Joe Pagone

A Proud Deplorable, I don't know who you are, but you clearly don't know me. You're probably a napa washington employee or owner. What I said happened, happened. The fact that you're unhappy about me letting people know changes nothing, the pretending to know me, but hiding your name will be figured out by anyone with half a brain. It shows even further how child like and dishonest the owners william, and george in the machine shop are. The rest of your reply is not worth replying to.

Teddy, Thanks for your input. I understand and agree with most or your reply. The whole point though, is quality. Otherwise what are you buying? Most of the troublesome parts were made in china. I am more familiar with china made products than I'd like to be. Fact is china is actually ruining the world base product supply. When you take a close look at a china mfgd part, you first find that the metal structure is either castings with small to large holes, covered up with a grey putty, or pressed steel parts where the metal is contaminated causing weak spots and corrosion. You also find parts inside that do not really fit, such as springs that are too long, insulating washers too thin, fastener threads incorrect, and rough mating / moving parts. Then you find dirty solders, missing solders, solder tabs too small for the pc board, and wiring attached to terminals with solder only. On top of that a reliable parts supply for repair of china made products does not exist. The point is that a person or garage cannot even do preventative work without serious risk. It's become better to keep a rusty, corroded part till it dies. China has taken manufacturing to a new all time low, and napa is buying those parts and representing them as quality with both advertising and cost. Car parts that are unreliable is a serious problem for the world.

I have been a mechanic for many years. I used to buy Napa Auto Parts almost always. I felt the parts were good quality, although more expensive than others. It does not pay to install poor quality parts on a car, they come back, and bite you! Unfortunately, a few years ago it seems Napa changed their policy on quality. This happened around the time they totally changed the on-line site. Around the same time, I started looking at Rock Auto on-line. Rock Auto offers each part by a few different manufacturers, quality levels, and prices. I started noticing that despite Napa still charging higher prices, they were now supplying the cheapest, lowest quality parts instead of the better quality they were known for. Given that, why would a person order from Napa, when Rock Auto is surprisingly lower priced, and you have a quality level choice . Napa seems to be riding on their previous well known name, while keeping the prices artificially high. Some prime examples of this is, I purchased a starter solenoid, (eckland, Napa's electrical brand), as a preventative measure. The third start-up, after installing, the solenoid froze in the on position, with key off, and kept the starter spinning and engaged until I could unhook one battery terminal. Burned up the relay, starter, and a couple wires. I purchased a rebuilt alternator, took it from the box, and turned it, it felt rough turning, as if there was dirt in the bearing race or defective bearing components. I purchased Napa's best fuel pump, and it was very noisy from day one. I purchased a set of Napa Branded, 2 ton each, jack stands. One of them had a defective casting that would not allow the stop to lock in place. Although it seemed it locked, when weight was applied, it fell. I purchased rebuilt Ford Front calipers from Napa, and with in one year, the unplated soft steel bleeder screws has rusted solid to the caliper! Are other people seeing this too??

Folks, following is my experience with the Napa in Washington, Pa. This situation is hard to believe. Unfortunately, not one person in this shop will do the right thing. I've been in the car business and hobby for near 40 years and never seen people so blatently dishonest. If you know someone in Napa who gives a hoot, and could help with this, please email me. Downstairs of the parts store Napa has a their machine shop. Running this shop is George & his wife, Delores Jones. I dropped off a 1967 Pontiac 400 block, heads, tin, and rotating assembly. I needed the block boiled, bored .40 over, & decked. The heads needed hardened valve seats, regrinding of the valve seats and valve faces, and valves re-installed with new springs and keepers. decked, cleaned, & new valve seals installed. Also needed new bearings, and freeze plugs etc. Crank shaft to be cleaned and polished. George claims to be a Pontiac specialist, Great! Before I left, George and I talked about him stopping by my place and bringing some of the tools I don't have and his Pontiac experience, he would make sure I was assembling the engine correctly. He agreed to do this for a reduced price, which I thought was very reasonable. I offered that we could make an evening of it, he could bring his wife, and we could cook a meal or order out ,and make some of his favorite chocolate chip cookies too. Well after being told it would take 2 month, it actually took 7 months. I found out from another customer, he was not only telling other people about my business with him, he was making me out to be a fool, for not knowing how to assemble the engine. He actually PRETENDED to be a friend, and had NO intention of coming to my place. Worse that that, what I received back was a joke. The heads were not decked, despite needing it, the block was not decked, the valve covers were crushed somehow, the heads were full of steel shot, the crank shaft had stuffed oil holes & was not polished at all, the original valve keepers were re-used, except for one, which was did not fit correctly, I'm guessing to replace one they lost. The oil galley plugs were replaced using white water pump bolt sealer, All the valves were ground by hand, not machine, leaving three of the completely ruined. The valves were re-ground and re-installed despite 3 valves being bent. On top of that the cam bearings were scratched up badly, and he had ordered parts I did not want. When I told George about the poor and incorrect work, he became defensive, and refused to admit anything was wrong. They offered to un-bend the valve covers, and I let them try, it didn't work, George got mad again, and his boss William then refused to pay for originals, despite that being exactly what I had. They gave me under a hundred dollars to buy aftermarket covers, and that is all they refunded me. As for the rest of the work done wrong or not at all, William the owner said, sue me. Then he and George said they would bring people to testify against me! There is actually more to this, and it is worse than I wrote here, but this is the basic problem. I had to take the block, heads, and crankshaft to an engine shop in Uniontown, and re-spend the money to get the work I already paid Napa for.