Crappy Tire service

Location: Ontario, Ottawa
Industry: Automotive

My ten-year-old Honda was working well, save for having developed an unfortunate tendency to stall out.

I took it to the Canadian Tire outlet on Kent St in Ottawa and had it looked at. I wanted to discuss the problem with the mechanics, but was told by the guy at the front desk that he'd take the details and pass them on. Mere customers weren't supposed to go deal with the repair staff, for insurance reasons I was told.

Came by a couple of days later to pick up the car and it worked well ... until it stalled a few days later.

Unhappy, I brought it back and they apologized but it was an intermittent problem and being a tech myself, I know how difficult it can be to sort those out. The next day they tell me now they have it right.

Except they didn't as it stalled out again.

Determined to see them get it right, I brought it back and complained quite vehemently, this time getting to speak to one of the mechanics.

A couple of days later I was informed it had stalled while hooked up to the diagnostics gear and so they knew EXACTLY what the cause was.

Great. Came by, paid the final bill, and drove off ... until the car stalled a block away.

I had them tow it back (they wanted to charge for this and I got them to get me the district manager on the phone and explained the situation to him and made sure he understood what he could do with that idea) and then had the district manager cancel the previous bill and fix the real problem at no further charge.

The car worked fine after that, but I never set foot in a Canadian Tire since, either that one (which closed its doors a couple of years later) or any other.