I just want to relay my recent experiences with Advance Auto Parts warranty department:
About a year ago I purchased an ATK/Spartan 4.0 overhauled engine for my Jeep from Advance Auto Parts. About 6 months after installing that engine the #6 connecting rod broke destroying the engine and the transmission.
The local Advance store said there was nothing they could do and gave me the number for Advance Engine and Transmission Warranty Dept. When I called them they said there was nothing they could do and gave me the number for ATK/Spartan warranty dept. See a pattern here yet?
It turns out that ATK has only one, yes one, person authorized to take care of all engines sold by Advance Auto Parts. One person to help with install issues, engine malfunctions, warranty claims, everything! Can you imagine how long it took me to talk to that one person? Their customer service person took my message and promised that Ritchie would call me back very soon, ha. I waited seven hours and finally called them back very irritated and they somehow were able to drag Ritchie away from whatever he was doing. Believe it or not, it only took about 30 seconds to diagnose my problem! I think the part about the entire corner of the engine missing clued him in.
Finally they shipped the replacement engine right out and I had it within a week. They also told me that they would evaluate the returned engine and authorize my warranty claim within three days. Yahoo, I was happy, but not for long. They failed to mention how long it would take to get the engine back to them from Advance...
When installing this engine I found out that the transmission had also been destroyed. Then I found out that it is nearly impossible to find a Jeep 32RH and what is out there runs about $800 used but that is another story. When I called ATK about the transmission I had to leave another message for Ritchie and he called me back while I was at work and could not take the call, he said that he would try again but that was a lie because he ever did. A couple of days later I called again and they would not let me talk to Ritchie again and he called me back while I was at work again and promised to try again, again and he never called again, again. When I finally did get to talk to him, he said there is nothing they can do and gave me the number for Advance Warranty, Ha!
This engine that I bought from Advance Auto Parts came with a warranty that entitles me to a labor reimbursement of $300 after the engine is received by ATK and they determine that the purchaser is worthy of the reimbursement so I returned the broken engine to the local Advance store on 12-04-10.
On 12-15-10 I called ATK and they told me that they had not yet received the engine so guess who I called next? Well, when I called Advance Warranty back up Lori told me that it would take 6-8 weeks for ATK to get the engine!! What? Anyway, she promised to track the engine and call me back the next day. That was a lie because she has still not called me back as of this writing.
I waited until 1-14-11 to call Advance Warranty back and no one would answer the phone and their message said to leave a message and they would call me back so I did. That call has still not been returned. Is the pattern becoming clear?
By now I'm becoming pretty irritated so on 1-19-11 I call Advance Warranty back up one more time. I actually get to talk to a person this time so I very politely explain to Chad what has happened so far and he cheerfully agrees to check on the engine and call me back the very next day. I tell him (very nicely) that I really hope that he will actually call me back because Lori has already made that promise to no avail and he assures me that he will. Guess what? He still hasn't called two day later.
So, just a few minutes ago I call Advance Warranty back up and no one will answer the phone. I call right back and still no one will answer the phone so I leave another message.
Then I call ATK/Spartan once again and confirm that they have still not received the engine. I then try to tell the customer service person what is going on and ask for help but she is talking so much about the engine return process, which I have come to know only too well, that she can not hear anything that I am saying. When I finally get her attention she tells me that there is absolutely nothing that they will do to help me.
I tell her about the problems with Advance and ask if she could just call them up and see if she could get any answers and she flatly refuses! I then proceed to tell her that when I get of the phone I am going to post this experience on one of the world’s largest "self-installer" websites and that the review will not reflect well on her company even though I am fairly well satisfied with ATK's service so far. She says that is fine and there is still nothing she will do for me. I then ask if she is absolutely certain that her supervisor would tell me that same thing and she assures me that they would.
So here I am seven weeks later and no one can tell me anything. I must confess that I am rather pissed off! I don't even know if the engine has been lost, what am I to do now? I should have just kept the darn broken engine and parted it out on the Jeep Forum!! :thumbdown:
About a year ago I purchased an ATK/Spartan 4.0 overhauled engine for my Jeep from Advance Auto Parts. About 6 months after installing that engine the #6 connecting rod broke destroying the engine and the transmission.
The local Advance store said there was nothing they could do and gave me the number for Advance Engine and Transmission Warranty Dept. When I called them they said there was nothing they could do and gave me the number for ATK/Spartan warranty dept. See a pattern here yet?
It turns out that ATK has only one, yes one, person authorized to take care of all engines sold by Advance Auto Parts. One person to help with install issues, engine malfunctions, warranty claims, everything! Can you imagine how long it took me to talk to that one person? Their customer service person took my message and promised that Ritchie would call me back very soon, ha. I waited seven hours and finally called them back very irritated and they somehow were able to drag Ritchie away from whatever he was doing. Believe it or not, it only took about 30 seconds to diagnose my problem! I think the part about the entire corner of the engine missing clued him in.
Finally they shipped the replacement engine right out and I had it within a week. They also told me that they would evaluate the returned engine and authorize my warranty claim within three days. Yahoo, I was happy, but not for long. They failed to mention how long it would take to get the engine back to them from Advance...
When installing this engine I found out that the transmission had also been destroyed. Then I found out that it is nearly impossible to find a Jeep 32RH and what is out there runs about $800 used but that is another story. When I called ATK about the transmission I had to leave another message for Ritchie and he called me back while I was at work and could not take the call, he said that he would try again but that was a lie because he ever did. A couple of days later I called again and they would not let me talk to Ritchie again and he called me back while I was at work again and promised to try again, again and he never called again, again. When I finally did get to talk to him, he said there is nothing they can do and gave me the number for Advance Warranty, Ha!
This engine that I bought from Advance Auto Parts came with a warranty that entitles me to a labor reimbursement of $300 after the engine is received by ATK and they determine that the purchaser is worthy of the reimbursement so I returned the broken engine to the local Advance store on 12-04-10.
On 12-15-10 I called ATK and they told me that they had not yet received the engine so guess who I called next? Well, when I called Advance Warranty back up Lori told me that it would take 6-8 weeks for ATK to get the engine!! What? Anyway, she promised to track the engine and call me back the next day. That was a lie because she has still not called me back as of this writing.
I waited until 1-14-11 to call Advance Warranty back and no one would answer the phone and their message said to leave a message and they would call me back so I did. That call has still not been returned. Is the pattern becoming clear?
By now I'm becoming pretty irritated so on 1-19-11 I call Advance Warranty back up one more time. I actually get to talk to a person this time so I very politely explain to Chad what has happened so far and he cheerfully agrees to check on the engine and call me back the very next day. I tell him (very nicely) that I really hope that he will actually call me back because Lori has already made that promise to no avail and he assures me that he will. Guess what? He still hasn't called two day later.
So, just a few minutes ago I call Advance Warranty back up and no one will answer the phone. I call right back and still no one will answer the phone so I leave another message.
Then I call ATK/Spartan once again and confirm that they have still not received the engine. I then try to tell the customer service person what is going on and ask for help but she is talking so much about the engine return process, which I have come to know only too well, that she can not hear anything that I am saying. When I finally get her attention she tells me that there is absolutely nothing that they will do to help me.
I tell her about the problems with Advance and ask if she could just call them up and see if she could get any answers and she flatly refuses! I then proceed to tell her that when I get of the phone I am going to post this experience on one of the world’s largest "self-installer" websites and that the review will not reflect well on her company even though I am fairly well satisfied with ATK's service so far. She says that is fine and there is still nothing she will do for me. I then ask if she is absolutely certain that her supervisor would tell me that same thing and she assures me that they would.
So here I am seven weeks later and no one can tell me anything. I must confess that I am rather pissed off! I don't even know if the engine has been lost, what am I to do now? I should have just kept the darn broken engine and parted it out on the Jeep Forum!! :thumbdown: