Auto Center - Ill never go to any Canadian tire again

They lied to me saying maintenance was regular required maintenance. I talked to 5 people including the store manager, the auto center manager, a CSR, a higher CSR, the CSR manager, and finally the store manager. The store manager in the end implied I may be just lying (even though everyone else had already agreed I was told it was regular maintenance they just stick to this line even though I have the official maintenance manual and Toyota.ca says they are wrong).

I am telling everyone now to boycott Canadian Tire. The sad thing is that people I tell already know to avoid the auto center. How is this company still allowed to do business in Canada and second why are we allowing this unethical business to put Canadian in their name.

I will never shop there again no matter what.

For the love of all that's good, why would you take your Toyota in to a bunch of charlatans? They have a hard enough time at Canadian Tire with the domestic vehicles. You thought they'd let you away without a ripoff on your import? What's worse is they probably didn't even do the maintenance work (if you actually let them touch your car, which is unclear in your post).
I caught them red-handed in 2002 when they tried to tell me they replaced all my brake fluid on my old Neon. I had a different mechanic check it and they didn't even touch my brake fluid. The fluid in the car was still of acceptable quality but it had not been changed. I had to fight them to get them to refund me the $85.00 I was charged for that portion of the bill.
They're a bunch of bloodsucking arseholes at Canadian Tire and when they try to screw you, they become indignant and defiant. They have no ethics and therefore have not received my patronage since December 2002.

...I used to work at Canadian Tire Bradford and we had licensed mechanics and apprentices and no one had ever once complained about the service. They know what they are doing in Bradford and generally ask you if you would prefer to to minor adjustments yourself, like changing your wipers or air filter. In fact as an employee I was a regular shopper. Why wouldn't you report that bad business to head office? If enough people have complaints about being cheated they will surely be mystery shopped and audited. Each store is owned and run by a different dealer so really it depends on the business provider. If the rest of the store is shabby with crap service then its not a good Canadian Tire.

Next time you are in a jam and cant get to your regular mechanic and need a Canadian Tire ask to see their certification and they, like every other mechanic out there, charge for all the work they do including just looking.

Interesting... how can you prove they didn't perform a brake fluid flush? What did this "other tech" use to test the fluid? I use and electronic brake fluid tester to measure the moisture content because brake fluid is hygroscopic, meaning it attracts moisture out of the air and into the fluid. I'm sure you have some proof to back up your story.... probably not. You're just the typical moron that someone like myself has to deal with on a daily basis. Thank you for not supporting a locally owned Canadian business since 2002.

- Automotive tech

Unregistered said:

Interesting... how can you prove they didn't perform a brake fluid flush? What did this "other tech" use to test the fluid? I use and electronic brake fluid tester to measure the moisture content because brake fluid is hygroscopic, meaning it attracts moisture out of the air and into the fluid. I'm sure you have some proof to back up your story.... probably not. You're just the typical moron that someone like myself has to deal with on a daily basis. Thank you for not supporting a locally owned Canadian business since 2002.

- Automotive tech

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Hmmmm, well the bleeder screws were never opened for one, and even if they made the effort to try, they would have noticed that the bleeder screw on the right rear was seized as it snapped off with the other Tech when he tried to open it, Tell me mister know it all (probably a prototypical Crappy tire Tech) is there another way to completely flush the brake fluid? can your fancy little machine compute that?

"Interesting... how can you prove they didn't perform a brake fluid flush? What did this "other tech" use to test the fluid? I use and electronic brake fluid tester to measure the moisture content because brake fluid is hygroscopic, meaning it attracts moisture out of the air and into the fluid. I'm sure you have some proof to back up your story.... probably not. You're just the typical moron that someone like myself has to deal with on a daily basis. Thank you for not supporting a locally owned Canadian business since 2002.

- Automotive tech"

Likely you're fresh out of either a technical college and aren't very good, or you're fresh out of prison. Either qualification works for Canadian Tire, asshole.

Hey Mr. "Automotive tech", if you have to suffer under the weight of us "morons" (people who are responsible for your salary), then why don't you do us all a favour and commit hara-kiri? It'll probably be the only noble thing you do in your entire miserable life.

Re: NEVER

Never, ever, shop at Queenston Rd. Canadian Tire. Horrible, horrible service. I don't blame the workers on the floor. The problem is with the owner and general manager.

man i WAS a huge fan of canadian tire, but the automotive section has FAILED me miserably!

On April 29th i take my chevy s10 in to do a diagnostic on my tranny leak, they tell me its my rear tranny seal. So i get them to replace it because i was trading my truck off that weekend. $220 later in the parking lot where they parked it is a small pool of tranny fluid, i bring them out to witness it and they tell me its just run-off. Next day still leaking. I try to book it in for them to correct it but there all booked up, now its the weekend and i'm meeting with the person im trading with and we decide to get both trucks inspected at a Canadian tire in his town. I make sure hes aware of the tranny leak and assure him with receipts its under waranty and will be fixed.

We go through with the trade and both trucks were inspected, it was a 3 hours drive back to my home town. Next day i go to wash the rims and on the front right tire its missing 3 out of 5 lugnuts and the other 2 are loose. rear right tire missing 2 lugnuts, rear left has 3 loose that i could almost spin off by hand. I immediatly phone that Canadian tire and they tell me to bring it back up island (the 3hr drive) to tighten the lugnuts and maybe replace them.

After many phone calls they agree to have it towed into my local Canadian tire to "remedy" the situation. 2 days so far no feedback.

First, I'm not employed with Canadian Tire and I am not "right out of technical school". Automotive techs that work for Canadian Tire have to go through the same apprenticeship just like everyone else.
Lets take a look at your brake fluid problem. This other tech that broke your bleeder screw out of the caliper obviously didn't use heat when he tried to open it up so yes, it broke. Could it be possible that he tried to hide his mistake by blaming Canadian Tire? You drove a pile, a neon that you probably didn't maintain. I've never broken a bleeder screw. This other guy didn't know what he was doing and pulled the wool over your eyes. You yourself mentioned that the brake fluid was " of acceptable quality" so I ask again, how do you know this? What was the moister reading?
Canadian Tire has a bad image because people don't like spending money for their vehicles. They get all kinds of garbage like neons and cheap complainers that want things done for next to nothing. It would be interesting having some of you idiots try and do the job for a living. Try getting a red-seal trade and working flat rate for a living. All of you on here couldn't hack it. I've said what I do for a living, what do all of you do?
All of you go to one of the cheapest places to get your vehicles serviced, if you don't like it go somewhere else.

Unregistered said:

First, I'm not employed with Canadian Tire and I am not "right out of technical school". Automotive techs that work for Canadian Tire have to go through the same apprenticeship just like everyone else.
Lets take a look at your brake fluid problem. This other tech that broke your bleeder screw out of the caliper obviously didn't use heat when he tried to open it up so yes, it broke. Could it be possible that he tried to hide his mistake by blaming Canadian Tire? You drove a pile, a neon that you probably didn't maintain. I've never broken a bleeder screw. This other guy didn't know what he was doing and pulled the wool over your eyes. You yourself mentioned that the brake fluid was " of acceptable quality" so I ask again, how do you know this? What was the moister reading?
Canadian Tire has a bad image because people don't like spending money for their vehicles. They get all kinds of garbage like neons and cheap complainers that want things done for next to nothing. It would be interesting having some of you idiots try and do the job for a living. Try getting a red-seal trade and working flat rate for a living. All of you on here couldn't hack it. I've said what I do for a living, what do all of you do?
All of you go to one of the cheapest places to get your vehicles serviced, if you don't like it go somewhere else.

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First off, the neon is in near mint condition, always serviced meticulously, the bleeder was on the wheel cylinder, not the caliper, and if CT had opened the bleeder to do the flush I payed for, then it would not have been seized, and broke a few days later??? are you sure you know what you are doing with cars??? maybe you would be a prime candidate for employment with crappy tire! the other guy you are blaming for all of these mishaps is the same guy that has serviced my vehicles for many years, without problems, and he DOES know what he is doing, my problems started when I went to CT

He knows what he's doing does he? He knows how to break things by the sound of it. You don't have an understanding about things of this nature, that's why you pay someone to fix your vehicle. A bleeder screw can still seize up even if it has been opened up recently. Oxidation on the metal treads will cause it to seized up. That is why heat from an acetylene torch is required to expand the metal and free it up. I just did wheel cylinders on a 1982 Ford van today and guess what, I didn't brake the bleeder screws on a 27 year old vehicle. This other guy sounds like he takes impeccable care of your car... so much so that you took it to another shop. I'll ask you a third time because third times a charm as they say. If the brake fluid was of acceptable quality, what was the moister reading of the brake fluid? It sounds like it was done if the fluid was fine. There is no reason why this guy had to break your bleeder screw. He's shifting the blame and you don't have the intellectual capacity to realize it. Neons are shit, which explains why someone like yourself drives one. A cheap car to go with a cheap person. You're a fucking loser who has to pay to get your car serviced. Shut your mouth and when you have gone through an apprenticeship and have a red seal trade under your belt then you can complain about things.

who's the loser? your defending crappy tire and you claim you dont work there. Fine I dont have a red seal in automotive, oh woe is me, but my $120,000 salary helps me sleep better. The neon is my daughters car, the moister reading? who cares, on a test strip that I was shown it said 50% is that your reading you so want to know? so if it was done PROPERLY would it not be better than that? or is that acceptable workmanship in your warped mind. Hope I am never in emergency again where I would walk into your place of employment, sounds like your a rip off artist also. Good luck with your precious red seal, hopefully you dont lose it for vehicle malpractice, I think I know as much about cars as you, and you do this for a living? its not too late for retraining, or a different career path, dont despair.

Unregistered said:

He knows what he's doing does he? He knows how to break things by the sound of it. You don't have an understanding about things of this nature, that's why you pay someone to fix your vehicle. A bleeder screw can still seize up even if it has been opened up recently. Oxidation on the metal treads will cause it to seized up. That is why heat from an acetylene torch is required to expand the metal and free it up. I just did wheel cylinders on a 1982 Ford van today and guess what, I didn't brake the bleeder screws on a 27 year old vehicle. This other guy sounds like he takes impeccable care of your car... so much so that you took it to another shop. I'll ask you a third time because third times a charm as they say. If the brake fluid was of acceptable quality, what was the moister reading of the brake fluid? It sounds like it was done if the fluid was fine. There is no reason why this guy had to break your bleeder screw. He's shifting the blame and you don't have the intellectual capacity to realize it. Neons are shit, which explains why someone like yourself drives one. A cheap car to go with a cheap person. You're a fucking loser who has to pay to get your car serviced. Shut your mouth and when you have gone through an apprenticeship and have a red seal trade under your belt then you can complain about things.

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You dont seem to have the intellectual capacity to realize that you are defending a company that "you dont work for" on a website designed for people to voice their negative experiences.

Unregistered said:

who's the loser? your defending crappy tire and you claim you dont work there. Fine I dont have a red seal in automotive, oh woe is me, but my $120,000 salary helps me sleep better. The neon is my daughters car, the moister reading? who cares, on a test strip that I was shown it said 50% is that your reading you so want to know? so if it was done PROPERLY would it not be better than that? or is that acceptable workmanship in your warped mind. Hope I am never in emergency again where I would walk into your place of employment, sounds like your a rip off artist also. Good luck with your precious red seal, hopefully you dont lose it for vehicle malpractice, I think I know as much about cars as you, and you do this for a living? its not too late for retraining, or a different career path, dont despair.

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"Sounds like your a rip off artist" You mean you're a rip off artist... someone pays you $120,000 salary? lol you can't even spell! Guess what fag, I really do make over $100,000 I sleep great as well because I've been doing it for a long time and have many people that ask for me by name. My salary comes from a flat rate pay system. I have to work for it and I wouldn’t have lasted over 20 years if I were screwing people over. You don't know anything about cars and I've proven it a few times now. I have children as well and I would never let them drive something like a neon. I value my children’s safety too much and I'm not cheap like yourself. What line of work are you in that pays you that figure or are you making it up like this story that you have concocted? I'm defending Canadian Tire because I know some really good techs that work for there.

Can't wait for your next reply, if there is one.. "YOU'RE" a waist of air...

By the way it is "WASTE of air" not "waist of air" and is 50% acceptable to you, I see you avaoided that part but just went straight for the personal attacks, typical 12 year old mentality, I meen you have the all mighty red seal, is 50% acceptable, avoid it all you want, we all know that it isn't

This self-proclaimed mechanic is just the type of jackass who was made for Canadian Tire. He's great at throwing insults and making big assumptions when he wasn't even witness to what occurred. Here's an idea, Mr. Mechanic. Take a length of hose, attach it to you next customer's exhaust pipe while the engine is running, wrap your lips around the end and inhale deeply for a good while.

What is going on here?

I don't understand why two seemingly middle-aged men are calling each other down like this! You are both grown up enough to know better and the only reason you are acting like this is because you are anonymous...
Back to the real issue... I just got my car inspected at Candian Tire. They called me back and explained exactly what was wrong with the car and a break down of the prices for each issue ($1295 total). Needess to say, I was not impressed with the amount, but my car is old and was not taken care of by previous owners. A quick call to my mom (who is a mechanic) and explaination and she concluded that it was a good deal. She can't look at the car so she doesn't know if the repairs are required but they are safety issues so better to be safe than sorry.
They took their sweet a$$ time with the repairs but the end result was great. The car is in great shape now and no additional problems so far.
I know that CT has a lot of complaints and I have a few myself but judging by the increadibly high volume of vehicles the go through there are of course going to be way more complaints than an independant shop. Most of the employees that I have seen couldn't care less about customer service but there are qualified mechanics working there and i'm sure they care about their jobs enough to not screw up someone's vehicle on purpose. Mechanics are like doctors and vets, they have to diagnose a problem and fix what they think is appropriate. It is not an exact science and people are bound to make mistakes. Why do you think that apprentices spend most of their school years working in a shop and not in classes?
I'm sure CT has very bad locations and bad service and bad management but every corporation is like that! I support this thread as a way to voice your opinions but with my recent encounter at the Sherwood Park location has been positive so I'm not going to complain.

Then go to another website where you can praise Canadian Tire.

Unregistered said:

Then go to another website where you can praise Canadian Tire.

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I am sure those sites do not exist