Canadian Tire and "Our Policy Is..."

I have been involved with an on going sequence of escalating frustration of events with a Canadian institution in the automotive retail industry, Canadian Tire. I purchased months ago 4 new all season tires with full replacement warranty and dynamic balancing which cost me close to $1,000. At first I notice that two of the tires kept losing air faster than normal. Being proactive I brought the car back to Canadian Tire. They checked the tires and said nothing was wrong and charged me for the labour and balancing. I found this doubtful but off I went after reluctantly paying this small bill. Then a couple of months later, while I was out of the country, my wife who was just minutes from entering a busy highway on-ramp found herself driving on the rim. The tire was flat and was now being damaged by the rim. She called a road side assistance company who charged her $70. to change the tire. She went to Canadian Tire and they very quickly replaced the tire and paid the bill for the road side assistance but charged us for the labour, balancing and a new replacement warranty. They claimed that the seal on the rim was the problem and promised that they used more sealant this time. 1 month later, the other tire moments before entering the same on-ramp is flat and coming off the rim. We called Canadian Tire this time from the road to come help us and they said they can't it is not "Our Policy to do service for you at the road, bring the tire to us and we can check it.." "I understand was my response but you need to understand the history before you say no and she interruptted me again with "Our Policy is..." I was short with her and disconnected our call. We then called the same company as before and went to Canadian Tire with the flat tire and a new $70. bill for road side service. Now this time we got attitude from the young girl at the desk who said "Our Policy" numerous times as a method to interrupt my explanation of the series of events. I suspect she is the same girl we spoke to on the phone days earlier. The end result, they did not replace the tire, they resealed it and charged me for labour and balancing again. We paid and left to experience a flat again two days later driving home from the office. We pulled into a nearby Active Green and Ross tire center and incurred a $34. bill but well worth it, these guys stayed late after their posted hours to help us out and provided a free 6 month warranty that this tire will not leak air. Wow! I write this post not to complain because we have done this already to Canadian Tire weeks ago in writing and they didn't even have the customer service responsiveness of a top notch company like Active Green & Ross to even reply to our letter. Their lack of response says it all.

I have written about the importance of great customer service before in my blog. It is not only a great differentiation from your competition, customers are prepared to pay more for high level service and they will become repeat customers and refer your business to their family and friends.

With the explosion of the Internet Socialization with the advent of such online venues as YouTube and Facebook and my blog, businesses need to understand that the consumer is now in control of your image and your brand. They can create an online viral marketing campaign that can kill your brand over night. As business owners, we need to ensure we are using a professional that can manage our online brand. The world has changed and there are new rules to marketing today because of the Internet. The days of the amateur is over. Like my business with Canadian Tire is now over. I hope the small money Canadian Tire makes on the labour they charge customers will help them grow their business against the loss of thousands of dollars I would spend in a lifetime multiplied by how many people read my blog post and Facebook rants.