Princess Auto

A month ago, when Hurricane Lee was predicted to hit the Atlantic provinces, and having previously gone through some long periods without power - we decided to we should buy a inverter generator. Princess Auto is one of my favorite store chains. So, on Friday, Sept. 15 at 10am I purchased online the ONE remaining Hyundai 4,800W Gasoline Inverter Generator that was IN-STOCK at your Moncton, NB. location, and chose the option for IN-STORE pick up. (I live an hour from this store and did not want it to be sold before I could get to the city). At 10:19am I received an “Order Received – In Progress” confirmation email. Next, I waited for a “Processing Update” and/or a “Ready for Pick-up” email. I waited and waited… nothing. After 3 hours I called the Moncton store at 1:20pm to inquire if they could check on my purchase. The Help Desk person forwarded me to a second staff member, who despite my explanation that this was the last unit IN-STOCK at her Moncton location – told me “That’s not the way it works. If you buy something ONLINE, it has to be shipped to their store before I could pick it up”. My frustration with the situation has now been multiplied by this employee refusing to listen to me and telling me that “I’m wrong”. At this point I asked to speak to a manager. Here I was transferred to a very pleasant gentleman named Grant. I explained my situation and what the previous employee told me. He apologized for the confusion, said he would speak to the employee, but could not do anything about the speed of the online processing. He said sometimes the financial approval takes some time. I thanked him and stated I would continue to wait for the approval. I waited 3 MORE hours and still no email stating my item was ready. So, at 4pm I decided to drive the hour to Moncton to try to pick up my purchase and hopefully cancel the online order. I arrived at 5pm, and again proceeded explain my situation. I asked if I could purchase the in-stock generator now and cancel my order, and was told “absolutely”. So, things are looking up? No. The search begins for the ONE generator that your inventory system shows IN-STOCK. I didn’t get his name, but one employee really tried for a half hour to find the item… unsuccessfully. After all this hassle, there is no matching generator here. After placing the order 7 HOURS ago - I can’t believe this is possible. He finds the Fredericton Princess Auto location also shows ONE of this exact item IN-STOCK, and he asked “if he could get that one held for me I would be interested?” It’s another hour & a half drive there & that again to get home, but I said “if Fredericton has one, I’ll consider the option”. He called and called before finally getting someone to answer. He identified himself as a Moncton employee and asked them to check if the desired item shown IN-STOCK was actually there. It was NOT. 2 Princess Auto stores showing ONE item left in inventory that didn’t exist. He apologized, said there was nothing else he could do. I thanked him for trying and left in extreme frustration, wondering how a company that I thought so highly of could put me through this. I spent the next few hours driving all over Moncton looking for a substitute, not finding a INVERTER generator anywhere. People carelessly use the term “the best” or “the worst” to describe nearly everything these days, but I can say without hesitation, this was THE WORST purchase experience in my lifetime… PERIOD. Nothing else I can recall even comes close. I have bought SO many things online, selected ‘pick up in-store’, and everything was effortless. No long system delays for financial approval, zero hours and hours waiting for the item to be ready, zero employees telling me “I’m wrong”, and driving an hour out of my way for an item I purchased that isn’t really in-stock. Princess Auto's website has a feedback form. I submitted the above detailed complaint to them one month ago and I have NOT received so much as a 'sorry' or 'we'll look in to'... nothing. My suggestion is DO NOT buy anything from Princess Auto online.

Horrible customer service. We ended up having a product with no bar code. Cashier would not call for someone to get another one. He just stood there and said there was no bar code. I said call someone to find another one. He didn't budge. I had to go search for another one. Thank goodness there was only one left and it had the bar code. This Cashier could hardly speak English. Not sure if he could understand what I was saying as well.

Kim was absolutely incredible! Even though what we came in for was out of stock she helped us find 3 options as close as could be and after our equipment broke down and just a terrible previous day she really made us feel important and valued! Thank you Kim for your hard work and for helping us smile through a tough time! Love this place and will always be mine and my husband’s first stop! Great prices and incredible staff!

My father has been shopping here for years. On our most recent visit, he was looking for a drill bit set. It was not the correct price as listed in the flyer. We got an employee and explained she said she would need the flyer, so I opened it up on my phone at which point she scoffed at me and told me they would only accept a print flyer as proof of the price. This is literally your own sale ad not another store. Sadly we won't be shopping here again.