Canadian Appliance Source

Appliance Retailers
Toronto ON M9W 1B6
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HomeStars  >  Appliance Repair in Toronto  >  Canadian Appliance Source  >  Fridge,Wall Oven-Microwave, Cooktop, Rangehood, Flue Extension cover, Washer & Dryer
Peter from Oshawa
Peter from Oshawa
4 reviews , ON
1/10

Fridge,Wall Oven-Microwave, Cooktop, Rangehood, Flue Extension cover, Washer & Dryer

We bought our Weber BBQ from this store a few years back and they gave us a good deal and good service at the time so we decided to use them again for the appliances for our new home.

We already knew what we wanted ahead of time so we went in with a list of model #'s and prices. We ended up saving about $2500 over retail pricing and the experience was straight forward and hassle-free. A preliminary delivery date was set and that was it. We placed the order with them 2 months before our new place closed.

A few weeks went by and I decided to call the salesman to see if there were any issues. He assured me that everything was on schedule. A week before delivery I called again to confirm the delivery date and to ensure there were no surprises. This time the salesman stated that the wall oven and range hood were on backorder. The wall oven was delayed until a week after the initial delivery date and the range hood wasn't supposed to arrive until mid-December yet we ordered these items 2 months in advance! This entire time we did not receive a single phone call advising us of this issue. Electrolux Canada stated that the range hood is a special order item. I came to find out that they did not order the items until 2 weeks prior to the delivery date. If they would have ordered the range hood when we went into the store we would have had it on the scheduled day of delivery.

Anyway, waiting until mid-December for the range hood was out of the question so we ordered it online from the U.S. instead. We received it in less that a week.

Their delivery department sent an e-mail the day before the scheduled delivery date and stated they would call before showing up. The day of the delivery we received no call but the truck did show up within the scheduled time window. Out of all the appliances we ordered we only received 3. The bill of lading showed that the washer and dryer were on the truck but in fact the washer was actually missing. They attributed this to a “glitch” in the system. The delivery guys were friendly and careful not to damage anything in the house. There was confusion with the invoice amount owing as well. I had to tell them what the outstanding amount was and stated that we would not pay for anything that wasn’t delivered. They had to call the office and confirm the amount owing not including the missing appliances.

I called the store the following Monday (they’re closed on Friday & Saturday) to find out what was going on with the missing washer and wall oven. They stated that the washer and wall oven would be delivered on Wednesday. I then told them to cancel the range hood since we managed to obtain one elsewhere.

Wednesday came and we received a call from the delivery guys in the Truck who were waiting outside the house. The sidewalks had been poured the day before so there was no access to the driveway for the truck to pull in. They were trying to convince us to have them come back when the driveway was accessible since they did not want to carry the appliances from the street. They were told this was not an option since the driveway would not be accessible for at least a week. They reluctantly unloaded the wall oven and dryer and brought it into the house. This delivery crew was different from the first crew. They had no regard for being careful with the floors and walls inside the house. Both of them were wearing heavy construction boots (with the cover booties) and did not seem to care about the wood floors. They had careless and ignorant attitudes and thought it was ok to drag the heavy boxes over smooth porcelain tiles in the kitchen. The hardwood floor installer that was there even had to tell them to be more careful. It seemed to fall on deaf ears though. The first delivery crew were a lot more attentive and professional. The second crew were more like a pair of high school part-timers.

Once again there was confusion about what was owing on the invoice. Yet once again I had to tell them what the amount was and they had to call the office (once again!!) to confirm.

In the end, we received all but one of the appliances. All were undamaged except for the fridge which had a slight dent at the side in the back (it wasn’t worth the trouble sending it back for a new one since it won’t be seen anyway) However, the nonsense and incompetence we had to go through was unacceptable. It seemed like once the salesman got his sale we were on our own. As stated before, not a single phone call was received from them to tell us there were issues with the order. We had to chase them.

Our previous appliance experience (with Home and Rural who are no longer in business) was flawless. This ordeal was a disorganized nightmare.

Needless to say we will never set foot in their store or purchase a single solitary item from them ever again. One would think that spending so much money at once would garner some professionalism and service but that does not appear to be the case here.

Approximate cost of services:
$15,000.00
What could this company do to improve their services?
Improve customer service.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Company Response

I'm sorry you had so much confusion with your experience and that it wasn't more similar to your first time shopping with us. I located your order number and discussed it with the salesman who personally dealt with you and the staff member who coordinated the delivery. I was able to clear up part of what went wrong in your case. It won't change your experience but at least you will hopefully receive a bit more clarity into why things didn't go as you had hoped. I think the first thing that complicated matters was that it was a special order. There are only a few retailers in the industry willing to take on special orders, whereas some won't make them available at all and others, like one of our big-box competitors, drops most of the commission when a sales rep sells a special order rather than pushing the customer to what they currently have in stock, sitting in their warehouses. And even those dealers that do purchase special orders from the manufacturer, do not order and pay the supplier for it until close to the actual delivery date. They don't want to be stuck with the special order sitting in their own warehouse if the customer cancels the order. So, I know just how annoying it must have been for you and and it's unfortunate that orders aren't placed earlier in this industry. It's one of the many quirks of the appliance industry. So, I do want to point out that because we're one of the few retailers that do take special orders we naturally assume more risk upon ourselves for when things go wrong with the manufacturers ability to supply the special order. However, we continue offering special orders to our customers because we receive hundreds of them each week and 99% of the time the entire process is smooth and uncomplicated. In some situations, such as yours, things don't work out quite as we had anticipated and we have to clean up the mess. For that I truly apologize and I hope we regain your patronage one day.

A second apology I'd like to offer is in regards to the delivery team. Throughout most of the year we are able to rely just on our personal delivery teams. As you noted, they have high standards and are very careful with our customers' property. But, there are certain weeks within the year, such as holiday weeks, where there are so many deliveries, that we have to hire a third-party delivery team. We're constantly trying to find the best companies to use and your feedback really helps us narrow the selection. We've asked, and the general feedback we've received over the years is that customers would rather have their appliances shipped earlier by a third-party team than wait until our personal (and more reliable) team can deliver it. So, again, I regret that you had a rough experience with the third-party delivery team and I can only offer you the knowledge that we're using your feedback constructively in regards to choosing delivery teams in the future.

If there's any other way we can make it up to you, please contact me at cs@canadianappliacesource.ca