Complaint Review: Sears Automotive - Sacramento California

I agree with Larry, I was dumb enough to agree to the terms even though something inside was telling me there is something wrong with this price. That is the price I paid for but it doesn't mean others out there reading this have to get screw by them too. I know there is a price in doing business believe me, I owned business before and I know how expensive it is to maintain a business but I never once try to rape my customers just to make money. I don't compromise my morals and values to earn a buck. I used to work in the insurance industrial and I will give you a dirty secret in auto insurance especially if you buy insurance from a brokerage...a brokerage is an agency that deals with more than one insurance companies and charges you a broker fee. Most of these agencies are in the business of ripping people off. Some agencies allow employees to charge a broker fee as low as $0-$300 to write up an insurance policy. Some employer would require a minimum charge of $100-150. Most employees would max it out to $300, sometimes even more...especially business insurance, why? Because the employees are paid in commission, the higher the fee, the more they make. For example, last year a client walks in and finds out that his inusurance was only $400/6 months policy but he was being charge $700 for a $400 policy because the agency is pocketing the $300. The client has no clue, he thinks his insurance is really $700 and so he accepts it. So the agency pocketed $300 from the client and another 15% commission from the insurance company for writing that policy. Now ask yourself, if you were that client...and I told you want just happened? Wouldn't you be pissed off and feel ripped off, eventhough you agreed to the deal? You paid almost twice the amount($700) for a product that was only worth($400). For a policy that a premuim is only $400, I would charge only $50 broker fee because I felt that was a fair deal. The profit was 12.5%. My co-worker who closed that deal made 75% profit on top the profits the agency will make from the insurance company. In other words, imagine going to buy anything out there and paying 75% above retail price. No one in their right mind enjoys paying for anything 75-100% over retail price. Is legal for insurance brokers to charge that much..yes...is it moral...no. That is why I quit after two weeks.

The customer was quoted a price and he agreed to it. Do I think he was overcharged...I don't know...there isn't a Kragen in my area. I do know that if it was a premium grade starter the cost could go well over $200.00; and whether it's good, bad, or indifferent the list price will be a 25-100% markup...the Sears employee is told to use list, and if there was no list he/she is probably told to double the cost. I'm not sure why the Sears employee even called Kragen..the directive in my market is that 1st call goes to either Carquest or Napa...maybe it's different on the west coast...and never do we call Autozone, especially for electrical components. The point is that it was the customer's choice. If he felt something was wrong with the price he should have checked with other repair facilities, not at parts houses, and not after the fact. His Camry was still drivable so he had the ability to drive away. Another fact about Sears. Sears stocks some parts: struts, shocks, frt end parts, filters, belts, some alternators, and brakes. If Sears has a listing and a price in the Point of Sale system for a particular part, whether it is stock or not, the employee is SUPPOSE to use that price...even if he/she has to order from a local vendor. If the cost is more than what Sears charges the customer...oh well, Sears loses a few dollars. Sears does this because the point of sale system keeps track of things that are local purchased and if it is excessive the buyer will up the on-hand count for that particular part. This is only done for items that are available in our system...Sears does not stock starters so that is when an employee is suppose to use the list price.

Many years ago I owned two auto repair shops and worked at many others. One of the things I learned was that there is a myth in the industry about part prices. Because NAPA and other better-quality chains sell at a jobber price and suggest a list price many mechanics have come to believe that there is some sort of law that requires that they sell parts only at the list price. I have seen shops refuse to purchase parts even name brand items from Autozone, Checker, or Kragen's simply because those retailers give no list price. You are welcome to hire your own attorney to research this, but there is no law requiring a mechanic to charge a list price for parts. The mechanic can sell a part for any price he chooses. He can give it away if he wants to or he can mark it up 1000 percent if the customer agrees to pay that much. The same goes for sublet labor. The choice of how much to mark up parts rests with the repair shop. My first employer marked up all sublet labor by 50% across the board. In my last shop I marked up my parts anywhere from 100% to 600%, depending on the part. The customer is always entitled to know what the shop intends to charge him for its parts in advance of the work being done. Few shops will ever disclose their costs to the customer as it is none of the customer's business. In the case of the $400 starter, the customer was told of the price and agreed to pay it. Had he shopped around a bit he might have found a lower price.

They are everywhere else though, Samuel. And that is the problem with parts pricing and mark-up. The customer finds out they could buy a part at Autozone, or Advance, or Kragen, or O'Reilly, or wherever, for CHEAP, as opposed to NAPA, or Carquest, or wherever, for a much better part for more money, and gets mad about being ripped off by the repair shop. We do NOT get any discount by the parts stores that sell to everyone CHEAP. They pay what we pay. Their parts are usually junk, so we don't use them very often. Every hear anyone claim to be an Autozone Care Center? No. I am a NAPA Auto Care Center, and use NAPA parts. The rest of your post was pretty much correct though.

okay so lets talk about the facts First of all part prices have nothing to do with who installs the part if that was the case why would you pay labor? Second while the process of how retialers purchase thier parts is so misrepresented because the fact is shops purchase parts based on availability and after 20 yrs in this field i know for a fact that most parts stores stock remaned parts because of price. Third this one is one that most customers dont know. Most auto part stores have a labor claim.So if your part goes bad not only does the shop get the new part for free they also get paid for a percentage of the original labor. Four repair shops never pay list they pay about 50 to 60 percnt of list.So the only reason you pay more for a part at repair shop is just simple greed.After 20yrs of getting parts and writing estimates i have never seen a shop loose money on a part or say the reason you are paying more for a part is because the shop is installing it and if someone ever says that then tell them they better not charge you labor because if this person is right then not only are you getting riped off but your getting charged double. You see this is how repair shops try to cover thier overcharging of customers but they cant even explain it so that it makes sense.I was surfing when i found this article and i just had to respond.

Most people do not know the difference. Hell, Iva doesn't know the difference between a man and a woman. Women are "ma'am", Iva. Men are "sir". Mike is a man's name. She also doesn't know how business works. As for Mike's assertion that marking up the part by $50 is fine, depends on the part. My cost on the Beck Arnley starter for a 96 Camry 4 cylinder is $154. List price is $287. If the customer expects a warranty on that starter, he/she can expect to pay me $287, plus the labor. Again, I wish everyone owned their own businesses. People like Iva would starve to death, and people like Mike would learn the first rule of business..."The cheapest guy goes under first".

Get off your high horse, wishing everyone owned a bussiness, no everyone just wants repairs done at reasonable prices. 400.00 bucks for a starter and 70.00 more for installation, the install price is reasonable but 400.00 for a starter, reman. or new is totally excessive. I guess as a business owner you would charge a man the same price for repairs as you would if a lady came in on her own right, yea right. Maam you did get screwed by sears, no doubt about that.

I am the original poster. I know the difference between wholesale, retail, bla, bla, bla because I use to be in retail management. I see the wholesale price we get an item for and resale the item for retail price. As for Sears, the d**n thing was not only sold to me in retail price, he doubled retail me...if there is such a word. Knowing he is getting it for only roughly $200(that's the retail price at kragan...not wholesale price from kragan) without including labor and turn around and tell me the retail price from kragan is $400. On top of that then he charges me $70+ for labor. The Sears rep lied to me because if he told me if I walk into Kragan, I would buy it for $200 not $400, I would be gone. So he tells me Kragan is selling it for $400, not Sears but Kragan. No wonder car repair place gets such bad publicity. For the life of me, I usually don't fall for that kind of scam but I was in a rush to get repair. Rule of thumb, when someone is pushing you to do something in a hurry and you are press for time...take a time out and think it over because making quick decisions without research sometimes comes back to bite you in your wallet. Another lesson learned. I know plenty of repair places that I dealt with in the past would buy it from kragan and would do a mark-up of $50 or so dollars or they would give me the option of buying myself and they installing it for a fee with no garuntees. That's okay that Sears did that to me. They may have gotten my $500 but they will never see a dime from me or my family members again for as long as we live. Since that incident, none of us has step foot in any Sears again. We take our business elsewhere. In the end they lost more than they make from me that day. Unfortunately, a few of us boycotting Sears will not make a dent in their profits.

He seems to understand mark-up, but doesn't have all the facts. Most independent shops will charge the "list" price for the part. They buy at "jobber" prices. The mark-up pays for the shop, labor pays for labor. The big Chain stores charge what the Corporation has it listed for in their pricing programs. All of them use one for invoicing. Parts and labor rates and prices are included in this program. I use the program from NAPA, as I am a NAPA AutoCAre Center. I have the choice of using the regular "list" prices, or using my own "custom" pricing. I use "list". As for the idea of walking away if one shop wants to be paid for their work, while another guy may do it for FREE, great idea. The idiot who works next door wanted me to rebuild his entire front end on a Windstar. He thought giving me $75 for the labor was fair. I told him to go away. He got a bonafide CRACKHEAD to do it for about $25. He sold the broken down POS the following week. Apparently, CHEAP and FREE don't mean GOOD. I truly wish everyone owned their own businesses. That way, mechanics could waste other people's time, and show up everywhere with their own stuff and demand the other business use it. I'll bet Doctors and Restauranteurs would just love that. The real problem is, most people have no clue how business works, and never will.

That goes for all major retail auto centers. Sure...maybe Joe Shmoes auto garage determines their own markup when dealing their local vendors, but that is not the case with Sears. I thought I explained it pretty clearly.

Markup on parts is determined by the Mechanic, not the store they bought it at. Parts stores have 2 prices on parts: Retail and Wholesale. Retail is what the general public buys the part for and is the most anyone buying that part will pay there. Wholesale prices are offered to garages and such that deal with parts suppliers and are arranged between the mechanic and parts store. You can ask how much of a markup they charge but you may not get a straight answer. If you want to find a mechanic that will let you bring in the parts needed or may not charge as much of a markup here are some tings to look for: 1) Stay away from any Chain Store. This I have an example of: I needed to replace some suspension parts on my Toyota, one of which is the Strut Mounts. Local chain wanted $156 ea, said could only get from dealer. I looked around and found the dealer was the only place to go. Dealer only wanted $105 Retail but I was able to order one from another Toyota Dealer for Wholesale for $68. Needless to say, I did not go back. 2) Ask what their markup is or if they will install your part and if they charge a fee to do so. 3) If they want to charge for something simple that someone else will do for free, walk away.

Maybe I can clear things up a little better for you. Sears Auto Center does not determine the mark up on parts that have to be purchased from a local vendor. When an associate calls for a price he/she is given the cost(what Sears pays for the part) and the list price(what the customer pays). These prices are determined by the vendor, not Sears. Sure, you can go into a parts house and usually purchase a part considerably less than what you pay at Sears or any major retail auto center, but you either have to install it yourself or find some shade-tree mechanic to do it for you. Most major retail auto centers will not install parts that the customer brings with them because of warranty purposes. Another reason the part may have seemed high is because it may have been a brand new part not remanufactured. Most auto part stores quote a price on reman and a new part prices(if reman is applicable for that particular part). On the flip side most major retail auto centers prefer to install only new parts so the customer will not have to come back every 6 months to a year to have that part replaced again. Hope this helps a bit.