I0N0K8

New member
Hello to everyone from BC:

The administrator of this site assures me the software they use to run it is top notch and that only the users are faulty. Lets agree to disagree for now.

As you can see I am a bit out of sorts, because for me, it is all about tires.

2 March, 2013

I live in Burnaby, BC. My Canadian Tire experience could have deeper legal ramifications, so I would appreciate everyone to read it.

In October of 2012, my car a 1996 Saturn needed four winter tires. I went to the Canadian Tire website, and it told me that for my model of car I needed size 15 tires. According to the website, in order to ensure the store had the inventory I had to buy these tires on a credit card. I chose to use my HBC MasterCard. The invoice was produced, with an Oakville ON address.

The inventory was confirmed to be at the store, so I made my appointment for the morning of October 31, 2012. The service manager took my invoice and found it in his computer. I asked that they also check my brakes for me which was something that I also thought was the responsible thing to do. I also requested they call me if any expense beyond the tires was required.

I went to breakfast at a nearby restaurant, and my phone rang. It was the service manager who told me the tires I had ordered over the Internet were too large for the car. That I actually required size 14's. When I agreed to that the service manager said he would cancel the Oakville invoice and start a new one. At the time I saw no problem.

Of course my phone rang again shortly after this. The service manager told me I needed a lot of brake work, so I okayed that and an oil change. I was pretty certain the car needed the work, and with winter coming I figured all was a good idea.

When it came time to pay the bill, the Oakville invoice was returned to me, marked with "cancel" and "refund" by the service manager on its face, and the new invoice was shown to me. Now I have no argument with the brake work, oil change and installation of the size 14 tires, but here is where things got weird.

The first cashier was a young male trainee, and when I asked him if he knew how to handle rebates, he called a more senior cashier. That woman started a till tape for my BC produced invoice with the reversal of the costs from the Oakville invoice. She told me it would remove the charges for the four size 15 tires from my credit card. I believe she was unaware at the time there were two invoices involved.

The bill came out to be over eleven hundred dollars which I paid in full within the time allowed to avoid interest charges on the MasterCard. However, the over four hundred dollars for the size 15's on the Oakville invoice were still on my credit card statement.

I called the store and was told I would still have to pay for the size 15's that I never bought. I appealed to the HBC Credit Services, and Capital One Bank Canada that owns all of the MasterCard operations regardless of what name they put in front of it. At one point HBC Credit Services agreed with the invoices and till tape I faxed to them, and zeroed my MasterCard account. Then suddenly and without explanation, reversed their decision and put the charge back onto the card.

Neither the manager of the Canadian Tire store, nor representatives of Capital One Bank, Canada or HBC Credit Card Services have offerred to explain to me why I owe money for tires I did not buy.

I did not know where to turn so I am in the process of paying off the over $400 dollars, now plus credit card interest, for tires I did not buy.

What is important here is, has anyone else out there had a similar or identical situation with the purchase of tires at Canadian Tire. If this is happening any where else in the country, then perhaps we should get the RCMP Commercial Crimes Branch involved.

If you have had a similar thing happen to you, and you still have the receipts to prove it, please contact me so we might decide to go after Canadian Tire as a group.

Thanks for reading.

I0N0K8
 

CT Challenger

New member
Hi, I0N0K8m welcome to the site.

Not sure what went wrong with the s.w. on this site. A lot of new people have trouble with the auto-logout (unless you check 'remember me') and lose their typing.

It sounds like CT was the cause of most of your grief, like telling you the wrong size, then not making sure the incorrect transaction was reversed. And why was Oakville even in the loop?

And it sounds like the store that sold you the 15" tires should be responsible for canceling the incorrect transaction, and making sure you get your reversal.

But I wonder: isn't it the policy of most credit card companies, that they won't charge you if you didn't get the thing you were charged for? You were charged for 14" tires, and you don't have them. Sounds pretty clear-cut to me.

Or, if the credit card company insists that you have to go through with the purchase of those tires, can you go to the store, get them turned over to you, and then return them immediately for a full refund?

And some people report getting some actual assistance from the head office in Toronto. Because CTC has said they want to get in on the online tire retailing business, plus get back in the game in the Automotive sector, they might be willing to help you out, to maintain their reputation (such as it is).

Good luck with your struggle, and I hope you deal with a competent chain, next time!
 
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