Unacceptable service

I had these guys do a wheel alignment for me.
Alignment seems OK. However, the service order says I must re-torque the lug nuts after 50 kms.
So, I went to do that, and found one lug nut cross threaded. The lug nut is jammed about 1/4"
away from the wheel, and I can't tighten or loosen it without fear of breaking the stud off completely.
You a can see the damaged threads, and they are bright and shiny where they are stripped, so it
happened very recently.

Clearly some yahoo just jammed the nut on with an air tool without threading it on properly first.

I took it in to have them fix it, and they won't even admit to having touched it.
If they don't touch the nuts, then why do insist that I have to re-torque them after 50 kms?

There is no way that I did this.
I know it was fine when I brought it in, and no one else has worked on the car since.

I know this store won't be doing any more work on my cars.
They don't stand behind their work.

Here in Ontario, Canadian Tire garages have a terrible reputation for messing up vehicles. Although each store is independent, if you look through this web site and others, you will read many stories similar to your own. I've known many people who have personally had problems in the Toronto area - enough that I advise people not to take a chance letting an CT "mechanic" near their vehicle.

Do you have a CAA membership? In Ontario they have an advise service where you can phone in, tell them your issue, and they will give you advice on how to proceed with a complaint. This helped me a lot, years ago, when a garage did a poor job with my brakes. You might also consider checking with you provincial Consumer Protection ministry.

There are some who claim that CT uses only trained mechanics and technicians, but it appears to me (and others) that they use poorly supervised, poorly trained people for work they are not qualified to perform, and then do not stand behind their work.

I'm sorry for your misfortune. Keep reading different postings here; you might get some ideas on how to get it fixed. But, you'll have to decide if you trust them enough to fix their mistake, or if you want to take it as a close call on bigger problems, and find a mechanic who can do it right.

I will either get it fixed at another shop, and take this store to small claims court for the bill, or I will
fix it myself. It's a small job, and I can handle it, but that's not the point. There is a principle at stake
here.

These people damaged my car, and then lied to my face about it.
If they broke it, they should have owned up and fixed it.

At the very least they are guilty of negligence. Even if we assume the damage was pre-existing
(which I'm sure it wasn't), they did not find the problem when they did their $40 "pre-alignment
inspection" and they did not report it to me. No competent mechanic could miss something so
obvious. Who does a so-called full suspension and steering inspection without even looking at the
lug nuts? The problem was immediately obvious as soon as I pulled the hub cap off.

They let the vehicle out of their shop with a potentially lethal problem. If they knew about it
(and I'm sure they did) this could well be criminal.

Either way, they are either incompetent or dishonest or both.

If the problem was there before they worked on it, they didn't find it.
If it wasn't there, then they lied about it, and they tried to blame it on me.

Unregistered said:

I had these guys do a wheel alignment for me.
Alignment seems OK. However, the service order says I must re-torque the lug nuts after 50 kms.
So, I went to do that, and found one lug nut cross threaded. The lug nut is jammed about 1/4"
away from the wheel, and I can't tighten or loosen it without fear of breaking the stud off completely.
You a can see the damaged threads, and they are bright and shiny where they are stripped, so it
happened very recently.

Clearly some yahoo just jammed the nut on with an air tool without threading it on properly first.

I took it in to have them fix it, and they won't even admit to having touched it.
If they don't touch the nuts, then why do insist that I have to re-torque them after 50 kms?

There is no way that I did this.
I know it was fine when I brought it in, and no one else has worked on the car since.

I know this store won't be doing any more work on my cars.
They don't stand behind their work.

Click to expand...

I read your comments,And you are right...The fact is they Do and Are required to remove your wheels when in the shop,,So they can see if you need any work done to your car,,its part of there upsell program..They may have had to adjust something as well,,but be assured that they at some point had the tires off...its the same as when you have new tires installed,They actually will do an inspection,,They say its part of the service,,but even if you request not to have it done ,,,they will do it anyways..Sorry for your car issues,,but they will not give you anything,,the store rules every where in the auto dept,is as follows"Never admit any wrong doing,Never admit that a mechanic could have damaged anything,And when in doubt contact a manager to deal with the customer so as not to put the service staff in a position that they may admit to wrong doing..Its not written anywhere,,But I was told that on more than one occasion by the service dept manager,2 seperate ones,,and the store owner,

past ctc employee said:

I read your comments,And you are right...The fact is they Do and Are required to remove your wheels when in the shop,,So they can see if you need any work done to your car,,its part of there upsell program..They may have had to adjust something as well,,but be assured that they at some point had the tires off...its the same as when you have new tires installed,They actually will do an inspection,,They say its part of the service,,but even if you request not to have it done ,,,they will do it anyways..Sorry for your car issues,,but they will not give you anything,,the store rules every where in the auto dept,is as follows"Never admit any wrong doing,Never admit that a mechanic could have damaged anything,And when in doubt contact a manager to deal with the customer so as not to put the service staff in a position that they may admit to wrong doing..Its not written anywhere,,But I was told that on more than one occasion by the service dept manager,2 seperate ones,,and the store owner,

Click to expand...

Your probably just some dip shit that fucked up his own car and wants someone else to pay for it.

alignments do not require wheels being removed, no retorque is needed unless wheels were removed for a repair. The retorque notification is a default statement on all their invoices