Liquor Control Board of Ontario [LCBO]
Reviews and Complaints

I know these are trying times for everyone however; it has taken the LCBO at least thirty years to improve your service levels to the point where it was a pleasant experience to shop at the LCBO.
Don't blow it all in four months.
We have three stores in our vicinity and the Staff Attitude is all the same, particulary the Female Staff members.
I don't know what you have done to empower your staff but, they are treating all of Your Customers badly and acting as if they are Bylaw Enforcement Officers, being Officious and Rude, using Taunting Remarks and generally having way too much to say.
I walked out of a store today, followed by a taunting remark because I do not need this sort of abuse, and quite frankly, I do not engage at that level.

Without fail almost every single time I am asked to provide id it is done in a rude and unprofessional manner. This happened most often at the Bolton location. A female senior employee is increasing rude and questions my government id almost every time I am there. Each time I am asked to provide additional id and treated in a very unprofessional manner. She does not address me as to say hello or how are you old says I will need some id and continues to give me rude looks and comments. This is not the only lcbo this happens at. These employees clearly need to be reminded that although it is very important to ensure customers are of age it is also very important to uphold some kind of customer service.

coboconk lcbo, staff did not self isolate on order from lcbo although she wanted to. EXPLAIN!

I just returned from the licensed LCBO facility in Stevensville to return emptys and buy product. They refused some of my emptys based on thier 5 case return policy I had 9 cases of empties to return. The young lady told me I could go to the beer store if I didnt like it . The empties were cans so very light and easy to handle. I put the they would not take empties back in my vehicle made my purchase and left . It is my understanding the L.C.B.O is required to accept all returns and I am a bit frustrated that I ahve to go back as she said in a couple of hours to get rid of the rest of my empties.

This complaint now spans 2 years of this issue.
I live in Australia and I am trying to use LCBO's online shopping facility to purchase a simple gift card for an Ontario resident.
A year ago when I tried this the LCBO would not accept my credit card payment because although they allowed me to input my home (billing) street address, country, postal code, etc...they mandated that I select my CANADIAN PROVINCE from the usual drop down list of provinces...no option to input a non-Canadian state or province!?!?! Clearly this information was never going to match my credit card details and so my payment could not be processed.

So this time, when I tried again, the web site now accepts all forms of overseas addresses, and it even took me to my own banks authorization code site, etc, after which the LCBO site came back and said "We could not process your transaction - please contact your bank."...which I did. And my bank said "We authorized the purchase, here is the authorization code that we sent the LCBO, the payment is pending for them to collect - by the way we have had other complaints about the LCBO's online shopping, and unfortunately you are now going to need to get the LCBO to write to us in order to release your money back to you."

Isn't it in the best interest of the LCBO to sell to overseas shoppers?
Didn't the people of Ontario pay for the international shopping facility of the LCBO's web site?
Why has it been more than 2 years and it still doesn't work (still can't sell products to a customer with a valid Mastercard for delivery within Ontario)?
...and why when I wrote to the LCBO about having my money tied up in their glitchy web-site does nobody write back?

Attached is a screen shot of my online pending payment to the LCBO that I have no access to until they agree to either complete my purchase or release the money back to me.

I went to your Durham Centre location today with my 31 year old daughter, I was buying some beer, wine and a bottle of vodka.
I texted my husband to confirm this is what he wanted me to purchase. As I was waiting for him to respond, I noticed the security guard watching us. He walked by a couple of times. As my husband had not responded to my text I called him and confirmed what he wanted.
I then proceeded to collect the items, as I had to get three, my daughter held the bottle of vodka.
When we got to the cashier, she did not greet us but immediately said in a very aggressive tone to my daughter, "I have to see your ID." I asked my daughter if she had it and she said "No." The cashier then said very loudly and aggressively "Well I can't sell you this as you were holding it and you don't have ID."
My daughter got upset and yelled "This is b_t, I have never been told that before." (as she always goes with her father to help) she was not purchasing anything.
The cashier then yells at my daughter as she was walking out of the store, "you're going to yell at me because I'm telling you the law?"
I told the cashier that my daughter was upset because she was yelling at her and then she starts to argue with me that she wasn't.
She then says to me "I'm cancelling the whole order, I won't be serving you." I told her that I was going to complain about her as I walked away to go back to the shelves to get some more items. She was yelling at me from across the store. I went back to her and said "You're going to yell at me across the store?" She says come over her so we can discuss this, I asked for her name and repeated that I was going to complain about her. I went back and got another order and went to another cashier, Stephanie then comes up to me and said that the store would not be serving me today. The security guard was at her cash writing something in his pad.
I put the bottles down and told her again that the LCBO would be hearing from me.
I understand that there are laws which I completely agree with, that is not the issue here.
I do not appreciate being aggressively spoken to from the time I got to the cashier, there was not greeting, there was no polite or professional manner from Stephanie. All she had to do was ask in a calm and professional manner for the ID, then explain again in a friendly and professional manner that unfortunately she could not sell that bottle of vodka to me as my daughter was holding it and she did not have ID her.
I would have agreed and either just purchase the other items or gone back to the shelve and gotten another bottle. If my daughter was under age she would not have been holding a bottle of liquor and yes she should not have yelled or used obscene language but Stephanie was very aggressive from the beginning. I also wonder about the security guard as I said in the beginning he was watching us. I am not sure why he was, I can only assume it was because as I said I was waiting for my husband to respond d to my text and was standing in the store for a few moments without selecting anything.
I really do not appreciate being spoken to in the manner that Stephanie spoke to me and my daughter. My husband and I have been purchasing from this location from when it opened, we are decent law abiding people and to be spoken to in that manner and yelled at by one of your employees is unacceptable.
I want this addressed and I want to be contacted ASAP.

Depending on the answer this is question. Can a gas station/corner store make you spend half of your returns in their store? Every time we go to cash our empties we are told that we have spend half of our return in their gas bar, is that not double dipping for the owner and is that a standard policy. One of the attends gives us the full amount for our return because we are regular customers there... Can the store owner do this?

How in the [censored] do you guys get rid of the best rum you got on the shelves?
This is an outrage, the new spiced [censored] you guys came out with taste like moose piss.
I am saddened at the fact you people could do such a thing. Oakheart was sooo goood.
You guys are making a big mistake, your sales have officially gone in the dumpster. I will never buy any other bacardi product and will mever recomend to amyone ever again.
Thanks for ruining my life.

I approached a male CSR, Alex, and asked him for his assistance in giving me white wine recommendations for gifts and for consumption at home. He showed me a couple bottles in Vintages and a few from Ontario, which matched what I was looking for. He was very friendly/helpful and assisted me in carrying my bottles to the register. He approached a female CSR, Rita, and asked what cash she was on and she responded, "Why do I have to do it?... "You do it" and walked away". I'm not sure about you, but this is not the type of experience I was looking to have upon leaving. Her lack of customer service makes me question whether or not I should return to this location because she clearly has an issue doing a very important aspect of her job. Alex, Ray and Dan were extremely helpful and probably the only reason I would ever return.

I went to the store to buy some beers me and a friend of mine i was he gave me a hand along side handle one of the beer crates while i had the others i am 24 while he is 22 as well.So cashier asked me to provide my Id and i gave it to him then he went on to ask my friend to give ID who was just there with me not even buying alcohol although as he said he provided the cashier with the temporary license card where he did not have the photo ID (he is new from india ge does not have any canadian based photo ID apart from that) and cashier refused to give me and my friend any beers and told me to exit showing me the door rudely, i felt harassed at this point but didnot meant to create any scene so i kept quiet then i went alone after exiting the store he refused me to give anything even though i am legally valid to buy alcohol and also i had my valid photo ID this incident ruined my night i hope u guys look into the scene

I went to store #001 on September 7th at approximately 10:10 PM. I asked one gentle for my selection, he was very pleasant and due to my condition he got it for me. I proceeded to the cash. That's where I met Yuktha, complete opposite of 1st gentleman. She didn't serve me because of my handicapped, I was very embarrased and hurt. I went to store manager, she was able to get someone else to serve me proving I wasn't under the influence of anything. All I have is an handicap that requires me to use a cane and my left eye is completely shut. And my speech is a bit off!

I am visiting Woodstock and overall I really enjoy it, but I just got back from the LCBO and watched the LCBO employees do a bunch of [censored] that is not ok. I used to work at the LCBO and know all of their policies like the back of my hand. The women working were power tripping like crazy, this all happened in the space of like five minutes while I was in line. First they told this woman that she needed to get her [censored]ing G2 paper for her license, which doesn't make ANY sense because the G1 sticker (I had the same thing) works as a photo ID. She looks around and is like WTF? She looked well over 25 too, like no issue. Then this guy makes a joke about it to the lady, it was like "I hope this ID does the trick" and she goes off on him and says if he gives her attitude she will refuse service. I am blown away at this point because she really can't do that and I was definitely uncomfortable hearing her say this, and the guy goes off, she [censored]ing screams at him to have a nice day too, but from what I could see she was way out of line. To top it all off, the wine I was buying wasn't inputted into the system yet and they were talking to each other like "Oh that happened last week too" like they hadn't even fixed it?

Anyway, I love Woodstock but that [censored]ing place is a nightmare and I hope someone fixes it. Brenda, she is crazy.

This is a wacky store. I am a 61 year old businessman wearing dress pants and a collar shirt. Its sunny outside, and 5pm. At the checkout with a lineup of people watching on I am asked to remove my sunglasses. She was checking to see if I was sober. I asked her I was coming home from work. Maybe the next time she'll ask if I can touch my nose with my finger. Maybe my 3 trips a week rang the suspicion bell. Now your screening the eyes of patrons. I am not blaming her, she is told to do this. What if I said no! We don't serve people wearing sunglasses. I won't be going back. I'll go to the wine rack or something. My son has had issue at this store with being corrected about his place in line. It's seems the staff at this store are on little power trips

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