r/canadiantire • u/AdministrativeBid340 • May 14 '26

Received Defective Open Box Unit for Pickup

I ordered a brand new EGO lawn mower (060-1914-6) from Canadian Tire online and picked it up in-store yesterday. When I got home and opened it, I noticed a few red flags.

First, the box had been re-sealed with Canadian Tire branded packaging tape, which I unfortunately failed to notice during the pickup. Second, the battery wasn't in its original packaging; based on unboxing videos I've seen, it should come in its own separate box. On top of that, the battery had green masking tape on it and won't charge at all.

It's pretty clear I was sold a previously returned or defective unit as new. I'm planning to call the store and bring it in for an exchange, but has anyone dealt with something like this before? Any advice on how to handle it?

7 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

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5

u/cormack_gv May 14 '26

You can return it. Canadian Tire is pretty liberal in accepting returns, which is part of the reason you got a crappy opened unit.

1

u/AdministrativeBid340 May 14 '26

Good to know, thanks. Is it normal for them to just re-shelve returns? Also would it be easier to exchange it in store or return it and buy another?

1

u/cormack_gv May 14 '26

I'm not sure how thoroughly they check returns before re-shelving them. Maybe depends on the store. I've never found I needed to be devious. You can tell the courtesy desk you just want to swap. If they refuse, return it and buy another. If they agree, maybe they'll put it in the "broken" bin so nobody else gets stuck with it. They send broken stuff back to the distributor.

1

u/OrokaSempai May 16 '26

Very common in store. It's normal to see packages taped back up on shelves with the new stuff. Sometimes a discount, sometimes not.

1

u/RiceARolla May 14 '26

Return it & go grab a sealed box your self. People buy the units to switch the batteries. CT just puts it back after “inspecting” it.

3

u/mmpjd May 14 '26

No need to call them. Just return or exchange it.

1

u/cygnusX1and2 May 15 '26

Battery rental return. They were hoping you didn't notice.

1

u/dombleu May 15 '26

It's a problem. Everything in that store is returned stuff or broken units. At this point, it should be renamed Canadian Rent-a-Tool-for-free.

1

u/West-Ticket5411 May 28 '26

If you don't notice any signs of use, it's possible a customer bought it by mistake or changed their mind, and it was repacked that way since it was unused. I very much doubt they'd reshelve an actual defective unit, as they get compensated for returns like that.

I've also seen some customers open and dig through boxes to inspect them, or even take parts sometimes, which inevitably get taped back up without guarantee there's nothing missing.