Thread: G'day

Hello, as with everyone here, I've had an inexcusably bad experience at CT. In my case, trying to return defective goods. The clerks were treating me like a liar and a theif. I had to phone customer service on my cell while standing in front of the assistant "manager" while he was texting his "manager" for direction, before they agreed to refund. I never before had such trouble dealing with CT. Then I read the back of my receipt (Quebec): "Our commitment to you: We will attempt to refund you" So I got really mad, because if there's one thing I hate it's being deceived. (also being asked for advice that's then not followed, but that's another story, hee hee) The weaselly worded policy is meant to deceive the public into thinking they are entitled to refunds, like any other big box store. I believe that when the goods are not fit for the purpose intended (defective) the merchant must refund. I'm paying for the item now, I'm not paying for the privilege of owing a something that has had to be repaired at some later time. Anyway enough bitching. I'm here to add to the story survey thread. Let's punish the bad stores and reward the (relatively) good.

I Completely agree. Would you agree that we are here because we actually very much like, and are even proud of Crappy Tire? I always got a kick out of CT money. I mean, I've been angry at my garage, at Nikon, but so what? I didn't waste a minute on them, but here I am. I hope most people on this site are here to help CT, not hurt them.

At the core, all the problems we read about on this site are caused by bad and lazy (especially lazy) corporate and local management. I have no patience for threads complaining about staff. Why is the staff so bad? Because management is too lazy to train/evaluate/correct them.

My personal beef is that I feel the refund policy is dishonest and misleading. Based on 40 years of shopping there, I believed that I could return things. Now that I read the back of my receipt, I'm insulted and disgusted that they should think they can treat me with the contempt that policy expresses. Ok, I've been in line at Rona, when someone returned a mostly empty can of paint because they didn't like the colour, but even I could write a policy that's more sensible and fair. What I read on the back of my receipt could have been written by monkeys (or out-of-control lawyers). There's a discussion on their corporate refund policy on another site: Red Flag Deals (I think). Someone there wrote that CT's policy is to make the dealer eat the refund. If true, that would lead to predictable consequences that CTC is certainly aware of but evidently, have some reason to continue.

That said, besides voting with our wallets, What else can we do to? Doesn't HQ already understand that every single justified complaint that reaches HQ should be treated as a minor disaster? Why don't they take steps to make sure these problems are resolved at the store level and never repeated? Is anyone at HQ held accountable or is everyone there allowed to just coast along, all too lazy and comfy to do the real work of tackling the hard problems their nonsensical refund policy is evidence of? I did my part to make HQ aware of my personal problem, I phoned them. (Twice actually. the first time When I opened the box and found the defect, I called the MasterCraft support number just to alert them to what seemed to me an unusual problem they may not have been aware of. I just wanted to help them -do I feel stupid now.) Then, of course,I called them again, from the store's service desk. Then I joined this forum.

What else can I do? I'll be buying my motor oil and bicycles at Walmart. (I can count three CT bikes in my backyard, and one in the basement.) Cheap tools at the local BMR or big-box hardware stores. Expensive tools at the high-end tool store.
Small housewares at Walmart. Tires, bought once, never again. CT has no tires I would buy. (I so recommend Hakkapelitta).

What else can we do?

It's so all up to them. Why aren't they on this forum making things right?

Ramou:

You make several good points, and raise some interesting questions, and I plan to share some ideas in a couple of messages.

Originally Posted by Ramou

At the core, all the problems we read about on this site are caused by bad and lazy (especially lazy) corporate and local management. I have no patience for threads complaining about staff. Why is the staff so bad? Because management is too lazy to train/evaluate/correct them.

I agree 100%. Even the staff in stores who are passing on incorrect information have either 1) been given incorrect information, and assumed it was correct or 2) have been told to deliberately mislead consumers, about return policies and consumer laws.

That being said, I continue to object to the incorrect statements being made by CTC employees, acting unofficially, and in their own spare time, on forums like this one.

If they are going to offer information to the Canadian public about store policies and consumer law, then they have a moral and ethical duty to ensure that what they state is correct, and that it is not merely a re-telling of the BS they were fed by their employer. At the very least, they should be qualifying their statements with, "When I worked at Returns, I was told ...". Instead they often say things like "There is no Sale of Goods Act" or "The Sale of Goods Act doesn't apply to consumers".

You don't have to look very far on this site to find instances of these mis-statements, which are at the very least negligent, and at most self-serving and deceptive.

Originally Posted by Ramou

It's so all up to them. Why aren't they on this forum making things right?

If you take the time to read what the CT Rep's have written here in the past, you will mainly see:

- Repeated denials about the very existance of anti-consumer policies, such as Repair Only, "No Refund" and "No Warranty".
- Posts defending the Repair Only and the "No Refund" policies, saying how great they are.
- Insults directed at consumers who've tried to make the public aware of the terrible policies at CT.
- Bragging about the income being raked in by the CT owners, presumably as a result of their greedy policies.
- False stories about policies at other stores (in an attempt to make them sounds almost as bad as CT).
- Misinformation about the Sale of Goods Act and Consumer Protection Act, in order to convince consumers to abandon their rights.
- Repeated complaints about consumers, calling them whiners, scam-artists, criminals and even "robbers".

I think their position is very clear: they like the policies they've established. As long as consumers remain unaware of just how bad these policies are, then consumers will continue to innocently shop at CT, not knowing the risk they are taking.

Until it hits the corporation 'in the wallet', there will be no change. More on that in a future post.

Again we agree, please allow me a small redirect: I am aware of some of the posts you refer to. Of course all kinds of people, both CT reps and some customers will post all kinds of nonsense, that's a whole separate issue. I meant "making things right". Not denying, insulting and misinforming. There must be intelligent life at CT?

Originally Posted by Ramou

Would you agree that we are here because we actually very much like, and are even proud of Crappy Tire?

Used to like Crappy Tire, then found out they rip off customers at their Service Centers, so warned everybody not to use them.

Then found out they also rip off customers in their stores, so now I hate them.

Proud? Hardly.

Ashamed is more accurate.

Originally Posted by Ramou

I hope most people on this site are here to help CT, not hurt them.

Actually, they are the ones hurting consumers.

If by "hurting them" you mean telling everyone about their terrible policies, service and practices, then yes, I guess they will be hurt when Canada finally wakes up and stops giving them our hard-earned money!

Absolutely Fabulous: CT's crappy return policies made today's Globe and Mail. Thank you, Carsen from Calgary. Below is a link to the letter to the editor most excellently titled "Point of no Return". In it he refers to another story, in yesterday's Globe and Mail business section, on management staff reductions at Loblaws and CT. If there's a God, let the VP Customer Service be one of those lazy asses canned , and please let me not be breaking copyright laws with this link!

Ok, I can't seem to post the link correctly. "You can look it up!"

Thanks for the 'heads up'.

Have you checked out this thread yet? https://www.canadiantiresucks.net/ge....html#post8149

Here's the G&M page, with Carsen Campbell's comments: Feb. 19: Let

Carsten talks mostly about CR collecting personal info. Here's a thread on that topic: https://www.canadiantiresucks.net/ge...formation.html