Damaged engine drive belt

[Immortality]

You get the good with the bad in retail and trade. Those that slide through the cracks and just plod along doing an average job.

As I posted before, the software that is being built into retail and workshop environments is incredibly powerful and does away with needing that one person out the back who remembers all the obscure part numbers. It also saves the business and the customer time spent going through paper parts books only to find a potentially outdated part number.

The upside is, you can put somebody with little to no real experience in front of the system and they can pull up the same part numbers as somebody with 30 years of experience. The downside is, sometimes you get one or two people who rely on the spiel too much and end up asking if it's an auto or manual for wiper inserts.

The problem is though that a lot of the time the data in the software isn't always right or in some cases plain wrong, then you have issues where there are more than one part listed for said model and the next question is "do you have a sample?".....

The guys I deal with are mostly experienced and have been in the trade for years and do still regularly refer to the paper catalogue when the computer fails or lacks the information to work out the correct part required. I gave up on repco years ago and they are the absolute last port of call. One time I had to use their computer to find what I wanted...

 

[Sabbath']

The problem is though that a lot of the time the data in the software isn't always right or in some cases plain wrong, then you have issues where there are more than one part listed for said model and the next question is "do you have a sample?".....

The guys I deal with are mostly experienced and have been in the trade for years and do still regularly refer to the paper catalogue when the computer fails or lacks the information to work out the correct part required. I gave up on repco years ago and they are the absolute last port of call. One time I had to use their computer to find what I wanted...

The data is only as correct as what the parts companies supply them. Its the future, and will give a better consumer experience. Especially with new cars.

I spent nearly 2 years working for a company creating a product similar to what repco use but a lot more powerful. It took data directly from the manufacturers part catalogue. It could, using the VIN select the correct part for a vehicle. ViN selection is extremely powerful, but also very complex to create a data file for. Repco are currently having millions spent by their parent company constantly updating and improving their catalogue system.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Dont mind this..
Reminds me of good old street commodores days...

 

[EYY]

I miss SC - was never a member, just a lurker. Some of those early 2000's build threads were awesome.

Supercheap/repco/autobarn are all becoming very much like k-mart these days. Good brands disappearing and being replaced with home brand rubbish - and staff are hired based on the cost of their employment, not their experience or expertise. Sad really.

 

[EYY]

These days it’s likley they are also rather young and on minimum wage whereas back in the day, the older knowledgeable blokes were payed for their skills.

We are currently in a transient and soon we’ll be speaking to some AI-bot via the web which has been trained by the same people who can only do those rego part lookups

You'll notice the oil, battery, bulb, wiper, roof rack and brake pad tablets in Supercheap now. And that's only the start of it...

 

[woooo]

You'll notice the oil, battery, bulb, wiper, roof rack and brake pad tablets in Supercheap now. And that's only the start of it...

I like those tablets makes it easy to find the original spec required in a jiffy then I can decide myself what I need and my own requirements..

 

[EYY]

I like those tablets makes it easy to find the original spec required in a jiffy then I can decide myself what I need and my own requirements..

Not exactly original spec - they're constantly updating them so recommendations change. Financial interest of course plays a part in their recommendations on the tablets too. Upside is quick easy information - downside is that you no longer get the customer interaction experience which means that these large companies just need to hire checkout chicks. Makes it hard when you're actually looking for a specific part.

 

[woooo]

Not exactly original spec - they're constantly updating them so recommendations change. Financial interest of course plays a part in their recommendations on the tablets too. Upside is quick easy information - downside is that you no longer get the customer interaction experience which means that these large companies just need to hire checkout chicks. Makes it hard when you're actually looking for a specific part.

yes you can sway someone towards a certain product with these tablets and with fancy images. I just like the ease of use compared to using those 300 page books.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Just replaced. No damage to any of the pulleys. All bearings seem fine....no play.
Must have been some debris...
Took 5 min to change...
Really easy...

 

[RiCeY]

All V6 VFs are fitted with the stone guard but V8s are not due to it causing them to run hotter so I was told.