(no subject)
We live on an acreage and have no well (yet). We use a cistern, which we have to fill ourselves due to bad service on the part of the only water guy who services our area (basically, he refuses to deliver to anyone who does anything to piss him off; not sure how that keeps him in business, but whatever).
We have a truck. It is a small truck; a 1991 Chevy S-10 pickup with a short box (but it was standard back then, apparently). We also have a 300 US gallon water tank that we can fill at the water treatment plant in the nearest town (which we can do for $3 for 250 Imperial gallons, which in case you were wondering is way more than our tank will hold). The tank is too much for our little truck, but we have a bunch of random stuff that the previous owner left behind, so my husband is working on fixing up a truck box trailer that he found in one of our fields so it will be useable for this purpose.
In order to hook the trailer up to the truck, we needed a hitch installed on the truck. The bumper (step-style) has a place for a hitch ball, but isn't strong enough to use for hauling much of anything, especially not 4,000 lbs of water (it says on it 2,000 lbs but it's probably not even good for that).
Juniper (my husband; yes that's his real name) decided to go to Canadian Tire for the hitch, as they have a fairly decent automotive place and did a good job on my car when we got it safetied and whatnot when we moved to Saskatchewan from Alberta. Most hitches are for longer boxes than the truck we have, so what we needed wasn't in stock.
They had to order the hitch and said it would be there in a week and they would call when it arrived.
A week later, there had been no call, so Juniper decided to call them instead of waiting. They said they'd have to look into it and they would call him back. (7 days post initial order)
Two days later, still no call back. Juniper called them again, and they said they would call him back.n (9 days post initial order)
They didn't call back, so Juniper went in the next day. It was after hours, so they would have to look into it the next day and would call him. (10 days post initial order)
Guess what? They didn't call! So Juniper called again, and was informed that they had no idea where the hitch was and would have to order him a new one. They promised it would be there by Friday afternoon. (11 days post initial order)
On Friday, Juniper went in, expecting his hitch to be there. It wasn't. They said they would look into it and - you guessed it - give him a call. (13 days post initial order)
This time they actually called! But bad news: they can't find the hitch. They shipped it via Purolator and didn't put a tracking number on it, so they didn't know where it was! They said they would get another one in three days and install it at their expense. (14 days post initial order)
Juniper went in on Wednesday, and the hitch was there! The tech took two and a half hours to install it, and he missed dinner. (Well, he still got to eat, but you know.) (18 days post initial order)
So then, Juniper tried to install the receiver, but it wouldn't fit. It was too short. This was the one they said to use. We needed a hitch extension! 4-6" would do, but we could only find 14" extensions, and that would have put too much torque on the hitch, which isn't a good plan when you're dealing with that much weight. Juniper was really late last night, looking for an extension that would work. (20 days post initial order)
And now we come to today, when we really find out how bad the service really was (and there's a bit of making it good, but omygoodness). (21 days post initial order)
We went into town today and went to a particular shop (Tiger Automotive, in Saskatoon) that sells all kinds of things to fix up your trucks - suspension kits, motor parts, front grills, etc. They didn't have the extension we needed, and it was going to take at least three weeks to get it in if they ordered it. So that wasn't going to work. But the wonderful staff there came out and had a look at the situation. The one guy wrote down the number on the hitch and went and looked it up in the catalog.
It was the wrong hitch. Remember how I said we have a Chevy S-10 truck with a step bumper? Yeah. The hitch Canadian Tire ordered in was for a Chevy S-10 Blazer. That is a very different vehicle from a pickup truck. No wonder it didn't work! Tiger had the right one in stock, too.
We went to Canadian Tire - well, Juniper went in and I wandered over to the other big box stores in that area - and nobody got murdered (which is good) or hit (also good). Canadian Tire took the old hitch off and bought the right one off Tiger and installed that for us. We have a $50 gift card so far, but there will be more in reparations at this point - it's just needing to come from corporate, not the store itself.
And that is the story of our truck hitch.
(In case you were curious, the first one that disappeared? It got sold twice and went to the other customer. The second one that disappeared? Yeah, they still don't know where it is.)
TL;DR: Canadian Tire never makes calls they say they will, loses two hitches that were special-ordered for our truck, then finally gets one in and installs it - sadly, it's the wrong hitch and we only find out thanks to good service at another shop. It's all okay in the end, though, as Canadian Tire ends up buying the correct hitch from the other shop and installing it for us free of charge, gives us a $50 gift card, and we're getting other stuff eventually to make up for the three-week hassle.
We have a truck. It is a small truck; a 1991 Chevy S-10 pickup with a short box (but it was standard back then, apparently). We also have a 300 US gallon water tank that we can fill at the water treatment plant in the nearest town (which we can do for $3 for 250 Imperial gallons, which in case you were wondering is way more than our tank will hold). The tank is too much for our little truck, but we have a bunch of random stuff that the previous owner left behind, so my husband is working on fixing up a truck box trailer that he found in one of our fields so it will be useable for this purpose.
In order to hook the trailer up to the truck, we needed a hitch installed on the truck. The bumper (step-style) has a place for a hitch ball, but isn't strong enough to use for hauling much of anything, especially not 4,000 lbs of water (it says on it 2,000 lbs but it's probably not even good for that).
Juniper (my husband; yes that's his real name) decided to go to Canadian Tire for the hitch, as they have a fairly decent automotive place and did a good job on my car when we got it safetied and whatnot when we moved to Saskatchewan from Alberta. Most hitches are for longer boxes than the truck we have, so what we needed wasn't in stock.
They had to order the hitch and said it would be there in a week and they would call when it arrived.
A week later, there had been no call, so Juniper decided to call them instead of waiting. They said they'd have to look into it and they would call him back. (7 days post initial order)
Two days later, still no call back. Juniper called them again, and they said they would call him back.n (9 days post initial order)
They didn't call back, so Juniper went in the next day. It was after hours, so they would have to look into it the next day and would call him. (10 days post initial order)
Guess what? They didn't call! So Juniper called again, and was informed that they had no idea where the hitch was and would have to order him a new one. They promised it would be there by Friday afternoon. (11 days post initial order)
On Friday, Juniper went in, expecting his hitch to be there. It wasn't. They said they would look into it and - you guessed it - give him a call. (13 days post initial order)
This time they actually called! But bad news: they can't find the hitch. They shipped it via Purolator and didn't put a tracking number on it, so they didn't know where it was! They said they would get another one in three days and install it at their expense. (14 days post initial order)
Juniper went in on Wednesday, and the hitch was there! The tech took two and a half hours to install it, and he missed dinner. (Well, he still got to eat, but you know.) (18 days post initial order)
So then, Juniper tried to install the receiver, but it wouldn't fit. It was too short. This was the one they said to use. We needed a hitch extension! 4-6" would do, but we could only find 14" extensions, and that would have put too much torque on the hitch, which isn't a good plan when you're dealing with that much weight. Juniper was really late last night, looking for an extension that would work. (20 days post initial order)
And now we come to today, when we really find out how bad the service really was (and there's a bit of making it good, but omygoodness). (21 days post initial order)
We went into town today and went to a particular shop (Tiger Automotive, in Saskatoon) that sells all kinds of things to fix up your trucks - suspension kits, motor parts, front grills, etc. They didn't have the extension we needed, and it was going to take at least three weeks to get it in if they ordered it. So that wasn't going to work. But the wonderful staff there came out and had a look at the situation. The one guy wrote down the number on the hitch and went and looked it up in the catalog.
It was the wrong hitch. Remember how I said we have a Chevy S-10 truck with a step bumper? Yeah. The hitch Canadian Tire ordered in was for a Chevy S-10 Blazer. That is a very different vehicle from a pickup truck. No wonder it didn't work! Tiger had the right one in stock, too.
We went to Canadian Tire - well, Juniper went in and I wandered over to the other big box stores in that area - and nobody got murdered (which is good) or hit (also good). Canadian Tire took the old hitch off and bought the right one off Tiger and installed that for us. We have a $50 gift card so far, but there will be more in reparations at this point - it's just needing to come from corporate, not the store itself.
And that is the story of our truck hitch.
(In case you were curious, the first one that disappeared? It got sold twice and went to the other customer. The second one that disappeared? Yeah, they still don't know where it is.)
TL;DR: Canadian Tire never makes calls they say they will, loses two hitches that were special-ordered for our truck, then finally gets one in and installs it - sadly, it's the wrong hitch and we only find out thanks to good service at another shop. It's all okay in the end, though, as Canadian Tire ends up buying the correct hitch from the other shop and installing it for us free of charge, gives us a $50 gift card, and we're getting other stuff eventually to make up for the three-week hassle.