Did you get what you paid for?

I know that when I work with buyers and sellers they want value.  They have expectations that they will get what they pay for.  They look to me as the professional to provide them with solid factual information to base their purchase & sale decisions on.  In turn when I become the customer looking to make a purchase I expect the same of the people I work with.  You may know that I am a very mechanical person and that in my spare time I often work on my vehicle.  Well, it was time to replace the ball joints and the tie rod ends on my truck.  I went to the local Auto Zone store to get some prices and find out what my options were for replacement parts.  This project required about $450.00 in parts.  I expect that the person that helps me provides me with their undivided attention when I am working with them.  Well, about 2 minutes into the process of looking up part numbers ect. the store phone rang.  Guess what that sales person did?  Yup, he took the call.  He put me on hold, an actual person at the store ready to make a purchase, over a person that was calling in.  Well, I left in disgust and went to the local Advance Auto Parts.  The store was relatively empty and there was an associate there that was able to help me and give me his undivided attention.  The manager got involved in the sale as well.  I left with about $420.00 in parts and a happy customer.

Fast forward about 1.5 weeks.  I am now starting the project on my vehicle.  I get things apart and back together ect.  I get to the point of replacing a pinch bolt and guess what?  No pinch bolt.  All the parts I purchased were supposed to be Moog Problem Solver parts.  This particular part was different from the others in its packaging and lack of a grease fitting.  I have never done this type of project before so again, I gave it no thought.  I did however need a new pinch bolt.  I went back to the store to find out that I was sold a TSW branded part and not the Problem solver part I had requested.  They tracked down the right part and I was able to install it on the truck.  I discovered something interesting in this process.  First, TRW and Moog are owned by the same parent company.  Second, in the auto industry there is something called “reboxing”  this is were the company, I am not sure if this is the auto parts store or the parts manufacturer, puts parts with one name on it in a box that says something else.  In effect, I got a part that was less expensive than the one I thought I was getting.  Again, the store corrected the problem and the employees of the store had no way of knowing what was in the box was different than what they thought they were selling. In the end it is my responsibility as the consumer to keep the people I work with honest.  In real estate, I too sometimes make mistakes and don’t know all the answers.  I welcome it when buyers or sellers question me and keep me on my toes.  It makes me a better agent.  Yes this particular experience was frustrating and a pain but the in the end I got exactly what I needed.  The employees that I worked with cared about providing me with a solution and because of the professional way in which this was handled I will continue buying my parts from them.

Notice the difference between these two parts.  The Moog Problem Solver part is not painted black and has a much heavier bracket.   The Moog part has a grease fitting and the TRW part does not.  The Moog part comes with a new pinch bolt and nut and the TRW part comes only with a new nut.  The Moog part comes with instructions and the TRW part did not.  Notice that both have the same part numbers so the person pulling the part from the shelf has no idea that what they are pulling is different from what the customer is supposed to get.  I was told that when the store switched from TRW to Problem Solver that the TRW parts were taken back to the warehouse and re-boxed into Moog boxes.  While both parts come with a lifetime warranty, I did want to have the same line of parts on both sides of my vehicle.  I am not one that likes to mix and match.