Called a Thief at Canadian Tire

By Kim

So my son had his eight year birthday and received a camcorder. Just so happens that he has the exact same one. I go to the Canadian Tire store fully expecting only to receive a credit however I was told very rudely that they don’t take anything back without a receipt and I could have just taken that from the shelf? So not only did I get no credit but I was called a thief. No wonder they can not compete with customer service like that. I will never buy anything at CT again which is to bad as I like to support Canadian companies but not when they treat their customers like that.

17 Responses to “Called a Thief at Canadian Tire”


  1. 0

    jona says...

    Sorry but what do you expect? If you don’t have a receipt why should Canadian Tire or any other retailer return merchandise? They didn’t need to be rude but they are right, you could have just taken it from a shelf or purchased it somewhere else. If its a gift explain to the giver and ask for the receipt, I’m sure they would understand. But you honestly can’t expect CT to return it with out receipt.

  2. 0

    Dave says...

    Reminds me of the time I went to return some speakers from Best Buy. I’d purchased it with my credit card but lost the receipt, but didn’t know you had to take it back to the same location for them to be able to pull it up in their system. Customer service couldn’t help me, so I went to leave but set off the alarm at the exit. Apparently no one saw me walk in with the speakers (which came in a big box) so they didn’t believe me when I explained my situation. The manager was instantly accusatory and I argued with him for a bit and eventually implored him to check the security cameras if he didn’t believe me.

    The manager goes to check the tapes and comes out half an hour later with an employee. The employee apologizes to me while the manager stands back and glares. I wanted to demand an apology from him personally but let it go and walked out. A-hole!

  3. 0

    Ron Simmons says...

    Wow Kim!

    Without no receipt, you get no refund. How hard is it to understand?

  4. 0

    amy says...

    Makes sense when I used to work at calendar club we were not allowed to return or refund anything with out seeing the receipt. Other wise it is very likely that the person could have stolen it. It does suck when its a gift. But you can usually get a gift receipt so it is easier to return it.

  5. 0

    Big Bob says...

    wtf What do you expect?

  6. 0

    Linda says...

    I have a neighbour who works p/t at Canadian Tire and he always returns things even after he has used it and gets a new one. He never has a receipt and brags about their 100% return policy. So thats just b.s. if it applies to employees then it should at least be considered to customers. Its easy to check the make model of the product if they carry it not just to dismiss someone as if they are a thief.
    I have even went in with this guy and they wouldnt exchange something for me but when he went in right after and explained without i.d. that hes an employee they said ok. Total b.s.

  7. 0

    Tiana says...

    Kim, no offense to you, but aren’t you a little bit of a drama queen?
    You were not called a thief, they only explained the policy and why it’s there ie you could have stolen it from somewhere else then get money from them in exchange.

    Ultimately, I would ask the person who purchased it to provide you the receipt. If they didn’t keep it well… It’s obviously not an expensive one.

  8. 0

    Ron Simmons says...

    @ Linda

    It doesn’t matter if Canadian Tire carries the product. The customer does not have a receipt and could have easily taken it from the shelf. Does anyone here know how retail works?

  9. 0

    Ashley says...

    @ Ron ….I know how retail works because I work in retail. Many companies have a return policy that states merchandise returned without a receipt can be returned for a merchandise credit or exchange for the current selling price only and that’s all she wanted to do…exchange it for something else she could use or get a store credit.

    Generally speaking Canadian Tire has their customer service counter right at the front door so the clerk would have been able to see her walk in with the product.

  10. 0

    L says...

    As someone that actually worked Customer Service at Canadian Tire I can tell you that without a receipt there really is nothing they can do. Employees who take returned merchandise must have a copy of the receipt to attach to the returned merchandise to prevent employee theft, and to ensure that the product was actually purchased at CT. Without a receipt what can you really expect? Also yes it does happen, people will take things off the shelf and attempt to return them for store credit.

  11. 0

    Oompa says...

    I don’t see the problem. It’s true, you could have taken it off the shelf. Unless she said “I think you took this off the shelf, I can’t return it” then she probably just accidentally implied it, it happens.

    People have attempted to “sweet talk” me several times into trying to return a product without a receipt when they JUST take it off the shelf-it’s very common!

  12. 0

    B says...

    Its a little sad that she cant come on this site and rant, without some people giving her a hard time about it. I feel your pain, Its hard to have to deal with rude employees.

  13. 0

    Joe Blow says...

    It’s not sad. Anybody is more than welcome to come on the site and rant. You have to keep in mind though that the rest of us are also allowed to come on this site and rant back. If this lady doesn’t realize how many thieves are out there trying the very thing she is talking about…Then she’s an idiot. Stores have these policies because of that. Get over it.

  14. 0

    Reality cheque says...

    This proves that we live in a over consuming society! What is wrong with everyone basically posting tough luck because there was no receipt provided. Seriously receipts get lost, and most often mistaking thrown out and ruined, it’s a small piece of paper. Yet people are saying that it doesn’t matter because that camcorder is not as expensive? Are you serious? Not everyone has money tO burn and some children do not receive much for special occasions so having a duplicate present could
    Really be a bummer. So it should be thrown out because you didn’t keep a tiny slip of paper and it should accumulate in the landfill? I swear with people like the majority of these posters, I have a lot of worry for this generation of wasteful ingrates.

  15. 0

    Mina says...

    I work at payless and we dont require a receipt for returns. Then Again I think all companies are tightening their policies. Zellers honors returns without receipts but my local branch has stated that this is changing next month.

    To the people who had experience with people actually returning an unpaid item off the shelf , was it obvious they did this or was it only found out later? My coworkers are too naive and thinks this is not possible yet it would be super easy to do this in my store.

  16. 0

    Mina says...

    Not that I am a wannabe loss prevention officer im just curious

  17. 0

    Joe says...

    Wow - someone gave an eight-year-old a CAMCORDER for their birthday? The best gift I think I ever got as a kid was a single Star Wars figure.

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