Sump]

They go off the original manufacturers part numbers.

[beko1987]

I get this with Euro Car Parts alot, got given 5 stud discs rather than 4 stud ones fro SWMBO's car last year, had to go back and return it (which they were fine with as the paperwork stated the correct part, the incorrect part was obvious from the numbers)

Then had to go back out to the car to go through the website and make another reservation for the right ones, wait 5 minutes for the store to see it and I get the right bits without issue

I always check before leaving now just in case!

I have a Girling rear brake cylinder for a 1997 Citroen ZX 1.4 somewhere as despite the reg and chassis number saying Girling, it actually had Bendix parts fitted. Kept the incorrect one though, wasnt worth the £8 arguing it (and it came from ebay)

[konark]

Whenever I put my reg. no. in the site comes back with a whole range of options. What's the point in giving a reg. no if they don't know the exact part fitted?

[Ozzie Osmond]

Errrm

Guess why reputable dealers always ask for the VIN number when ordering parts??

[sday12]

then they should offer a VIN search only.

[Krikkit]

Kind of raises the barrier for entry when they're selling the universal stuff like wipers etc though, doesn't it?

Responsibility should be yours to check you're buying the right parts - the details are all there for you to double-check. Nothing's perfect.

[dooosuk]

crankedup said:

Not too impressed with the yellow and blue logo.

Sday12 said:

CP4L

Complaining about the same company then.

[Howard-]

Eurocarparts are awful for this. I've stopped using them for anything other than 'foolproof' stuff like lubricants now. If you buy genuine parts then you can guarantee they'll fit, and they're usually of higher quality.

[PositronicRay]

sday12 said:

then they should offer a VIN search only.

Manufactures will identify the exact spec from the VIN. ECP don't have all this data so the reg will just ID the model (in a similar fashion that the ins companies do) So you then need to use a bit of common sense i.e. which size brake option was specified on this car.