CTH8R

New member
From another thread:

https://www.canadiantiresucks.net/employees-speak-out/637-horrible-pay-experience-3.html#post10593

Very enlightening, about auto service, from a mechanic's view:

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I had about 20 years in with ctc as a class A mechanic . It did not take me long to discover that the managers in the shop were a waist of time and the owners of the stores were even worse (the 3 I worked for anyway) , I always dealt with my customers in person , I always had a great relationship with my customers and they would always ask for me and only me when they needed repair . I would always bring the customer out to the car and show what the car needed before the repair and explain why it was needed . I would give total price and stick to it. About the only complaint I would ever get was customers would sometimes ask why they were charged more time than the car was in the shop ,but once I explained how the flat rate system worked they were OK with it . ctc labor quotes are mostly from the mitchell labor manual ,all quotes are based on the average mechanics ability .If the mechanic wants to spend the time and money to educate himself and buy the tools to make himself able to do the job faster why should he get paid less for the job. Without a labor guide he would simply be getting paid less for doing the same job if he works faster . From what I have seen about 30% of mechanics can not even do the job in the flat rate time , about 50% do just about the quoted time , and then you get the real mechanics that know what they are doing and can cut flat rate in half or even less .The bigger problem I have seen was work being done that was not needed at all. Though myself I think ctc is a terrible establishment I think any customer should know and feel good about the abilities of there mechanic regardless of where they work,ask for the same mechanic when you find a good one . and if the mechanic can do the job right in way less than flat rate you have found your self a good one . the only reason I left ctc is because the other mechanics were pissed because all the customers were coming in and asking for me so they went to the owner whining because they were not making any money and I was making 80 hr in a 40 hr week , the owner in his wisdom stopped the customers from being able to ask for me . My customers would no longer come to ctc unless I worked on there car so I had to start working on there cars from home . now I have my own business and ctc is down to one mechanic .
 

CTH8R

New member
Some good advice, when dealer with the CTers:

Nawal I.: CDN tire store at Calgary becon hill their mechanical shop promises, and charge services, which can not delivers. Be carefully before you pay, take a test drive with mechanic, who did the work before you handout your credit card.
 

CT Challenger

New member
More from RAMJET at https://www.canadiantiresucks.net/employees-speak-out/637-horrible-pay-experience-3.html#post10659 , after The CTer tried to dismiss his comments:

yeah there was a reason I worked for them for so long,I made good money working for them and I was able to help people, despite the efforts of the management . it was not until they took away my customers that I had no choice but to leave. I did all my own quotes and they knew better than to try to add anything to my jobs because I would not have allowed it . but they did try to force me to do thing that were beyond my comfort level as a licensed mechanic . example ,remote car starters being installed on manual transmission ,I flat out refused to do a job like that because there is no way to be sure the driver would follow the starting procedure correctly therefor the car could be remotely started in gear causing a potential hazard . the owner of the store actually tried to force me do do this one saying I had no right to refuse work regardless of what I felt the dangers were. Also they would try to make you work on unfit cars just to make a coupple more bucks( example ,do a oil change on a car with no brakes )a mechanic can be charged with contributing to the maintaince of a unfit vehicle for doing this . They also tried to make me pay into a fund to cover the cost of all the damage to the customer cars being caused by the non qualified service people. I never damaged anything ever so I fought this one also.A part of running a automotive business is to have insurance against such damage and if you hire someone that causes more damage than they should , fire them and hire qualified help, don't come to me and ask me to pay for damages because you are to cheap to hire good help. Another reason I started working for my self was because when I started working for ctc they offered a pension ,you received 60%-70% of the door rate . now mechanics are lucky to get 20% of the door rate and there is no pension .the door rate has gone up 4x what it was when I started but the mechanics pay has only raised a couple of bucks over the same time. Here is a perfect example of ctc management we have a Christmas party the owner has a door prize of a big screen TV , who wins it the owners daughter LOL . who wins the the second prize the store manager LOL. the gift baskets that the corp sends to all the stores to be given to the employees are kept until after Christmas and broken down and sold on the floor . CTC was the worst place I ever worked ,I am not saying this because I am some disgruntled employee ,it's just a fact .It was always a crappy place to work but I toughed it out as long as I could because I could make good money and even if the management did not treat you well the customers made it worth while .And as a past CTC mechanic I would like to say thank you to all my customers that made my job bearable for all those years. cheers Roger
 
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CTH8R

New member
Yikes!



April A.A.H.: I wouldn't bring a vehicle in to Canadian tire unless you want it treated poorly. They put the wrong tires on our truck, argued with us about it till finally the owner stepped in and realized they were wrong. Then I saw an employee drive our truck into a stack of rims. They causes $456 dollars worth of damage and all they offered was a free oil change. Now we are fighting with them to get it fixed. I emailed the customer service email provided and got no response. Looks like we have to put a claim with icbc against the shop and file a police report.
 

CTH8R

New member
Rick H.: Canadian Tire sucks. Lousy customer service, lousy return policy, and a "service centre" that pretends its 18 year old technicians are mechanics. They screwed up my vehicle royally (messed up my axle twice) and then tried to blame me. Don't waste your time or money on these clowns!!
 

CTH8R

New member
And ... the "Most Like" thread on the (probably spammed) Rob Ford thread?


Rob I.: Rob Ford is a hell of a lot more honest then the Mechanics at your stores!!!

Kim G.: LOL

Dave B.: too right!!

Mike M.: LOL that's the truth

Allison A.: yup. lol

Chris P.: hahaha aint that some truth?
 

CTH8R

New member
More responses to the Christmas Tree spam:


Dave R.: Why do I keep getting Canadian Tire ads? These guys screwed up my cars transmition costing me 2500. I cant stand Canadian Tire.


Dave R.: I dont know how I ended up "liking" Canadian Tire but I suppose it gives me an opportunity to make people aware of the risk of bringing their car to Canadian Tire. Thank you.


Donna C.W.: Instead of Canadian Tire telling Dave Rooks to hide their postings, maybe they should endeavor to find out why he feels they ruined his transmission and try to rectify it. I think that would be the best customer service they could provide and then maybe he could post that Canadian Tire have rectified the situation. It wasn't very good PR for them to tell him to hide their postings. Obviously they will lose more customers by brushing this off
 
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CTH8R

New member
Lights Spam:


Rick H.: ... unqualified service centre "technicians" (ie: they have one mechanic on staff and a bunch of pimple faced kids running around they call "technicians" because they cannot legally call them mechanics.
 

CTH8R

New member
Richard P.: I laugh at this page because no matter what it's advertising, there are always horror stories from people all over the country who have been screwed by CTC service departments. I for 1 have had bad experiences and have nothing good to say about the service at the one here and will forever steer clear of those people.
 

CTH8R

New member
Interesting perspective from a mechanic - home come none ever go on CT's FB page to say how great CT is at treating customers???


Steven J.s.: Laura, I would suggest not getting your car serviced at Canadian Tire. I am an Aircraft Mechanic as well as a Auto Mechanic and have had "issues" with the honesty of Canadian Tires service dept. They are competent in auto repair...However I have caught them constantly ripping off my friends and family for repairs not required. One of my favorites was when they replaced a fuel pump and sending unit at a cost of $585 dollars because a $12 relay was defective...I got lots of these stories. Stay away...
 

CT Challenger

New member
Hey, was this post from Red Flag Deals captured here, from BabakK852?

Lots of interesting posts, related to poor auto service!


From canadian tire complaints? - Page 2 - RedFlagDeals.com Forums


My Toyota Camry 99 got overheated like suddenly which make me tow the car to Canadian Tire, 2510 Hyde Park Gate, Oakville, ON. I explain not to fix the car until you give me the full estimate because I have limited budget, the car doesn't worth more than $1500 and I don’t want to spend more than $500 on it. They told that I need to pay $48.50 for Cooling & Heating Inspection then they will be able to tell me the exact estimate. I agreed & I explain that it gets overheat in two minuets and I am pretty sure something wrong on thermostat or water pump. Because when I tried to turn the heater on inside is flowing cool & it is not getting hot also radiator was not that hot. Also the radiator fan was working properly; there was no sign of the leaking water. The time was 12:15 Aug 20 2013.

At 2:10 pm I received a call from Canadian Tire was a lady; she told me that I am lucky which the problem is just thermostat. But she recommended me to change the relay on high speed for radiator fan. However she said that is optional but better to do it. I told them are you sure that going to be the problem? Since I am limited on my budget, she said I would give you $30 off cause I had membership cart and confirm the issue is the thermostat. The total of $428+Tax was supposed to be charged to fix the problem and she said they call me as soon as the car is ready to pick up.

Finally she called me at 6:10 saying that sorry we just realize your water pump is gone and there was a mistake on the diagnosed. Now I have to pay $1300 to fix this problem!!!
I am pretty sure my thermostat was okay and no one is going to change the high speed relay since there is no circulation of water (that is funny)
I said okay but I need to talk to the manager regarding the miss diagnose and I would just pay $48.50 because the diagnosis was not completed and please remove the parts which you installed and put mine back to the place. Even Mike who was their mechanic (at the first) was admit that he made a mistake, anyway the ask me to come tomorrow and see Tony who is the general manager. It tokes whole my day to deal with the issue finally take the bus to go home!!!!

On 2013-08-21 I was there at 9 am, was not easy to take the bus from my place to get there, however they said Tony didn't show up yet, I wait until 2 pm which I realized he is not coming so they asked me to come tomorrow anyway….very tired and so disappointed no choice but go bake to home and wait for another day. I waste my whole two days no car no answer and poor customer service

Finally today 2013-08-22 I was there at 9 am, but telling me Tony is sick is not coming today come back tomorrow, that was unacceptable, they were trying to making fun of me they don’t care of the customer they treat me like thief, just playing with me. I said no I need to talk to someone responsible; they changed their word saying that we need to have to change the relay to realize the water pump problem; even other mechanic on the place told me you are right but you can not do anything.
However I said I want to stay here with my car until Mr. Tony shows up it is already three days I waste my time and my car has the same issue as first day and you guys ask me $480 to pay for your mistake.
They send a big guy with the tattoo was rude treat me that I need to leave the place right away which I said I spend 3 days and I have right to see Tony regarding the issue. So they called the police to kick me out. The two police were nice and polite no complain at all however i am going to take the issue to the court. It is not the money issue which is poor knowledge and they don’t have enough skills as a mechanic.
Sorry For My Poor English
Regards
Bijan
 

CT Challenger

New member
Bad auto service at Kanata CT. From http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/canadian-tire-service-c688067.html:

efective Candian Tire Batteries and the srervice hoops that you have to jump through.

I have a summer car. From May to October the battery is in the car and is used weekly. From November through April the car is in storage and the battery is inside the house on a Motomaster maintenance (trickle charger).

Each Spring I re-install the battery and the cycle continues. This year the batttery failed to start the car. I then boosted the car and the battery was able to hold sufficient charge to re-start the car for the next 2 days. I then charged the Motomoaster battery on my full-size Motomaster charger. After 15 hours it registered as fully-charged. Replaced the battery in the car, it held the charge for 2 days.

The battery is installed with a cut-out switch. Even with no load, the charge only held for 2 days.

Trip #1. Battery was tested for 2 hours, no fault found. Battery died after 2 days - Warranty still had 1 month to go
Trip #2. Battery was tested for 30 minutes, found to have low charge, advised to charge it before using - charged using full-size charger
Trip #3. Battery was tested for 5 minutes, no charge, advised to charge it - used full-size charger
Trip #4 Battery was charged for 15 hours, left on the workbench for 2 days - no charge - I was told there must be a ripple voltage problem with my alternator (at this point the battery wasn't installed in the car)
Trip #5 Reported the 4 previous visits. Was told to use a full-size charger not a trickle charger. I told them I did, they suggested trying the trickle charger
Trip #6 After using my Motomaster trickle charger, dead battery after 2 days
Trip #7 I was told that my charger must be defective and that batteries are rarely the problem. I then asked the service guy (a guy who I had not dealt with) to explain whether it was my Motomaster battery that was defective, my Motomaster full-size charger that was defective, or my Motomaster trickle charger that was defective? He said based on my analysis it was likely the battery but that my warranty had expired. I said really? He exchanged the battery and it has performed properly for the last 3 months!!!
 

CT Challenger

New member
Intersting article from the 7th.

What I like about it, is they finally admit to all the problems they've had.

What I don't like is this vague claim that their auto service doesn't suck as much, lately. Any basis for thinking that? Not that's stated in the article!


Auto unit overhaul helps boost Canadian Tire?s profits | Financial Post


"The CEO [Witmore], who had cringed visibly in the past over the company’s poor automotive service scores in industry customer satisfaction surveys, said when executives assessed the category a few years ago, “virtually everything was wrong” with it."


“We weren’t selecting good products and accessories, we didn’t have the right tire selection or the right system to support tires and rims, we didn’t invest in technology in our service centres, the people behind the counters didn’t have the right technology to do business with and we had the wrong selection and reorder system for parts, both heavy and light. All pieces of the business were treading water at best, and needed a lot of investment.”


There are other admissions as well, of poor past performance in:

- Not selling online
- Needing technology upgrades
- Poor automotive department layout
- Poor quality in merchandise
- Poor training of staff in auto parts and service.

Quite a laundry list!
 

Sangria5

New member
Intersting article from the 7th.

What I like about it, is they finally admit to all the problems they've had.

What I don't like is this vague claim that their auto service doesn't suck as much, lately. Any basis for thinking that? Not that's stated in the article!


Auto unit overhaul helps boost Canadian Tire?s profits | Financial Post


"The CEO [Witmore], who had cringed visibly in the past over the company’s poor automotive service scores in industry customer satisfaction surveys, said when executives assessed the category a few years ago, “virtually everything was wrong” with it."


“We weren’t selecting good products and accessories, we didn’t have the right tire selection or the right system to support tires and rims, we didn’t invest in technology in our service centres, the people behind the counters didn’t have the right technology to do business with and we had the wrong selection and reorder system for parts, both heavy and light. All pieces of the business were treading water at best, and needed a lot of investment.”


There are other admissions as well, of poor past performance in:

- Not selling online
- Needing technology upgrades
- Poor automotive department layout
- Poor quality in merchandise
- Poor training of staff in auto parts and service.

Quite a laundry list!


Good CEO's do the right thing to build companies. Whetmore is well respected in the financial world, from what I've read.
 

CT Challenger

New member
I like the fact that he's finally coming clean about how much his company sucks. Maybe honesty will become a trend in the whole company? It might even trickle down to The Moaner and Sangria - wouldn't THAT be something!

But, we'll just have to wait and see, like with these auto changes maybe kicking in some day ...
 
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CTH8R

New member
It's not like their bad service is a big secret or anything - just check out the reviews in their own Facebook page, each time they Spam Canadians about auto service ... and sometimes when they Spam us on blenders!
 

CTH8R

New member
Speaking of CEOs, does anyone know if there will be another Pre-Christmas mass-firing of executives again this year?

Was that a one-off, or will this be an annual money-saving event?
 

CTH8R

New member
File under "incompetent":


Kristian L.: I had horrible service at Canadian Tire. We went in to get it fixed, and as I was driving it off the lot I discovered that there were no breaks! It was lucky hI wasn't going fast as I could have been seriously injured and or killed! Canadian Tire, of course, said that they had nothing to do with it! Everything in the car was just serviced and certified. They were extremely rude and unprofessional. Now we are without a vehicle. needless to say I will not EVER be going back to ANY Canadian Tire. The service we received was horrendous, and not ONE person even bothered to apologize. There could have been fatalities, I am seriously not impressed. I hope anyone who reads this decides to take their car to a competent mechanic instead of having it wrecked by the idiots at Canadian Tire
 

CTH8R

New member
This guy? He doesn't know how lucky he is, to have dodged that bullet:


Geraldine T.: I phoned Sylan Lake Canadian Tire today to see how much it would cost to install a starter remote in a truck so I ask for the service department and I let the phone rang about 70 times and no one asked so I hang up phoned again and ask forthe service department and it rang 50 more times finally someone answered then they told me that they don't install remotes that they sell. I was going to buy one this weekend since they were going to be a good price but so long good bye. I phoned Rocky CT and they answered right away but they don't install them either.What is with CT?
 
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