Pros: Good deal on buy 1 tire and buy 2nd tire at 1/2 price.
Cons: The customer service is as bad as you would get, leaving you bad mood for the rest of your day. In the other words, you pay to get the bad taste.
My advice to other drivers: Think twice before you bring your car to Canadian Tire. There are many other automotive repair shops provide better service. Even your dealer does better job than Canadian Tire.
During the last auto check-up, my mechanic recommended me that my brake and tires are at the end of their life. I flipped thru flyers and found that Canadian Tire is having good deal on buy 1 tire and buy 2nd tire at 1/2 price. I was thinking since I am already getting my new tires at Canadian Tire, might as well I get my brake done there too. This will save me a trip to my mechanic .
On June 9, 2009 7:45am, I brought my car to Canadian Tire for the new set of tires and brake change. The service advisor who served me, Mr. M, didn't seems to have a good mood that day, and didn't seems too happy to answer my questions. As he explained to me the cost for the new set of tires, there was a $16 charge for the warranty (free tire repair, etc). I pointed it out on the flyer that my new set of tires will get this warranty for free, and the $16 was removed from the charge.
Because I have to get the brake inspection done first, I would have to sign and agree on the cost of the tires and brake inspection. I know exactly I am paying for my tires. Although not feeling right with the customer service experience, I was still calm.
1.5 hours later, I was called that my brake inspection was done, and I have to pay $1100+ for my new bill. I was surprised with the amount. After going thru the recommendation from the technician, I removed one recommended diagnostic which made the cost down to $1000+. The cost is still high and way beyond my budget. Since it is a 3-page bill, with 1.5 pages details and pricing from the tires, I requested Mr. M only to show me the total cost of the brake so that I have better understanding of how much I am paying for the brake. He refused my request in such a bad attitude, and started raising his voice, and repeatedly told me "I've shown you the details and told you the cost is about $500". I attempted to let him know that I would like to know the exact amount I have to pay for the brake, he was angry and refused it. I also attempted to see if he could help me to separate the bill into 2 bills since my tire installation has been done, so that I could pay my new tires bill first and have some time to figure out the second bill for the brake. He refused me again in a disrespectful way.
Since I have to pay for the brake inspection.(which would be free if I install my brake with them) I have no other better option. I unwillingly signed and agreed on the total cost of $1000+ for the tires and brake, without knowing how much exactly I am paying for the brake.
After that, I spent 3.5 waiting for the brake installation. It was my worst and longest 3.5 hours in many years. I was so unhappy with the encountering. During the wait time, when Mr M is away, I went to talk to another service advisor (Mr R). Mr R is nice, printed a copy of the bill for me at my request, explained to me that I actually saved $56.24 with Canadian Tire that I will get the brake pad for free. I think this is the kind of service I am expected at Canadian Tire.
After that, I noticed on the printed bill only charged me $900+. I wanted to ask that but Mr. R was busy and Mr. M is around, I suppress my question for this since the bill seems to be making sense after Mr. R explained it to me. While waiting, I recalled that I forgot to ask if my new tires were directional or non-directional, and hope to ask this question during my check out.
On the good side, the technician who serviced my car (David) saw me repeatedly stopped by the window to see my car, gave me an quick 30 seconds update on the status. I really appreciate that.
Well, to my dismay, during check out, Mr. R was not around, and I have to deal with Mr. M again. I didn't ask my question on my new tires. I totally don't have any idea how to rotate my tires without this information. I think I will have to check that out on the Good Year website.
With recommendation from the customer relations at Canadian Tire, I filed my complaint to the Kanata's Canada Tire General Manager Mr. Malcomson. Mr. Malcumson seems to care about my encountering, and promised to look into the issue. Mr Malcomson also suggested to have Mr. R to call me but I rejected his kindness as I was really not having good mood to deal with Canadian Tire anymore.
During my call to Mr. Malcomson, I didn't tell him all the detail as I described here. I was very unhappy at the moment. What made me sad is that I never thought of this kind of encountering in my favorite store. It may be not fair to Canadian Tire as a store, (as there are still many good service person out there), but Mr. M represents Canadian Tire.
Mr. Malcomson did not offer me any compensation on my bad customer service experience at his store. Well, my wife did recommend that we have our dinner at my favorite restaurant last night, and we did have a great dinner to offset my bad mood.
I guess the "Tell 3 people when you got a good service, and tell 8 people when you got a bad service" normal reaction applied here. Today, I've told four of my colleague about my experience at Canadian Tire, all of us agreed customer service experience at Canadian Tire's Automotive Center is the worst of all.
As of today, :
1. I still don't know if my new Goodyear Allegra tires are non-directional or directional tires.
2. I still have no idea why the bill I signed unwillingly with Mr. M was $1000+, and the bill Mr. R printed out for me (the one I ended up paying) was $900+. I have no complain on the final bill I paid as it had been explained to me by Mr. R and I was willing to pay for it. However, I still don't have a clue why I was charged $1000+ with Mr. M (It was $1100+ with further idler pulley diagnostic which I declined).
Would I recommend anyone to Canadian Tire's Automotive Service Center? Definitely not.
Am I still a Canadian Tire's customer? Yes. Although I got bad taste in my mouth, I am still a loyal Canadian Tire shopper.
