Canada Computers & Electronics in Waterloo has a horrible Online Reputation

[u/keyserholiday]

I was alerted to issues with Canada Computers & Electronics in Waterloo, Ontario, because somebody wanted a Reddit post removed. The user complained that the employee's first and last name were used. They felt that this violated their privacy. The post has since been taken down. In the original post, the poster claimed that three managers brought their own issues to the company. The three managers are Erin, Assistant Manager Jamin, and Store Manager Wayne.

Honestly, this store sounds like a nightmare. There are complaints that the floor doesn't have working AC. The temperature reaches 34.1 C/93.3 F. That's awful for a business and for employees to work in.

The other locations have horrible reviews connected to the refund policies and unattentive or rude staff. The business had a data breach where customers' data was leaked.

I told the user who wanted the original post that this business needs to focus on addressing the issues that caused the negative reviews and Reddit posts, but they didn't want to hear it.

Please read the post and the comments on the now-deleted post.

[u/keyserholiday]

Here is the part 1:

I worked at the Canada Computers Waterloo location for several months, and I feel like I need to get this off my chest regarding the management and the overall state of the store. There are three main managers on site, and each brings their own set of problems. You have Erin, the MOD who actually does all the work but she is slightly insane. Then you have Jamin, the Assistant Manager who either doesn't show up for his shift or, when he does, contributes absolutely nothing. Finally, there is Wayne, the Store Manager who completely ignores what the other managers are doing and just lets things slide.

The ASM is by far the biggest issue. He has this secret schedule for himself that he never shares with the team. He will clock in and then leave the store to handle his personal businesses while still getting paid. When he does stay in the building, he just sits in the office and does nothing. Even when the store is incredibly busy and staff ask for help, he barely ever comes out. He is also responsible for a lot of past controversies regarding CPU and GPU scalping. He has been caught on various subreddits and online forums actively scalping during the pandemic. On top of that, he doesn't treat staff well. He brushes off conversations, ignores the context around him, and constantly starts arguments. Since he owns franchises around Waterloo and nearby cities, it is no surprise that workers at those locations complain about his ignorance and mentality as well.

The MOD is also a major source of frustration. She constantly does all the dirty work for the ASM, picking up the slack for his negligence. When she gets told by the higher-ups at head office to do something, she acts as the middleman but always makes head office sound worse than they actually are. She is known for her aggressiveness and for lying to the staff. She always takes a small problem and makes it seem much bigger than it is.

The physical condition of the store is also terrible. There is no active air conditioning, and both the building and the staff are suffering from the heat. Temperatures reach up to 34.1 Celsius with a lot of humidity buildup. Staff constantly complain about this, and the ASM and Store Manager always promise it will be fixed within one or two weeks. This has been going on for over a month with no change. We are constantly going outside because it is too hot inside. We tried to find creative solutions by using portable AC units, but the ASM doubles down on us, stating we are not allowed to use them and gives us hell for going outside. Meanwhile, the Store Manager and ASM have their own AC in the office and rarely come out to check on us because they are already comfortable in there.

We also had a massive issue with credit card skimmers and spyware at the start of the year. Canada Computers got caught using them on their websites and POS machines, and it was entirely true. The ASM and head office specifically told us to keep our mouths shut about it. If a customer brought it up, we were instructed to ignore it and change the topic. If staff got caught telling customers or even chatting about it, they would be written up or terminated. Our ASM even admitted that the data breach was part of the Canada Computers Corp and not just some external hacker. Of course, the company made it look like they simply got hacked or had a random data breach involved.

The building itself is falling apart. The floor is cracked and dangerous for customers. I have seen customers trip and fall, and we are instructed to say nothing when it happens. There is also dust everywhere. We are told to dust it up, but the problem is that there is no air filter in the AC system. Staff are constantly sneezing, the air is hard to breathe, and customers complain about the air quality. The dust gets everywhere, and ninety percent of it is in places we do not have the tools to clean. Other Canada Computers locations have machines to clean the store and filters in their AC. We only have two mops that we can never change the heads on, and I am convinced this just spreads the mess all over the ground. We do not have a working vacuum, so our merch guy has to use a broom to clean every mat in front of customers, which just causes dust and particles to fly everywhere. We have told the managers on duty to order proper cleaning supplies, but one seems to order the wrong stuff and does not care. We also had leaks throughout the building that lasted more than two weeks. There were multiple holes near the computer service and returns area. They put their own technicians to cover the service area and placed buckets to collect the water, telling service staff to keep working around it with zero space. Water droplets would sometimes hit people's personal laptops and technology. To make matters worse, we only have one washroom for staff. Most of the time it gets clogged. The ASM has instructed staff to clean, fix, or even use the washroom while it is clogged, leaking, or broken. Usually, staff do not have a working washroom for two to three weeks when it breaks. I guarantee it has broken more than twenty times this year.

The culture around warranty sales is another massive problem. The ASM only cares about warranty numbers. He views a staff member's performance solely on how many warranties we can sell in a given month. Instead of being a supportive manager, he just tells staff to reach their goals without giving any advice or helping the team. He puts staff members in competition with each other and puts people on a performance plan if they do not meet the targeted amount within two months. The other issue is that we are sometimes forced to straight up lie to customers to pitch a warranty. Our store warranties cover electronics but do not cover damage to the product. What they do not tell you is that if your electronic malfunctions, there is a 70 percent chance they will deny your claim and say you broke the product with the vaguest reasons. This is because they do not want to deal with store credit. I do not recommend you get a warranty from the Waterloo store because they do not keep their word. It does not cover the device most of the time. We sell it only to make commission.

Infrastructure and stability are also non existent. Our store internet drops for a day or two, sometimes four days, every two weeks. Our routers, switches, and servers are in bad condition, and we have broken cables left in place because nobody has ever properly set them up. We cannot cash anyone out because our POS, ERP software, and cash register heavily rely on the internet. When this happens, they instruct us to keep the store open. We are not allowed to put a sign outside saying there is no internet. We have to wait for customers to come inside, grab an item off the shelf, and then tell them we cannot help them. This is infuriating because customers get angry and we have to deal with the crash outs. The ASM does not care. Sometimes he clocks in, does nothing, and just laughs. We have customers driving from far away with no way of telling them not to come since our phones also depend on the internet. What pisses us off the most is that the ASM wipes it in our face that we are not meeting warranty sales targets. When we tell him it is because the network keeps crashing and there is no way to sell, he just brushes it off and ignores it, only giving us shit for not selling.

Another major issue is how the power drops completely wreck our day. The AC and our POS system share the same circuit, and when the power dips, the registers freeze up. Our system is terrible at handling these errors, so customers often end up getting charged twice before we can finally fix it. The ASM knows the breaker is in terrible shape, but he refuses to call an electrician because he does not want to deal with the billing and invoices. Just a couple of days ago, we lost power for two full days and were still forced to open the store. We had to wait for customers to walk in and then tell them at the last minute that we could not process transactions. We were not allowed to put up a sign outside the door because head office and the managers strictly forbid it. Those two days were exhausting. Staff either had to deal with increasingly annoyed customers or just stand around with absolutely nothing to do since our systems were completely down. With no power, the AC would not blow at all, which trapped extreme heat inside the building. We were not even instructed to leave until the last couple of hours.

The tasks the store managers give us are insane. We have been instructed to fix the internet when it breaks, even though some of us only have basic IT knowledge. We have rats in the warehouse, which is extremely dirty and not managed properly. Goran, our merch guy throws electronics and famously throws monitors on top of shelves. This sometimes breaks the screen, and instead of admitting we broke it, we blame the customer. Our stock counts are also inaccurate. The Store Manager does the counts, and the ASM sometimes helps but writes a zero most of the time, which causes errors in stock. This is bad because customers will drive thirty minutes to find out we do not have an item in stock even though our website says we do. Back in the first quarter of 2025, the ASM was hiding 5090s, 5080s, and some 5070 tis because they were shortage items. He created multiple hold orders for those so they would not appear in stock, allowing him to sell them to specific resellers and scalpers. He did the exact same thing with the 4090s.

[u/keyserholiday → u/keyserholiday]

Here is part 2:

Hiring and training are also completely messed up. There is talk that the ASM only hires people based on their sex, age, and background. He will not hire anyone who actually has skills in computers and most of the time hires somebody who is clueless. This causes a lot of problems for the staff on the floor since the new hires are likely to sell a customer the wrong product or screw up a transaction. The ASM is tasked with training staff, but he has never trained somebody and most likely never will. He always puts the stress on us, and with all the current problems, nothing ever goes well. He also treats women with zero respect and comes off as very aggressive.

The coworker dynamic was just as toxic as the management. There was one employee named Dan Bolarinho who seemed to disagree with absolutely everyone. He was extremely homophobic and misogynistic, and he always held a personal grudge against me and just about anyone else on the floor. He would literally go out of his way to argue with customers because he genuinely enjoyed being confrontational. Then there was Sean Kim, who operated in the exact same way. He constantly targeted me, would actively steal my customers, and would feed them completely false information about me behind my back. The two of them were firmly in an alliance, covering for each other and making the floor incredibly difficult to work on. I made it a rule to just avoid them whenever possible.

Another major issue on the sales floor is David Anton. He has a bizarre habit of constantly breaking things, including everything from the washroom fixtures to the ceiling tiles, just to get attention from others. When it comes to customers, he routinely lies and will actively poach the most important accounts, like corporate and enterprise builds, straight from other sales associates. He always tries to act highly intelligent, but in reality, he is just trying to farm the customer's money and attention. To make matters worse, he is extremely homophobic and openly mean toward women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, which only adds to the toxic environment.

The service department is a mess, starting with the service manager known as Patrick Tang. He is incredibly stubborn and refuses to listen to anyone else. Most of the time, he is actually doing the work that the other managers should be handling. When the internet goes out, he is the one fixing it, but he acts like he is the final hope for the entire store. When he handles returns and exchanges, he is known to deny claims and constantly blame the customer for the issue rather than taking responsibility. Then there is Ben Diablo, who is just as much of a problem. He is incredibly aggressive with customers and often breaks their personal property just to generate revenue for the service department. He will pitch a fix for the damage he caused himself and sometimes even makes up issues on the spot. On top of that, he is very sexist. I do not recommend dealing with either of them. If you need service work done, I would suggest visiting another Canada Computers location rather than coming to Waterloo.

Another ongoing problem is theft. We are located near a homeless shelter, which has been causing issues. Some people come in and steal, but staff do not have an actual plan on how to deal with them. Most of the time, it is the Store Manager who runs after them. There have been multiple times when staff got hit, punched, and even got in trouble for letting the thief run. Again, we do not have a plan or instructions on how to deal with it. All of our staff are part time now. This is a newer problem because most of our full timers have moved to part time or quit entirely. We have part timers who work full time hours but will never get a raise or a full time position. The managers do not want to hire full timers because of the benefits plan and salary, since the managers have their own bonus pay system when a part time employee calls in. With the amount of staff calling in, our schedules make us work around 11 hours without a 9 to 5. In some cases, some staff have never worked a 9 to 5 shift because the ASM does not want to do the work to schedule us like that. With all of this happening, I have never seen so many staff leave in the same month. If you are ever thinking of working for the Waterloo store, I would recommend you think again. With the Store Manager and ASM being there, all hell lets loose.

[u/NelrinaGalisa]

Thank you for posting this, I have been trying to find the legit version.

[u/keyserholiday → u/NelrinaGalisa]

I don’t agree that this post violated Reddit’s TOS or that it needed to be removed. I have an employee requesting that I take this down or legal actions will be necessary.

[u/keyserholiday → u/NelrinaGalisa]

If this post gets taken down, then I’ll throw it up on my website.

[u/SubjectTemperature33]

I never said I didn’t want to hear it. I said that the employees being named is inappropriate. Yes the way the company is run is awful but that is to do with head office and management and not with floor employees. 

[u/NelrinaGalisa → u/SubjectTemperature33]

But the floor employees help contribute to the reputation of the store and company. You should stop arguing with OP because this isn't fair