AutoZone Auto Parts — Local services in The Dalles

EDIT: AutoZone reached out to me and we came to a settlement. While I was not 100% compensated for my out of pocket expenses due to the defective product, they met me about halfway and I appreciate their position. Thank you to the AutoZone regional office and to Jackie, The Dalles store manager. I have upgraded my review.

I ordered 2 remanufactured cylinder heads to go on a new Subaru engine 1-28-2020 and they were installed January 31 of 2020. My car was exhibiting issues with intermittent rough idle and a check engine light in the second week of January 2021 and everything pointed to misfires so I went ahead and replaced all spark plugs and wires (all Subaru) since it was time anyway and the car ran a little better and then got progressively worse. In March my car went in for a re-diagnosis because it was running rough. A leak down test was done and it was determined that water was getting into a combustion chamber. The shop was busy and my car was put on the back burner at the time due to staffing issues due to the pandemic and I had another car to drive so i told them to get to it when they could, and we thought that a head gasket failed , which had a 3 year/36,000 mile warranty so I told them to just do it when they could. We finally got a chance to tear the engine down (last week!) and found that the right cylinder head had a crack in it. I tried to put in a warranty claim but the rebuilder and a manager at AZ said no. My warranty claim had to have been put in within the 12 months. I gave the representative at NuTech the dates and miles at time of failure and they didn't care, citing they had to follow AZ's policy. I had the left cylinder head sent out to be checked and it was found to have had .010 too much material taken off during resurfacing so it was unable to be used again. This means that the left head was shipped to me under-specced from the start and I suspect that they missed a hairline crack in the right one that got progressively worse. I'm out another $570 for another set of heads plus whatever labor this is going to cost me. I ordered another set of cylinder heads elsewhere. Oh, and this is after only putting 4,385 miles on a brand new Subaru engine, with new Subaru headgaskets, and all work performed by a Subaru technician at a Subaru shop. Maybe I should've driven that car more so it could have...

We stopped in last Sunday on our way from The Gorge to Hood River. My truck battery needed to be replaced. The gang at Autozone was BUSY...from what I could tell, it was unusually busy for them. Lines of customers, phones ringing off the hook, and multiple battery installs. Despite all of this, they were helpful and friendly. Alex had been on "heat and repeat" installing batteries all day. Did I mention it was 106 degrees out? He was super friendly. Installed the battery without the beauty cover, so reinstalled. Then tested it--it was only 65%. They ended up giving me a better battery for the same price because they wanted to make sure I hit the road with 100% battery life. Their POS system kept having to be rebooted, and the whole situation was aggravating for them, especially considering how busy they were. Jackie took great care of us, and I so appreciate both her and Alex! They kept thanking us for not being jerks (they didn't have to say it--I knew what they meant), which is a very sad commentary on the state of things today. They kept their sense of humor in a very tough situation. Jackie stayed over an hour past the end of her shift to take care of customers, and was very friendly, kind, and professional. I generally go to O'Reillys in my hometown because it's convenient, but I'm going to try the closest Autozone location instead from now on. If I ever need anything when I'm traveling through on I-84, I will definitely visit The Dalles Autozone. Thank you...

I had bought a tow strap but ended up not needing it. I went in to return it but to my dismay I had misplaced my receipt. I was under the impression that it would be easy to locate because everytime I purchase something there they put it under my phone number. Turns out that's only for warranty items. Blew my mind. The young gentlemen that was helping me explained quite succinctly. I was quite bewildered as now I could only hope for a store credit. Settling for that I indicated we sould proceed. He then asked me for my I.D. It was my turn to explain as my wallet had been liberated from my possession by some unscrupulous miscreant. Now Josh (young gentlemen) looked at me with trepidation and said no return was possible. I thanked him and exited as fast as my short legs would convey me. Seething with a mix of righteous indignation and self recrimination I drove down the road two blocks and had to pull over. I then phoned the business and asked for the MGR. Josh answered and I vented a tad bit of steam. Josh took my steam and diverted it into acceptance as he offered a solution. If I could just pinpoint the day I purchased the strap he could help me. I did and he located a copy of my transaction. Whew Josh (young gentlemen) satisfied my high standards for customer service and then exceeded...