Arctic Offroad Forums

Long story, worth the read if customer service makes any difference at all.

My carb sprung a leak at Sourdough fuel in North Pole - rendering my vehicle dead (yet with no BBQ custom to most of my vehicles - so that was good!)

With a little help from Jay (Ryan’s friend) I pulled it into the parking lot between Sourdough and Schmucks.

The next day I replaced the Carb and pushed the truck up to the curb about 75 feet from Schmucks front door, 50 feet from their employees plugged in vehicles) It had been -31 for almost 24 hours, so I knew it needed to warm up before I tried to re-start it.

According to the manager at Schmucks, she could not authorize me to plug in my vehicle (even in their store outlets) for a few hours. I would have to contact the owner of the mall. Went to the mall office, which was closed, and called the number on the door which rang at.... Schmucks! Figured I’d simply plug in to the outlet by the empty store front where the truck was - but no power. So I went back and explained again my plight to the store manager of Schmucks. The corporation pays the electric bill, not the store itself, so IF she let me plug in with my cord and IF someone called the corporation and turned her in, she could get in trouble. So she couldn't authorize me to use her store outlet. Even though I offered to pay for the electricity used. She could call the mall owners though and see what she could do. Her call went to a secretary that said the owners wouldn’t OK that, and that I should probably move my truck that night or it would most likely be towed. They’d like to help, but they can’t.

But wait - the sun started shining and it warmed up to -28!

NAPA to the rescue. Literally. I am not making this up. On hearing what Schmucks said, the manager of NAPA allowed one of her workers to clock out for “lunch” to help me strap tow it through the back roads to NAPA where they allowed me to plug in my truck. The same employee offered to bring his big heater the next day for my use if plugging it in didn’t work. I promptly went to Pizza Hut and ordered 2 pizzas which I took back to NAPA and shared with their employees for a thank-you “lunch.” 3 hours later, being plugged into the NAPA outlet, the truck fired right up and another (former) employee of Napa and friend of mine, Jake, came up and helped me get both my trucks to my house.

Customer service is valuable. There is a reason why I spent over $300 in parts on Monday and Tuesday and Schmucks got a total of $6 of that, and NAPA the rest + Pizza!

Napa is the bomb, of course I'm sure it helps that your a VIP member there!!! Either way that just makes me sick to hear that about schmucks, that could turn into a matter of life and death at 30 below. :disgust: Also when did Jake stop working there????

Jake left a month or so ago - he's now an electrician making bigger coin.
Good for him, bad for me when I need his knowledge!

VIP or not, customer service goes a long way. While NAPA will most likely help their "VIP" customers - they understand that a little help now and then insures their customers will shop there before going anywhere else! Good customer service = return customers = more business. An elementary business principle that Schmucks doesn't seem to understand. And technically - as far as the Corporation of NAPA, they probably weren't supposed to let me plug in my truck there, but they also understand the above stated principle of customer service.

I'm glad to here there is still somewhere with good customer service.

I have to update on my dealings with College Collision. I gues I might have posted too soon about them being a bad business. The work they did on my truck was great. I found out the guy working on my truck wasn't communicating with the owner so parts weren't getting ordered/installed. When my wife got the truck back they forgot to change the bent rim out that was in my bed. Took it back they did it real fast for her with out any argument and put my spare back under my truck. They also left one of my floor mats out, found it the next day and put it in. And to help make up for all the trouble I was having they put a mud flap on that I was missing for free and replaced my license plate lights for free. We also got a big appology from the owner for them having my vehicle over 3 weeks instead of the 4days they were supposed to have it.

So I would probably recommend them to someone else. Yes I had issues with them but they took care of that. I was also told the guy that worked on my truck is no longer working there partly due to my truck. I hate for him but he should have done his job right.

That never would hae happened when it was M&O (before the CSK Proshop crap)
They were the locally owed, small town store that would go out of their way for you.
I used to deal almost exclusivly with them before the buyout.
Now I deal exclusivly with NAPA. If you know who to talk to there, they will do whatever it takes.

like to add to the list. Alaska Rubber and rigging on Van horn is great. Great customer service. Cheaper for the brake line than I could find online. Scott was a big help. i would recommend everyone to them. http://alaskarubberandrigging.com