“Girl…”
A woman visited O’Reilly Auto Shop to get the headlights replaced on her Nissan. She says she learned the hard way that she should’ve diagnosed the problem before heading over.
TikTok creator Karina (@karinarey) is a comedian based in Los Angeles, California.
According to Karina, “Yesterday, I was driving and somebody honked and told me that my lights were not on. So I came to O’Reilly’s to see if they can switch out my light bulbs, because I don’t want to be driving with no lights.”
The video shows a man who appears to be Karina’s father and multiple O’Reilly employees working on changing out the bulbs after she purchased them at the counter.
Then the video cuts to Karina getting back in her car, and she doesn’t have good news for viewers. “They changed out the light for no reason,” she says. “Apparently, the light was not the issue. It might be a sensor issue. So they just wasted my time for nothing.”
In the comments section, viewers questioned whether the employees were to blame.
“Girl, it is not their fault,” wrote one viewer. Karina replied, “They tested the light ahead of time, so yes.”
“They literally tried to help you and you’re complaining. This is such a weird video,” a second person wrote.
“As someone who used to work at one of these stores, we do our best to go above and beyond for our customers to make sure their needs are met,” a third person wrote. “We also have the right to refuse service. It’s better to grab someone who is a little more knowledgeable to help than to risk messing [the car] up. We aren’t mechanics to diagnose your car.”
In general, O’Reilly employees can run diagnostic tests on customer vehicles to determine what a warning light could be referring to. However, the customer generally takes that code to a mechanic who can confirm the code and actually make the repair. In some cases, employees can actually risk their employment by doing work on customer vehicles.
A Reddit thread posted to r/oreillyautoparts addresses the topic of “incompetent” O’Reilly employees. The post has since been deleted, but the comments section is preserved. One person wrote, “We are not mechanics and chances are our knowledge of your vehicle is whatever YOU tell us. We are parts pullers, you tell us the vehicle info and the part you need.”
A second person wrote, “The majority of the team it’s actually on the customer for failing to provide adequate information. … You can’t assume that each parts store employee is a seasoned professional on every single automotive system on a variety of manufacturers.”
Motor1 contacted Karina and O’Reilly via email for comment.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motor1.com?
– The Motor1.com Team