Liquor Control Board of Ontario [LCBO]
Reviews and Complaints

On Wednesday the 21 December 2022, close to 3:00 pm, I noticed the sale price on the shelf for 500 ml of FAXE beer at the Port Elgin LCBO store was tagged at $2.20 per can. I decided to take a full set of twenty four (24) FAXE beer cans, which I calculated as being a total of $52.80.

At the check-out point the attendant rang in a total cost of $58.80. I asked why the price was so high and explained the tagged sales price on the shelf clearly showed the beer listed at a special price of $2.20 per can.

The assistant asked me to wait a moment, rushed away and produced the $2.20 per can price tag a short while later. She seemed a little confused and explained that she had to consult the manager.

When the manager appeared she explained that I could purchase one can at the special price of $2.20 and the remaining cans at the regular price of $2.45. When I indicated my intent to purchase all 24 cans at the identified price of $2.20 for each beer can the manager changed her mind and told me I could buy two cans out of the twenty four for $2.20, with the rest at a cost of $2.45 each. I again indicated my intention to purchase the 24 cans at the identified sale price.

I was then bombarded with statements on the store policy that the beer in question can only be sold at the regular price. I was now told to pay the regular price for all cans or do without, regardless of the mistake she admitted had been made in the store.

Then without another word and explanation the manager snatched the package containing all 24 cans and carried them away into the storage room. I was left standing empty handed feeling totally embarrassed with a large number of customers behind me witnessing the event.

Based on this unfortunate experience it would only be reasonable for the Port Elgin store manager to convey her personal apology for exhibiting such rudeness and making me feel totally embarrassed in public.

Additionally, I also consider it only fair and proper to honor the identified sale price of $2.20 per can of FAXE beer for the twenty four (24) cans I intended to purchase in the first place on my next visit to the Port Elgin LCBO store.

Your considered response is welcomed.

I recently tried making a private order for Coopers Australian Beer through the Canadian Supplier (United Distributors) in Calgary, Alberta.

I have made similar orders since 2016, when I moved to Canada from Australia, but in the past 2 years I have been unable to place a private order, mainly due to the new business practices of the LCBO, which are aimed at preventing private customers from ordering what they want.

I finally contacted United Distributors and was told that the LCBO now require a $2500.00 retainer/deposit paid either by the supplier or private customer before this order can be processed.

I am not sure about you? but as a working-class customer I cannot afford to pay $2500.00 for 2 cases of beer.

This is an appalling practice, and the public should be allowed to order without this atrocious business practice.

Within the last few months the lcbo in the renfrew county area including renfrew arnprior and pembroke have all been out of fireball. iam sure i dont need to go into details about adiction and things like that, The amount of money spent has been ridiculous iam putting this complaint to give you guys one month to fix this issue get fireball back in the storees i dont not care about companies fighting with each other nothing will ever be as good as fireball. if this is not done then i will prove to you that we the people can ruin your buisness that has been there for a long time i dont want to do that i just want fireball please fix issue iam sick of spending money on little bottles.

The incident happened July 15th at approx 2 p.m. in Sault Ste Marie, ON at the Great Northern Road LCBO.

I am a disabled senior and although I do not use a mobility device my walking and ability to carry items is impeded to a certain degree.

My granddaughter who is 18 accompanied me to the store. I bought a few coolers and a bottle of vodka as we were having guests from out of town.

I was starting feel that I might drop some of the coolers and so my granddaughter carried four of them for me.

The clerk informed me that I could no longer purchase the coolers my granddaughter was carrying as she was under age.

So I had to go to my car, come back in and purchase a different brand of coolers.

If this is the policy I understand to a certain degree. The issue is how rude the clerk was to myself and my granddaughter. There is no need to be rude. I had no idea of the policy nor was it my intent to skirt the rules, my disability made it difficult for me to carry the items and I had thought that I could, therefore I hadn't obtained a cart. It was very taxing as I have mobility issues to go to the car and walk back in to get the alternate coolers. I told the clerk that she didn't have to be so rude and that I found it offensive, she and I quote here said " I am sorry if you perceived me as being rude", which is a standard trained response and means the person can be as rude as they want, but they are telling me that my perception is incorrect.

I hope that this person can receive some training on Common Service Standards and is not treating other customers as I was treated. As a government agency I would expect a more professional manner to customers. As a note my 18 year old granddaughter could not believe how rude this individual was.

Hi there, I'd like some information on how long does it take to fill out a commercial license order? Our orders are taking on average a week to fill. Today's order for example was faxed in on Tuesday April 19th with a note I'd be picking up on Friday April 22nd. My order was 7 loose bottles and 5 cases of wine. After showing up this afternoon and my order wasn't even started I was frustrating. I decided to pick it myself which took me under 2 minutes. I made aware to a staff member that it would be way faster if they grabbed me my 5 cases of wine from the back rather than having me grab the loose bottles off the selves. This would definitely slow things at the till as the teller would have to box each case. It's something I prefer not to do but if things take too long I have no choice as I too have a business to run. I can't sell what I don't have! We're all short staff but that's still no excuse for how long we've been waiting on orders. I feel as a commercial customer I'm being ignored.

Hi There,

From last December, I cannot get the aeroplan bonus after I purchased the liquor at LCBO. I followed the instruction to add the detail of my order and my aeroplan number to the url which LCBO applied in the order email, but until now I got nothing.

I contacted LCBO through phone and email by many times, but they just said online purchase didn't have the bonus. When I asked why after shopping, LCBO sent me the email to fill my aeroplan number and my order detail to add bonus, no one replied me any more.

Please help me to refund those bonus which I should have. Attached is my order list which missed the aeroplan points and my chatting history with LCBO.

On March 27 at 3:30pm I shopped at the LCBO located at 1280 Bath Road in Kingston Ontario. I had a few different items I was looking to purchase however I needed some help locating them. I approached a male employee who was front facing product on the upper shelf. He said just a minute and finished his task then lead me to the particular wine I was seeking. I then asked where to find cognac. I followed him to the front of the store where the cash registers are located and a line up of maybe 5 people. He then proceeded to tell me in a not so discreet voice that he’s not a personal shopper and I had better learn where things were because the employees don’t have the time to show customers locations! I was embarrassed by this comment and completely in awe at the same time. He was extremely unprofessional with his presentation as a customer service representative of the LCBO. I still had another 2 items on my list to find but I didn’t want to ask obviously after that incident. I proceeded to the cooler wall and began searching for what I needed. He then appeared behind me saying you really don’t know where things are because that’s beer on your list not coolers. Thankfully that was everything I had to buy and checked out.

First of all I am not a regular shopper at the LCBO so disadvantaged right away and secondly every liquor store has a completely different blueprint of layout. Therefore I truly felt insulted, again embarrassed and disrespected as a paying customer who spent $164.75.

In all my experience of visiting any LCBO in Kingston or elsewhere have I ever had an employee show that kind of mentality. All other employees have always gone out of their way to be of assistance gladly! Judging by the man’s age and body language he likely has worked there for a number of years and has a disgruntled demeanour with several people. That’s the vibe I picked up on at least.

On March 17th we looked all over town for French Champagnes to celebrate our 65th Wedding Anniversary. which has been tradition to sip Champagne 64 years! All we were offered was "Sparkling wines' and told "it's the same thing" or

"nobody knows the difference" . In Ottawa !

Sparkling wines were displayed in areas marked "Champagne' containing ONLY sparkling wines.

We consulted several members of staff who were less than helpful except for a young man "in training "

To say we were disappointed is understatjng, as being old may be it will be my last anniversary and I have to thank LCBO for crying in my sparkling wine.

In Ottawa we have many Foreign dignitaries many foreign visitors , members of parliament and they do enjoy Champagne !

Do not mention supply problem as there were many wines from Europe, Usa, South America , so why no French Champagnes? Please respond and apologize .

Huguette Pitsicoulis

[protected]@bell.net

I didn't have a mask on and was told, very rudely , that I would not be served without one...it is the only store I have gone into that they complained and the worse part was the employee that walked by and said under her breath "I don't know why people have to argue about this"...It is none of her business that I am exempt from wearing a mask and they have been proven to be useless...Maybe train your people to be better customer care people...If I could by my alcohol anywhere else I would but you have a monopoly...brutal service!

Today..
Went to LCBO at Morningside Mall.
Was charged for 8 Pickled Bean Caesar !
When I told cashier she denied it, and tried to stop me from opening box she had placed items in. On recount she changed it to 4. Said "Just testing you !"
Good try ! Not today though !

Similar thing happened at Food Basic in Morningside Mall. Charged for 4 x 4 Packs of Guinness, when only had 1 x 4 pack. Cashier denied it, so we had them rerun through again and was overcharged about $40.
Another nice try.

Are these people in cahoots with the managers ?

I was at the store located at

LCBO
3631 Major Mackenzie Dr Bldg B
Vaughan
L4H0A2

I was at this store 1:10pm Wednesday 12 Jan 2022, cashier was rude. See google store complaint.

Rude staff wit no social distance YELLED at!

Order # [protected] placed on December 10 for 2 items. Received 1 item. On December 30, checked with customer service re status of the 2nd item. I was told that warehouse ran out of product. That's fine, but why would LCBO not inform me about this issue. I have been waiting allaying as this was the Christmas gift pack for a dear friend. Now, I am left in embarrassment. I am very disappointed with LCBO Management, and clearly, they take advantage of their monopolized market.

Incident: 23.December 2021

I wanted to use my LCBO eGift card worth $100 at this specific LCBO location.
Please see attached the eGift card officially issued by LCBO.

However apparently the cashier at this location did not know how to redeem it and was saying we can not accept it.

I have used an electronic gift card at LCBO before and wanted to talk to the Manager to find a solution.

They just need to scan it and input the PIN that's it. However the Assistant Manager David came to the cashier area and was not even proper listening and immediately said "We don't accept this!"
I tried to explain him this is an electronic gift card issued by LCBO. Now his attitude and face impression changed into a aggressive way while taking a deep breath and looking very annoyed. No clue Why? He is yelling at the cashier area while random people standing. " I told you we don't accept gift cards with the Phone!" and turns his back to me like get out of here now! I really felt intimidated by this guy and immediately left the location. First of all not knowing how to redeem a electronic gift card in 2021 is one thing but treating a customer in such a rude way is absolutely not acceptable.

A staffer named Alexsandra at LCBO branch on Front St. and Market St. in Toronto, ON, Canada just tried to humiliate me and denied me the service. This just happened today18 December close to 9:00 p.m.

I am 38 years-old woman and I look pretty much my age. But I happen to be brunette and a foreigner. Things have to be said clearly: I felt race-driven discrimination from the way she behaved and talked to me. Totally forgetting that I was a costumer. She behaved like she were some kind of authority that I should be begging to be granted her product.

This was the first time that I remember the branch asking me for my ID, so I was having small talk about this whith a nice person at the cashier who asked me for an ID, when Aleksandra jumped into the conversation and turned it into a bunch of rude comments against me.

I told the nice lady who was at the cashier that it was the first time someone thought I could be a teenager and that it was also the first time someone requested my ID at a LCBO... She came with sarcasm and a very rude and unnecesary comment "first time for everything", she was not even part of the conversation at that moment... Then she said "we do not take ID pictures" when I offered to show the picture of my passport, which I carry nowhere. Rudely, she continued: "if you leave so closeby go home and bring back your ID"... the store was closing 7 minutes later! It was a snowy day! What a lack of consideration. Of course she didn't mean it, it was to prove her "authority" to reject. But the way she said it also suggested that she felt with the right to humiliate me with such sarcasm.

I showed them my face without mask for a second, with wrinkles and all, for them to see that I was an adult. I offered to show my children pictures. Moreover: I showed my driver's licence issued in 2018 (if I were 16 at that time, I would be 19 by now anyways) and she rejected accepting my driver's licence as an ID, the one they receive everywhere else.

My explanations were turned against my will to clarify my seniority from an agressive vendor offending me despite the said evidence I provided (something totally unecessary and out of place). She was policing me.

Al the end of the bad experience, Alexsandra denied to sell me ONE small bottle of WARM beer. Yes, all this was for ONE bottle of WARM beer!

Mistreatment, mistrust, humiliation, aggression. Vendors shoud be trained to avoid this kind of behaviour.

To my regard the request for an ID should NEVER be used to weaponize foreigners the way Alexsandra tried to do, by saying "you should read it, it's right behind you". Like I cannot read, of course, I don't look local, she must have thought that she could tell me whatever she wanted.

Is this the kind of service denial that your regular costumers should expect?

Please DO NOT hire or keep people with racist behaviour. It is socially unhealthy to treat people like that, let aside costumers.

I normally leave bad service experiences behind or deal about them in site, though she looked in charge and the situation was so humiliated that I had to go after she said "I'm finishing the conversation now" and turned away. L

I am not going back to that branch until you can guarantee that it is a safe space for me and that I will be treated professionaly and respectfully.

I don't want anyone to be mistreated the way I was. This is the main reason I am reporting this person.

Thank you.

For over four years now, as a person living in BC from Ontario originally, I have tried to go to the LCBO online website and purchase 3 simple gift certificates to have delivered to my family in Sarnia, Ontario. It never works. It shows up on my credit card, then gets credited back a week later, and an error message shows up on the final step of the online transaction.

I tried this in November 2021, and again on December 5th, 2021. Both times it failed. I finally as in previous years get on the phone and after a half hour wait for an agent, I'm told that this is a security feature to deny all out of province credit cards, as a safety and fraud prevention practice! Are they freaking serious?

Who do you think is wanting to buy LCBO gift cards for people in Ontario? People who aren't in Ontario! So you mean to tell me that someone in the UK, or France, or the USA or bloody South Africa, cannot go online and buy friends and family gift cards, that are conveniently Fedex'd to their door, as per your website promise, to them in Ontario?

What does a person have to do, call someone in Ontario get them to go buy gift cards at a local store, and then E transfer them the funds? What is the purpose of your website, to sell to Ontario residents only?

If that be the case, which is pathetic, and stupid, then state such in bold red at the top of your website. How unacceptable and ridiculous! Such a hideous useless corporation LCBO is. Awful!

And worse, you'd think if that online process is so complicated, it doesn't need to be, then you could just wait for a half hour on the line on hold and talk to a representative, and put the order in by phone right? No "we don't do that!" Unbelievable. Why?

Have you people ever heard of two factor Identification? Fix this, as your service is disgusting and useless. Anyone from anywhere, regardless of where their billing address on their credit card, should be able to purchase a gift card for someone in Ontario from LCBO online, period.

E commerce is global not just in Ontario. Are your IT people truly that simple? I tried to purchase in November it failed, tried again, Dec. 5th, failed. Called in Dec. 6th, told all of the above. Do you people give a damn about customer service and convenience? Obviously not!

Clearly a government run ineffective corporation. You all should be ashamed, and whomever decided this should be the case, wake up, smell the coffee, this is 2021, people buy gift cards from all over the world to be sent from the corporation locally, as is the case with LCBO to be gifted to Ontario residents, get on the ball.

INCIDENT # [protected]

Dear customer service,

I would like to share my negative experience with LCBO 5035 Glen Erin Drive. We shopped at LCBO the Glen Erin store on Sunday November 21st. We purchased 6 wine bottles, we cashed out at 12:54pm. When we reached home and just by chance checking our receipt
We noticed we were charged for 7 bottles of wine unstead of 6. We immediately called the store and talked to "Erika" at 2:10pm and gave her all the details of our checkout and the receipt details. We asked her to check the cameras and see how the cashier put all 6 bottles in a box. Erika asked to put us on hold and talked to the manager and came back saying that the manager will check the camers and will get back to us ASAP.
No one contacted us up till 4pm, we had to drop again by the store with our box of wine and asked to talk to the store manager.
"Tammy" the store manager came and asked us for the receipt and said that she was too busy and she didn't check the camera records yet, she seemed very upset and had an attitude against us. We waited patiently for 20 minutes untill she came back with very negative attitude. My husband asked what went wrong and what was the problem, she just looked at us and asked very aggressively why did we call in the first place, we told her that we were over charged by 1 bottle, she juat said okay, now I'm refunding the money. We asked her, why there was no words of apology or even addressing the problem? Why she didn't check for the last 2 hours when we called on the phone and we had to wait in the store for 20 minutes? She was very aggressive and started raising her voice and saing it's bacause it's pandemic time and they were understaffed and not enough time. We had to wait for 2 hours at home for them to call us back and then carry the box back to the store and wait there for 20 minutes. Still no word of apology whatsoever. I don't understand how the pandemic or the short staff excuse is contributing to this attitude towards us and with this very poor customer service.

The over charges of 1 bottle is a human mistake, we totally understand that, but how the manager handled the whole situation was very disappointing and we felt violated and offended by her attitude towards us. It was only a word of apology and understanding our frustration of all the time waisted and effort to carry back a box od 6 wine bottles in the rain.

I would ask you kindley to review the camera's records for our encounter with "Tammy" and get back to us regarding this situation and how we were treated in this store.
Please get back to us with a review on how this negative customer service we received on this situation will be addressed from your end.

Thank you for your support in this matter.
If you have any further questions or comments, please feel free to contact us

Sameh Nakoula: [protected]

Regards,
Sameh Nakoula