I've never had good luck with Canadian Tire customer service. Every time I've attempted to return or exchange something it always ends up being a hassle and an exercise in keeping my patience. Tonight was no different.
I bought 8 strings of Christmas lights four years ago and when I went to power them up this year (yes, I'm one of those awful people who leave their lights up year round) they were flickering. But not flickering in a nice festive way but flickering to induce a seizure way. So this evening out comes the ladder and I start taking down 280 bulbs. Bundle them up, grab the receipt, a photocopy of the box they came in (which proved to be very helpful) and off to Canuck Tire to get them replaced.
Get there and without even looking at my receipt the clerk says "no, they're out of warranty". OK, her extraordinary skill of determining both the vintage of a product and its original warranty need some tuning. I show her the receipt, she goes to her computer and after a little typing says the warranty has expired. I show her the copy of the box that indicates the warranty period to be five years. Hmmmm she says. Hmmmmm I reply, and add "so, can I get my replacement lights now?". No, she tells me I need the box they came in. WHAT THE F$@%??? I think I'm being anal retentive to save a photocopy of the box, I'm sure as heck not going to keep the boxes themselves! Tell her I'll take the replacement lights and she can keep the boxes from those. Now she's getting angry with me since I keep knocking off her objections to just exchange the damn lights. Finally she relents and does the right thing and honors the warranty.
I know stores need to be watchful of fraud but it just slays me how difficult Canadian Tire makes it for their customers.