A Consumer's War against CTC

Do you really know what the mechanics at the Canadian Tire Auto Service are doing to your car? (I)

On Jan 7, 2008, my car's condition was checked by a mechanic at the Tony Graham dealership:

(1) No vibration felt at highway speeds
(2) Checked for beating noise - nothing heard
(3) Inspected links at both front and rear - ok
(4) Checked wheel bearings - ok
(5) Only noise heard was normal tire noise

So, the results from this inspection on that day: no correction required at this time.

Car Mileage reading at this time: 167,827 km

Although I felt that my car was not performing as well as before, everything was in good condition from the mechanic's point of view.

My car's condition report on Jan , 2008

Do you really know what the mechanics at the Canadian Tire Auto Service are doing to your car? (II)
On Jan 14, 2008, I had my car checked again by a mechanic at the Tony Graham dealership.

The technician noted the following:
(1) Wrong axle currently in vehicle (right side)
(2) Right axle seal leaking (possibly caused by wrong axle)
(3) Right front wheel bearing noisy

As a result, the mechanic did a lot of work to fix my car.

Car Mileage reading at this time: 167,918 km

Compared to the mileage reading (167,827) on Jan 7, there were only 91 km used in 7 days. The difference includes the mileage I used to drive to both the Canadian Tire store and Tony Graham dealership and back, and also includes the mileage the mechanics used at both locations to test my car on the highway several times. Can you imagine what happened to my car?


Well, that is a little longer story about the Canadian Tire Auto Service !

My car's condition report on Jan 14, 2008

Do you really know what the mechanics at the Canadian Tire Auto Service are doing to your car? (III)


I felt that my car was not performing as well on the highway as it had been before. On Jan 6, 2008, I went to the Canadian Tire Auto Service at Carling & Woodroffe in Ottawa and asked them to install two new tires for my car.

Check my receipt here

Do you really know what the mechanics at the Canadian Tire Auto Service are doing to your car? (IV)

After having two new tires installed on Jan 6, 2008, I felt that my car's condition had not improved. On Jan 7, 2008, I went back to the Canadian Tire Auto Service at Carling & Woodroffe in Ottawa. The service advisor told me that I needed to install two new rims onto the new tires.

After they installed the new rims, I discovered a new problem: a constant beating noise from the front driver side wheel at any speed. That is one of the places where they installed the new tire and rim.

I thought that the mechanic at the Canadian Tire Auto Service had not solved my problem, but was actually generating more problems. I left Canadian Tire and drove my car directly to Tony Graham to ask the mechanic there to have a second look at my car. Therefore, I got my car's condition report on Jan 7, 2008

The mechanic at the Tony Graham dealership said that my car was in a condition that did not need any correction at the time.

Check my receipt here

Do you really know what the mechanics at the Canadian Tire Auto Service are doing to your car? (V)

The beating noise from the front driver side kept annoying me yesterday (I only used my car on the weekend for grocery shopping). The mechanics at Tony Graham told me that I should go back to Canadian Tire if I really felt the car had such a problem with noise since the technicians there were the ones who installed new tires and rims for me.

On Jan 13, 2008, I went back to the Canadian Tire Auto Service at Carling & Woodroffe again!
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Date: Jan 13, 2008 (Sunday)
Place: Canadian Tire Store Auto Service at 2160 Carling Ave., Ottawa

8:00 am:
I told the service advisor about the problem with my car (lower beating noise coming from the front driver side wheel, at any speed).
9:20 am:
I saw mechanic (11) driving my car out for testing.
10:30 am:
The service advisor told me that the front passenger side driving axle was bent and that this was the cause of shaking on the highway. He advised me to change it.
I asked mechanic (11) about the noise problem, he said he heard nothing.
10:40 am:
I went out with the mechanic (11) to show him the noise.
11:20 am:
The mechanic (11) told me that he had checked the tires, balance, bearings, etc. and that everything was okay. When I asked him about the front driver side driving axle, he said the driver side axle was good.
11:25 am:
I signed on the work order to change the front passenger side driving axle.
2:00 pm:
I was told that the ordered part (axle) had arrived and that the mechanic was working on installing it.
3:50 pm:
I saw the mechanic (11) driving my car out for testing.
4:20 pm:
The advisor told me that my car had a lot of problems. First, the ordered axle was wrong; second, the front driver side driving axle was not good either. and both of them had to be replaced. I was given two choices:
(i) leave my car in the garage until it is fixed the next day (Monday).
(ii) reinstall the original front passenger side driving axle (the one that was taken out) and come back the next day.
I said I needed to talk to the mechanic first.
4:30 pm:
I asked mechanic (18) to show me the problem with the front driver side driving axle. He showed me the problem and said that the wheel on it was loose. I told the mechanic (18) that I really needed to use my car that night, and asked him two questions to address my concern:
(i) Had my car been damaged because of mechanic (11)'s mistake?
Mechanic (18) said NO.
(ii) If I had the original axle reinstalled, would my car return to its original condition?
Mechanic (18) said YES.
4:40 pm:
I went back to the advisor and told him that I had to use my car that night, so I wanted to have the original front passenger side driving axle reinstalled so that my car would be restored to its original condition. I said I would return to have my car fixed the next day.
5:00 pm:
Closing time, I got my car.
5:05 pm:
As I drove toward the highway entrance on Woodroffe Ave., I heard a really loud noise from the front passenger side, like an airplane passing beside me. I slowed my speed down to 30 km/h, kept it between 30-40 km/h (the airplane was still there!), flashed my emergency lights, and drove back home via a local route.

Check the work order on that day

...more coming soon...

Date: Jan 14, 2008 (Monday)
Place: Tony Graham at 1855 Merivale Road, Ottawa
7:00 am:
I drove my car to the garage, left my car there for diagnosis, and asked them to check both front side driving axles.
Date: Jan. 16 2008 (Wednesday)
Place: Tony Graham at 1855 Merivale Road, Ottawa
7:00 am:
I picked up my car from the dealership. They did not touch the front driver side driving axle. They charged me CAD1030.79 total. I got my car's second condition report dated on Jan. 14, 2008
7:10 am:
I tested my car on both highway and local roads; the performance was good. The beating noise from the front driver side was still there, but was lower down than before.

Place: my lab at U'Ottawa
10:00 am:
I read the technical note on my receipt from Tony Graham, and found "wrong axle currently in vehicle (right side) ... leaking (possibly caused by wrong axle)...".
10:10 am:
I called Customer Service at Tony Graham regarding the "wrong axle currently in vehicle" issue.

Place: Tony Graham at 1855 Merivale Road, Ottawa
12:30 am
I went back to Tony Graham and spoke to the service advisor and the mechanic who discovered the wrong axle in my car. I bought back the wrong axle, and paid an additional CAD56.50.

Place: Canadian Tire Auto Service at 2160 Carling Ave. Ottawa
2:00 pm:
I went back to the Auto Service centre at Canadian Tire to speak to the manager. The manager was not there at that time. I left a copy of the receipt from Tony Graham with the service advisor, asking him to give it to the manager.
2:15 pm:
I left Canadian Tire in a very, very bad mood. The service advisor had treated me very badly: he said "I DON'T CARE!"

Date: Jan 16, 2008 (Thursday)
Place: my lab at U'Ottawa
10:00 am:
The manager of Canadian Tire Auto Service called me, I explained my story to him briefly. I used the words "your mechanic cheated me" and "they put my life in danger". He promised to check back with the two mechanics. I told him that I would be willing to show him the wrong axle taken out by the mechanic at Tony Graham.

Date: Jan 20, 2008 (Sunday)
Place: Home
8:50 pm:
I called the Canadian Tire Customer Relation line: 1-800-387-8803. A representative answered the call and listened to my story. I told her that I wanted to hear their response before moving on to the next step. She gave me a REF# 411-91218 and promised me to give me a response in two or three days.
Actually, I have no next step at all!

Date: Jan 21, 2008 (Monday)
Place: my lab at U'Ottawa
10:30 am:
A representative from Canadian Tire's head office called me in response to my complaint. He asked to check the axle I bought back, and said that the axle in question was the one originally belonging to my car.
I asked him if this was Canadian Tire's final response, and he said YES.
3:30 pm:
I got a call from Linda at the local Canadian Tire (613-725-3111 ext 600), but I was not there to receive the call.
3:50 pm:
I got a call from the Legal Aid Office at U'Ottawa, the person who assisted me said his supervisor advised me to have a meeting with Canadian Tire first to see if we could resolve the problem.
He also mentioned that my car is an old car, and that it is thus a little complicated to prove that the car was in good condition before the problems occurred.
I told him that my receipt from Tony Graham had indicated that my car was in good condition just one week before the problem.
4:00 pm:
I returned Linda's call. She said that the axle I had retrieved from Tony Graham was the axle originally belonging to my car, and that Canadian Tire was not at fault at all. She gave me the same answer as had the representative from the head office.

Date: Jan 22, 2008 (Tuesday)
Place: Home
8:30 am:
I called Consumer Protection Canada, 1-800-.....
A representative advised me to go to small claims court to solve the problem, and said that I do not need a lawyer.


Date: Jan 23, 2008 (Wednesday)
Place: Home
8:30 am:
I called the Canadian Tire Customer Relations line again. I added more supporting documents to show my car's condition before Jan 13.

Place: my lab at U'Ottawa
2:30 pm:
I faxed all of the receipts I had to Canadian Tire Customer Relations.
4:30 am:
I got a call from the Canadian Tire store at 2160 Carling Ave. Ottawa. The representative said that the mechanic did not install the wrong axle into my car, and she told me to "deal with it with your lawyer".

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I cannot afford a lawyer, and I don't have much available time to pursue this complaint, either.

Even if I have the time to go to the small claims court and win, what kind of result can I expect? I would get back a thousand dollars, but Canadian Tire would continue treating customers like this?

I don't want to go to the small claims court. Canadian Tire should be judged according to PART III UNFAIR PRACTICES in the Consumer Protection Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, CHAPTER 30, Schedule A.

Jan 26, 2008 (Sunday)

I found another web page Canadian Tire Corporation, LimitedWeb Reporting Site . I considered that it is an online version of Canadian Tire Customer Relation line. I submitted my brief story and my blog link. I wrote:

"... since you have given me the final answer, I consider it is final. I am not writing this for begging compensation, but for announcing a war. A war between a vulnerable, individual consumer and a big giant. You may not notice it for now, but it has been started, and it will last ... "

I registered two domain names
www.canadiantireliar.com
www.liarliarcanadiantire.com

Thanks for the valuable idea I got from this great web site

(...one more left... coming soon)