Canadian Tire Customer Service FAIL

My Canadian Tire adventure began with the following tweet that I sent out; 

@canadiantire if you don’t have people in your stores to help customers, they won’t buy anything from your store. #fail #customerservice

I then received the following tweet in reply; 

@srobinsmith could you please contact customerservice@canadiantire.com with your contact info about this? We will be in touch.

So I emailed the following;

Hello,

I tweeted earlier today about the terrible customer service at one of your stores today and I received a tweet reply asking me to contact you. Here I am.

Stacey

Customer Service from Canadian Tire replied by email on June 9, 2013 at 7:13PM

Dear Stacey Robinsmith,

Thank you for contacting our office.

Additional information is required so that we may proceed in addressing your concerns.  Kindly provide us with full details about the situation as soon as possible.

To provide this information, simply respond to this email or contact us at the toll-free number provided below. Our Customer Service Representatives are available to assist you Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (EST) and Saturday and Sunday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (EST).

We thank you for providing us with the opportunity to respond.

Corporate Customer Relations

Canadian Tire Corporation Limited

1-800-387-8803

This message, including any attachments, is privileged and may contain confidential information intended only for the person(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient or have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply email and permanently delete the original transmission from the sender, including any attachments, without making a copy. Thank you.

And so I replied to their reply;

Hello,

Here is my story about what it is like to go shopping in the Canadian Tire store near my home (on Lougheed Highway near Marmont).

I needed a new pair of sandals so like many people, I went online to look at the selection that stores had. I went to the Canadian Tire website and before starting my online research the website asked for my postal code (which I provided).

I saw the selection of sandals Canadian Tire offers, read some customer reviews of the sandals and decided to go the store to purchase the sandals.

The next day I loaded my 4 year old twins in the car, drove down the hill to the Canadian Tire store and entered the store. First thing I noticed were the line ups (10-12 people in line) at the two cash tills that were open. Not a good sign especially as the two people on the tills were talking to one another about some customer concern and not able to get the other customers through the store.

Oh well. I go into the store, walk over to the seasonal department (where all the summer/camping gear is located) and look around for sandals. I see none.

I see a young man in a Canadian Tire shirt pushing a cart with some purchases for another customer walk by me. I ask him where the sandals are located in the store. He tells me to go to the front wall and turn right and they are along the side.

I go exactly where he told me they were located and there is a wall of barbecues. No sandals anywhere in sight.

I walk up and down each aisle in the area and see no sandals. I go the sporting goods desk and there are another couple of customers trying to get help from a woman who works in the store. I interrupt, thinking my question is a simple one that she can answer quickly.

“Can you tell me where the sandals are located in this store?”

Her reply is simply bizarre; “Sawn doos? What are sawn doos? We don’t sell sawn doos.”

I reply, “sandals, like the kind people wear on the feet.”

“No, we don’t sell sawn doos. I don’t know what sawn doos are.”

I give up on her and walk up and down each aisle looking for the shoes. I do not find them and worse, I do not find another single person working in the store.

At this point my 4 year old twins (and I) are bored of wandering around the store looking for merchandise. We walk up to the cashier and I leave my basket of other merchandise at the till and we walk out of the store.

It seems like every time I try to shop at Canadian Tire it is one problem after another. Out of frustration I went on Twitter and tweeted the following;

@canadiantire if you don’t have people in your stores to help customers, they won’t buying anything from your store. #fail #customerservice

Soon after the Canadian Tire twitter folk replied and here I am now.

The problem in the store near my house is that the few staff who are in the store are poorly trained and absolutely ignorant about customer service.

There is no easy fix for the problems in the store.

Stacey

As I said in the email above, I await their reply. And then, within fifteen minutes this email arrived;

Dear Stacey,

Thank you for contacting our office regarding your shopping experience at one of our Canadian Tire stores.

We are sorry to learn about your dissatisfaction with Canadian Tire. Your feedback has been logged and we have taken the liberty of forwarding your feedback to the store for their review.  Providing your feedback about your personal experience directly to the store will help them understand where they can make improvements.

Now, I wonder what happens next?