Thread: Canadian Tire Sucks at Sales - Not Enough Stock - Bait & Switch?

Carla J.: Our store is famous for never having any items in the flyer in stock! Had to go to Rona to get the bug zapper that was in Canadian Tire's flyer but thankfully they matched the price for me. Lost another sale.. I don't understand why Can Tire doesn't make sure these sale items are stocked. (And no I don't want to wait 2-3 weeks on a rain check)

Shane K.: Got to love going to purchase a pool that's on sale the morning it went on sale at Canadian tire to only find out they don't have one then be told there is 9 in stock at the store that's 20 minutes away only to drive there with your very excited children in 38 degree weather, wasting gas, time and money to only find out there is none in stock there either and upon asking for the trouble to be given a pool at similar price for the sale price being denied. I emailed you guys and got nothing in return, this is one pissed off Canadian tire customer and I certainly will never be shopping at your stores again!

Rosina M.M.: wonder if they ever do a store by store count of the number of rain checks that are given out for sale items that were not in stock at the sale time .. that would give the head office an idea of the poor service

Judy P.: yea you show this but in real world your stores have next to nothing on the shelf`s they are all ready putting in hockey stuff when camping is still going on and you have to ask to get the stuff off the top shelf`s. or from the back room`s .this is happening in Orangeville Ontario Canada

Sandra M.: Canadian Tire Customer Service - retail 101 - when you have a customer in your store - SELL THEM SOMETHING - I ran into the exact same issues as outlined by Stuart when I wanted to spend my money with you for a BBQ....to reply with 'contact our customer service' is a total waste of my time - will customer service have the BBQ that 5 other stores said they had before I drove to each one - I dont think so - your competition is eating is your lunch with having sale items in stock and helpful, friendly staff.

Tony H.: So pissed got a rain check for a bbq on may 11 same item on sale at least 4 times through the year and they call me on Tuesday and tell me that it is no longer available for the and discontinur.

Stuart M.: I got a great idea for you guys... why don't you start stocking the goods you advertise in your flyers? My friends and I are sick of seeing something we like and when we get to the nearest store, there is no stock. Even when we have an employee look to see where there is a store with stock. Some of us have been told after driving across town that the computer was wrong. And then because you print the ad with "no rain checks" you figure that is good business??? Bogus

Bren I.B,: this is why i dont go to canadian tire, even the computer says they have n when u get there ysol! there is alot of other stores that carry same products, its too bad that home depot home hardware n walkmart is the place to go when u see something in canadian tire

I noticed that nobody has posted the link to the Canadian Competition Bureau site on Bait and Switch, yet:


Bait and switch selling - Competition Bureau

A few snippets:

Under the Competition Act, retailers are prohibited from advertising products at bargain prices that they do not have available in reasonable quantities.

(There is no definition of 'reasonable quantities', but having none at all if clearly not 'reasonsble')

You are attracted to a store by an advertisement for a bargain-priced product. Once inside, you discover that the product that was advertised, the "bait," is sold out or otherwise not available. The switch occurs when a salesperson pressures you into purchasing a higher priced item as a replacement, or if you find yourself induced to make other purchases while inside the store. In both cases, the retailer successfully captures your shopping dollars by luring you to the store with an advertised bargain that was never intended to be made available in reasonable quantities.

Liability will be avoided where the advertiser can establish that the non-availability of the product was due to circumstances beyond its control, the quantity of the product obtained was reasonable, or the customer was offered a rain check when supplies were exhausted.

The problem many customers report a out the Rain Check is, the products are never available again, do it is worthless.

Quantities that won't last more than 5 minutes are clearly not "reasonable". I assume there was no notice in the newspaper or radio, and there were no Rain Checks, as required:


Rick Delaney At 8:05 I was at the store for a still combo that was on sale.Surprise ,they didn't,have any in stock and none on order.The usual CT story.

This item was not available, and there was no rain check:


Patricia M.: I tried to buy an item from the 3 day flyer event today, but the store would not pull it out of the storeroom. I was told I would have to come back another day, even though I pointed out it would not then be on sale. I asked for a raincheck , but was told no . Poor policy.