O'Reilly Auto Parts — Local services in Windham

It is so uncommon to find a business that is willing to go the extra mile these days. It’s a Friday morning and it’s raining and my wife is going to work when her windshield wiper flies off. What are you to do? I’m driving to try to help her. It’s 7 AM and I think to myself well maybe I can be lucky to find an auto parts store that is open so I call O’Reilly and they say to me that they open at 7:30 AM. I thank them and tell them my situation figuring I’ll just try to make do and the person says to come on in. I almost couldn’t believe it! I drive in and sure enough I’m let into the store they look up and sell me the wipers I need. You might think this is the end of the story; but I go to put the wipers on and the connectors don’t seem to match. I called the store back and the woman says just come over. I’ll put them on for you! I cannot speak highly enough of the friendly and courteous atmosphere that this store has. They’ve earned my business moving forward for all my...

Generally find O'Reilly's service fairly standard for autoparts store. But Saturday it was chaotic and unhelpful. I was allowed in back to check the fuel hose I needed.... a bunch of guys just hanging around talking (?). Only one helping me was young woman, trying but seemed fairly new. Couldn't give me a price per foot right up until I got rung out - turns out 1 foot piece cost more then 2 foot prepackaged section in the aisle. When asked about a bumper repair product manager guy wanted to look at my car -- then told me I did it all wrong already. Showed me expensive epoxy when I asked about flexible glazing. Had to wait for him to come back to register when I paid cash because drawer was locked (?). Clear some real management needed on site here. It'll be at one of the other stores...

O'Reilly stores can be so hit or miss when it comes to customer service, but this one was fantastic. I was greeted as I walked through the door and had multiple associates help me (such a rarity in retail now). Well done by this store manager.

Attention regional manager: if the Chicopee MA store is in your region, they could learn a thing or two from here. I went there not long after it opened and they didn't even try to be good. One actually looked at a customer whose watch alarm was going off and said "Aren't you going to turn that off?" Since there are two other auto parts stores within 1/2 a mile, I left.

The Willimantic location is...