Liquor Control Board of Ontario [LCBO]
Reviews and Complaints

Hi there, I just made a trip to the LCBO store at 501 Appleby Line in Burlington. The rule of thumb for any good customer service is that the check out process can't be longer than the actual collection of the goods at the store. I was lining up at the checkout line managed by someone by the name of SELENA, she keeps chatting up every single customer, she looked intoxicated under the influence of either drugs or alcohol. By the time the teller next to her has served 3 customers, she was still chatting with the people in front of me and when I complained saying that she was being disrespectful of my time, she refused to cash me out and I had to leave the store without the reason I came in. I understand most of the people working at the LCBO stores are part time without any proper customer service training but I really think they can do way better than the lousy/non existent customer service I experienced today.
If you need to reach out to me for further clarification, please do so my cell phone number is [protected].
Thanks,
Angelica Mosquera

First offered 3 beers from Hill Farmstead Brewery and Keep6 Imports, as part of a limited release set to go on sale online through LCBO website at 11am July 23rd. with a limit of 4 bottles per person. The LCBO website crashed, leaving consumers to wasting hours of their time.

The Hill Farmstead offer was rescheduled for today (July 27th, 2018) with a release time of 8:30am this morning with a limit of 2 bottles per person.

The website went live approximately 20-25 minutes early, leaving consumers who were waiting for the product to go live at 8:30am, waiting for a product that was "sold out" 20 minutes before it was supposed to go on sale, wasting a lot of people's time once again. There is also speculation that the site went live early to accomidate LCBO employees first before actual customers. Now maybe our time isn't worth much more than a "sorry" to the LCBO monopoly, but even Keep 6 Imports is saying that they were "let down by the system" and that in future they would find a "better way" to get their beer into the hands of the people that want it. The LCBO has proved themselves to be unreliable in the face of a limited release. Let all suppliers know this. Two debacles for one release.

July 19th, 2018, approx 1pm, my husband a HS teacher stopped by to pick up a bottle of Vodka today only to be mistreated by a cashier with Blonde hair . He asked for a box because we frequent this lcbo store and invest in a lot of liquor mostly vintage wines. My husband is not a drinker but enjoys picking wines for our guest. He was rudely spoken to and was told you cannot have a box for 1 bottle of vodka and he proceeded to let her know we have lots of wines bottles to return and box was need. she proceeded to be very rude to him and ask him to just get out of the store and continuously arguing with him. My husband was very upset and angry regarding the situation and frankly a customer should not be spoken to in the manner she used. Husband stated that there was a lot of boxes there and she said no he cannot have one and mentioned that there is a policy in place regarding boxes. The Manager apparently was there and did not intervene. My husband was so upset that he actually called her a [censored]...This is our go to LCBO and this women clearly needs a lesson on how to speak to customers.

On July 18, 2018, I entered the LCBO on St. CLAIR Ave in Chatham, Ontario with my husband, and asked a customer service rep, Shirley, to help look for a specific wine. A Pinot, called Meiomi. Shirley had not heard of this brand and went to ask another rep, Giselle. When Giselle came to us, she was fast paced asking if it was red or white. It only comes in red so why would she ask us if it was red or white. She was very rude when asking. It was like she had no time for us, our questions or her co worker Shirley. Shirley has many times gone out of her way to help us and to have Giselle be rude and abrupt seemed very disrespectful not only to us but her co worker as well. This may have been an ‘off' day for Giselle but she is representing the company and herself. Shirley apologized several times to us for Giselle's outburst and behaviour.
I think Giselle would benefit for some possible customer service training and peer building skills.

Respectfully submitted,
Diane ONeill

On Saturday May 19th 2018, my son and his friend went to the LCBO store at 337 Spadina in Toronto. As it was pouring rain, they both brought their dog inside (including my son's puppy). They were also worried about leaving them outside the store for fear of the dogs being stolen (it's a bit of a rough area). Shortly after they came to the store, a young man who appear to be the manager, ran out of his office and started to yell at them! He made a scene, which was not necessary. This person obviously needs more customer service training, and maybe even anger management as he totally overreacted.
They are two young black men in the early 20's, and I'm sure if they had been white they would not have received the same treatment!
I'm just hoping that the LCBO does a better job selecting the people that they put in charge of managing their stores!

How the hell can an employee get fired for stealing minis of all things, cry to union, for what ever reason get rehired and now is assistant manager in Cornwall? This is ridiculous and not even funny...why do people get rewarded for bad behaviour, we need to stop this, upper management should be also questioned for allowing this. How can you ask employees to follow your lead when you have none yourself. Just saying!

I was in the Barrack St. LCBO in Kingston, ON, around 6pm, with my 33-year-old friend visiting from BC to buy a few beers and a bottle of wine. I visit this LCBO twice a month, on average, and have for the past 9 years. Usually, I am not asked for ID, as I do not look younger than my true age. Due to the volume of cans I was purchasing, she helped me carry my bottles of wine to the cashier. I understand the "ID 25" policy (I am a liquor server myself) and have no objection to showing ID, but my guest, who lives out-of-province and is only staying in Ontario for a few weeks, was not carrying ID other than her BC-issued health card (she was not making a purchase, just helping me carry items to the cash) and therefore we were denied service, despite both being CLEARLY over the age of majority by AT LEAST a decade. I asked if I could return alone to complete my purchase (this is the only LCBO within walking distance of my house, I don't drive) and was told that I would not be welcome to make a purchase that day because they would assume I was purchasing for my friend (my 33 YEAR OLD ADULT FRIEND VISITING ONTARIO) and therefore couldn't allow me to buy anything, even if I returned alone. Both the cashier and another employee nearby were extremely rude and unapologetic, despite denying service to two sober people, one of whom was not making a purchase, and me, while carrying legal ID which clearly states I am nine years over the age of majority. The LCBO is, quite frankly, an organization of [censored], run by inept [censored], who don't deserve to have a monopoly on alcohol sales in this province.

Beer cooler at the location is always unorganized and messy. Specifically the last time I was in the store there were dozens of empty boxes scattered around the room on the floor and on the shelves. A stocking cart was left in the middle of the already messy aisle. The shelves are always sparsely stocked. Beer brands are always in different locations from week to week. Selection of beer is very poor. Selection of quantities is very poor.

I bought a pack of four Seagram Wildberry coolers at my local LCBO tonight, but when I got home and opened it to put it in the fridge, there were only three in the box. The store was closed by then, so I couldn't go back to return them and switch. I'm sure the store would have fixed this if I would have been able to let them know. That said...I work in a factory, so I know how the packing standards on a line work. If the weight on a product is too far above or below the acceptable standard, it gets rejected. I realise human error happens, but these were in a sealed box. It didn't come from the factory with only three bottles inside. And a store generally wouldn't put an open box on the shelf. Which tells me that someone took a bottle out, then resealed it. This could be a huge problem for the store if its a recurring issue. And quite frankly, as the customer, I'm really not that thrilled about it either. Rather extremely not, actually. What can be done to fix this?

Hi,

For a few times, I looked up on LCBO website and found liquors were listed in Toronto area stores, and requested Ancaster store for a transfer, but they simply don't do it. I had to drive to Toronto to buy it. The excuse was the transfer cost store money, or they are auditing, or sometimes customer not come in, etc. I am not happy for their attitude. I live in Ancaster, when I see liquors listed in other stores, I should be getting it in Ancaster store.

Thanks,

Bin

I have shopped at this location multiple times only to be mistreated based on my appearance. A cashier by the name of Wendy, who doesn't wear a name tag and her supervisor Vince refused to serve my Sikh fiancé because I had no ID on me. I'm 35 and he is 32 but not only did they refuse service they did it in such a rude and condescending way. Refusing to give her name we finally got it from her supervisor which was just as rude.

After leaving to scour the city for this particular vintage red wine we discovered other locations knew of this supervisor Vince saying he is incredibly rude, unprofessional and problematic.

I returned to get an image of this cashier as there is no real way to file a formal complaint only to find them letting every young white person through without checking ID.

LCBO shouldn't be employing racist staff to discriminate and profile customers.

I live in Kirkland Lake. I am a 36 year old mother. Your policy is to ID anyone who looks under 25 which I definitely don't. I understand the need for said policy and I appreciate the employee being careful. However, the fact that she also ID'd the 45 year old greying man in front of me tells me that she wasn't simply being careful. I don't look under 30 and I walked half an hour each way, in the middle of winter in northern Ontario, and there is absolutely no reason that I should require my ID on my person. This was simply a case of a miserable employee trying to show her authority which not only wasted my time but wasted my money as I had to get a neighbour to watch the kids as I trekked thru the snow only to be refused service under ridiculous circumstances.

date of incident - Saturday January 20th, 2018
Place of incident - 76 Mall Road, Hamilton, Ontario
Didn't get the woman's name working their but the male employee was named Chris.
I am 19, my friends are 18, they came into the store with me because we had just left the mall & I had to pick something up for myself & they didn't want to wait outside as it is winter. The female employee followed us around the store the entire time we were there. I picked up the bottle I wanted & then she asked my friends if they had their ID's on them even though they hadn't touched anything, they said no & explained they were just waiting for me. She told them that there was a new policy released that requires all people in the store to be of age & have their ID on them. I said I was of age & she said we all have to be of age or we cannot be in the store at all & therefore I cannot purchase my alcohol. I have a friend who works at the LCBO & so I am fairly familiar with the rules & this is one I knew was made up as it didn't make much sense. One of my friends who was with me, also made the comment that she would come in here with her parents sometimes to which the female employee responded "well its different with parents." This made absolutely no sense, & though I know we are young, I don't appreciate her treating us like children & acting as she is superior to us. She seemed very proud of herself for coming us with this rule on the spot.

However, I didn't argue we simply left the store & went outside to get ourselves an uber. As it is the middle of winter it was very cold outside & I didn't have a coat as I forgot it in my friends car, who had previously left. We went back inside between the 2 doors they had as we knew we weren't welcome in the actual store. We were waiting for less than 5 minutes & our ride was less than 2 minutes away. The male employee Chris then forcefully pulled the one door open & told us that this is government property & we were loitering & needed to leave. We told him we were just waiting for our ride & it would be here in about 2 minutes. He then responded with "its not that cold outside" & held open the door for us. I then said "wow this is absolutely the rudest LCBO I have ever been to before." I would have been much more understanding of this situation if Chris had not been so rude about it, & instead had politely asked if we would mind waiting outside for our ride.

I have had my friends of all ages come into many different LCBO's with me before & the employees have always been extremely nice & respectful & helpful, however I honestly felt we was being singled out & disrespected because we look young, even though I am of age & my friends followed all the rules & were completely respectful & polite. I told my friend who works at the LCBO of this story & she urged me to make this complaint as she said that if she ever talked to a customer like this, or made up rules, etc, she would be fired.

At the LCBO in Thornhill near Bathurst and Centre, I was asked for ID. However, I was not purchasing anything and my husband was buying the alcohol. Due to the fact I was not buying anything I didn't bring it in the store with me. Because I picked up something off the shelf, I was asked for ID. I am married? Doesn't that count? Why would I get married underage? What makes things worse was that my husband was asking questions and the staff is told him they would return his money and go elsewhere. Talk about customer service. I said a few choice words and we left. Worst experience ever.

At the 499 Terry Fox Dr, Kanata, ON K2T 1H7 LBCO location.
Issue occurred from 12:37-12:58

Saturday, December 23
Natalie LCBO : far cash closest to the office.

I would like to issue a formal complaint against the LCBO staff member, Natalie.
Issue began at 12:37
Upon arriving at the cash to purchase my alcohol, Natalie communicated to me that I required to produce photo ID and that my temporary drivers license alone could not be accepted. This is entirely correct, I had made a mistake and had taken my original licence out of my wallet. That was my mistake.
I then called my husband and asked if he would be able to come to the LCBO to make the purchase so I didn't have to go all the way home and come back to do so. As the weather conditions are terrible and the traffic is quite heavy due to the time of year.
12:55
When my husband arrived at the LCBO he got in Natalie's cash lane and I went up to the front of the cash and let Natalie know that "my husband is in line for the purchase".
I was absolutely shocked when after I said this I stood there waiting for a quick answer. She looked at me a little sternly, did not provide me with a response and then proceeded to look down and continue with her customer. She blatantly ignored me.
As I was smiling when I spoke to her and the fact that nothing negative had transpired prior to this, I was utterly shocked and found this ‘response' to be very distasteful and absolutely disrespectful.
Not only was she very rude to me, but instead of telling me that she cannot sell the products to my husband she ignored me and allowed my husband to wait in line with approximately five customers ahead of him, full well knowing what the outcome would be.

As someone who is in a position of Customer Service I imagine that she knows that the right thing to have done would have been to acknowledge me politely and to have given me a response or to have told me that she was going to address me in a moment when it was more appropriate. I was not impressed with the mannerism that I was dealt with.

I fully understand that the holidays can be a hectic time, but regardless of what is happening her responsibility as an LCBO customer service representative is to provide the best possible customer service and to attend to such issues in an appropriate fashion, and certainly not in the way that she chose to do deal with it.

She chose to negate her role and to treat a person very rudely in front of a busy line of customers. I was offended, a little embarrassed, but mostly disgusted with how anyone, regardless of their position, could treat someone so discourteously.

I hope the individual responsible for this avoidable issue will be spoken to and that this will dealt with appropriately so another individual isn't subjected to the kind of disrespect that occurred today.

LCBO Avenue road and Lawrence area...
Every night ...yes every night lights are left on through out the store.
Blinds sometimes shut downstairs but never up stairs?...
Residential Apts across the street...tough for families sleeping at night.
On another note all the Vintage wines are displayed infront of these windows...that early morning sun shines directly on this upper level for hours in summer months...
Don't know many wine conasquiers to store there precious wine in sunlight?
There are NOT crews or cleaning there every night...
I see other Lcbo's in the area completely covered up and minimum lights on?
Why not on avenue road?

$ saved in ectricity...skunky wine returns.?

Regarding LCBO Store:

675 WILSON AVENUE, TORONTO-NORTH YORK

I have been to this LCBO several times and have the same bad customer service experience.
The new manager has no tact or is not helpful along with the staff here who, spend time just shelfing or staying in corners gossiping among each other.
Something should be done regarding this store staff.

I went into the LCBO 3165 Howard in Windsor Ontario to buy a bottle of Canadian Club 40 Year Old limited production whiskey. The store at he time said they had 81 bottles. I go in only to find out that it just sold out. I'm not angry that it sold out in a short period of time, but the fact that the person next to me in the store just bought the last 24.
I am extremely disappointed that one person could be such a "pig" and buy that many in one purchase, especially on a limited production run. Your policy should limit the quantity per purchase as to give the rest of the public a chance to buy it. I've been trying for weeks now to get just one!

Robert Vujcic

The store on York Street in London had only a handful customers. Two clerks (one male, one female) at cash registers. The female wasted time taking care of paperwork and made us wait. Fine. For some reason, this couldn't wait until ringing us up. Then she put everything in the bag and decided then to check the receipt. She couldn't identify something on receipt so we had to go through it again. I figured out what she had a problem identifying. At that point, I was running out of patience with her delays and incompetence. She gets paid for her time, but customers don't.
I made a comment to her that she didn't like, and she said, "I had a customer like you five minutes ago, but they were nice." Then she shooed us out of the store. WTF?

Outside the store, my friend wondered whether the clerk was tipsy. Plenty of opportunity with all the booze at LCBO.

LCBO is a monopoly. They can treat customers like [censor] and get away with it.

I should point out that I had a pleasant interaction with another employee in the store. Courtesy, efficient, apologetic when out of a product.