canadacomputers.com

Buyer Beware - Major Hassles Ahead!

I dropped over $1000 at Canada Computers Ottawa Downtown (Laurier Ave W) in February 2026 for a 15.6" touchscreen laptop with USB-C external monitor support, needed for my business. It took 3 laptops for staff to achieve my very straight forward & clear request.1st laptop: Staff pushed one that didn't handle external displays at all. Time lost troubleshooting, buying new cables; it never had the capacity to support external displays.2nd laptop: $50 more. Verified with their tech on site that it supported external display. Get it home, it has no touchscreen. Two days later display/driver fails. Google search - common issue for that model.Store vibe was sloppy, not chill. Staff yapping about Olympics & trading cards & video games instead of customers. One even hit me with "hoping not to see you again" like me having to make daily trips and returns were a joke.I escalated to corporate with receipts, timeline, everything. Got solid responses from agent John and Assistant Manager Tony: agreed to straight exchange on the defective unit—no restocking fee, even without the box. It's defective.3rd Laptop: I took the second laptop back, paid another $50 for a working Samsung Galaxy Book4 360 (finally right specs). Why this model wasn't first offered is beyond me. I made it clear I expected a $50 credit, even after the fact for this major inconvenience. I wanted straight exchange, not extra. It's sloppy sales cost me time & money. I escalated that request directly with corporate offices, myself. Store credit was my expectation after the fact.The next day, GM calls: "Corporate approved the exchange, but 10% restocking fee for missing packaging --$70.He acknowledged my request for goodwill on the $50+ difference but wasn't clear if it was approved or not, jumped straight to fee. So either they "approve" the $50 credit (net ~$20 + tax out of pocket) or I eat the full $70 + tax, on top of their failures, to get what I should've had days earlier. He said he would order the new laptop for me. I did not stop him. I let him talk & said good bye.I already had the replacement laptop from the day-before agreement. I'd been without a working laptop for 3 days when I rushed to replace it. Urgency was vital. This GM fella calls me on day 4 telling me to pay him to take back a broken laptop, wait some more & thanks for shopping at Canada Computers.Absolute absurd logic: charge the customer to correct your own repeated mistakes.Some staff (Tony, techs, John,) tried to help, but the GM's clueless call exposes the real problem: this store runs on chaos, zero internal communication, and will nickel-and-dime people who get burned by their bad advice and defective stock. The young man who made the first error that sent me down this road was eager, and he earnestly tried to help. It was evident to me on laptop 2 he was out of his depth. Unbusy staff didn't try to engage with us or support him. That's negligent training and a poor team dynamic. That's a management down issue. Most all the staff I interacted with tried. But they are working in an environment that retards effective customer service and resolutions.I've emailed corporate again, because clearly the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Certainly corporate did not tell him, after corporate facilitated the return, that I would have to pay a restocking fee. GM was late to the game. His ignorance played his hand to the wrong customer. He's not holding much.I have a working computer. I made sure to buy the warranty, so I'm good until it needs replacing.I can't see why I'd ever make any large purchase there ever again. I'm not holding my breath that corporate will address or rectify any of this.I would strongly advise ALL to think twice & go somewhere else if looking to buy a computer. You'll get better customer resolution from faceless Amazon than you will from the fool running this store.

Date of experience: Feb 18, 2026