"Repair Only Warranty" - No Refund, No Exchange

I guess we can add one more to the long list of ex-customers of CT

Wildhorse:

Your post in another thread sounded like you already won your case:

1wildhorse said:

... I sued our friends.they defaulted,by not replying to the claim within the time period.i went to court,and the judge ruled in my favour.

... under the sale of goods act british columbia i sued CT under the IMPLIED warranty that states that a product must function for a reasonable period of time.

Click to expand...

If the judge "ruled in [your] favour", don't you now get a court order for a refund and maybe also damages?

Also, can you summarize the argument that you presented to the judge? That would be useful for others in the same situation as you are.

yes its my understanding too.and believe me the judge awarded substantially more than just a simple refund.however with the manu agreeing to take full responsibility for the goods(a little secret agreement between themselves that they didnt make me aware of) it does throw a little bone into it.like i said earlier i emailed a lawyer yesterday(up until now its been little guy v the big corps),so hopefully ill hear something in the next couple of days which will shed more light on this.obviously when this happens i will be only too willing to share the experience here,to help others either know what they are doing better or to avoid this potentially nasty trap that has been set.

(which is why i was asking on the other thread whether or not the IMPLIED warranty under the sale of goods act was always between seller and buyer).i still would seriously appreciate someones expert opinion on this,but i suspect the lawyer may provide that if noone here is able to.

This story sounds half way between "repair only" (send it to the manufacturer) and "exchange only" (get a store credit, even with the receipt, when it's defective):


Marilyn Boucher-Lees I bought a blender from Canadian Tire in Abbotsford on Jan 28th. Took it back today as the jug would not sit properly in the base. When asked....I explained the problem. Shocked to hear....Sorry,because you opened the package and you say the product is broken...you get an in store credit only or send it back to the maunfacturer. I said ....no....I want my money and asked for the Manager of the store. A young girl came up to me with a very rude manner and asked what she could do for me. I told her and she said. Store credit only as we can not resale this. You can't resell it anyway....it is defective. Then send it back to the maunfacturer she replied referring to the back of the bill and written in small writing.....the policy. Well canadian tire.... you need to learn what customer service is cause Abbotsford sure does not have it!!!!

On their Facebook Page, Crappy Tire chose a cold and snowy day to Spam innocent Canadians with the ill-timed and uninvited question, "What does spring maintenance mean to you?"

Here's the memories that were stirred in one Canadian:

Glen Adams Spring means taking care of my lawn. Last spring I bought a gas powered weed eater at Canadian Tire. It broke 8 days later which is one day later for their return policy. Despite all the arguing they refused to take it back. I even tried to trade up to a more expensive unit. All they said was I had to send it to the repair depot. This all happened in May. I took it to the repair depot in early June and finally got it back in late August. Really silly and I will never shop at Canadian Tire again. Also why is this ad showing up in my timeline? Go away Canadian Tire.

Magellan Roadmate 5120-lmtx

Tried everything to have them understand that I purchased a christmas gift with gift receipt. The customer representative said that I do not understand. His name was Craig. He was a really frustrating person who enjoys the torment that he puts customers under. ************DO NOT BUY ELECTRONICS FROM THEM, THEY DO NOT HONOUR THEIR RECEIPT************
Bought a GPS (Magellan) for a gift at Christmas. Received a gift receipt and the sales person said that the person had 30 days to return it. After finding that the product did not respond properly (15 seconds between address finds) they wanted to exchange/return it. I said In would do it for them. I took it back to the Canadian Tire store in Burlington on fairview and the customer service person with broken english said that I cannot return or exchange it because I only have 7 days. There must be a mistake because this is a gift receipt. After arguing for a few minutes I asked to see the manager. He said that I cannot exchange or return it because it is electronics and you have 7 days. I said this is a gift receipt. So it does not matter he said. I said that this is a contract that should be abided by and that I will sue you. He said "Go ahead!". I walked out of the store but just before I asked him his name. He pointed to his shirt "Wayne" and said make sure you spell my name correctly because I hate it when they don't spell my name correctly. So tomorrow I must go down to the court office and start litigation against Canadian Tire.
Thanks a lot, you train your managers well.

Are you sure this was a "Repair Only" issue? Doesn't sound like they even offered to get it repaired for you.

Maybe just a dispute on whether or not it's defective?

Daniel:

Sorry to hear about your rude awakening to the crappiness of Canadian Tire’s return policies (or lack thereof).

You should be aware that anything that is purchased becomes non-refundable the second you break the seal on the packaging. Some stores might give you a break & give you a refund, but don’t count on it, especially if it looks like they can’t just re-seal the package and sell it to someone else.

Regarding the Gift Receipt, I don’t think that changes anything after the package has been opened. It might buy you a few more days if the package was unopened – there is no clear statement on their web site about this.

I am surprised that they wouldn’t give you an exchange, if it was defective. Possibly they believe the 15-second wait time is acceptable, or that there is an issue with settings or configuration? Is there perhaps a 1-800 support number? In the end, if you think it is defective, they should at least be willing to help you send it away for repairs.

I’d agree with you that it is unusable, if you have to wait a full 15 seconds for a response to an ordinary key-press. This might be a defect or a design flaw. Where you might have a hope, is with the consumer protection laws. They state that the product must be fit for its intended use (or similar wording, depending on your province).

You can check with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs (or equivalent in your province) for the specific sections. In general, you can claim ‘misrepresentation’ and then ‘cancel’ the ‘consumer agreement’ (i.e., contract) due to the product not being of ‘merchantable quality’ or ‘not performing its intended function’ (i.e., planning a route to an address in a reasonable amount of time).

The store might pull out their long list of excuses, but none of them matter.

And recently we heard a story from user 1wildhorse , who was told he had to deal with the manufacturer, and not the store. Don’t fall for that one!

The biggest problem with a lawsuit is the cost to file the suit (maybe $50 to $100), and the time attend at the courthouse to file, attend conferences, go before the judge, etc.

Sometimes we hear about a store that waits until you actually file the suit, and then caves in & give a refund.

You can also harass CT here: www.facebook.com/CanadianTire. That doesn’t seem to work for returns, but it’s worth a try. Plus, it can be satisfying, and it warns other consumers.

At the very least, you’ve learned a valuable (if expensive) lesson: don’t buy anything from Canadian Tire unless you are 100% sure you’re willing to settle for whatever might be inside the package, even if it’s defective. Otherwise, you should simply go to any of the other major Canadian retail outlets to make your purchase, because they will all have some kind of Satisfaction Guarantee.

Please keep us posted on how things turn out, especially if you have tips and hints for your fellow Canadian consumers.

Not only are the GPS's at CT Repair Only, they only have a 30 day return policy - but only if unopened.

This was on the GPS thread GPS on CT's FB page:


Shawn Zalefski Ya but dont buy it from Canadian tire because if you buy one and it stops working. They dont care!!!!!!!

Reproduced from the back of my receipt:

Easy returns: Save your receipt.
To return an item for an exchange or refund, bring it
to any Canadian Tire store within 90 days, in its
original condition and packaging, with your receipt
and issue of Canadian Tire "Money". Valid photo ID
may be required. Details at our Customer Service
desk, Some exceptions may apply.

Sounds perfectly reasonable, doesn't it? Here's the "thing": that receipt is from Sept. 2004.

So, here is another reason (beside our experience shopping at better-managed retailers) that we expect a refund when we have to return an item. Long time shoppers (myself, at least) were never made aware of the "new" repair-only policy. (Insert emoticon of me shaking my head in disbelief here.)

I had thought that perhaps CTC's corporate structure and unwieldy dealer agreements made the imposition of a reasonable refund policy from H.O. onto the dealer network impossible. Now that I found this old receipt I see they were indeed able to modify it - but, to the perverted policy we have today.

Yes, it wasn't that long ago, that the receipt had no mention at all of the awful Repair Only policy, or even the Exchange Only policy.

Does anyone know if Crappy Tire had those horrible policies in place back in 2004, and were hiding it at that time?

Or did the cryptic "the manufacturer's policy will apply" statement show up as soon as these despicable policies were implemented?



And I'm personally very interested to see what the return policies will be at the just-opening Target stores! They look awesome, and will be a great alternative to Crappy Tire, with a LOT of product line over-lap.

I'll be "repair only", or even "exchange only" won't be known to the Target people at all!

Even Sears Canada recently improved their return policies, to try to keep customers. But I doubt if the customer-phobes at CT will decide to get with the times, and eliminate these exploitive policies.

Time wil tell ...

I have to believe that in 2004 the policy followed was that stated on the receipt. IMHO this was a perfectly reasonable return policy, and consistent with my experience of not having problems with returns in the past. So, it appears that the policy changed sometime between then and now. That means it's not impossible to change it back.

Until they do, I will continue to tell everyone I know to take this return policy into consideration before shopping there. Fool me once. . .

No refund and no exchange? Sounds like Repair Only:


Tom Nadeau So I guess Canadian Tire does not stand behind there Mastercraft power tools! I tried to replace or return a Mastercraft router today after using it for about the fourth time or fifth time it smoked and stopped working. They tell me it was discontinued! Now Its no wonder why they discontinued it. as they don't stand up. So buyer be ware if you are considering buying any type of Mastercraft power tools as they will not stand behind them. Pass this on to let everyone know just how they back up and stand behind their products...

Richard Miller and do it without Canadian tire, they are an embarrassment to the Canadian name , they ripped me off on some mastercraft air tools and lost me as a customer forever , dont shop there and they cant rip you off they dont stand behind mastercraft tools they should be called american tire then I could understand them ripping me off .... Not ! dont shop here I was a loyal customer for ove twenty years til they treated me wrong and didny give a crap abuot it

Maybe a missing part isn't the same thing as a defect? In any case, check out how CT responded:


Gary Marsh Unfortunately, I was given a Mastercraft router for christmas. Opened it this morning to start work on something, and the collet was missing from the box. Since I don't have a receipt, the local CT store and telephone support won't do anything for me. Spare parts aren't even available for it.
Worst part was asking the person that gave me the router if they still had the receipt. They didn't keep it, and now they're upset that they bought me something useless for christmas. All they remember is that it cost them over $100.
Come on guys, this sucks.

Chain saws are also ROW:

Norris Chucks they do is not give you a refund.instead they send it to repair shop.i had a saw went dead after a day of cutting trees. they took it back sent it to the repair shop. 5 months later after making a complaint to the main office n i got a refund lol
*

Some people are still surprised to learn that the Repair Only policy even exists - only at Canadian Tire!



Robynne F.: I bought a 10x10 car shelter/tent, brought it home and tried to put it together,, there were pieces missing and pieces broken. Tried to take it back, YEA RIGHT, what a hassle, they said it wasn't there problem anymore to contact the tent people. I wouldn't budge, I held up a line of customers wanting to pay, demanded the manager. He finally came, and at the end of the day, I HAD to take a Canadian Tire Gift Card. I just wanted my money back to go to whatever store I wanted to go to, because it sure isn't Canadian Tire.... Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed..... YEA RIGHT !!! oh and if I hadn't opened the box I was told, there would have been no hassle and I would have gotten cash... REALLY..... so never put it up and never find out its broken,, Good call Canadian Tire,, I won't be back,, Also what I find interesting,, everyone with a problem is to contact you, and everyone that loves the store you tell them good luck in the draw.. Humorous

again,the no refund,no exchange policy is exactly that.a policy.it has absolutely no basis in law,and if you find yourself with a crappy thing that doesnt work,then DEMAND a refund under the sale of goods act.if a product doesnt work then the implied warranty that a product has to work for a reasonable amount of time,and you have every right to cancel your contract(the reciept),and DEMAND a refund.if you want to look at what actually happens then look at the thread i started asking for help.ive sifted through all the legal bullshit to the truth of the matter,so dont be afraid THREATEN TO SUE,and carry out the threat.

if anyone needs any advice,then even though im no lawyer,im coming to the end of the process,and i can certainly share my experiences,which may help towards future litigations against this crappy policy.