I returned a crappy car interior cleaning brush to Canadian Tire this week (the thing was literally falling apart - left little bits all over the place), and had a very strange experience returning it. First, we stand in a line for 20 minutes or so, then the guy checks my receipt (it was okay - I only bought the brush a couple days ago), he prints out a little piece of paper for me to sign that I have received my money (which I haven’t), he hands my receipt to the other return clerk, and sends me to stand and wait in the other return line, the one where you actually get your money back. Then, after waiting another ten minutes or so in that line, they give me my money back, less the Canadian Tire money that I hadn’t returned.
Is that the part where you also went “WTF, man?” You give me crappy Can Tire money that I don’t particularly want, and you short me on my own money that I paid in the first place because I didn’t return your ridiculous little piece of paper? Their reason - “It’s like currency.” Oh. Well. I’ll just cash in all my Crappy Tire money that I have on top of the fridge for real money then, shall I? No, I’m pretty sure you can only use it for merchandise in the store. You can’t have it both ways; either it’s legal tender, or it isn’t. Come to think of it, the Bank of Canada might be interested to know that Canadian Tire is giving out something that they are treating like legal tender. What’s that legalese word they use to describe this kind of thing? Counterfeiting, that’s it.
Excuse me - I have to go google up the Bank of Canada’s website.
Heh, I guessed it was about CTM and refunds as soon as I moused over. And yeah, they’ve made me give it back, too, and I was kind of annoyed. But think about it from their point of view - you buy an expensive item, say a $4000 ATV, and get $50+ in Canadian Tire Money. (I’m sorry, Canadian Tire “Money”) The next day, you return the ATV, still in whatever kind of packaging ATVs come in, and get your $4000 back. If they don’t take the CTM back, you’ve got a $50 shopping spree in exchange for letting them hold on to your money for a day.
I think elfbabe has it. On a side note, I paid for an entire transaction with Canadian Tire Money the other day. (Okay, okay, it was $1.76 for some rubber washers to fix a leaky faucet.)
IANAL, but I don’t believe you have a leg to stand on. Canadian Tire “Money” (CTM) is simply store coupons by a different name. You buy something, you get a coupon (in this case CTM) good for $x off your next purchase. Their terms are much more liberal than most coupons (e.g. you can use multiple CTMs for the same purchase and even get entire purchases with CTM), but I don’t believe that changes the fact that they are simply store coupons.
In any case, it is certainly not counterfeiting (CTM doesn’t remotely resemble Canadian currency and no claim is ever made that it is Canadian currency), so if somehow there was a crime or tort committed it would have to be for something else.
Yes, I have run across it before, and it strikes me as pretty fair. CTM is accepted at CT across the country - I know people who save it all year and then use it for Christmas shopping.
The real problem arose when you first made a purchase at Crappy Tire. I can’t remember how many things I have bought at Crappy Tire over the years that were broken, were missing parts, or did not work as advertised. Now I just avoid them altogether.
I like Canadian Tire. I’ve never had any problems with their services or their products. We bought a lot of household products and items there. Still do - been there twice in the past week for new things for the apartment.
We had to reprime the walls at the old apartment before we moved out. I was able to pay most of the cost of the primer with CTM that I found in various places throughout the apartment while packing. And I got CTM back on that purchase. Guess I get to start another pile’o’fake-cash!
The point that some of you seem to be missing is that Canadian Tire did not refund me all the legal tender that I gave them in the first place - they gave me my money back LESS the Canadian Tire money that I had not returned. From my perspective, they are equating the legal tender I gave them with the Canadian Tire money they had given me.
I can also see their point, that if you make a large purchase and get lots of fake money, you shouldn’t be allowed to keep it if you return the goods, but (as in the example given) to short you $50 of your money as a refund? Un unh. You need to make it part of your return policy - return the fake money, too, or no refund, not refund less the fake money. You can’t equate legal Canadian tender with Canadian Tire money, like this store did. Actually, what they should do is quit screwing around with that ridiculous Canadian Tire money - give us one of those stupid “loyalty” cards instead, and add money to it whenever we buy something, and subtract it when we return something. There - I’ve solved their problem. I should send them an email.
I’d be amazingly pissed off if they did that. What, I’m supposed to hunt down all the fiddly little bits of CTM should I ever wish to return a product?
You sure can. They can set whatever return policy they like.
Agreeing with you there. I’ve always thought CTM is dorky, and I’ve never accumulated enough to buy anything with it. Actually, I hate loyalty programs in general. Sell me a good selection of good products via good policies with good service. Then I’ll be loyal. I won’t be loyal because of a buttload of wallet cards or some money with a picture of a geezer in a tam-o-shanter.
What, you’d rather they hadn’t even LET you return the cleaning brush at all? Should they make you go scrounge around on the floor of your car or in your penny jar or receipt drawer until you find it, or no refund for you? That doesn’t make any sense. It’s like if (for example) they have an offer for 4 free AA batteries if you buy X Useless Gizmo. You get it and the batteries, take them home, and realize that you don’t really want the Useless Gizmo, but your remote control could use some new batteries. The next day, you go back to return the Useless Gizmo, and they ask you for the batteries back. You don’t have them, they’re in your remote. If they offer to do the refund anyway, minus a couple bucks for the batteries, are they treating them like legal tender? Are the batteries counterfeit money? Should they instead go with your policy and not let you return your Useless Gizmo unless you go out and find them some identical batteries?
Canadian Tire does indeed treat their “money” like real currency. From a friend who worked there as a department manager I can say that they treat it that way internally, too; it’s handled from register to safe like real money, and the punishment for stealing it is equivalent to that of stealing real money.
Yes. In fact, they used to stress this point with their old slogan, “There’s more to Canadian Tire than tires,” which all of their commercials would end with. They seem to feel the point has been taken though, as they haven’t used that slogan in years.
They didn’t give you back all the money because you didn’t give them back everything you received; like it or not, the CTM coupons are included in the purchase. As a marketing ploy, the CTM coupons (and that is what they are - store coupons) do seem to work for them. If you don’t like their marketing style, don’t shop there.
Briefly, they sell tires, auto parts, auto accessories, hardware, tools, small appliances, sporting goods, camping supplies, fishing supplies, firearms and ammunition, gardening supplies, patio furniture, and assorted other things depending on season and local demand.
Yes - apparently, that is their return policy. I think it’s a particularly bogus policy, but I guess my mileage is varying. I’ll just have to vote with my wallet in the future, which is too bad, because I used to try to shop Canadian when I could.
I had a feeling from your title you were going to ask that… (and let me first say that I quite like CT).
Canadjun: I agree 100% with your first post (that CTM are coupons), but 100% disagree with your 2nd (that you are obligated to return it also when returning goods). You don’t have the option of refusing the Canadian Tire money (I’d like to see if they note it on the receipt if you try), and no other store makes you return stuff like coupons if you take something back.
At any rate, the exact same thing happened to me last year. When returning a 10$ tire gauge one evening after work, the cashier asked for my coupon (which could have been bleeding ink in the snow on my car floormat for all I knew), and when I said I’d lost it, told me they’re refund my $$$ - 10c because of it. At the time I was tired and hungry so I mumbled ‘okay whatever’, but after I got home I was (like featherlou), really quite annoyed.
I wish at the time I’d been more firm and refused to allow them to do that, but I ended up writing a letter of complaint (far more lucid and coherent than this quick post, but saved in a location or filename that escapes me for the moment). They replied basically saying that they would take it under advisement, and gave me a 10$ gift card.
I think my point was that yeah, that’s crap, and they shouldn’t be doing it. I’ll see if I can find that letter I wrote.
