Comments on: Canadian Tire Auto, Weston Road and 401

By: Claudette

Claudette — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 23:00:50 +0000

About 5 years ago, I had routers, brakes, calipers replaced at CTC in Barrie. It cost me over $650 to have this done. About 11 months later, driving through Toronto, I noticed squeaking brakes and used them sparingly because of the noise. About six hours later, on my way back to Barrie, the brakes were metal on metal and not much left for braking. I took the car to the nearest garage where I lived and they looked at it. Within a short time of the car being lifted and tires removed, I was told I needed new calipers, routers and brakes. I told the mechanic that was not possible because I had those done less than a year. I was taken to the car and shown the original calipers and routers that were so rusted and corroded, there was no way they were ever touched. I found the CTC receipt in the car (I keep everything relating to my car) and took it to CTC where they charged me over $650. They said there was nothing they could do but would replace them. I ended up contacting Corp office and told that I had to send them the original receipt so they could investigate the complaint. I told them they were not getting the original receipt but were welcome to a copy of it. They insisted on the original and told them I would be happy to discuss the issue in court – there was no way I was giving them the only proof I had. I will never take anything to CTC to be fixed unless it’s a simple e-test. I can’t believe such a large company encourages stealing from customers not to mention putting lives in danger.

By: Arlene

Arlene — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 20:35:39 +0000

Never use Canadian Tire Auto Service, Division Street at Hwy 401 in Kingston, ON. They do not stand behind their products. and Motomaster Eliminator batteries fail repeatedly. In December 2010, CT put a new Eliminator battery in my Ford F150. It repeatedly lost its charge. I was left stranded in the cold several times. Told the wait would be three hours for their “towing service” on several occasions; I finally called CAA instead and exhausted our years towing due to this. In January 2011, CT finally replaced the battery (bad cell). This “new” battery kept dying and leaving me stranded. This week, CAA towed my F150 to a highly recommended private garage. Diagnosed “bad cell” defective battery (second one in nine months!). Went to CT Auto today. Spent 1.5 hours trying to get a store credit or my money refunded. They refused even though their tester read “bad cell, defective battery”… They said they could me another battery (the third one in nine months) and I could sell it on ebay!!! I am now contacting their Corporate Head Office. I will never use a CT Auto Service again!

By: Larse

Larse — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:56:09 +0000

Let me begin by saying I like Canadian Tire and I do most of my hardware shopping at their stores. The only real problem I’ve had is with their automotive service department.

A couple of years ago, I was on my way to Canadian Tire to buy tires when the brake warning light on my dash board lit up. When I got to Canadian Tire, I had their service department check my brakes and give me a repair estimate. They quoted me more than $1300 to fix the problem, which included replacing brake parts on all four wheels. What are the chances of the individual brake parts on all four wheels failing at the same time? I’m betting it’s never happened in the history of automobile manufacturing. But I’m sure there must have been a perfectly reasonable explanation for the quote, probably something to do with safety and/or higher overhead costs.

To make a long story short, I bought my tires, kept my mouth shut and left the store. The next day I had a private mechanic diagnose the brake problem and repair the brake on one rear wheel, and it cost me $250. Problem solved. Now grab your barf bags! I asked the mechanic if I needed any additional work done on the other three brakes and he said I didn’t, they were fine.

A couple of years later I had a private mechanic replace the front brake pads and rotors.

Are you sick yet?

By: Samson Yao

Samson Yao — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 04:00:48 +0000

On January 17, 2011 I went to Canadian Tire CTAS #126, G.C. Loh Mechandising Ltd. at the Centerpoint Mall on 6310 Yonge Street to have the clutch replaced on my 2003 Toyota Matrix. It had costed me $1,218.47 ($140.18 HST, $342.37 for parts and a whopping $735.92 for 8 hours labour at $92 per hour!). Invoice 549446.

More on this rip-off story as you read on.

As I turned on the engine and drove out of the repair shop, still feeling hurt and disbelieved, I noticed that the front airbag alarm light was on and the horn was not working. Such failure is normally caused by a damage clock spring or spiral cable that controls the horn and airbag detonator. It is located on the drive column under the steering wheel. Since the airbag and horn were fine (I always check for instrument warning lights after turning on the engine) before I handed over the key to Canadian Tire, it must have been broken at the time when they moved the car, drove it to test the clutch, moved the car around later and left it on the parking lot for the evening for the part to arrive the next day, or while the care was tested after the clutch was installed. I knew Canadian Tire needed not take the steering wheel out for the clutch work. However, any heavy poundings on the horn or excessive force on the steering wheel by them before, during and after the repair, could have done the damage on the clock spring. I spoke to the manager whose name is “Sugi”. He refused to admit any possibility of his staff causing the damage.

So I asked for a quotation. Sugi’s quote was $460.00 for the clock spring (genuine Toyota part) and $185.00 for two hours of labour. That would be $728.85 with HST.

I took the car back without having the clock spring replaced because I did not believe I could trust them after this.

I did some Internet search on the average time needed to replace the clutch, prices for a clock spring and how to replace it. First, I noticed the average time to do a clutch replacement is 4 to 6 hours, and never more than 6 hours. Canadian Tire charged me 8 hours. Secondly, I found Page Toyota, Inc, a Toyota parts authorized dealer in US (State Reg # F104726) and had the part shipped to Canada for $239.52 US including shipping (Invoice No 530411). The total cost for the part was less than $250 including HST. Either Toronto’s Toyota parts dealer charges 92% more than its US counterpart, or the quote from Canadian Tire includes a mark up. I am not sure who is ripping its customer off on parts.

The part arrived in 10 days. Then I took it to a local repair shop. The shop owner/mechanic is “Bo”. His shop is on 12 LePage Ct, Unit 3A, North York, ON M3J 1Z9 (tel 416-849-7976). This was the first time I met Bo, who was recently recommended to me by a friend of mine. I did not tell him how I found him because I wanted to know how he treats his new customer. It took him less than 40 minutes to replace the clock spring while I was standing and watching;20 minutes to locate the screws on the steering column because it was his first time working on a Matrix clock spring replacement. He charged me $50 for one hour labour (including HST) insisting that he couldn’t charge more for this simple task. That is 4 times less that what Canadian Tire will charge for the same job. That was a $300.00 repair including HST, as opposed to $728.85 at Canadian Tire!

Don’t go to Canadian Tire unless you plan to spend anything less than a $29.99 oil change!

By: jp

jp — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 01:20:43 +0000

i hate CT with all my heart…

By: Ghismo

Ghismo — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 01:12:19 +0000

My wife did bring our car in a CT in montreal for a tire change… After the change, they did pretend that our car battery was almost dead and that it would probably be impossible for her to get back home with such a battery !

She did not believe the CT guy, since that guy has told the same story to three others customers while she was waiting… She did come back home without problems and, few hours later, we went to see a mechanic we know and guess what ? HE DID CHECK AND TOLD US OUR BATTERY WAS OK !!!

By: rizwan

rizwan — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 02:26:58 +0000

Candian tire is sucks ?

they are drinking the blood of people.thats why they are growing like this? the staff are so rude and the charges are so high?

i visited one of the store in saskatoon , confederation drive to fix my car AC, they charge me 278$ and after that told me that their is nothing wrong in AC , their is electric wiring problem ,and it will take 7-8 hrs to fix it and cost you probably 1200 $…..

which is totally wastage of time and money?

they are more focused in earning money and customer service is bullshit.

canadian tire sucks, this is my request to all of the readers please bycoute the canadian tire?please they the rip off

By: Lynnette

Lynnette — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:56:36 +0000

I have several horror stories to tell about Canadian Tire in Richmond Hill. I am not sure what has gone wrong with their customer service but there is no “service” at Canadian Tire. Their overall attitude towards their customers just sucks!

By: MrsFinancial

MrsFinancial — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:36:27 +0000

It appears that this is corporate policy at Canadian Tire. We recently had an appointment for installation of a remote starter at the store in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. Afer driving in from the country to make the 8 am appointment, we waited TEN HOURS before forcing them to return our car, under threats of lawyer, police, etc. We were lied to, not told that the technician didn’t show up for work that day, not told anything, and stalled. We contacted corporate customer relations, all we got was “Sorry.”