MTE Equipment Solutions at 33 Thruway Park Drive, West Henrietta, New York.

With low pricing and high parts availability for next day delivery, the only thing local parts stores have left going for them vs the Internet or big box stores is having parts available for same day pickup and a live, knowledgeable person to help ensure that you are getting the right part, to share their knowledge with you, etc.

Sadly, MTE would prove to have neither of the above mentioned local store advantages. When I needed a common replacement part for a piece of yard equipment, I was happy to find out that MTE was an authorized reseller and gave them a call. They had the part I wanted in stock, so I told them I would be over in a few hours and they offered to hold it for me under my name. When I arrived less than two hours later, I was informed that they had only one of the parts in question, and that they had sold it between calling and showing up. They offered to order one for me, with a week of lead time.

I understand that people might call asking for parts and never show, depriving a company of a potential sale. On the flip side, customers may put off purchasing or make a drive for no reason because they believe a retailer has parts for the. A variety of things that could have been done here, from honoring the offer to hold it, asking to take a credit card over the phone, or informing me of the low availability and need to head over immediately. None of this happened, and now I get to spend an extra day with a broken tool, waiting for a part because I decided to try using a local business. In the end, I decided to order online, with a quicker turn around for half the price, and in the future I’d do that again rather than try MTE.