A Canadian Tire rip-off story needs to be told

by Victim#10000000
(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

On January 17, 2011 I went to Canadian Tire CTAS #126, G.C. Loh Mechandising Ltd. at the Centerpoint Mall on 6310 Yonge Street to have the clutch replaced on my 2003 Toyota Matrix. It had costed me $1,218.47 ($140.18 HST, $342.37 for parts and a whopping $735.92 for 8 hours labour at $92 per hour!). Invoice 549446.

More on this rip-off story as you read on.

As I turned on the engine and drove out of the repair shop, still feeling hurt and disbelieved, I noticed that the front airbag alarm light was on and the horn was not working. Such failure is normally caused by a damage clock spring or spiral cable that controls the horn and airbag detonator. It is located on the drive column under the steering wheel. Since the airbag and horn were fine (I always check for instrument warning lights after turning on the engine) before I handed over the key to Canadian Tire, it must have been broken at the time when they moved the car, drove it to test the clutch, moved the car around later and left it on the parking lot for the evening for the part to arrive the next day, or while the care was tested after the clutch was installed. I knew Canadian Tire needed not take the steering wheel out for the clutch work. However, any heavy poundings on the horn or excessive force on the steering wheel by them before, during and after the repair, could have done the damage on the clock spring. I spoke to the manager whose name is ?Sugi?. He refused to admit any possibility of his staff causing the damage.

So I asked for a quotation. Sugi?s quote was $460.00 for the clock spring (genuine Toyota part) and $185.00 for two hours of labour. That would be $728.85 with HST.

I took the car back without having the clock spring replaced because I did not believe I could trust them after this.

I did some Internet search on the average time needed to replace the clutch, prices for a clock spring and how to replace it. First, I noticed the average time to do a clutch replacement is 4 to 6 hours, and never more than 6 hours. Canadian Tire charged me 8 hours. Secondly, I found Page Toyota, Inc, a Toyota parts authorized dealer in US (State Reg # F104726) and had the part shipped to Canada for $239.52 US including shipping (Invoice No 530411). The total cost for the part was less than $250 including HST. Either Toronto?s Toyota parts dealer charges 92% more than its US counterpart, or the quote from Canadian Tire includes a mark up. I am not sure who is ripping its customer off on parts.

The part arrived in 10 days. Then I took it to a local repair shop. The shop owner/mechanic is ?Bo?. His shop is on 12 LePage Ct, Unit 3A, North York, ON M3J 1Z9 (tel 416-849-7976). This was the first time I met Bo, who was recently recommended to me by a friend of mine. I did not tell him how I found him because I wanted to know how he treats his new customer. It took him less than 40 minutes to replace the clock spring while I was standing and watching;20 minutes to locate the screws on the steering column because it was his first time working on a Matrix clock spring replacement. He charged me $50 for one hour labour (including HST) insisting that he couldn?t charge more for this simple task. That is 4 times less that what Canadian Tire will charge for the same job. That was a $300.00 repair including HST, as opposed to $728.85 at Canadian Tire!

Don?t go to Canadian Tire unless you plan to spend anything less than a $29.99 oil change!