From
https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/3fr3ay/i_need_your_help_my_nightmare_story_with_canadian/
#666:
TL;DR We paid $830 out of pocket for car repairs that Canadian Tire created in the first place and they won't foot the bill. Their mistakes also left us stranded on 4 different occasions needing a tow twice.
This whole nightmare started at the Canadian Tire at Dufferin and Finch in Toronto, end of October 2014. One day in late October the car started leaking oil, a lot of oil and I knew I had to get to a garage quickly. While Canadian Tire would not be my first choice, they were by far the closest. Bring in the car, they inspect it and they tell me a gasket has gone bad and is leaking a lot of oil. The car is a Honda Civic with at that time around 185 000kms so a leaky gasket is not unexpected considering the mileage. They also recommended I do the timing belt and water pump as maintenance, and since I always have a hard time finding ideas for a Christmas gift I thought why not! They were offering a discount on labour also, no brainer I guess. This is where the nightmare starts.
Turns out there was a plastic piece near the timing belt that was broken and needed to be replaced at the same time, which would add an extra day to the repairs as the part was not in stock. Fine. I get a call late the next day in the evening saying the car is ready to be picked. Shuttle comes to pick me up, I pay the bill (almost $1000 in repairs) and take possession of the car at 8:45pm (store closes at 9pm). Start the car and I notice the battery light is on. Now I'm not a mechanical wizard, but I know how to read a car manual and it clearly states in there that if the battery light is on, it means the battery is not being charged. Walked into the store to speak to the assistant manager I had been dealing with, told him about the light and what the car manual says and he told me that they drained the battery the previous night by accident when they left the key in the ignition overnight. He said they charged it up enough that the car would start and to simply go on the highway for 30mins and the alternator would charge the battery. I once again repeated that the manual said it means the battery is not being charged, he assured me that in this case it was normal, go on the highway it will be fine.
Everyone with more car knowledge than me at this point are probably cringing by now. Did a quick stop at the grocery store and then set out to do a little loop Allen > 401 > DVP > 401 > Allen, charge the battery and go home. Get on the 401, dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree, lights flickering everywhere. Not good, I'm getting on the DVP at this point and decide to get off at the Sheppard off ramp so if anything happens I'm not stuck on the highway. Well too little too late. On the highway, at night, in traffic with no power. No lights, no engine, no turn signals, no hazards. Just brake and steering. Scariest moment of my life so far just trying to change lanes and get off the highway. I somehow manage to get the car on the Sheppard off ramp needing a new pair of underwear. Called a tow truck, dropped the car back at Canadian Tire and got home by 1am, very, very pissed off.
Next day they take the car back in, turns out when an engine leaks, once they've fixed the issue they do an engine shampoo (clean the engine) so if it does leak again, you can tell if it's a new leak. Now at this point I'm only guessing because no one at Canadian Tire would tell me what happened exactly. From what I've read online, usually it's the new guy that takes care of simple jobs like this, the person power washed under the car and fried the alternator (the part that charges your battery when the engine is running). Again, it's a Honda (pretty reliable usually), alternator works when I take it to the shop, they wash the underside of the engine, alternator doesn't work when I get it back but hey I'm told parts fail all the time. They change the alternator (free of charge), I was naive enough to think I'd get a good OEM like alternator, but that is later in the story. They pay for the tow (like they have to by law I later learned) and I leave with the car, no apologies from Canadian Tire, with a sour taste in my mouth and a promise that I will not be returning here for car repairs.
Fast forward to mid December, my gf texts me to let me know that the car's heater isn't working. Air is blowing from the vents, but it is cold air. A quick search online says the most likely culprit is the cooling system not working properly. I ask her if the temperature gauge on the dash reads hot and she says no. Eventually car stops, engine seizes (overheated) and it won't start. Tow #2 back to Canadian Tire. Problem with the water pump and it was leaking coolant, so the car had at that point almost no more coolant. Now after speaking with a mechanic, on this car, the temperature sensor is located high on the engine and the water pump is located a lot lower. Temperature sensors read faulty when they are not submerged in water and the mechanic even said they can read actually cold when not in water. Get a call from gf once at the store saying that the water pump has a problem and they wanted something like $500 to fix it. Got the employee on the phone, I was livid, told him to check for the car's history under my phone number (can't they search by car VIN instead? they would've actually charged my gf for a repair job they messed up otherwise) and he noticed it was their water pump they had installed a little over a month ago. Manager calls me back, says they will change the water pump free of charge. Again we pick up the car, no apologies from Canadian Tire and hope this nightmare will be over. I was told afterwards that engine seizing because of overheating can be incredibly bad for an engine and could affect the car's longevity, not too pleased, but wow Honda's are tough.
Now my gf is a personal trainer and the day the car overheated she got stuck without transport, and had to cancel all her appointments and lost money. We aren't rich and I was mad because their first mistake cost me half a day and this new problem cost my gf her day also. Canadian Tire customer service was not very helpful, the guy I spoke to said he was an impartial party who decides if my complaint has merit. He said that alternators fail, water pumps fail, basically taking Canadian Tire's side every time (well hey they pay his salary, can't piss them off right?) and in the end was sent a $50 gift card for my troubles. Woohoo? Again no apologies. Their first mistake was negligence, could have been a lot worse then it ended up being, still can't wrap my head around it.
Fast forward to the beginning of July, gf calls me again saying the car won't start. Go meet her, turn on the key and the dashboard looked exactly like it did the night the battery died on the highway. Figured battery was 6 years old at that point, had been drained twice because of Canadian Tire mistakes, maybe it is simply time for a new one. By luck there was a store nearby that sold car batteries, popped in, bought one and changed it. Yay car starts. We return the old one and even though I was wearing gloves I could still feel that the battery was hot, like boiling hot. But again I don't know enough about cars to know if it's normal or not, I'm just happy the car is starting.
A week later, gf calls again, car died, it won't start and luckily she was stranded near her parents' place and there was a garage across the street. Mechanic fixed the car and this is what he told me. Alternator had a failed part and was providing the battery with 23.4V (a normal battery is 12V and when the car is running, somewhere around 13-14V), yes, the battery was receiving twice the voltage it is supposed to handle and could've exploded. Alternator was overloading the batteries (explains why the old one was burning hot to the touch) and basically killed both batteries. Mechanic also said that the alternator Canadian Tire put in was a bottom shelf refurbished unit where they don't replace the voltage regulator units to save cost, and has a 3yr warranty only. The one we put in instead is also a refurbished unit, but is a much better unit which has a lifetime warranty on it. He also mentioned that usually Canadian Tire will mention what they'll put in and I should have had the chance to upgrade to a better model. Total for the bill $830.
I've contacted Canadian Tire and jumped through all of the hoops to see what they would do. All I want is for them to pay for the bill we had to pay because of a problem they created in the first place. I've given them plenty of chances to make this right and they won't do anything except reimburse what they would've done to fix our problem for a total of around ~$330 (which they have to do by law from what I understand). What I don't understand is why Canadian Tire won't simply apologize for their mistake, make it right and move on from this. The car was left stranded 4 times because of mistakes they made. The amount of frustration and lost time is staggering. They probably caused damage to the engine and the electrical system of the car. Heck, the battery could've exploded, twice. We got lucky there. All I'm asking is for them to pay the $830 bill and
I don't want to deal with them ever again. And that's not even the whole bill, that's just the parts and labour to get the car back on the road.
Now I don't know what else I can do except share my story. I feel like this is a David vs Goliath situation where they know they are big enough to simply ignore me and I don't agree with that. $500 is not pocket change for us. If anyone has any suggestion on what I could do, we would be extremely grateful. Thanks for your time and sorry for the wall of text.
TL;DR We paid $830 out of pocket for car repairs that Canadian Tire created in the first place and they won't foot the bill. Their mistakes also left us stranded on 4 different occasions needing a tow twice.
Edit: Posted on their Facebook, as suggested here, got a reply pretty quickly asking for a PM with a way to contact me, still waiting to hear back from them.
