r/RockAuto

I’ve used these guys for years for brake pads, filters, bearings, and even engine parts. They used to be totally consistent. If they said it would be there by Saturday, it was there on time or even earlier
Recently I purchased brake pads and they said it would be there by Saturday. 2 weeks pass, nothing is delivered. Apparently the shipper has asked the order be returned. I contact them through their website to be told I need to wait at least 3 weeks before asking for a refund. After 3 weeks I ask for a refund and they tell me they are waiting for the parts to be returned and that I will be responsible for the return shipping fees. I argue with service@rockauto.com a couple times and give up. I disputed the credit card payment and got my money back.
RockAuto is not the same as it used to be. It a borderline scam. Ship out parts, have them returned before they get to the customer, then charge them a return shipping fee. I will never use them again. I’ll pay the 10-15% markup and go to the local auto supplier who somehow is able to get parts shipped to them that don’t need to be returned before they even get a chance to look at them
Rant over…

Ive been buying parts off RA for over 10 years now. Its been mostly a good experience. Ive had problems before with defective parts, wrong boxed parts, warranty. That stuff has always been handled great tbh. We all know how we feel about shipping. Ive recently bought a part and paid over double for expedited shipping and it was late by 3 days. That is unacceptable. I would've gotten standard because it wouldve gotten here faster than when it actually did. Naturally, they said not our problem, I emailed them and they still told me to pound sand. Thats a great way to treat a customer who spends a lot of money. Really leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

I ordered a set of moog sway bar endlinks for my car back in 2019. They suppose to have a lifetime warranty. One endlink split from the socket and other is loose. Will rockauto honor the warranty. I looked on their website. They say just place a new order and return the old one which looks pretty beat up. Is that correct?

Bought some Bosch coils from RA and noticed they don't seem to have the hologram sticker nor QR or numeric code they used to, the ones used for the authenticity check. I believe the coils are genuine but it's just odd because ones I've bought before usually come in a Bosch box (these are in white boxes) and had such a label on them. Also oddly the labels on the boxes say "Made in Mexico" while the parts themselves are "Made in Brazil"--but I've seen this kind of thing before I don't think it's that concerning.

But it also seems like websites like protect.bosch.com and KeySecure have also gone bye-bye? Both just lead to Bosch website errors.

Seems they have abolished the genuine check/anti-counterfeit stuff, which seems odd since it's not like counterfeits are going away. The parts themselves still have a QR on them but with nowhere to scan them to seems like. If anyone knows what happened here or if there is a new site or check method, would love to hear it!

I did try to google it BTW, closest thing I could find was this "Origify" thing but this is not for auto parts nor is it even for Bosch products per se--it's like some tech they developed to put marks in consumer products that doesn't require QR codes or labels, and can be "written" into the product packaging or body itself. That's cool and all but has nothing to do with this and the app not even available in North America anyway.