Canadian Tire Sucks at Auto Repairs - Unnecessary, over-priced, incompetent, incorrect and incomplete!

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Shahee W.: I'm still waiting to hear back from the complaints department to see if they are going to be integral and honor their responsibility for repairing the damage they caused to my vehicle when I took it in for repairs (for something else).

 

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'Nother:


Jamie H.: Canadian tire auto service is a huge rip-off! I needed some work done and they quotes me $1000. Took it to another place and had it done for $550. NEVER EVER GET YOUR CAR REPAIRED AT CANADIAN TIRE! That is all.

 

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Vague ... But representative:


Rhonda M.K.: Automotive Department feelin' a bit SLIMY!!!!!!

 

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Jason C.: I purchased $1700.00 in Tires, U-Joints and rear brakes for my newer Nissan Pathfinder. The service mgr at this location turned out to be a real piece of work. Unfriendly with a permeant frown on his face and really the guy could care less what your problem is because the bottom line is as he put it "we're done here". Wait a second I just spent $1700.00 and your service mgr refuses to take my complaint serious? Canadian Tire scratched the crap out of my rims when the so called mechanic that CT employes took a screwdriver to the old weights gouging the crap out of the inner rim! Alls it takes is a few squirts of brake cleaner and those weights would've fallen off, no need to chisel away at my rims. The service mgr saw no problem with the scratches he actually told me "this is how its done" plus its "just a tire rim". I said to him my 6 yr old would've done a better job he tells me "next time get your 6 yr old to fix your truck". I thought I was going crazy here so i took my truck to FountainTire to get a second opinion on taking the balancing weights off these rims. The FountainTire tech told me that is NOT the way to take off weights and he was horrified by the deep scratched to the rims telling me they would use a solvent to get the residue off so not to harm the rims. It was really an eye-opener to see how much the Canadian Tire "mgr" really cared, he could've cared less. Matter of fact i asked for his name and he says to me "better yet how about I give you my card and you call whoever you want".

 

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File under "incompetent":


Christina R.: Hello, I wanted to share an unfortunate incident that took place recently at your Newmarket, ONT location. Yesterday evening I dropped off my car at the Canadian Tire auto service desk to get my tires changed. Two hours later I return to get my car. It appeared the work had been done but the employees couldnt find my car keys anywhere. 3 employees spent about half an hour searching drawers to find my keys - still no keys. They tell me to come back tomorrow when the manager is on duty, that he will figure everything out. Car-less and frustrated, I call a friend to come pick me up. I call first thing this morning and explain to a man named Jay. He calls me back later telling me that my keys are there and that the name was saved under "Tore", which is not my last name. "So it was a system error then?" I say. "Do you possibly have a shuttle to come get me?"... "No" he says, "it wasnt our fault. How are we supposed to know what name it would be saved under?"
......I am sure you can understand my frustration at this point. You had ONE job, which has been a major inconvenience, and now you are going to be rude about it? As I'm explaining this to Jay he continues to talk over me. I couldnt believe it. I say I have no car so I will now need to take a cab over there, the number should have been under my phone #. He gets angry starts YELLING at me and then HANGS UP THE PHONE ONE ME. Yes, true story.

I have never experience such poor customer service in my entire life. This man was the most unprofessional, childish person I have EVER come across in a customer service capacity. I guess it is true when they say dont service your car where you buy your tools as I will never be dealing with Canadian Tire again. My intent in writing this is not to bash the Canadian Tire as a whole, but please pass on this experience to the manager of this store as it is very evident that the employees in the service department in Newmarket, ONT need extensive training in customer service and systems processing. This is a silly error that could be avoided and forgotten about with a simple "I apologize".

 

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This lady just dodged a bullet - lets hope her warning helps others. She is so generous with her time!



Katie T.: Dear Canadian Tire, My husband are valued customers and shop at your Castlegar BC store all the time. - Until now that is, based on the unbelievable experience I had this past Monday, June 23rd, at that store. Let me tell you about it: Last weekend I had my tires switched over @ Can Tire in Castlegar, ever since one of the wheels has been noisy. I brought it back Monday, and explained this, service dept said they would have a look. 10 minutes later they tell me it's the brakes and it'll be $300. I say ok thanks but no thanks and I will take my car back now. Not two minutes later mechanic comes back again and says: actually one of your brake cylinders JUST broke (not our fault, brakes were in terrible condition) - your car is now completely UNDRIVEABLE. I tell them that I am absolutely shocked my car was just fine when I brought it in and also as to why I wasn't warned about the urgent condition of my brakes – at the first opportunity when my tires were changed over and at the second opportunity just 10 minutes ago when I received a quote. The mechanic noted that he clearly saw this on the weekend when I had my tires changed over. They admitted that I should have been told about the brakes at that time and they are not sure why I was not. I have to wait 1 hour to speak to General Manager Nick who not only treats me with complete disrespect but tells me that the price is now even more - reiterates that the car is UNDRIVEABLE - says we can't just replace the cylinder, we have to do a complete brake job - says if the $ is an issue I should apply for a Can Tire credit card so they can do the work for me! I tell him to put the wheel back on my car and put my car in the parking lot, I will have it fixed elsewhere. They do..... In fact the mechanic drives it out and parks it. I ask what is going on here - He tells me that he jammed the broken cylinder piece back together and now the brakes are functioning. My mom's mechanic comes by and tells us that the car is driveable and I can safely drive it home. I drive it home no problem. My husband just got home from working in Alberta and today he took a part the brakes to inspect them. The cylinder piece was NOT BROKEN, yes rusty and in need of replacing, but not broken and jammed back together. The rear brakes could be changed perhaps but are certainly not in dire need of replacement. The Service Department was ready to take $500 for work that they lied about to me. Illegal! Absolute Shame on you General Manager Nick & Mechanic at Canadian Tire Service Department Castlegar!!!
I have sent a copy of this message to customerservice@canadiantire.com

 

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Another warning:



Susan J.: well a year ago we had all our front brakes done at our local Canadian tire - rotors breaks pads ect and now we are having to have them all replaced again - we don't do heavy driving or even a lot of miles - we will never go back to Canadian tire for work like this again - am absolutely disgusted that we paid over 500 last year and here we are doing it again - they either did not do it properly or used cheap nasty parts - beware


Susan J.: oh and don't bother contacting their email address because they never reply

 

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Geordie O.: Here is what get's me. I go to Canadian Tire to deal with a punctured tire, lots of tread left. Sure enough, the manager explains that he can't plug the tire because of supposed sidewall damage. The damaged sidewall certainly is not apparent to me and I decide to forego the sermon on needless consumerism, overflowing landfills, environmental pollution, etc. He then advises me to replace both tires. I decline, knowing that a plug would suffice. He tells me that I am scheduled for the following morning at 8 am. I wake up, arrive on time and sure enough, he failed to enter my job order in to the actual schedule. In addition, the job order that was created was prepared for two tires when I specifically said that one will do just fine. I wait for an hour and a half and lo an behold, as soon as I start my car, the muffler is now rumbling, though It was perfectly silent on my way to Canadian Tire. Morale of the story, find a mechanic that you can trust and avoid Canadian Tire at all cost.

 

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Alex A.: Reminds me of that time I went to Canadian Tire to get my break light changed. Came home just to see that it was never changed....amazing! Or the time I got my oil changed, and it leaked all over my driveway overnight. Learned my lesson, never to take my car to Canadian Tire if my life depended on it....oh and dont bother contacting customer service as they will never get back to you. Have a safe trip folks!

 

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Jyoti G.:
Canandian tire sucks. Had taken my car in cause had no coolant and they ended up charging me 90 some dollars to check what was wrong with my car and it was the coolant, will never shop or take my car in there.

 

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Helen A.: A couple years ago I went for an oil change and they broke my gas tank and punch of other stuff - they wanted close $1500. Told the guy to talk to my husband - the bill went down but we still ended up paying over $500 ... that was one expensive oil change! I would never ever fix my car/van at the Canadian tire!

 

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How to respond to CT's poor repairs and service?

Terence M.: How about bitter posts that warn people not to take their cars to Canadian Tire so they don't waste their money on further repairing damages caused by the very people we were supposed to trust to repair them in the first place?

 

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Shahee W.: By the way. calling their customer service line and starting a case, does nothing. They shrug their responsibility for the damage they caused. Isn't calling them regarding an issue they caused rather like getting the police to police them selves?

 

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More:

Jyoti G: Totally agree it's a waste of time I called the number and they said they would open a" case" what's to open when u guys charged me 90 something dollars for coolant real customer service would have been checking the coolant like I said instead of doing a diagnostic on the whole car. Like talk about thieves and running a business on ripping of people..

 

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Brian A.: I remember back when i was 21 i brought my P.O.S. 200 dollar car there to have the brakes looked at. They told me 900 dollars to fix. I said drop that thing off the hoist cuz that isnt happening. They said that it was unsafe and they could not let it go without fixing it. I said OK how about I make a bigger scene about this than you are making?... They let me go instantly and I went to Hank Henderson's family friend's place and fixed it myself for about 75 bucks! Thanks Tex wherever you are! (How's that for storytime?)

 

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Joanne A.: Took my car in for its first emissions test, completely unaware that if your check engine light is on it is an automatic fail, and the Oshawa Store (Gibb St) actually took my money instead of having the decency to just let me know the facts first. Way too jump in on the scam #Canadiantire #poorcustomerservice

 

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Anne E.G.: Went to Dorval store to change a light bulb on my Yaris was quoted $136.00 1.8hrs labour. I had a friend do it. It took 6 minutes will not return for service ever

 

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These often come in pairs: the original complaint, then the rebuttal of the copy-and-paste 'Reach out to us' email:

Eleanor M.B.: I would die of shame if I was as incompetent as the imbeciles who work in the auto repair department at CT in Saskatoon. They break more than they fix.


Eleanor M.B.: Only if something can be done about it, a lot of time has been wasted already and our truck is messed up. We even brought a real mechanic to talk to them. They really don't know what they are doing. They even screwed up a simple tire change as well as everything else. So much incompetence at Canadian Tire Saskatoon West.

 

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Shahee W.: So what do we do when Canadian Tire damages our vehicle after taking it in for another repair, and then filing a case with the complaint department, waiting over 2 weeks, sending in photos of the damage, and they end up telling you that they are shrugging responsibility and I have to fix it my self?! And please don't copy past your usual response.

Shahee W.: How about I upload the photos of the damage Canadian Tire did to my vehicle when I took it in (for the first and last time) to get repaired at Canadian Tire?

Jyoti G.: Totally agree it's a waste of time I called the number and they said they would open a" case" what's to open when u guys charged me 90 something dollars for coolant real customer service would have been checking the coolant like I said instead of doing a diagnostic on the whole car. Like talk about thieves and running a business on ripping of people..

Shahee W.: By the way. calling their customer service line and starting a case, does nothing. They shrug their responsibility for the damage they caused. Isn't calling them regarding an issue they caused rather like getting the police to police them selves?xe

 

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Susan M.: I've been waiting almost a year for a reply from Canadian Tire. You keep telling me that customer service matters to the company and that they will get back to me as soon as they can... WELL A YEAR? it doesn't ever take that long to get back to a person about something! What is the deal with it? I asked here, I asked online, I sent mail to the higher up office... NO REPLY. Zero communication.