Autozone

Open late, friendly staff that saved my ass when I needed a new battery. Forever thankful.

Auto zone, Autozone, Autozone. I could begin and end this review by stating this Autozone is just like every other Autozone I’ve ever been to, but that wouldn’t be fair to people who’ve actually had positive experiences at other locations.
I arrived with the goal of finally doing a few minor overdue projects on my car. Project 1– purchasing coolant. Now this totally wasn’t Autozone’s fault. I went in seek of R12 without knowing that the manufacturer purposely only made this available through the dealer. However, when the worker (after I’d been waiting forever) flippantly told me without asking for my car model, to just pick up the universal coolant as though the online blogs hadn’t scared me straight from ever considering this, I knew it was a bad look. Thankfully I ignored the advice.
Project#2– Replace one of my lights. I waited on line and a worker looked up my car to get the model number of the correct bulb. I purchased it and went on my way. This would have been fine if this bulb actually fit my car. Now this was not the fault of the worker, but rather the computer system, so the fact that I didn’t realize something was wrong until I got home and settled in to change the bulb was not frustrating (enter frown here). What annoyed me was the return process.
I return to the store, brought the actual bulb from my car and matched it to a new bulb that looked identical. I patiently waited on line, explained what happened and expected to exchange the wrong bulb (per the Autozone system) with the correct bulb that I found. Sounds easy enough. After waiting on a long line, a worker tells me to go to another line since it’s a return. My thoughts are, «Ok, no problem, this happens». I wait on the new line, get to the front, explain the situation, the woman repeats 2 times -«so the system told you the wrong light?” — to which I reply «yes» thinking that a note will be made so that no other owner of my same model car will need to deal with this inaccuracy and waste their time or some Autozone car part database guy in headquarters can fix the system. Instead I am never asked for my car model or which is the true bulb number. I get a receipt with the credited amount and get sent to the front (original cashier) to pay for the new, correct bulb with this paper. Huh? Are people not cross trained here to do return and purchase transactions? Does it help to keep inaccuracies in the system leading to lots of returns?
I don’t know. I personally hate inefficiencies. Clearly this makes sense to some. My recommendation when possible is to bring the actual part needed to ensure that it matches with the computer generated recommended part.

An alright place for the outside mechanics hanging around. As for the store its pretty busy and customer service suffers dramatically. Needs about two more staff members and it will be golden. Lines are long and it takes awhile to get a part after you get service.

Customer service of typical box store, but there’s a good mechanic outside named Jose who was a great help. If you need something simple fixed, ask around for him.

I came in here looking for sealant to fix a flat tire. Since I have never been schooled in the art of the tire sealant, I had a few understandable questions about a few brands.
So, I accosted one of few Autozone attendants on the floor. When I approached him, I could see the «WTF do you want» look spread all over his face like butter on some angry toast. Undeterred, I asked my questions anyway. He gave me a response (although with a tinge of annoyance and abruptness).
Long story short —
If you know what you are looking for before you come into this spot and don’t require much assistance, you are good to go. Everything you need is here.
If you need a little bit of help, you «may» encounter an attendant that acts like they do not wish to be bothered by your questions. You, the public, have been warned.
(also the adjoining google map is wrong — enter the address again on google maps. I took A, C train to Utica Avenue to get here.)