Autozone

You can get nearly identical parts, fluids, etc. at most any parts store. It’s the knowledge and customer service that’s important. AutoZone does free testing, that includes reading your OBD/​check engine light and sharing codes.
Cory was sincerely happy to help, he scanned the OBD, told me the code, then printed of possible causes, and a print-​out of parts with no pressure. I appreciate the help and will return if I decide to buy the part. If you are patient, they will be friendly and helpful.

I had an excellent experience getting my car battery replaced there last week. I worked with Adam — I think he is the store manager. His customer service was EXCELLENT. Fast, thorough and cheerful. He just seemed like a really nice guy, who was doing his best and enjoying his job and interacting with people. I have been to this store before, and it’s definitely my go-​to place for car stuff. AND they have a parking lot!

I’m not a particular fan of a person who works there, and as an employee he is a reflection of the business therefore the low rating. I won’t provide his name because I have faith that he has some integrity and if he ever reads this review he may not pull this stunt again.
The issues with my mother’s car was diagnosed at the Rhode Island Ave location, but there were no mechanics on duty. I called this H Street location and specifically told the employee what the diagnostics said was needed and that I was calling to see if her car could be fixed that evening (it was 6 PM). He told me he could, to come right away and ask for him.
We made our way there, I gave him the diagnostics receipt and asked him to price the repair. He gave a fair price, then proceeded to tell me he could not work on the car tonight but we can leave the car and our key at his shop around the corner and he’ll work on it in the morning… then gave us his business card.
Excuse me?
Less than fifteen minutes ago, did you not confirm that you could work on the car tonight? Why else would we come to the same exact store? How can you lie on the phone with me about something so minute, nevertheless inconveniencing to me and my mother, but you think we will leave our car and our keys at your unknown mechanic shop? How about a big fat NO. Oh, and the kicker? He lost our diagnostic receipt so another employee had to retest the car to buy the right parts.
I mean, you work at Auto Zone. I can imagine the amount of independent contracting you receive day in and day out. There is no need to manipulate a situation such as ours for ninety extra bucks.
I give this place two stars because the check-​out was decent and they didn’t try to make us buy anything we didn’t need. But this experience surely left a sour taste in my mouth and I will not return.

NEVER BUY FROM HERE!
I’ve used Autozone as my primary auto parts store over the years — and this one in particular for the past 3 years. I do most of my repairs and maintenance myself.
I recently purchased a pair of high-​end headlight bulbs for my car (nearly $ 50!). One of them stopped working after less than a week. Not having the time to return them for another week (well within 30 days of purchasing them), I tried to return the bulbs, with my receipt, explaining that I thought it was a warranty issue. The manager looked at me like I was an idiot and explained that «of course you can’t return them without the original packaging.» I don’t have the original packaging, I threw it away after a few days, because who keeps the original packaging for light bulbs!?! The manager was rude and would not accept the return.
It was a bad experience, and now I’m stuck with a pair of useless bulbs and I’m out nearly $ 50 (plus the cost of the new bulbs, an additional $ 50). That’s very real money for me. Needless to say, I will never be using this, or any other Auto Zone, ever again. They lost a loyal customer.

I showed up 20 minutes before closing time with burnt out headlight bulbs. The staff quickly found the correct bulb for me and an an employee from a different store (who just happened to be there) put the bulbs in for me since the others were busy. This really impressed me.

I had a great experience when I needed a new battery. They were very helpful and tested my old battery to make sure that’s what was wrong. They installed the new one and the whole process took only about 20 minutes. Take note, they will not install new batteries if it is after dark.

Spent an actual timed total of 13 minutes in line waiting behind 2 girls buying 2 $ 3 air fresheners all the while the cashier spent time flirting and ignoring the fact people were in line to actually buy something. Everytime I go into this store, it’s the same thing. Customers appear to be an «inconvenience» to staff here and it takes forever for them to do their job and actually help customers. After the girls paid and left it took another minute or 2 for the cashier to discuss taking his break with the manager.
This place needs an overhaul of staff and maybe even a whole new team.
Customer service is last on their list of things to do.
Unilocal doesn’t allow you to post a review without at least one star, so here’s one for default Auto Zone.

I came here to pick up products that I ordered and prepaid online. It was a weekday evening and there were no customers in the store. 2 people were behind the counter but it look them at least 5 minutes to acknowledge me and pick up my PREPAID order! This would normally be a 2 star, but the extra 1 star is for convenience and always having parking: knock on wood:

I needed a new battery on a Sunday after my battery died. AAA jump started the car, but warned me it might not hold charge that well. My dealer had already told me 6 months earlier that battery was fading, I called in advance, they had part and installed it. I am not sure it as good a battery as my previous one, crank takes a touch longer, but it has a free replacement period for 3 years.

Let me tell you about the time Autozone saved this girl’s life…
Check it. While picking up my to go order of Bön Chon chicken to satisfy my late night craving, it’s midnight and my car battery DIES on me while I am in their parking lot. Don’t worry, I ate the Bön Chon before the food got cold and soggy because you know nothing is worse than soggy/​cold Bön Chon and of course, in case it was my last supper, at least I’d die happy! Ok so we survived to tell the tale but I waited for a friend to come to my rescue and give my car a jump. It was a wake up call to say the least and it was time my friends. It was time for a new battery.
The next day, while eating at Toki (priorities people), I headed on over to Autozone to check out their battery selection for my car. Rhoda was a great help and very knowledgable when it came to this girl and her car. She offered me two battery options plus warantee and sent me on my happy way. Battery bought and she sent one of the workers to supervise aka put in the battery. Thank heavens for their parking lot on H street where this mastermind got to work, I tipped him for his service in the cold.
Autozone saved me from getting robbed at the dealership if I went to buy a battery there. My experience at Autozone was much happier, friendly and knowledgable staff, great deal on battery for my part and now I have a customer card. Next time I need something for my car, I’ll stop here.

Had a problem one day and called to talk to district manager. He and the store manager and the employee were all helpful and resolved my problem. Customer service in DC (all kinds of stores and businesses) is overall terrible but the way they helped me after a slight problem was great.

I have this German car that apparently has very complicated headlights and tail-​lights. So when they burn out, I tend to slack off on replacing the bulbs for fear that I’m going to get a huge run-​around — that is until I either get pulled over by police, or I finally decide that I don’t want to get pulled over by police. When I think of going to an auto store, I usually think that I have to travel a long distance but luckily there is one close — like H-​street corridor close! These guys are pros — they practically changed my burned out lights blind-​folded! And they were pretty nice about it too! I think business models like these set the standards. These guys really didn’t have to lift a finger if they didn’t want to.

Thinking to visit this place? Brace yourself for the worst customer service imaginable. Starting with the dreadful dreaded manager; the absolute worse of the worst. Dealing with him will help you understand why the staff act as they do. I understand certain people in our society should work… i get it. But how about putting them in the back and not deal with customers at all? Or better yet, how about upper management conduct what’s called a «secret shopping» trip to see exactly what’s going on there. This place is a zoo, starting with the ringleader, the manager.
On more than one occasion I have stood in line only to listen to those nice people (you know what i want to call them) stand behind the counter and talk amongst themselves and pretty much ignore customers. And God forbid if you ask for assistance locating something. This store is the absolute worst of the worst! Fit right in with DC customer service as a whole.

We ran over to the AutoZone on 12^th and H –and got the BEST service I’ve gotten anywhere in a long time. When we arrived, there was no one in the checkout line; but about 8 or 9 people in the Parts line. The guy behind the register checked quickly to see if anyone needed to cash out — and then instead of gazing vacantly off into space he immediately hopped over and started helping out at the Parts desk. when was the last time you saw that happen? (CVS, I’m lookin at you.)The woman who helped us out was fast, smart, pleasant and funny, and knew her stock inside and out. Then she quickly found an employee to go out and install the windshield wiper blades. He was also cheerful, chatty and polite. All around, one of the best shopping experiences I’ve been to in a long time.

My experience at this autozone has been totally awesome! The people who work inside are very helpful and even offer to help you carry stuff to the car. I also didn’t mind at all the people in the parking lot willing to help out to make an extra dollar!

I had a tail light out in my car, went there to get a bulb. When I checked out the man behind the counter asked if I needed help changing it. I said if he had time that would be great. He came out and did all the work for me, also had me sit in car and check turn signals, break lights everything! When I tried to give him $ 10 he said that was too much, I insisted he take at least $ 5. What a kind man to help me with this. Very hard to find service like this these days. Thank-​you

Glad that we have one so close, but this place has terrible service.
Unless you know exactly what you want to get, I wouldn’t go in there
Staff here seem to think that the presence of customers is an inconvenience to them.
On multiple occasions, there has been no one to help me.
They don’t like to answer questions.
Just overall bad attitudes from staff, most every time I’ve been there.

Let’s get this out of the way first thing: The batteries at this place are expensive. Really expensive. I paid over $ 100, including the trade-​in discount. A perfectly functional battery at Walmart would have been less than half the price. But convenience and timing won out at I shelled out for the Autozone price.
The service here was exceptional. I called ahead to make sure it was still open at 5pm on a Sunday, and the woman who answered was friendly AND remembered me by my voice when I came in!
One of the (non-​uniformed) guys installed the battery for me, and that’s when the hilarity began. Long story short, the new battery tripped the car’s alarm, which I didn’t even know I had and didn’t know how to turn off. Brian and Shay stayed with me brainstorming and trying everything until Brian found a workaround and stopped the alarm. He spent an hour with me on his dinner break trying to figure this out and totally saved the day. I cannot thank them enough for sticking with it until the problem was solved.
My next battery purchase will probably be somewhere cheaper, but I am glad I went to Autozone this time, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you should go there too.

Because of its location and being a rare business in Washington, DC, with an actual parking lot, we’ve gone here 3 – 4 times for help. Unfortunately, every single experience has been somewhere between unpleasant and WTF?!
My main issue is not whether they know their stuff or not (they do) but how they’ve mastered the art of «look-at-the-current-customer-I’m-helping-now-and-maybe-everyone-else-will-go-away.»
After waiting the half hour to be told, «we’ll be right with you,» and another 10 minutes to get someone to help, they’ll direct me where to get whatever I need and then I have to wait (again!) in line for someone to ring me up!
And when I look at whoever was helping me to see if they could spare the 2 minutes to ring me up, it’s back to «look-at-the-current-customer-I’m-helping-now-and-maybe-everyone-else-will-go-away» mode!

The employees knew nothing about any of the items we were seeking. After waiting for about 30 minutes, my boyfriend was able to talk to a sales associates about a specific product he was looking to buy. He ultimately bought the product after being assured three times that it was the correct item. Once we got home and tried it out, we realized it was completely wrong.
On top of that, ironically, our car battery died in the parking lot. But Autozone would not help us with jumping car. We had to call AAA who came to help us (the AAA driver was equally mistified that the Autozone could not help us jump the car).
Really a bad experience.