rockhydra

New member
I don't know how much I gonna spend of installing, balancing a set of tires in CT,is there anybody knows? Pls help,I need your advises.
 

Guest-0033

Posted by an unregistered user
I agree. If you want to flush your money down the toilet, just stay home and do it. Don't give it to Canadian Tire Auto Centres because a good 9 out of 10 of them are corrupt.
 

Guest-0034

Posted by an unregistered user
9/10 is being nice, trust me as an ex technician from crappy tire they are trained to scam people, thats why I dont work there anymore
 

Guest-0035

Posted by an unregistered user
Care to share some of the scams?

Well here are a few, sorry for the long post, maybe I should start up my own website ;)
At CTC we are told to always peel back the protective boots of a wheel cylinder to check for leaking, a Technician that knows what he is doing would never do this as dirt an debris will enter the cylinder and prematurely fail. That is what they are counting on if they dont already tell you they are leaking and replace your known good cylinders mistaking brake fluid for assembly lube/fluid. I have seen it hundreds of times in 4 different CTC shops I have worked in across western Canada, but they dont care as it is easy money (usually about $150 labour for 20 minutes worth of work). I am not completely blaming the Techs for this as it is usually pushed on them from their managers and dealers. I thought it was just the first store I worked at but after quitting and trying other stores for employment, I found the same result, so left the company for good. Luckily for me I did my training (Apprenticeship) not at CTC so I knew right automotive practices before I got there. We have Provincial inspections in BC and as my last service manager told me "it is a license to steal" So many unecessary repairs are done on cars when they come in for an inspection. Once I saw a tech call inner tie rods, not replace them, and the shop charged the customer for them anyways stating they were needed to pass the inspection. Well they were debatedly worn out in the first place, but to bill the customer $400 for no work performed was over the top, I quit that day and have never worked for CTC again, and never will. Funny enough my next and current place of work has an ex CTC Tech also, from winnepeg and shared similar stories with me from his experience with them and he quit 3 times for the same reasons I did. We both kept going back as the money is good as we were paid on flat rate hoping that the next place would be better, but as with alot of flat rate enviroments everyone is working for themselves and their own paycheck and it is really easy to get caught up in the greed of your customers money. Another would be charging one hour for a check engine light on, 10 minutes of work retrieving a code and then getting paid more to diagnose the problem. This can be a huge bill to a customer as CTC offered us no ongoing training of any kind. I used to pay for courses on my own to stay up with technolgy, but none of my co-workers took the same initiative. One customer at the last CTC was charged 6 hours Diagnostic time + one hour initial code scan for a bad computer ground, a task that should not exceed 2 hours total for a qualified tech, this guy was clueless in diagnostics and the service manager knew it but still gave him this kind of work and charged the customer for the techs downfalls. Alot of shops do not charge for the initial scan and hope to get to diagnose the problem building a trusting relationship with the customer, but CTC wants that money and never offers anything for free. I could go on and on but there would be no end to this post so I will leave you with this another scam "DST" as we call it, also known as the "dealer service tax" or as it shows up on your work order, "Shop Supplies" The last shop I was at the way they calculated the shop supplies was 10% of the labour charge on the bill, ten freaking percent!!! thats more than GST started at and this money goes straight into the dealers pocket, and he encourages the techs to make sure there is a lot of labour charged out to increase their paycheck and his DST. Oh and by the way that DST over the past 3 years bought our dealler a new Vette, New Harley, New custom Grady white fishing boat, new Infiniti G37 Sport and a $150,000 home renovation (was done 4 years prior so wasn't a neccessity) About $450,000 worth of toys at the poor CTC customers expense.
 

Guest-0174

Posted by an unregistered user
Well here are a few, sorry for the long post, maybe I should start up my own website ;)
At CTC we are told to always peel back the protective boots of a wheel cylinder to check for leaking, a Technician that knows what he is doing would never do this as dirt an debris will enter the cylinder and prematurely fail. That is what they are counting on if they dont already tell you they are leaking and replace your known good cylinders mistaking brake fluid for assembly lube/fluid. I have seen it hundreds of times in 4 different CTC shops I have worked in across western Canada, but they dont care as it is easy money (usually about $150 labour for 20 minutes worth of work). I am not completely blaming the Techs for this as it is usually pushed on them from their managers and dealers. I thought it was just the first store I worked at but after quitting and trying other stores for employment, I found the same result, so left the company for good. Luckily for me I did my training (Apprenticeship) not at CTC so I knew right automotive practices before I got there. We have Provincial inspections in BC and as my last service manager told me "it is a license to steal" So many unecessary repairs are done on cars when they come in for an inspection. Once I saw a tech call inner tie rods, not replace them, and the shop charged the customer for them anyways stating they were needed to pass the inspection. Well they were debatedly worn out in the first place, but to bill the customer $400 for no work performed was over the top, I quit that day and have never worked for CTC again, and never will. Funny enough my next and current place of work has an ex CTC Tech also, from winnepeg and shared similar stories with me from his experience with them and he quit 3 times for the same reasons I did. We both kept going back as the money is good as we were paid on flat rate hoping that the next place would be better, but as with alot of flat rate enviroments everyone is working for themselves and their own paycheck and it is really easy to get caught up in the greed of your customers money. Another would be charging one hour for a check engine light on, 10 minutes of work retrieving a code and then getting paid more to diagnose the problem. This can be a huge bill to a customer as CTC offered us no ongoing training of any kind. I used to pay for courses on my own to stay up with technolgy, but none of my co-workers took the same initiative. One customer at the last CTC was charged 6 hours Diagnostic time + one hour initial code scan for a bad computer ground, a task that should not exceed 2 hours total for a qualified tech, this guy was clueless in diagnostics and the service manager knew it but still gave him this kind of work and charged the customer for the techs downfalls. Alot of shops do not charge for the initial scan and hope to get to diagnose the problem building a trusting relationship with the customer, but CTC wants that money and never offers anything for free. I could go on and on but there would be no end to this post so I will leave you with this another scam "DST" as we call it, also known as the "dealer service tax" or as it shows up on your work order, "Shop Supplies" The last shop I was at the way they calculated the shop supplies was 10% of the labour charge on the bill, ten freaking percent!!! thats more than GST started at and this money goes straight into the dealers pocket, and he encourages the techs to make sure there is a lot of labour charged out to increase their paycheck and his DST. Oh and by the way that DST over the past 3 years bought our dealler a new Vette, New Harley, New custom Grady white fishing boat, new Infiniti G37 Sport and a $150,000 home renovation (was done 4 years prior so wasn't a neccessity) About $450,000 worth of toys at the poor CTC customers expense.


Paragraphs? Illiterate.
 

Guest-0178

Posted by an unregistered user
Since when can any garage make technicians put their license at risk by calling work that isn't needed, or overcharging what the required time is stated in Mitchell? Every customer has the right to ask for the proof of how long a job takes. I actually own a full service garage, and the whole industry is suspect because of technicians with low values. I pay my mechanics a salary instead of a flat rate.....I don't want them thinking about putting food on the table over making sure they do what's best for a customer.....same reason I don't deal with commissioned salespeople.
It's never the business name, whether it be Canadian Tire, Minute Lube, Speedy, whatever....it's the culture, management, employees.
 
S

Soexpensive!

Guest
each labour hour ranges between 85$ - 120$

0.8hr for 13" - 15"
1.0hr for 16" - 17"
1.5hr for 18"
2.0hr for 19" or bigger *up to 24"*

+ 0.5hr if the car has TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system)
+ 0.5hr if special weights used (stick on weights)
+ 1.0hr if customer supplied own tires

15$ to balance a tire (15$ x 4 = 60$)
5$ tire recycle fee
10$ shop fee

plus 4 new tire prices (if purchased new tires)

so putting on 4 tires could potentially get expensive with the labour addons.
 

Guest-0276

Posted by an unregistered user
Well here are a few, sorry for the long post, maybe I should start up my own website ;)
At CTC we are told to always peel back the protective boots of a wheel cylinder to ...

Just wanted to say thank you and share my gratitude for what we've suspected for years.

Please share more of your stories i.e. when the customers came back to complain and how the dealer/ service manager dealt with them. I'm hoping the 'wrongs' were 'righted' but we're all not from Quebec mooching off everyone's earnings.

Just the same, do you have any more stories on dealers adventures or mis-adventures. I'm wondering as all that cash does bring out the narcissistic qualities that we oh so love. Especially when they get pushed off the high horse. Be liberal. If you do start a web page, please post here :)
 

Guest-0276

Posted by an unregistered user
according to CT Manager nothing ever goes on like that in the 2 largest stores he's worked at and in all his ancient years he's been with the store since the day it started and sold nothing but screws and tyres.He has to see it to believe it. It would help if he didn't turn a blind eye to all of it and reward the ones giving poor service. Until then all the customers who have experienced bad auto and customer service in the past till now, are nothing more than lying, fraudulent low life hairy douche bags who deserve to be hassled and ripped off everytime they want a refund, exchange or price adjustment.

CT store policy is infallible because CT Manager is the store policy. Now since I kissed your ass can I have a few more hours so that I can make 17 hours this week, even though I'm considered a full time employee.
 

Guest-0348

Posted by an unregistered user
In Dec. 2001, I purchased a set of Michelin winter tires for my brand new car at Canadian Tire.

When I went back to the same CT in the spring to have them switched over, I noticed that the summer tires had not been marked with a grease pencil for proper rotation purposes when they came off in the fall.

I pointed this out to the CT tech and asked why they were not marked / how could he put them back on in a proper, rotated position when you don't know which wheels they came off. His response to me was "well, did you ask us to mark them?".

At the time, I knew virtually nothing about auto mechanics, yet the CT tech still managed to insult my intellience beyond my wildest belief. An auto repair shop that sells/installs thousands of tires every year doesn't know to do this tires 101 procedure? Pleeeease.

I have not let CT touch my car again and never will. The one thing I will say is that CT gave me impetus to learn as much as I can about my car. I now do a good deal of basic service myself, and am more prepared to detect nonsense/scams if and when I do need the services of a mechanic.
 

Smrt Cnsmr

New member
I just heard a tire change horror story from a co worker.

He has his winter tires on their own rims to make job of switching them over faster and easier.

I didn't know this but there are two types lug nuts, depending on the type of rim. Some rims need a flat lug nut because the hole in the rim is flat. But other rims need what he called a "conical" nut to because the hole in the rim has a beveled edge.

When he took his van to Canadian Tire, they switche the wheels around, but on one of the wheels they used beveled lug nuts instead of the flat ones. Three of the five bolts got sheared off and the rim was damaged beyond repair. He noticed the vibration in time, so he didn't crash but it was a close call. He had to get his van towed home.

Just one more thing to watch out far, if you take your vehicle there. You'd think a company with the word "Tire" in their name could at least get this right, but you might end up stranded at the side of the road - or worse.
 

CTH8R

New member
Indeed, they hire under-trained kids to do things like tires and oil changes. No guarantee an actual mechanic will even be supervising the youngsters who are turned loose on your vehicle. "Beware" is a suitable warning.
 

CTH8R

New member
Pretty high labour rate, according to a post on CT's own Facebook page:


Will Baillargeon so today I go to Canadian Tire to have my snow tires put on. I have to service guy to take the 4 tires of the rims and put them on the van. the service guy presenting me with the bill. it was over 140 dollars just in labor. when I asked him about it he said it takes 1.6 hours according to the book to do the job. I said to him but it only took 45 minutes. he replied that the book said it shoulda take 1.6 hours and that's what he was billing me for. so buyer beware 75 dollars an hour to have your tires changed. and billed for 1.6 hours when it only took 45 minutes. I called around after the fact to check the prices elsewhere. the competition charged 5 dollars for dismount, and 17 dollars each to mount them. for a total of 88 dollars when trying to pound me for over 144
 

CTH8R

New member
The Labour Rate isn't the only cost when letting Canadian Tire quote you a price:


Nelly M: I will never use Canadian Tire, I brought my car to put my summer tires, and he refused because he wanted me to buy 2 new tires and I declined his request. I went to Honda L'Allier in VSL and they did the job, they mentioned to me that 2 of my tires will need to be replaced, but not right now, I still have the summer to drive with them on my car. SHAME ON YOU CANADIAN TIRE, I guess your guy at the counter wanted to make his commission, but because I refused to change my 2 tires, he refused to do the job. SO PEOPLE BE AWARE on how CT treats the customers, maybe he thought they could put pressure on a woman and take money out of her easily.
 
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