[MBGraham]

I could not find a starter for my car locally in Canada, so ordered a reman ACDelco starter from Rock Auto.

I gave the starter to a local shop for installation. Today the shop called me and said that the starter just would not work. They tested it on the car and even with power to motor, nothing happens. So now they have to remove it.

I now have the old starter they removed, and will have a local auto-electric shop rebuild it. So, what do I do about returning the bad starter to Rockauto?

Anyone from Canada done that? How do they handle returns from Canada? Who pays the shipping? How about my shop costs?

I haven't contacted them yet because starter is still in car. Just gathering information. Border is closed, so driving over there not an option.

 

[kevdupuis]

I've been lucky and have not had to return anything to Rock Auto but I know that you need to contact them to get return authorization and address.
For those of us North of the border I usually check autopartsway.ca first, then I go South to pelicanparts.com, autohausaz.com and.fcpeuro.com.
Autopartsway has a Bosch W0133-1602225 starter listed for $284.90 Cad.

 

[MBGraham]

I've been lucky and have not had to return anything to Rock Auto but I know that you need to contact them to get return authorization and address.
For those of us North of the border I usually check autopartsway.ca first, then I go South to pelicanparts.com, autohausaz.com and.fcpeuro.com.
Autopartsway has a Bosch W0133-1602225 starter listed for $284.90 Cad.

The advantage of using Rock, is that they ship fast to your door by Fedex with no customs or entry charges. And they usually have lowest prices. Autohaus usually has crazy shipping charges. I have used FCP for smaller items as well as when in USA. You have to be careful about customs and entry charges. I was recently charged $30 fee by UPS just to collect $5.00 in tax on an item vendor sent by UPS instead of USPS!

I have bought from Autopartsway, but have had a number of problems, so only go to them if I have to. For that starter, they had a high core charge ($80) and I believe buyer has to pay shipment costs which would be high for such a heavy item. I doubt that dealing with them on a faulty part would be easy either.

I have had no reason to return anything to Rock. Just trying to anticipate how they will handle it. This time I may have to, unless they will allow local shop to repair whatever is wrong with the ACDelco starter. Have to have shop remove it first.

 

[MBGraham]

Well it seem like I can return the faulty ACDelco starter to Rock at no cost to me. Shipping tomorrow. Will see how that goes. Will get a full refund. I had my old starter rebuilt by local auto-electric shop. In car now and working. Expensive deal seeing I had shop do install - then they had to uninstall and reinstall my old starter. At $96/hr labor adds up quickly!

 

[kevdupuis]

The bendix drive on the 85 is starting to go so I'll either order in parts to rebuild it or get a local shop to do it this fall, but first up is the transmission and it's going in Monday for that.

 

[MBGraham]

Getting at the upper bolt of the starter is no easy task. There are write ups about how best to do it on peachparts. If they dont run into problems, figure on 2.5 to 3 hrs for shop who hasn't done one before. And then you might as well rebuild starter. This is my second one in 450k km, so cant complain.