Advance Auto screwed me on lifetime warranty of plug wires

[My Nameis]

So here’s the gist of it. I was driving my 98 civic ex yesterday when my check engine light started flashing and car ran like crap. Suspected a misfire. Pulled over and with my handy wifi obd2 scanner linked to my phone I quickly read that there was a misfire on cylinder #3

So I swap wires with #1 and the misfire moved to that cylinder. Great, found faulty wire and they’re under a lifetime warranty.

Now I swap wires back and the misfire disappeared, maybe it was a loose connection? Idk but figured they’re under warranty let me just replace them all.

Drive to advance and explain the situation. Mind you they’re the expensive NGK brand. They look up my # in their system and somehow it shows a return! So they can’t honor the warranty exchange.

I’m like uh how are they returned if they’re in my car? So then the guy starts accusing me of miss properly installing the wires and “yanking on them” yeah because I love randomly pulling on ignition parts hoping to cause a failure and use up my warranty! Unbelievable.

After some exchanges back and forth he only agrees to exchanging the one bad wire. He opens a BRAND NEW box and swaps only the #3 wire and labels the box “defective”

I said if you’re going to return that to the manufacturer/distributer why not just give me the whole set, I mean if one failed it’s possible maybe not likely but possible one of the other wires can go bad. He proceeds to say no that’s all he can do.

At that point I just left bc I had to be somewhere and needed my car. Now I’m looking back in anger, my ocd hates that there’s one brand new wire mixed in with year old remaining ones.

What should I do? And is it ok that one wire is newer than the rest in terms of operation?

Topic

[Jonathan Stiver]

That’s absurd. You should contact the store manager of that store, or a corporate rep if that doesn’t work. You’re entitled to an entire set of new wires. Them just giving you one and returning the rest is the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard. Possibly even fraudulent. That guy should probably be fired honestly.

[Kevin]

I agree with stiv625. That’s the best he can do? Says who? He sounds like he’s on some kind of power trip or he was simply in a bad mood before you walked through the door. I’m sure NGK would like to hear about this. Don’t take this sitting down. It was handled horribly and it needs to be corrected. Please keep us posted.

[Bluesnut]

Count my vote in with the others about this being absolutely absurd. Go up the food chain and contact corporate.

The guy was probably fired from McDonald’s for doing the same thing with food…. 😉

[Jonathan Stiver]

Lol “oh I’m sorry to hear your sandwich was less than satisfactory, please, try this piece of lettuce and see if it is up to standard.”

[Gary]

Wow, take it up the ladder. Show them you won’t give up. Eventually they will give in. SO many companies try to get out of their so called warranties nowadays, it’s our duty as the customers to hold them to it.

[Daniel Weith]

Sounds like Advance Auto is beating customers away at the door in your neighborhood or they would treat repeat customers with some respect.

I also would attack this from both sides, writing to NGK and Advance Auto to determine who is responsible for honoring the lifetime warranty.

After reading the Advance Auto warranty page is sounds like after the first 90 days the warranty coverage is described on the original receipt; which might also aid in determining the responsible party for replacement and then it might just be the failed wire.

I can fully understand your frustration when a set of wires costs over $50 it sure would be nice if they would last more than a year.

I am going to guess that new plugs were installed with the wires a year ago; maybe pull the No 3 plug and have look at the condition to determine if there is another contributing factor.

[Chris]

Hi,
Just wondering if you used di-electric grease when you installed the new cables?

[My Nameis]

Thanks guys I’m going to take further action because I don’t feel comfortable replacing only one wire.

I did a full tune up at the time in April of 2014, wires, plugs, cap and rotor. I also did use a tiny amount of dielectric grease on both ends of the wires (plugs and cap sides)

The #3 wire felt hot to the touch but I’m curious why removing and placing back fixed it before I went to get them replaced.

I have yet to pull #3 plug to check the ceramic for any cracks/carbon traces. The plugs are ngk too.

I have duralast cap and rotor kit from autozone. Should I just replace everything to be safe? I’m a bit worried driving now bc I think I noticed a little “hiccup” at idle like a teeny misfire that recovered quick (could also be my paranoia)

[James O’Hara]

I would say more then likely it is just the one wire. I would load test the wires with a battery and remove the plugs. I would also get on NGK and Advanced Auto and tell them right off the bat you are not backing down you are not going away and you plan to contact the news, make youtube videos, tell all your friends and share it on facebook if they can not resolve the problem in a quick, proper, and lawful manner. That you also expect to have a full warranty on the new parts as was originally described to you. You then ask them whether they really think $$$ bucks is worth a Public Relations firestorm. You also want to see proof that they are attempting to resolve the issue so it no longer becomes a problem in the future.

If you say all that and do so in calm cool and collected manner it will scare the person on the other end. With NGK let them know your experience with advanced. When you are done that ask them what they will do for you to keep you a loyal customer coming back and what they will do to make sure advanced does not allow this to happen again. Also make sure to point out that you felt that the treatment you were given was unproffesional and that you want the person educated. That you are aware people have bad days but, now you are questioning your loyalty to that store/brand.

Fire with fire. Be professional be cool, calm, and collected. Most importantly put the fear of god in them and the only way to do that legally is with Public Relations because it is the only thing that can really damage a big company. Basically be tactful.

“Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.” ― Winston S. Churchill

[My Nameis]

Thanks for that! Good strategy.

What do you mean by load testing the wires?

Also I’m curious how removing the wire and putting it back solved the misfire? At the cap end it was hard to twist off, had to gently break the seal that was created so idk how it would have maybe been a loose connection?

[My Nameis]

Btw I noticed what looked like spots of a white film inside the dist cap terminal that the plug wire snaps into? Is that normal?

[Daniel Weith]

The way warranty policies are written most state they will only replace the defective part on a lifetime warranty.

In this situation all the wires are covered under a lifetime warranty which means if the only failure is one wire they are only obligated to replace the failed one not all in the set.

However due to the nature of the part for optimal operation all the wires should be of the same vintage, and as a gesture of good will should replace the entire set of wires. Considering the replacement wire was pulled from a new set which would then be returned to NGK it makes no sense not to replace the entire set.

Granted it seems there is a issue with the Advance Auto computer system which indicates the wires were returned; this could be a problem, but if you have the original receipt without any markings indicating the wires did not get returned you have a valid argument against the Advance Auto computer system.

As stated before the best advise is to keep your cool even if the answer you receive the first time is not the one you want. Suggesting alternative solutions such as prorating the value of the other wires against a new set may permit you to receive a new set while they are still within compliance of the warranty wording. I agree it would not be optimal to layout additional funds for a complete set, but if they agree on average the life of a wire is approximately five (5) years and prorate the set giving $10 for a new complete set is not a horrible solution.

As I do not have the exact price paid for the wires in question the number above is just for illustration purposes. However, I would demand the value of each wire be determined based on the total number included in the set. Then exclude the one covered via warranty to determine the prorated value of the other replacement wires.

Here is a better example:
Wire set: $50
Total wire count: 5
Average wire life: 5 years
Prorated value of each wire per year: $2
Warranty wires: 1
Years in use: 1
Prorated cost for new wire set: (Number of good wires) * (Years in use) * (Prorated Value) = Cost for new wire set
e.g. – 4 * 1 * $2 = $8; one wire excluded due to warranty with one year of use
e.g. – 4 * 3 * $2 = $24; one wire excluded due to warranty with three years of use

In the end I would also try to get the entire set for no charge, but showing you are willing to compromise as a last ditch solution might help resolve the problem at minimal cost. The average life of the wire could be longer, but going to 10 years might be a bit too long; I would try seven (7) first and settle with five (5).

If at the same time purchasing items for an oil change or even a set of wiper blades might also grease the wheels as you are showing some loyalty to the chain by purchasing product. It is all about perception on behalf of the person behind the counter on the sincerity you portray during the transaction even if your intentions are to never shop there again.

Any thoughts on this approach?

[My Nameis]

The wires were $70.

I’ve already emailed both advanced auto and ngk as I’m curious on their responses on this.

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[My Nameis]

Ok so NGK responded but advanced auto hasn’t (yet)

“First of all, I would like to apologize for your inconvenience. Since we do not sell direct, all of our warranties are taken care of by the distributor. Have you tried contacting Advance Auto Corporate customer service?”

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[My Nameis]

NGK couldn’t do anything in the end. What I did was try an advance auto a town over.

Walked in and pretended I was just having the issue and didn’t explain the previous incident at the other store.

The computer still showed a return on the wires and I explained how that’s not possible. He went on to explain that they’ve had issues with employees sneaking a manager’s code and doing returns on items pocketing the money. Unbelievable. He said I may have fallen victim to it and swapped all four wires out for me hassle free. I was even given a receipt in case it happens in the future.

Glad that’s over.

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[Author]

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