I've been on many road trips and have always worried about what would happen if my car breaks-down. Where will happen? Will it be costly? Will I be able to continue my trip, or am I going to be stuck there? Well, on one such road trip to LaCrosse, Wisconsin from Beaufort, South Carolina, the inevitable finally happened. I was on my way to a friends wedding when in the last mile to the church, suddenly, there was a loud clank and my dashboard lit-up like a Christmas tree. The radio cut-out, the AC went humid-hot, and the temp gauge shot close to the red zone. I pulled over, popped the hood and surveyed the damage. Well, it won't be hard to find where I parked it considering the lengthy trail of antifreeze leading up to where I parked. Here is a picture of what I saw....
If you're not familiar with engines, you'll have no idea what you're looking at......so as general as I can explain it, the red arrow is the power steering pump pulley (the wheel the belt goes around to operate the power steering pump). The green arrow, is where it is supposed to be. The power steering pump locked up and the pulley was sheered right off. Which means I had to replace the power steering pump and the pulley. Probably the belt too, but it still looked good to me.
So after a quick few calls, I had a tow truck on the way, the parts I needed to fix the car (power steering pump and pulley) being delivered to Advanced auto parts (since they weren't in stock), and a ride on it's way so I can just make it in time for the reception. However, while at the reception awaiting the call from the towing company telling me they were on their way; they call and tell me my car has been dropped off at O'Reilley's instead of Advanced, and they said they wouldn't tow it somewhere else because they were busy and they can't charge Verizon's road side assistance twice for the same tow. The name of the towing company by the way was, Craig's Towing. So, good thing I was at a wedding reception with a full bar. I wasn't familiar with O'Reilley's at all. From what my Uncle had said, he made it sound like it was a full service garage. So the day after the reception, I trek out in search of O'Reilly's; come to find out it's an auto parts store very similar to Adavanced auto parts. I drove back down to the Advanced auto parts to pick-up my parts, but this is what I saw.....
For some reason, God has decided to push me to my limits on this trip. A tree a block down the street fell down during an isolated storm the night before and fell on top of the power lines cutting power to the store; so they closed. Umm....so I guess back to O'Reilly's. So I get into the store and ask if there was some chance they had the parts I needed. Amazingly, they had it and a couple variations of it IN STOCK. Something to think about Advanced Auto Parts people......it's better to have it in stock, than delivered the next day. It was even less expensive than it would have been at Advanced Auto Parts. Now, I've never done this repair before myself, so it's all new to me. I got the old one off and Brandon and the other guy working with him (Andy, I think) looked up all the other matches and started looking for the exact same pump. A couple boxes later they found it. Brandon had then shared a bit more info he had about a guy who had tried to do the same thing prior a while back and he had all sorts of issues with trying to get all the different pieces out of the internal parts where the hoses hook-up. Told me the guy had made several of trips back and forth until he finally just brought in the old one and showed them until they could help him get all the parts transferred over to the new pump. I didn't like the sound of that. I had to fix my car fast and it had to be reliable enough to take me the 1200 miles back home. I didn't know what tools, or what all parts needed to be replaced, or what I need to do to make sure nothing bad went down the power steering lines....but as it turned out......I didn't need to know, they did. I didn't even know which direction the new pulley had to go onto the new pump, but Brandon just Googled it on his phone right there and seconds later he had a picture of it to show me. Seriously, who needs a Haynes repair manual when you got this guy. It's kind of like how the old-time, back in the day auto parts stores are stereotyped in Nick-at-Night shows; where you have Andy Griffith and the owner of the store right there helping you from beginning to end and telling you exactly how to do it. They had all of the tools I needed to do the entire job, with the exception of a couple of common wrenches I carry in my trunk that I didn't need to rent from them. But they had all the big expensive, job specific tools I needed FOR RENT (IN STOCK). I know Advanced Auto Parts has the same, but I've run across a couple that don't have the same to offer as the rest. They might have a couple of the tools, but not all, where another one of the stores a couple miles away will have and there's no way they'll willing to go a get it from the other store for you....I've asked. All I had to do was put a deposit down on them, which I got 100% back when I returned them. Good thing too, for some reason I don't think I was ever going to need another pulley puller or installer again. They even noticed that I had military issue stickers on my windshield and informed me that many of their products carry military discounts. Cha-ching! Doesn't happen very often when store personnel actually offer a discount, let alone come out to your vehicle to look at the actual damage and offer any expertise they have to help you with the job. So I got everything together went outside and got to work. After an hour, one of the guys (It was either Andy, Dusty, or Brandon) working that day came out to see how I was doing. Making sure everything was going ok. Really? Talk about a double-take. Since when do auto parts stores care so much to make sure everything was going ok with a repair you were doing after you buy the parts, this was a first. Another hour went by, and Brandon comes out to check on how things were going. I tell ya, with everything that had gone wrong the past couple days it was refreshing to have someone so concerned about it. So it started getting dark out and I was tired and not going to finish before it got so dark I wouldn't be able to see. I locked everything up in the car, which was in their side-lot where there was plenty of free space and stopped in to ask them if my car would be ok there, "Not a problem, see you tomorrow." I felt as if my car was as safe there as it would be in my own driveway. Came back the following afternoon and just needed a couple of other things before turning it over, and needed to return the tools I rented. There were a couple people needing other things, but I'm guessing they had remembered I was on a short schedule from the conversations we had while at the desk or working on the car in the parking lot and took care of me right away. I topped off the coolant and antifreeze and turned it over, turned the wheel several times until it stopped making weird noises and was able to later drive away with my car fully repaired and after asking a mechanic shop for a quote over the phone calculated I ended-up saving about $170, and I am driving away with a new set of tools....only because they were so inexpensive there and I couldn't get scolded by the Wife since she would think I needed them to fix the car with.
So I just wanted to say THANK YOU, for all the help from Andy, Dusty, and Brandon at the O'Reilly's Auto Parts store in La Crosse, WI. So thankful, I had promised to show my appreciation the only way I felt it could be rewarded appropriately. So I took a couple pictures before I left....."for this memorable trip to La Crosse."
(Left-Brandon)
While all of the other guys working there showed concern and offered assistance, I have to say, Brandon went out of his way. He didn't just offer assistance, he gave it without having to ask. This is the type of person you need to manage how other stores are run, how other employees interact with customers. While he's a great role model at this store (not that it is needed), but I feel as if his abilities are very much limited by his position. This guy should be a regional manager. I don't know if he's old enough, or holds the appropriate educational credentials for such a position.....but I would be inadequately describing his customer service abilities without suggesting so.
If you're not familiar with engines, you'll have no idea what you're looking at......so as general as I can explain it, the red arrow is the power steering pump pulley (the wheel the belt goes around to operate the power steering pump). The green arrow, is where it is supposed to be. The power steering pump locked up and the pulley was sheered right off. Which means I had to replace the power steering pump and the pulley. Probably the belt too, but it still looked good to me.
So after a quick few calls, I had a tow truck on the way, the parts I needed to fix the car (power steering pump and pulley) being delivered to Advanced auto parts (since they weren't in stock), and a ride on it's way so I can just make it in time for the reception. However, while at the reception awaiting the call from the towing company telling me they were on their way; they call and tell me my car has been dropped off at O'Reilley's instead of Advanced, and they said they wouldn't tow it somewhere else because they were busy and they can't charge Verizon's road side assistance twice for the same tow. The name of the towing company by the way was, Craig's Towing. So, good thing I was at a wedding reception with a full bar. I wasn't familiar with O'Reilley's at all. From what my Uncle had said, he made it sound like it was a full service garage. So the day after the reception, I trek out in search of O'Reilly's; come to find out it's an auto parts store very similar to Adavanced auto parts. I drove back down to the Advanced auto parts to pick-up my parts, but this is what I saw.....
For some reason, God has decided to push me to my limits on this trip. A tree a block down the street fell down during an isolated storm the night before and fell on top of the power lines cutting power to the store; so they closed. Umm....so I guess back to O'Reilly's. So I get into the store and ask if there was some chance they had the parts I needed. Amazingly, they had it and a couple variations of it IN STOCK. Something to think about Advanced Auto Parts people......it's better to have it in stock, than delivered the next day. It was even less expensive than it would have been at Advanced Auto Parts. Now, I've never done this repair before myself, so it's all new to me. I got the old one off and Brandon and the other guy working with him (Andy, I think) looked up all the other matches and started looking for the exact same pump. A couple boxes later they found it. Brandon had then shared a bit more info he had about a guy who had tried to do the same thing prior a while back and he had all sorts of issues with trying to get all the different pieces out of the internal parts where the hoses hook-up. Told me the guy had made several of trips back and forth until he finally just brought in the old one and showed them until they could help him get all the parts transferred over to the new pump. I didn't like the sound of that. I had to fix my car fast and it had to be reliable enough to take me the 1200 miles back home. I didn't know what tools, or what all parts needed to be replaced, or what I need to do to make sure nothing bad went down the power steering lines....but as it turned out......I didn't need to know, they did. I didn't even know which direction the new pulley had to go onto the new pump, but Brandon just Googled it on his phone right there and seconds later he had a picture of it to show me. Seriously, who needs a Haynes repair manual when you got this guy. It's kind of like how the old-time, back in the day auto parts stores are stereotyped in Nick-at-Night shows; where you have Andy Griffith and the owner of the store right there helping you from beginning to end and telling you exactly how to do it. They had all of the tools I needed to do the entire job, with the exception of a couple of common wrenches I carry in my trunk that I didn't need to rent from them. But they had all the big expensive, job specific tools I needed FOR RENT (IN STOCK). I know Advanced Auto Parts has the same, but I've run across a couple that don't have the same to offer as the rest. They might have a couple of the tools, but not all, where another one of the stores a couple miles away will have and there's no way they'll willing to go a get it from the other store for you....I've asked. All I had to do was put a deposit down on them, which I got 100% back when I returned them. Good thing too, for some reason I don't think I was ever going to need another pulley puller or installer again. They even noticed that I had military issue stickers on my windshield and informed me that many of their products carry military discounts. Cha-ching! Doesn't happen very often when store personnel actually offer a discount, let alone come out to your vehicle to look at the actual damage and offer any expertise they have to help you with the job. So I got everything together went outside and got to work. After an hour, one of the guys (It was either Andy, Dusty, or Brandon) working that day came out to see how I was doing. Making sure everything was going ok. Really? Talk about a double-take. Since when do auto parts stores care so much to make sure everything was going ok with a repair you were doing after you buy the parts, this was a first. Another hour went by, and Brandon comes out to check on how things were going. I tell ya, with everything that had gone wrong the past couple days it was refreshing to have someone so concerned about it. So it started getting dark out and I was tired and not going to finish before it got so dark I wouldn't be able to see. I locked everything up in the car, which was in their side-lot where there was plenty of free space and stopped in to ask them if my car would be ok there, "Not a problem, see you tomorrow." I felt as if my car was as safe there as it would be in my own driveway. Came back the following afternoon and just needed a couple of other things before turning it over, and needed to return the tools I rented. There were a couple people needing other things, but I'm guessing they had remembered I was on a short schedule from the conversations we had while at the desk or working on the car in the parking lot and took care of me right away. I topped off the coolant and antifreeze and turned it over, turned the wheel several times until it stopped making weird noises and was able to later drive away with my car fully repaired and after asking a mechanic shop for a quote over the phone calculated I ended-up saving about $170, and I am driving away with a new set of tools....only because they were so inexpensive there and I couldn't get scolded by the Wife since she would think I needed them to fix the car with.
So I just wanted to say THANK YOU, for all the help from Andy, Dusty, and Brandon at the O'Reilly's Auto Parts store in La Crosse, WI. So thankful, I had promised to show my appreciation the only way I felt it could be rewarded appropriately. So I took a couple pictures before I left....."for this memorable trip to La Crosse."
While all of the other guys working there showed concern and offered assistance, I have to say, Brandon went out of his way. He didn't just offer assistance, he gave it without having to ask. This is the type of person you need to manage how other stores are run, how other employees interact with customers. While he's a great role model at this store (not that it is needed), but I feel as if his abilities are very much limited by his position. This guy should be a regional manager. I don't know if he's old enough, or holds the appropriate educational credentials for such a position.....but I would be inadequately describing his customer service abilities without suggesting so.
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