Canadian Tire - Curbside experiences

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General FYI:

Canadian Tire stores in Ontario are not accepting returns during the lockdown. For purchases where the 90-day returns window expires during the lockdown, customers will be given a 15-day extension to return them when stores re-open.
 
Evoex said:
General FYI:

Canadian Tire stores in Ontario are not accepting returns during the lockdown. For purchases where the 90-day returns window expires during the lockdown, customers will be given a 15-day extension to return them when stores re-open.
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They've shortened the window. Last lockdown they gave 30 days.
 
It largely depends on the store location. Of the 4 HD stores in Brampton, 2 were running over 1500 online orders a day. The other 2 were under 500 a day. It is difficult to pick and stage that many order orders in a day, especially when you are asking a cashier to go find 20 5/16 x 5 x 2-in Square U Bolts. Then you have to find places to put all those orders until they are picked up. Then when the customer arrives to pick it up you have to find it within the maze of carts and bags in every aisle.

So yes, some stores will have it ready in a day or less. Some will take a few days due to the backlog. Some will have it out to you when you arrive in minutes and others will take much longer to find it (or move all the other orders out of the way to get to it).

Expect loooong line ups for returns when they do open back up.
 
CT at Meadowvale Circle in Mississauga.
Order yesterday. got my stuff today (Saturday)
Waited like 10 minutes in the reserved spots.
No problem.
This was my first time and will probably use the service again.
 
pfbmgd said:
Needed some nuts and bolts to repair a wheel barrow . Waited two days for the parts from Home Depot . Not sure how you can work on any project with hardware stores closed .
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Try a Home Hardware. My local one is serving drivethru style like a Tim Hortons. Tell them what you need, park and in 5 min the bring it to your car. Service done right.
 
Mad Mike said:
Try a Home Hardware. My local one is serving drivethru style like a Tim Hortons. Tell them what you need, park and in 5 min the bring it to your car. Service done right.
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I might do that . HD is the first place I think of for small items .
 
pfbmgd said:
I might do that . HD is the first place I think of for small items .
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Me too. But now my view has changed. I’m willing to pay a small premium for good service, the local Home Hardware just picked up a lot of future business from me.
 
Mad Mike said:
Me too. But now my view has changed. I’m willing to pay a small premium for good service, the local Home Hardware just picked up a lot of future business from me.
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There is one right in the strip mall by my place . Going to give them a try . I needed a longer phone cord for my fax machine . The actually had one in stock .
 
Yeah, our local Home Hardware (and a little independent) are doing awesome while you wait service.

I did an order for some grass seed and fertilizer at the Bowmanville Canadian Tire a few weeks ago and it was ready next day. Pickup process took longer than I'd have expected (you text, they confirm, you wait..) but meh, it is what it is.

Lowes has got the process down super slick now.

I was actually super impressed with the Whitby Best Buy - I *thought* I'd ordered something at 11AM but turned out I didn't discover the order didn't go through until I was sitting in the parking lot at 2pm. I put it through then and decided to just wait and see what happened since the only thing on the schedule after work that day was going home and staring at the wall, so meh. Low and behold 30 minutes later I got the text that my order was ready for pickup. I confirmed I was there and had my SSD in my hands 2-3 minutes later.

Retail seems to have really got their game together with the curbside thing. I remember during the first lockdown a year ago now it was a gong show pretty much everywhere.
 
Ordered at HD and it took many days because "In stock" meant in stock somewhere else and it had to be shipped in. I got the pickup notice and went the next morning. Called from the parking lot and waited about an hour. Chatted with a HD worker and paint was busy. Returns extended to 180 days

Ordered a hardware item on Sunday from Lowes got the pickup OK late Monday. Went Tuesday AM and realized I was supposed to book a time. I called the number on the sign and explained. No problem, they were out about fifteen minutes.

Both were 427/ Queensway locations
 
2 bad experiences with Canadian tire in Hamilton.

First one was when the first lockdown in 2020 happened. Ordered something small and expected to be ready in a couple hours but that took 4 or 5 days before I got an email to pick up. Get to parking lot and it was a ****show. 20 parking spots and every single one of them dialing the single phone line in store ( I think I called 25 times before spoke to someone) and other people who came after me got lucky and got their phone call picked up before me. Everyone around me complaining how un organized they were.

second one was 2 weeks ago, (hot water tank relief valve was leaking pretty bad I guess for a few days before I noticed it) Ordered online and said ready next day.. no email next day, call the next morning to find out they're behind and should be another day or so. Great. 2 days after order was placed was ready. Curbside pick up was a little more organized this time but please don't put on your website it'll be ready when it won't be. Was 3 days of cold showers for me that was not fun! but not the end of the world.
 
Mikedezo44 said:
2 bad experiences with Canadian tire in Hamilton.

First one was when the first lockdown in 2020 happened. Ordered something small and expected to be ready in a couple hours but that took 4 or 5 days before I got an email to pick up. Get to parking lot and it was a ****show. 20 parking spots and every single one of them dialing the single phone line in store ( I think I called 25 times before spoke to someone) and other people who came after me got lucky and got their phone call picked up before me. Everyone around me complaining how un organized they were.

second one was 2 weeks ago, (hot water tank relief valve was leaking pretty bad I guess for a few days before I noticed it) Ordered online and said ready next day.. no email next day, call the next morning to find out they're behind and should be another day or so. Great. 2 days after order was placed was ready. Curbside pick up was a little more organized this time but please don't put on your website it'll be ready when it won't be. Was 3 days of cold showers for me that was not fun! but not the end of the world.
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Plumbing Centre at barton / kenora next time.
 
Canadian Tire on Danforth/Main in Toronto - the order was ready the same day. The one on Lakeshore/Leslie - took them 3 days. So I guess it depends on location.
 
Consider yourselves lucky with HD.


At the Milton HD, you have to wait about 3 days before your order is ready for pickup.
I am not the only one that has experienced this. Many other in town have gone through the same BS.

Milton Home Hardware is actually great.
I was able to walk up to the pick up tent and asked them to match up a spray can of paint to a sample I gave them. (sample of soffit as I wanted my soffit pit light trims to match). 15 minutes later they came out with a spray can that they matched to the best of their ability.
I have phoned in an order at this location and was able to pick up within 1 hour.


Ordered a street hockey net on Saturday afternoon and was able to pick up at Mississauga Mavis/Dundas CT next day.
 
I've needed to use the Canadian Tire curb-side pickup in Orangeville a couple of times in the past week. Both times the order was ready same day, actually within an hour or so. They have less than a dozen parking spots designated for pickup, but they seem to be able to keep up with the flow of customers.

I haven't even tried to use the Home Depot set-up they have here. The parking lot is now barricaded with jersey walls and you have to enter through a single entrance with a gatehouse. Reminds me of a border checkpoint, "papers please". Fortunately I have not needed to shop there so far and will delay any projects until I can re-enter the store.

The worst part of all the online ordering, is the actual online ordering. What is it with Canadian stores and their lousy websites? I haven't found one yet that even comes close to the abilities of US stores. Even the US based stores don't seem to offer the same web-abilities for their Canadian counterparts. If you're looking for small parts, or want to view a selection to choose from, it simply can't be done in most cases. For those items you actually have to call the store and describe what you need, then hope the person you spoke to has the experience to know exactly what you want. You would think after the first lockdown last year they would have upped their online game.

Unless it's an absolute emergency, I'm waiting until after this current lockdown is over before starting any large projects.
 
Malks said:
The worst part of all the online ordering, is the actual online ordering. What is it with Canadian stores and their lousy websites? I haven't found one yet that even comes close to the abilities of US stores. Even the US based stores don't seem to offer the same web-abilities for their Canadian counterparts. If you're looking for small parts, or want to view a selection to choose from, it simply can't be done in most cases. For those items you actually have to call the store and describe what you need, then hope the person you spoke to has the experience to know exactly what you want. You would think after the first lockdown last year they would have upped their online game.
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The comparison between US and CAD sites is interesting. When I am finding solutions for the bike and info comes up for Harley Davidson USA the site is way better then the Canadian site with better photos, more info, and pricing. CAD site is pretty useless.

Home Depot and CT sites are ok for the most part, much better then a year ago. At least the stock availability seems reliable.
Rona and Lowes I don't like as much.
 
I find the WalMart site to be horrible.

When ever I just want to search if WM has something, ideally in store for in person purchase (pre-COVID), most of the search result come back with random items for 3rd and 4th and 6th .... party sellers. In this case you could only order for shipping and in most cases those items are "unavailable". But somehow they end up at the top of the search results.

I don't visit that site often but, I have not been able to narrow the search down to in store items only.
 
oioioi said:
I find the WalMart site to be horrible.

When ever I just want to search if WM has something, ideally in store for in person purchase (pre-COVID), most of the search result come back with random items for 3rd and 4th and 6th .... party sellers. In this case you could only order for shipping and in most cases those items are "unavailable". But somehow they end up at the top of the search results.

I don't visit that site often but, I have not been able to narrow the search down to in store items only.
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They took the Amazon template then had an executive meeting to brainstorm how they could screw it up in the worst possible way.
 
oioioi said:
I find the WalMart site to be horrible.

When ever I just want to search if WM has something, ideally in store for in person purchase (pre-COVID), most of the search result come back with random items for 3rd and 4th and 6th .... party sellers. In this case you could only order for shipping and in most cases those items are "unavailable". But somehow they end up at the top of the search results.

I don't visit that site often but, I have not been able to narrow the search down to in store items only.
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Agreed, the WM online shopping experience is definitely not the best.
Tried it once and then ordered the same item from Amazon, much easier.
HD curbside, the experience varies from store to store. Didn't care much for their online purchase experience.
BB&B, again not my first choice.

What about the ranking for the Canadian motorcycle stores?
Fortnine/GP Bikes/Royal Distributing/Motostarz/Twisted Throttle .....etc.

What has been your experience?
 
oioioi said:
I find the WalMart site to be horrible.

When ever I just want to search if WM has something, ideally in store for in person purchase (pre-COVID), most of the search result come back with random items for 3rd and 4th and 6th .... party sellers. In this case you could only order for shipping and in most cases those items are "unavailable". But somehow they end up at the top of the search results.

I don't visit that site often but, I have not been able to narrow the search down to in store items only.
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Oh jezz I forgot how bad Walmart site is.

Same thing as you, lots of "other" seller offerings, and with it outrageous pricing. I was looking for a keyring, just a basic metal loop, I was getting results for $30 for a keyring!!!

The other problem, stuff is labelled as grocery item, somehow a shower curtain is labelled as a grocery item, which means they won't ship it and you have to reserve a spot at the store. ?‍♂️
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