So, today I venture back to what is my local, and, in my opinion, Canada's worst Crappy Tire store on Gibb Street in Oshawa. My needs are simple - I've lost the extension tube for the spray can of silicone lube I use on my treadmill, and, since they don't sell the tubes, am prepared to buy another can of lube. As well, I hope to buy a nice shiny chrome or stainless (Chinese chrome?) tailpipe extension for my new car. What do I find?... all the "shiny accessories" are now behind padlocked wire grills! This means you have to go in search of an "associate" (I think that's what they call them nowadays) to unlock the wire cage, and escort you, like a convict, to the cash with this $10.99 made in china piece of crap that they, for whatever reason, think has the same appeal to a shoplifter as the Hope diamond to a cat burglar. It's very difficult to pin down one of these "associates" - they gather in groups, like antelope at a watering hole, to gossip, but, should they catch you approaching with that "help me" look, or trying to make eye contact, they scatter like cockroaches when you switch on the lights. So, I forget about the chrome exhaust tip, since I can go to Walmart, or Princess auto, and actually fondle similar merchandise without the key wielding gestapo standing impatiently over my shoulder.

I go to the "express" cash with my can of silicone lube. There is a woman trying to exchange a pair of sunglasses. Trouble is, the old ones have no tag or bar code. The obese cashier is busily phoning departments to find out what to do - why doesn't she just send the sunglasses queen to customer service? I stand there for what seems like eternity, and then notice that the next guy in line in front of me has a fistful of documents. I put my can of lube on the counter, think to myself, "Hello Walmart!" and leave.

There are two Canadian Tire locations in Peterborough: Chemong and Lansdowne. Today I bought a bike from the Lansdowne location. It was a little pricey, nearly $300. When I got home I noticed that the gears didn't shift properly. Little disappointing but no big deal. I brought it back to the Lansdowne location but they didn't have anymore assembled and no one was in to assemble a new one. They did however call the Chemong location who told them that I could go there and exchange the bike no problem since they had several assembled. Cool. So I loaded up the bike, drove across town, unloaded it and went to the returns desk at the Chemong location store expecting to exchange it no problem. Was I ever wrong. First off the customer service clerks whispered between themselves when they saw me walk up with the bike. To me it seemed as if they were getting ready for it. They then said that they would not exchange the bike and that they did not receive a call from the Lansdowne location. Now I know for a fact that they had received a call as I was standing at the customer service desk when the clerk from the Lansdowne location called the Chemong location. They would not help me, provide any assistance or even call the Lansdowne location to see what the confusion was about. The manager then came out and basically said I was lying and that he would not exchange or provide a refund for the bike even though I had my receipt that was dated only hours earlier. With absolutely no help being offered at the Chemong location I had to reload the bike, drive back across town, unload the bike and bring it back into the Lansdown location store. Now I am waiting for a new one to be assembled, hopefully tomorrow it'll be ready. Lansdown location provided great service and was quite helpful. The Chemong location on the other hand was horrible, I have never been treated so rudely or given so little help in my live. The manager at the Chemong location was incredibly insulting and in my opinion completely unable to run a store if he's going to treat paying customers like that. In short I will from now on only shop at the Lansdowne location and will strongly encourage everyone I know to do the same.

Got a rain check at ct for a brad nailer on jan. 13 had to prepay for it was told 4-6 weeks for it to come in it is now march 08 and after yet another trip to ct to get an update we are no closer to receiving our product than we were on jan 13. If you are told 4-6 weeks it should be 4-6 weeks especially for a prepaid item. No one out there could even tell us when it would be coming in.

I had a very bad experience with Canadian Tire Auto Service (2160 Carling Ave, Ottawa) on Jan 13 (Sunday), 2008. They installed a wrong front driving axle at passenger side in my car. After I asked them to restore my car to its original condition, they left the wrong axle in my car and let me drive home.

The wrong axle was found and taken out by another mechanic in Tony Graham (1955 Merivale Road) right next day. I picked up my car at Tony Graham and bought back the wrong axle on Jan 16.

If you are interested in this story, go to my blog http://unfair-practice.blogspot.com/ to get the whole story and proofs of my car's condition before and after this problem.

We recently contacted Canadian Tire as there were problems with changing gears. We called the towing company who started the car without issue and moved it into position to be towed to Canadian Tire. Upon arriving at the shop, we signed the car in. The next day, the assistant manager "G" contacted us advised the problem was the master cylinder and parts+labor would cost $862; 6 hours labor and the part would be sold at cost. We gave the go-ahead to have the work done.

Next day, we picked up the car. The quoted price had changed, it was now $883 even though only 4.7 hours was done (which they deemed 4.5 hours) and the part was slightly higher than the original cost. We questioned this invoice and they explained the discrepancy was due to part cost. Rather than argue, we paid the invoice and went out to get the car and go home. When we got to the car, it wouldn't start. The battery was completely dead. Fortunately, we had brought a second vehicle and was able to boost the car after going back into the shop and advising them that the battery was dead. We went home.

The next morning, when we attempted to start the car, it wouldn't start. We contacted Canadian Tire who asked us to bring the car in. So we brought the car in and left it with them. They later contacted us and advised that they had done an AVR test on the battery and that the battery was no longer good and would need to be replaced. Since the car had "been in 3 times already" they were going to be gracious enough to write-off the AVR test and installation of a new battery, provided we purchased a new battery.

We, of course, were upset about this and told them that they would replace the battery at their cost due to that the battery was working just fine prior. They gave us the runaround and argued with "G" and then later that evening with "James". Both of them told us they were on "our side" but that there was no way they could have damaged the battery. We were not taking their excuses and arranged a meeting with "Scott" (Manager) the next morning to discuss this matter. The call ended amicably. We went to meet with him and told him we were willing to pay for half a battery but that the AVR, installation and half the cost of the battery was their responsibility.

The next morning, we went down and had a meeting (behind the counter) with "Scott" who would not budge on anything and straight-out told us that we had to purchase a new battery and that he would waive the AVR test but not installation. We refused and argued with him stating that the responsibility was his as the battery worked fine when we brought them the car. He simply told us that he would "kick the car out" and we agreed. They drove the car out into the lot with the key in the ignition still running, door unlocked and window wide open and just walked away from it before we got to the car, fortunately, nobody else got to the car before we could.

We were able to recharge the battery after having a third-party mechanic take a look at it and now the battery works fine, the car starts and the battery retains a charge, not necessitating the need to spend $109.00 on a new Canadian Tire battery as the shop manager was stating. However, for a short time, the brake light would not go out. It eventually did.

On the way home today (four days after the original service), we noticed once again, there are shifting problems with the car. However we do not wish to take it back to Canadian Tire due to the obvious disregard for customer service and dutiful diligence on their part. It's hard to trust in a company that misleads.

We received a call this evening from Canadian Tire, an automated message stating that they had worked on our vehicle recently and wanted to hear from us. The message advised us to contact the Manager who, ironically, refused to take any responsibility for the work done and them know what we thought of their service.

We've heard stories about the quality of work and customer service at Canadian Tire, but never thought it would be this bad. We will never go back there again. We have in fact, decided to take the car to another shop to ensure mechanical integrity.