O'Reilly Auto Parts

My apologies for writing what is an obligatory assessment of a franchise outlet.

I agree with many of your appraisals of this place, however I disagree with others, in that over the course of the years after Grand Auto morphed into Kragen's, the service and knowledge base of the employees who have come and gone has been spotty, but understandable.

My most recent experience is this:

I felt that with 100K + on the mileage of our Subaru Outback I should consider doing a brake job. Insight here insofar as I have been a racecar mechanic and done all of my own maintainance on our personal cars forever.

I bought the front pads and rear shoes from this franchise location and had to wait a week before I had time to get the car up and the calipers off. Turns out that through no fault of Kragen's the part number listed for the pads was incorrect.

I took the newly purchased pads and the old ones back to the parts counter and was met by an absolutely amazing guy named Ray who went through no small effort to identify the reason why the pads listed were not applicable to our car.

At the end of the day we both reasoned that the original units had sufficient material left to go another 15 thou or so and I slapped the old ones back in.

There you have it - a franchise hires people who need jobs. Some of them are more capable than others in the service they offer, so try to be kind if the response you get from a few of them is less than what you expect.

To sum up the experience of Kragen in a single word: "Crapola". The employees know NOTHING, they can't be of reliable help.

Last winter they sold be the wrong size chains for my vehicle. 20 minutes later, when I tried to exchange the product for the correct size, the Kragen employee argued with me. Eventually they allowed a "special exception" so that I could purchase the proper size chains. But hey, you never know... I could have drivin' to Tahoe, not used the chains and wanted a refund, all in the 20 minute period.

Anyway, I still go to Kragen and only under the following conditions: 1) I know EXACTLY what I need. I know the product number, model number, quantity, etc. 2) The product is not easily obtained from another retailer. This one usually precludes me from walking in. I try my best to shop elsewhere.

At times however, Kragen is so much cheaper. You get what you pay for.

This must be a PACKED Kragen's. But since I've been here before, I know they just don't want to help me on the phone, because it's never so busy that a caller should have to wait on hold for over 30 minutes.

After my first debacle with Kragen's on Taraval over trying to make an online purchase, I've decided to call before making another trip to another Kragen's after I bought some items online for "in store pickup" that should be avaliable an hour after purchase.

So here I am, at work, on hold. Fortunately I can continue to do work while leaving the phone on speaker... or at least Yelp about this frustrating experience while on hold.

I don't know why they don't want to help. This is the second time I called and I received the same response.

Poor quality of service. At least at the Taraval store the dude TRIED to help, even if he was a bumbling idiot.

edit: after a 30 minute wait, they also do not have oil filters, despite my ordering them online for 'in store pickup.' Their web storefront is horrid. At least at circuitcity if I buy something online for pickup it's always there.

In-store pickup my a$$.

Typical story: my battery died and I had to get a tow truck to come out and jump it. The next morning I took the battery out assuming I just needed to replace it (it's 5 years old). I went into Kragen and explained what happened, fully prepared to fork out the $100 for a new battery, and telling them as much. They suggested that I try to simply recharge it, which they do for free, rather than paying $100 unnecessarily. Turns out that it held a charge perfectly.

They suggested that I clean the cables and ports because that may prevent an otherwise good battery from holding a charge. They sold me a $4 part to clean it and told me to come back and they'd gladly check the alternator and starter to make sure they were all working. As it turns out, it was a $4 fix.

I've been through car trouble before and as a 22 y/o female who knows little about cars, it would have been easy to take advantage of me to make a $100 sale. They didn't do that. They're stand-up people and I'm not sure what's given them a low Yelp rating. I'll return for all my auto repair needs and genuinely appreciate their honesty.

Great customer service!!!

1. Call ahead to see if they have your part in.
2. Then ask to make certain it is in stock.

I failed the second part of this test. I went in to Kragen, only to find that what I called about was indeed not in stock. Blasted.

I like this store, however I went to buy an oil filter wrench and a few other stuff for my Mercedes and Aaron helped me. He was very rude, totally unhelpful. Probably the worst attitude I ever got from a sales person before. I still like O'Reilly and the other person who was there, was helpful and nice.

This review is for the customer service. ( I usually don't buy anything more complicated than windshield wiper fluid or antifreeze.)

Part 1: I lived across the street from this store a few years a go and one day my car battery died while my car was parked in my garage. I went over to pick up a new battery and the guy was awesome enough to carry it over to my car for me!

Part 2: I just dropped by recently to pick up some new wiper blades and while I was trying to install them on my car in their parking garage, another employee walked over and offered to help me. My old blades were a bitch to get off so I was really happy when he magically removed them. He then figured out that I bought the wrong size in my new blades and helped me exchange them. I was able to put the new blades on myself and while I was doing that, another employee passed by and offered his help as well. This is better service than when I've paid for it at other places!

Their upstairs parking garage is also super convenient.

Very great customer service
they actually took the extra mile to help us with our windshield wipers by putting them on.
great job all 5 stars

Needed some replacement wiper blades. Called ahead to make sure they had it in stock. Showed up and spoke to the guy I phoned a few minutes ago. He typed some info into the computer really fast (obviously very familiar with the system) and directed me to their selection. Advised me to get the cheapest option, since I wasn't sure how long it'd be until I got a different car. In and out the store in about five minutes.

Fast, efficient, good service and affordable prices. I'd definitely use them again.

I needed a new coil for my Rav4 and I was very pleased that O'Reilly's had it in stock for $93 so I took it, Once i got the part installed, I decided to replace the other three coils, so, I looked them up on line. I found that I could get four coils for $55, that's $55.00 for FOUR. I guess that proves you have to shop around.