When you look at Canada Computers prices you will see that many items have a slightly lower price than any other retailer or e-tailer. DO NOT BE FOOLED! They achieve this by reselling products returned by users who have found that the product was defective or non-functioning at purchase. When these products are returned, the customer is charged a restocking fee yet Canada Computers does not label these returned products with an open box discount (only %5) like they should and is the only reason why a restocking fee should be charged. I cannot even imagine the condition of items that classify for an open box discount.
I was a victim of being sold one of these used products from the manager of the Canada Computers store I shopped at. When I asked for a motherboard, he pulled the motherboard I wanted off the shelf then reached behind the motherboard to the left of the one he took down. His hand emerged with the same model of motherboard and returned the one he had taken off the shelf first, to its original position. Unlike some of the Canada Computers stores in Ontario, he did not let me inspect the motherboard before purchase. When I got my parts home, I realized that my power supply was too short for my new case which I had also purchased with the motherboard. I had to wait 3 days before having the chance of getting back into town to purchase a new power supply.
After finally getting a new power supply, I assembled my computer and I inspected my motherboard for the first time. Upon inspection, I found signs of wear near the mounting holes but thought nothing of it since I would never think a retail store that has been around for so long would swindle someone like this. After installation, the motherboard worked fine for 2 days until, out of the blue, it crashed and the motherboard had an exposed trace causing it to run improperly. I had to wait 2 days before taking it back to the store as it is a long somewhat long drive and I do not personally own a car.
When I brought my motherboard into the store, I had to wait 5-10 minutes in line for some customer service. After the wait I explained my situation to a "technician". He was absolutely confused as to what would have caused such a thing to happen. While the employee walked away during the examination, the manager whispered into the employees ear and the employee walked to the front of the store for upwards of 5-7 minutes. When he returned he was fiddling with a trace he removed from my motherboard in those 5-7 minutes. He proceeded to tell me that the motherboard had physical damage and was not fit for the stores' warranty. When I asked him why he damaged my motherboard, he claimed he did so because it did not work. I informed him that he had now voided my manufacturers warranty and he refused to do anything to remedy my situation. When I spoke to his manager he repeatedly stated that the motherboard had physical damage and was unfit for replacement by the store. This was the answer I received for every question I asked no matter how irrelevant it was to the in store warranty.
I proceeded to call their head office the next day and their human resources manager started an investigation. When I contacted her 2 days later, she told me that nothing can be done for me since I brought the motherboard in in a non-functioning state. She also claimed that the manager said that my motherboard had burn marks on it which was an outright lie.
Now I am out $150 because I was sold a defective and previously used product at full price. I warn everyone to stay away from Canada Computers as I have researched this issue and have seen multiple reports extremely similar to my own. This is not an isolated incident and has happened to many others. This is ridiculous that such a company would use such policies without facing the consequences or even taking responsibility for their actions.
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