Good Kragen, bad Kragen...

[2nd Mustang]

My local Kragen Auto Parts Store really sucks in the customer service department. This has been twice in a row that I've gone there to dump used oil and get ignored at the counter, when people are behind the counter and literally look at me but offer no help. A gal came in after me and got immediate attention (I must admit she did look better than me ) I guess they really hate working there. On the other hand though, I do shop at the Kragens in the next city over as they are very helpful. I'll drive a little further just to get good service.

Thank you for listening, you may now carry on..............

 

[zookeeper]

Personally I love the very relevant questions they ask when you're shopping for parts. You know, like when you're ask for an alternator and they ask if the vehicle has an automatic or manual trans. Need wiper blades? Hmmm...is that a 2 or 4 wheel drive? But at least they have the best parts China makes!

 

[StangDreamin']

I've found an easy way of improving your luck at the oil dump:

When I'm ready to change the oil on the vehicles around here; I go down the local Checker Auto (the desert-dwelling version of Kragen), grab their one shopping cart, fill it up with a case of oil, oil filters, air filters, hand cleaner, etc , park the cart in front of their one cash register, and, while the parts are being rung up, ask if you can dump some old oil. Guy at the register just wants to get me in and out of their with my $50 load of stuff so he can sell the next local boy some more neon kits and that bling-bling fart can! Leave the cart right there at the register, grab the oil jug, stand patiently and politely ask the nearest guy if you can "go on back" to dump the oil. Don't just charge back there; it's not polite and it will only serve to speed things up for the guys standing in line behind your abandoned shopping cart. While you're back there, be sure to take time to clean up your spills, and any spills made by previous sloppy oil-dumpers. Take all the time you need to do a good job.

Do this a couple of times, and you can send them into spasms when you walk in the door. Somebody will fly over the counter and offer to dump your oil jug for you, leaving you time to shop at leisure When you push their one cart loaded with oil to the register, your jug will be presented to you empty and wiped clean


I have to admit that I did not discover this procedure on my own. I learned it firsthand from two gentlmen (one from Oregon, one from Wisconsin) who did the very same thing to me.





Still Dreamin'

 

[2nd Mustang]

The "good" Kragen that I go to will ask me to dump my own oil if they are very busy. I really don't mind as that is the cleanest part of the oil change. Once I was shopping at a Kragen in Anaheim (there are two of them with a couple of blocks of each other) and wanted to confirm the part number of an item at the parts counter. The gal was busy with a guy so waited my turn. I could tell she was flirting with him but thought nothing of it. Anyway, she helps him at the cash register and flirts some more. Well, many minutes go by and she finally finishes and then asks me if I need help , so I just left the part on the counter and said no, I'm going to the other Kragen. Haven't been back there yet and probably never will.

 

[K:^P]

The Kragen in Tustin just let me go to the back and dump the oils, the one in Irvine have the counter persons do it and sign my name . I guess different one have different policies depending on where the recycle drums are stored.

I don't know if the kind of pay they get reflex the kind of service you get.

 

[Max Power]

I had the local auto zone ignore me for a while, so I just left my jugs of oil next to their counter and walked out. I'm sure they figured it out eventually.