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

Destiny went back to get the perfectly-fine battery that they told her was no good:

Destiny Hodgins they wouldn't give it back to me. Said they had already disposed of it.


It would be interesting to find out where it actually went:

- Into the dumpster, even though they may have charged her a Disposal Fee.
- Into an employee's vehicle.
- Stacked up on the loading dock, ready for shipment to the recycler ... but too much trouble to retrieve.
- Sold as "refurbished" to an unsuspecting customer?

Seems Destiny came back & noticed a lot of her posts on Canadian Tire's FB page were gone. Oops!

How long do you think it'll be before this one vanishes, too?

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Destiny Hodgins Thank you Canadian Tire for deleting my posts in regards to the over charging for parts and labour your Prince of Wales East location did when I needed a new alternator. Not only was I over charged for the part, and the amount of time it took to do the job, they also insisted on installing a battery I didn't need (my old one was under warranty). The fact that my posts were removed will be mentioned in my next phone call to your Customer Care line as well as my next email to Corporate. I WILL NOT be quiet about this and the more you delete what I say, the more often I will post it. Paying nearly 1000$ for a 500$ job is unacceptable and until your company addresses it to MY satisfaction, I will post daily.

Already gone! Those SysOps are FAST!

Next:

Destiny Hodgins Really? Canadian Tire - you want to play a game with an angry Customer? Really? This is only furthering my complaints. Customers have a right to complain in Social Media - that's why Social Media is so important. By censoring my posts (which I will now be taking screen shots of to further my case against your company as a whole) you are making my angrier - how on earth is that productive? Deal with the issue. Do not hide the posts. The fact is, my family and I have spent tens of thousands of dollars in Canadian Tire stores in my lifetime. By disrespecting my frustration instead of dealing with it, you only make it worse. Furthermore, I have both emailed and called. I was GOING to wait until next week to continue taking this track - but the fact that my posts are being deleted makes me continue to post. Leave this post about how I was cheated - paying 265 and three hours labour for a part that couldn't cost more then 100 and shouldn't have taken above 2 hours to install and I won't post again as long as I receive a reply from corporate in a timely fashion. Take it down, and I have to keep posting.

Well, the sun is now up, and so remains Destiny's awesome post!

Now let's see if anything actually happens for her!

Guys... I just went to canadian tire today (Mccowan and Sheppard in Scarborough). Its because my honda civic dashboard lights and tail lights arent working.

They told me it would cost $120 JUST TO DIAGNOSE the thing... and afterwards the price will go up. wtf is that?!? Meanwhile I asked around and everyone telling me it is a fuse... the service advisor told me "it could be the fuse or faulty electrical wiring... and it depends blablabla..." But $120 JUST TO DIAGNOSE the thing?!? Really?!?

I just walked outta there. No way. So the rumors are true. They are INDEED a pack of crooks. >_<

really? $120 JUST TO DIAGNOSE my honda civic? Problem: dashboard lights and tail lights not working... I was told it would cost me $120 JUST TO DIAGNOSE and it would have to be left there for a couple hours. wtf?!?

Sorry if this could be a double post. my comp lagged when i hit reply.

Turns out there's another unexpected risk when you take a vehicle to Canadian Tire for automotive service:

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Marti Garaughty ILLEGAL TOWING AT CANADIAN TIRE AUTO CENTER

While at the Canadian Tire Auto Center located at 6700 Cote des Neiges in Montreal, my car was towed away while it was parked in a space reserved for Canadian Tire Auto Center clients! How messed up is that???

I parked in the proper place, my car was towed and then I was charged $75 to have the car returned. As a longtime client of Canadian Tire, this will be my last visit for car repairs, winter tire changes or shopping of any kind. Not a very smart way to treat clients.

The store manager made various excuses and basically blew me off saying it's not their problem!

marti g

http://twitter.com/garaughty
http://facebook.com/martigaraughty

Update from Craig. He had to post a lot, and I'm sure he did a lot on the phone, etc., but sounds like it worked out!

Craig Murray Hey Chris Smith I was able to get 100% satisfaction and resolution in regards to my issue

Let's hope Lindsay can get a similar outcome on her automotive repair problem:



Lindsay Curran Canadian Tire, if strong customer service is important to you then I'm not sure why I was repeatedly called a liar and yelled at by a service manager and store owner, and had the service manager go back on a promise he made me.

Interesting comment on the Canadian Tire Facebook page, from a man who says he used to work there:



Edwin Sweet I cant be bothered to contact customer service. Its a waste of time. I usally dont complain, just go elsewhere. I use to work at Canadian Tire and know first hand that they mostly hire apprentice mechanics and yes they do get a commission on everything they "up-sell you" . I just buy there now when I can get a good deal dollar wise and am prepared to bite the bullet.

Destiny continues to try reasoning with Canadian Tire about the impact to ordinary Canadians when they are over-charged for automobile repairs:

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Destiny Hodgins As of today Canadian Tire no one has replied to my concerns. 1000$ might not be a lot to you as a company, but as a Gen Xer (someone who is too busy paying off debt to save for retirement) - that pays off my VISA completely. The money I had saved for a vacation this summer - a trip to Montreal to visit friends, was used to pay for the repairs, so I have gone deeper into debt in the hopes that I can pay off the trip before I go. This may not matter to you - but as a Fransaskoi I live in a province that is predominantly Anglo, and this yearly trip is KEY to maintaining my language skills. If I don't go, I risk losing my French skills, and I don't want to do that, as my second language skills make me more employable. If I didn't have good credit, this repair would have cost me that trip, and made me less employable since I wouldn't have had the same opportunities to practice my skills with native speakers. I am taking all of this into consideration as I deal with your company moving forward.


Destiny Hodgins For the record - I have emailed CS, called CS and posted on your FB page.

This one seems relatively minor in comparison, but is a typical example of the service people can expect from the Canadian Tire auto center:


Hardy Beiner i asked people in kingsway in edmonton to change a windshield wiper and the answer I got was please leave your car and some time in the afternoon we will change them and it was 9 am

A little late to be of any help for Destiny, but maybe the word can spread before much more damage is done by Canadian Tire to innocent people's vehicles:


Franco Cuzzola Destiny Hodgins: I learned never to take my car to Canadian Tire about 15 years ago. lol

More from Lin:

Lin Cripps Don't any of you hold your breath waiting for satisfaction from Can Tire because it is not likely to happen. I had a problem with the Unicity store in Winnipeg on Nov 28th and it is still not resolved, they really don't give a toss.

Update from Destiny! Yeah!


Destiny Hodgins For those following my story - someone from the East store (with a difficult to understand accent according to my family) called my home around 5:30. As previously mentioned, I am a Gen Xer with a lot of debt. I work two jobs to pay off that debt. I cannot be reached before 7:30 any night of the week. I work 12 hour days. Which is another reason why spending my vacation money on car repairs is a huge deal. I need to keep up my French so I don't have to work two jobs. Apparently the guy is going to call back on Thursday. If it is the same rep I dealt with when I went into the store, I see no point in dealing with him, as he provided me with no assistance (and also had a thick accent).

Some moron tried to pick a fight with Destiny. Look what happens:


Destiny Hodgins Benjamin - if Canadian Tire hadn't overcharged me for a 550$ worst case scenario job, there wouldn't be an issue. The problem is they overcharged me. Then they reach out to me, and am told I am at work. Instead of contacting me AFTER I am done work - or leaving a NAME and NUMBER where I can reach them (I called the store three times tonight and NO one picked up) they say they will call later. I work in Corporate Sales, "I'll call her later" means "I will call later when I hope like hell she won't pick up the phone and then I don't have to deal with it". The fact is, the impact of overcharging someone for a repair of any kind has a huge impact on a person's life, standard of living and livelihood. As a customer I TRUSTED Canadian Tire to do right by me. That trust is broken. Based on my family's life expectancy - I should be driving for another 55 years. That's 55 years worth of business Canadian Tire has lost out on as a result of this. The loss of mobility (a Charter right by the way) is not the fault of Canadian Tire per say, rather it is the fault of the individual owner and store that overcharged me for parts, labour and who insisted I needed to replace a battery that didn't need replacing (which by the way is fraud in this country). So I am speaking of the personal problems resulting from systematic incompetence of Canadian Tire Service and Repairs.


Destiny Hodgins PS - Canadian Tire the fact that there was no message left with full name and extension (which is a policy of the multi national corporation that I work for - when asked to leave a message one MUST be left including first and last name as well as number and extension) is another poor reflection of your company. Thursday, when the call is supposed to come, I will be at work again and unreachable before 7:30 CST. I except a VM as a result which includes first and last name of the rep as well as a toll free and an extension

Vague ... but useful!


Josh Heffernan have yet to go to a good Canadian Tire shop... Its like pre-school for mechanics

I think Destiny could have known better than to wait at home for someone from CT to call. It's not like they are known for customer service or anything ...


Destiny Hodgins Per the call on Tuesday night while I was at work - I was to receive a call tonight. It is not 9:20 PM CST. The store is closed, and I did not receive the promised call. I will be calling CS again tomorrow - one week AFTER I was cheated out of several hundred dollars because I had to put in a battery I didn't need and was overcharged for the part and labour.

Destiny Hodgins Oh and I could have worked tonight until 8:30 - I turned the hours AND the money down so I could be home to receive this call. I believe that Canadian Tire east now also owes me the 17$ a hour I could have made between 4:30 and 8:30 - and yes, you can verify with my secondary employer that I was scheduled to work.

I don't have a horror story of C-T service because I've never used them but has anyone noticed the gigantic service interval chart on display above the service counter?

Wheel alignment every 20K kms? Really? I wouldn't let them align my wheels. Any alignment they do is going to have the vehicle pulling hard to the right, just like any other alignment shop. I wouldn't bother doing my own alignments if there was a shop that did them properly and safely.

Look at the intervals for rad flushes, oil changes, brakes, etc. They are so short it's unbelievable. This is not a sign of an honest garage. If my Mom went in there, she might think she needs her entire vehicle overhauled as part of some sort of general maintenance.