By Brock

On a recent visit to Shopper’s Drug Mart (Ottawa Street, Kitchener) I was charged the regular price for an item which was on sale in the Shopper’s weekly flyer. When I complained that the item should be free due to their scanning accuracy policy, I was told by store management that this could not be done and that the best that they could do would be to sell me the item for the advertized sale price. The problem, as I understand it, was that the item was an advertized sale item in the store flyer and since it was not shown as being on sale in the actual store (shelf price), the scanning accuracy policy did not apply.

I feel that this is total BS and so does the Retail Council of Canada. They confirmed that the price at checkout should never be higher than either the advertized (flyer) price or the price shown on the shelf, and that this iitem should have been free (in accordance with their policy).

Has anyone else ever had this issue?

By Brock

Ever notice when you use a coupon at Zeller’s that they only apply the discount after taxes?

By Vlad

To whom it may concern

On December 12, 2010 at 1.40 pm my girlfriend and I went into Canadian Tire on 6670 Meadowvale Town Centre Circle, Mississauga, ON to install previously purchased winter tires. I have been quoted $199.99 ($50 per tire) to complete this work to which I objected questioning why it is this expensive. The response I have received was that this price was set for all Canadian Tire stores for low profile tires. My tire size is 205/55/16 and I said that my tires are not low profile. I was told that the Canadian Tire Corporation has recently changed its policy and now considers 55 to be a low profile tire as it is one of the most popular sizes and it allows Canadian Tire to make more money on it. I was a little surprised but the sales representative assured me that the Canadian Tire Corporation matches all the prices in every location and I would not be able to find a cheaper rate. I signed the quote and left my car.

My car is a company car, so I called my boss to tell about the charges. The response I got was “That is insane!”. I called several other Canadian Tire stores asking for the quote. The prices were ranging from $16.99 to $24.99 for a tire. I quickly returned to the store and asked to stop, however, the summer tires were already off the wheels. I started arguing about the prices and wanted to get my car back but the shop manager told me he will not let my car out of the shop unless I pay $199 + taxes. One of the store representatives made calls to several Canadian Tire Stores in the area but didn’t get a quote over $24.99. After that the shop manager told me that every Canadian Tire store sets its own prices. The sales representative refused that he ever said about matching prices for all the stores even though my girlfriend and I both heard it. I had nothing to do but to pay in order to get my car back.

I told the shop manager that I am going to call the corporate office and the branch manager but he replied that these calls will be unnecessary.

I am seeking reimbursement in the amount of $113.03 in order to regain my trust and ever for me and my family to do business again with any Canadian Tire.

I hope that the Canadian Tire Corporation closely review my case and reimburse the above mentioned amount.

By Sally

With all the negative reviews I think we need to praise good merchants as well. Last week I placed an order with Rickis online. A few days later I received a personal email apologizing that their system has mistakenly said my item was available but wasn’t in stock. Instead of just cancelling my items they searched around and found the item for me in-store and they would be sending it to me purolator no charge. What excellent customer service. Not only did they keep me in the loop but they went above and beyond to find the item for me. Thank you Rickis.com for the excellent personalized service.

By Joanne

My girlfriend and I both went shopping at two different Tommy Hilfiger  Ottawa, On Canada she had spent over $200 and I spent $155.

The next day I opened my mail to find out American Express had a discount coupon of 20% off when you purchase a minimum of $150. I called the store in the west end at College Square (where I did my purchase) to find out if we had to take the clothes back as well as the receipt to get the discount. They said yes please bring the clothes with  and I mentioned my girlfriend had already wrapped hers- so they said no problem they would make an exception for her.

But we decided to shop in the east end of Ottawa  so I thought we should phone that store to confirm the that we could use the coupon I called and they said we must bring in the clothing and there would be no issue.

When we arrived at the cash the older salesperson that served us (they didn’t have name tags), told us that we couldn’t have the discount cause we had already bought the items the day before, we had to tell him we had called ahead and in a ill mannered attitude he said no one received that phone call  so now we were also called liars. We then said ok we will return the items and re buy them with the discount coupon. He said if we returned the items he would re stock them. Through this whole process we were treated with extreme rudeness and he was very unwilling to help out. He was not pleasant and made us feel uncomfortable. He constantly complained and argued that we couldn’t do this  (this is why shopping at the Bay and many other stores so much easier,  they all do price adjustments).

He finally did the transaction in slow mode to annoy us further.

Another customer was waiting at the cash as well to have his bill corrected as the store had made a mistake 5 minutes ago on his bill - and they insisted he go back to his car to get the sweater even though it was their mistake.

We will not return to this Tommy Hilfiger ever again and will make sure our friends are aware of their attitude. (the attitude of the west end store was the total opposite).

By Tess

I ordered an item on the website for the Bay on Dec 10th. Shortly after I received and email stating that my order is being processed. I waited for a week and my order still hadn’t come, so I called the customer service dept. to inquire about my order. She advised me that my order had been cancelled but could not tell me why it was cancelled. I asked her why nobody called me or sent me notification that the order had been cancelled, she said it wasn’t her responsibility. Really? So she said that I would need to reorder the item and couldn’t guarantee that it would make it for Christmas. And then proceeded to tell me that the item is no longer in stock and that there was nothing they could do!!! Seriously? This is the customer service I received from the Bay! shoppers beware!

By Bill

Only when I called the property management of the mall was I able to obtain a link to their web-site. I managed to contact the customer service on-line, requesting to contacted about this complaint.

They would like to know all the details time etc. Thing is, all three staff members looked amused that someone would actually return something or would take the time to check.

Everyone, watch what you buy and take to time to turn the disc over and check if it’s new. When you pay 30.00 dollars or more for a DVD it should be new.

HMV did not seem really interested about my side as so much wanted to know more details about the store, time date. I do not feel that my concerns were properly addressed because if they really cared, I think they would offer a customer service line to handle these types of situations. They also would have inquired as to the amount of trouble I went through and would have shown more concern. Even offering me a phone number to personally talk about this issue but not to be. At his point, I’m not going to tell them, I just will not shop there any longer.

Buyer beware that next disc or DVD you buy just might have been used as someones play copy or worse a defect.

By Dave MacGowan

Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 is a great product. Unfortunately, my experience with Staples leads me to believe that they cannot be trusted.

I bought the product from a local Staples store for a super price of around $60. The price was even better considering the promise on the outside of the box of an additional $20 rebate. It was only after going through the major job of installing the software,that I discovered the small print on the rebate form packed INSIDE the box. Please note that I said “INSIDE the box.|

Basically, the rebate was not available for purchases made from Staples (and a couple other retailers). Despite 2 emails to Staples customers relations about this apparent ????? I have waited more than 2 weeks and have not received an answer other than the automated answer saying I would receive a response soon.

An honest mistake? Probably. But to refuse to deal with their mistake is inexcusable. Staples obviously doesn’t place much value on their reputation.

Author unknown

I went to canadian tire scott road to buy some paint. The lady was trying to help me was not sure what she was talking about because she was not from that department . So she called manager called Clare Woods . She called few times but she was keep saying that she is coming. But actually she was not. I went there to check that personally I was keep watching her she was not doing anything except talking and laughing with a staff member. Such a poor customer service. If the managers are like that what about the normal employees?

By crazycoupongirl

Here is what I wrote to headoffice tonight about what I went through last week!

I have never ever emailed Shopper’s prior to now. I am unhappy, sorry VERY dissatisfied with the customer service I received at your location last week. Your line-ups are way too long, so I decided to ask, not be offered, but ask your supervisor on duty if I could go to cosmetics to be assisted with my order there.

Your supervisor at the time, a young lady, was doing a return at a register that was closed, but I walked up to ask her since you only had one cashier working at the time and more than 6 of us in your line up. She said she would call over and ask the cosmetics department to take me since I had several coupons and didn’t want to hold your line-up any longer then it was being held up. I headed over there to approach Lisa, a rep in that area. She was speaking to another lady named Lisa who also was working that department. They were standing there chatting? ABOUT? Not sure but chatting while your front end store cashier was trying ring through everyone else while they could of been helping out? This was already making me wonder? Why would they offer even to help they can clearly see there is a huge line-up.

Well just as I started to explain to Lisa, the sales rep, that I asked her supervisor if I could check out there since I had two carts of stuff and coupons, she gave me a look and walked towards the phone. I said never mind that her calling to tell you, she said to the lady on the phone ” I guess” with this smug look on her face. I tried to make small talk with her, explained what items went with what coupons etc. My younger sister was with me in the store at the time I got there, she was in her area, so the reason I shopped at your store was soley because it was local to her. I have been at this location prior and always notice a longer then normal line up. But this time this lady Lisa’s rudeness was unreal. I mean ..I don’t understand why  or how she could be so cold with your customers. Why not be happy to assit me?

I explained there was a lineup and I was trying to help your customers get out of your checkouts faster. In all I was in your store for over an hour at least to check out. I had to stop in between ringing in items to allow others to go ahead of me, but because this lady Lisa said to but because i was trying to be nice to others who had one or two items when i had two carts full, instead of just being nice or saying thank you for doing that she said very little, but continued to chat to Lisa the supervisor in that department, who was clearly able to help out front cash yet stood there to watch her ring in orders? Lisa then said to her at one point that she was tired and needed her break? I’m thinking I want to get out of this store and you are talking about a break in front of me. Why because of all the coupons?

She asked the other lady to finish the order so I said you know what forget it i’ll go back to the front.. and took about 8 items which were left to ring in to the front and told them both how I felt they were providing very bad customer service to their customers, even to others checking out they were very cold. Your supervisor Lisa was also sick and coughing continuousily .. she shouldn’t be even at work like that. I went back to the front and was shaken by this whole experience.  I ended up checking out with a nice lady Karen who actually empathzied with me and the two of them in that department. I wasn’t too happy when I got home to realize 5 of my items scanned wrong! I had to go back to this store to fix it the next day and spoke to your front end manager about the issue from the day prior. She was very helpful and fixed the price scanning errors. I should of asked for it free since you practice the SCOP policy but i totally forgot. I even forgot to get a rain cheque which I wanted on your scotts paper towel.  I was so overwhelmedd with how I was treated I just didn’t think the first day to check my bill or even get this when I left. I learned that these two ladies who work your cosmetics have been at your location for over 10 years?! I find this very hard to believe how can you keep employees who show very poor , or should I say ZERO class towards your customers? They should be written up, and this isn’t the first time I heard there have been complaints about them either.

How are they allowed to continue to treat people this way? I want to be contacted about this situation. I am extremely unhappy with the way I was treated.

By Bill

I recently exchanged a defective DVD, and when I got home and pulled off the sleeve, I could see right away the product had been opened. Upon further inspection, I could see prints all over the book inside and the disc was very well used. It had several scratches and scuffs and many minor dents on the playing surface and dusty. So in exchange for a defect i got an open copy . It had an outer cardboard sleeve on the set so I missed it.when I took it off the shelf.

When I returned it the staff member at HMV Southcentre Calgary, Alberta, became agumentative with me about it. He was adamant that they don’t sell used product. Now how can that be true when I am returnig used product that I took right off the shelf?

Fact is, they did give me another copy fine, but why treat your customers this way.? I felt that he really wanted an argument(must be the companies new way of going digitaly. but I told him I’m just here to get what is entitled, new product. This was a present I had to take back twice and it will be a very long time if ever, that my wife will go out of her way to buy me another DVD. Just seeing what I had to go through just to watch the movie “Avatar”.

HMV rating 2 out 0f 10I can not find anyone to contact about this treatment and will no longer shop there.

On-line retailers are really about great customer service. I’ have had great experiences with them. The best part, no snooty record sales clerks to deal with .

By Lisa

On December 4th we had a fire in our house. our dog was the first alert and then the smoke detector went off. It was about 2:00 in the morning and thankfully we all got out. barefoot in the snow but we all got out. when we ran out of the house though, we banged on neighbours doors and nobody woke up so my boyfriend had to run back into the house twice to find a phone to call 911 with. it’s really hard to judge how long that actually took but i am going to guess 5-10 minutes. Plus another, say 5-7 minutes for the fire trucks to get there.

Here’s the thing though, a month before I called DSI, our monitoring company for our alarm, and I was going to cancel the service. I didn’t when the sales person told me that we had 24/7 fire monitoring even if the alarm isn’t activated. That peace of mind was valuable to me so I kept the service.

The whole time the fire was going on and spreading through our house, apparently DSI only got 3 “pass test” (or something) signals. apparently when they initially installed the system in 1998, the only heat sensor they put in was in the basement. DSI is telling me that the technician that set up the monitoring for us a year and a half ago told me that. ’cause apparently he can remember our exact house and exactly what he said to me a year and a half ago. if i was smart enough to keep the service for the fire protection, why wouldn’t i choose to have the appropriate device to make it work?

Anyway, we can only guess how much less we would have lost if DSI did what they promised to do but as it is, we have lost more than half of what we own.

When I spoke with a DSI supervisor since the fire they had absolutely no compassion, didn`t even say that they were sorry to hear about our loss, or ask if we are all ok. After telling the supervisor that I wanted the service cancelled immediately, he could not even tell me if the monitoring fee scheduled to come out on the 20th would still be coming out nor did he say that the payment would be reimbursed.

If you think that you have fire protection through your alarm company, please look into it. you may not be as safe as you think.

And for those of you that have DSI, I highly recommend ditching them because not only did they fail to protect us but they will make things up to cover their inadequacies.

D.S.I. Security Systems Inc

1665 Dugald Road

Winnipeg, MB R2J0H3

Website: www.dsitechnical.com

By Tanya

I was really excited to see that the Gap family of stores were selling products in Canada for Canadians, so I thought I would give it a try. I bought a sweater two weeks ago and still haven’t received it.

The customer service telephone number is a joke. The automated service won’t allow you to speak to an agent. I had to pretend I wanted to provide feedback about their services in order to speak to a real person regarding my purchase.

I am really not impressed and won’t buy online again. I’m just hoping that my order arrives before the holidays.

By jennynotjen

As an occasional online shopper and beauty products fan, I was really intrigued when I heard about thebeautysampler.com. Many YouTube beauty gurus and beauty bloggers have reviewed their products (mostly special or limited edition MAC pigment samples) and their service, and they have always been positive.

When they were having a promotion, I decided to make my first order with them. Since the company is situated in the USA, I knew that I would probably wait the standard 6-8 weeks to receive the product (although I’ve never actually had to wait that long with any other online company I’ve purchased through).

Shortly after I ordered, I received email confirmations that the product was shipped and that it was on its way. 8 weeks passed and I didn’t receive anything. I emailed the online shop and asked them if they knew anything about my order and what had happened. I simply got a response 1 week later saying that they were going to “look into it” and follow up with me.

1 month after that response, I didn’t receive any other follow up as promised, so I emailed them again asking if they had found out anything about my missing order. I was as positive as correspondence via email could allow, commenting on how I trusted that they were a great company based on the many reviews beauty bloggers had written about them.

I instead received a rather cold response saying that they would simply resend the order as a “one-time courtesy” because they couldn’t find out what the status of the mailed package was. They made it seem like I was being a nuisance to them because I hadn’t received my package (like it was my fault!) I completely understood where they were coming from, though, because small online shops can’t really often take hits like that and be profitable. However, I’ve experienced lost packages in the mail from online shops before, and refunds were always awarded to me, with no questions asked.Knowing this was common practice, I asked them if they would please consider doing a refund instead, as it would save them in the long run (saving on duplicate products and more S&H costs), and I wouldn’t have to worry about more lost packages. At this point, I just wanted to end my patronage with this store because of their slow responsiveness and their less-than-warm customer service.

All I got was a very icy response saying that they didn’t realize that they had actually run out of the particular pigment samples I had ordered over 3 months ago, and that I would find a refund in my PayPal account.

Throughout the entire 3 months of correspondence, there was no apology for all of the waiting that I did and no mention of the fact that they were sorry that my one and only experience of their shop was incredibly antithetical to all of the online reviews written about them. They didn’t even try to appeal to me as a potential return/future customer.

Although they did end up refunding my money, I never got what I really wanted in the first place - my limited edition MAC pigment samples!

I’ve now learned to just buy my pigments straight from MAC, and trade with friends for limited edition shades. Never EVER buy through thebeautysampler.com!

By doubleblue

CRIMINAL!!!!!! This is the most dishonest, irresponsible and incompetent company which whom we have ever dealt. While our weed control was pathetic this summer after being charged for weeds to be eliminated from our property, we were told by Weed Man representatives that it was the time of year (July) when we could expect many weeds. We were billed anyway. Then we were told that the effective weed control products were on back order from Europe and that the products they were using were ineffective. We were billed anyway. Then Weed Man paid us three ‘pretend’ visits. They charged us for three varied weed and fertilizer applications at three different times but never actually showed up. Finally, they showed up at the end of October after several frosts to fertilize, just in time for the snow. Throughout the summer, we made several requests for a manager to come and inspect our lawn. No one ever arrived. When we called several times to speak to a manager, we were told all managers were in a meeting. Their products are useless, there is NO customer service and they have no regard for honesty. Shame on you, Weed Man.