I dropped my van off at Canadian Tire this morning to have my winter tires swapped out for my summer tires. That was my first mistake.

The Bad: I dropped by to pick up my van, I paid for the service, I got in my van, and I drove home, just as I expected. What I didn’t expect was what I saw when I got out at my house. I stepped back to take a broader view of the van with the summer tires installed and noticed that they were not my summer tires. Not only were they not my summer tires; they were not anybody’s summer tires. They were winter tires. But not my winter tires. My winter tires were in the van behind the back seat. Canadian Tire, in their infinite expertise, replaced my winter tires with somebody else’s winter tires.

The Good: I went back into Canadian Tire with my van. Neil, the manager on duty, listened to my story with near disbelief. “I don’t know if I was given the wrong tires when I bought my winters in December, or if I got the wrong ones today when you changed them back, but at some point somebody gave me the wrong tires.” He was appalled that someone there made such a mistake, so he personally went looking for my tires. He came back without them. Yup, they must have made the mistake in December and I unknowingly went home with someone else’s discarded old winter X-Ice tires. So, he made an executive decision to give me new tires, and off he went to take care of the next crisis. The clerk proceeded to find my new tires. Hmmm…. of all the tires they have, there was only one brand with a full set in stock. Their best. Michelin Destiny. Another check with the manager and the decision was made. They were replacing my adopted X-Ice tires with brand spanking new high quality tires. “Come back in an hour, sir, and we’ll have your van ready.” I’m a happy camper.

The Ugly: I wandered back into the service area about 45 minutes later. I notice that the service agent was putting my winter tires back on the car! I called the clerk over and had him correct the near mistake. Man! So I wander around the store for about 15 minutes and come back to the service desk when I think the van should be ready. There’s a hustle-bustle about. I hear murmurs… “Who approved it? Why did you give him the high end Michelins? Did you check his receipt?” I approach the counter and they see me. “Sir, when did you say you had the winter tires installed? Last December?” They searched and searched, but could find no record of me purchasing winter tires, or having any installed, in December 2007. They could only find a record of me getting tires switched over in December 2006, but no record of a purchase of tires in December 2007. I apparently bought a headlight, but no tires. I insisted, I did buy tires in December. I bought them at that very store, and I had them installed there. In fact, it was the same employee who sold them to me. They searched again. More murmurs, more shuffling about. I asked again… “What’s the problem? Do you not believe that I purchased my tires here?” They clerk, who was so friendly and helpful before, could say nothing but “I can’t discuss this, sir. You’ll have to speak with the manager.” What the fuck?!? They think I’m scamming them. More shuffling, more murmurs. Now everyone working there and everyone waiting to be served thinks I scammed Canadian Tire out of 4 tires.

I owe them 20 bucks (some sort of government tire disposal tax). So as I’m paying that, I insist one more time, “You guys think I’m lying?” The clerk said, “There’s no record of your service, sir. We are just being careful, but the decision to give you the tires was already made. Have a good night.” I was fuming. I rushed home, got online and went through my VISA statements. Yup, there it was. $570.09 on December 1, 2007, right next to the $43.29 at the same store (this one was for the headlight). I quickly called them up, asked for the manager, and told him I found evidence of my purchase. He asked if I could bring that in sometime, and I suggested “right now”. The store was closed, but he said he’d wait outside.

I arrived 5 minutes later, online printout in hand. I approached him and showed it to him. I told him that Canadian Tire managed to take a mistake and turn it into good service with the decision to take care of their mistake, but then turned around and ruined that by all but accusing me of stealing four tires. I was never so humiliated and I really didn’t appreciate the public display of doubt that served no purpose but to make me look bad. He said they were just being careful and couldn’t understand why their records didn’t show that purchase. I said “I don’t care about your records. I don’t know about your records. Maybe someone got lazy and entered Joe Schmo for my name and 555-1234 for my phone number. But I bought those tires here and someone in your store messed up and gave me somebody else’s tires. So, why do I feel like a criminal?”

He couldn’t apologize enough. I really couldn’t fault him. He was the one who made the decision to right the first wrong. Then he made the decision to upgrade the tires because the others weren’t available. He did what he thought was right. He apologized again and said he would talk with the manager the next day. I just might call and give the manager shit too.

So…. how was your day?