This review is because I want to warn people not to use Michaels.ca in-store pick up when you order from the Michaels.ca website to, hopefully, prevent someone else from having the same bad and upsetting experience. The store was 5617 Hazeldean Rd, Grant Crossing, Ottawa, Ont, Canada. The store does not safeguard your package/order and, more importantly, they DO NOT SAFEGUARD YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION.
I ordered a lamp online on Aug 8, 2023 for in-store pickup at that store because my husband could pick it up for me. On Aug 10, I received an automated email from their site saying “Thank you for picking up your order.” It was time stamped at 8:45 am, which was before the store opened at 9:00 am. I called my husband and asked if he had picked up the order and he said no. I called Grant Crossing store and asked why I had received this email when I hadn’t picked up the package. The woman (no name given) I spoke to said my husband probably skipped work to pick it up and she laughed in a snarky way. When I said I had just spoken to him, she went and checked. She came back and said there was a problem with my order and “it was stolen.” I asked how could my package get stolen, didn’t they put it somewhere secure in a backroom or behind a counter like EVERY OTHER place I’ve ever ordered from does? She said, no, they have a shelf where they put items for pickup and operate on the “honour system.” I told her that my email from Michaels said you have to provide ID and the order number for pick up. She admitted they don’t ask for or check ID. The Michaels website does not tell you this and, if it had, I never would have ordered this way. They replaced the item but the damage was done. I then called the 1-800# and spoke to a woman and made a complaint.
When my husband got to the store that evening, he said pickup orders are in clear bins on a shelf that are visible through the lobby glass doors. All you have to do is walk in, turn left and you can look at or take orders available for pickup! He said he could see personal information printed on forms inside the clear bins and that nothing was secure. My husband tried to query the manager from the morning, but all she did was complain about me telling them how to run their store. She tried to deflect the problem onto me rather than admit that Michaels does not safeguard its customers’ packages or personal data that may be printed in plain view on the front of their orders awaiting pickup. He felt she didn’t care.
On Aug 11, “L_____" Customer Experience Manager” from Grant Crossing called me. She wouldn’t tell me her last name. This time I asked about what personal information was on the box that got stolen. Did it have my name, address, phone number, email, etc. on it? She agreed, very reluctantly it seemed to me, that yes, likely that personal information was on the box that got stolen. I still did not get a real answer about what ACTUALLY was on the box that got stolen. My husband told me that the paperwork to be scanned sits on the shelf with the items to be picked up and you’re supposed to take it to the cash before you exit with your in-store pickup item. Michaels Grant Crossing store allowed my personal information to be stolen along with my order and now I don’t know who has it or what they might do with it. ALL WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.
She also said Michaels was not going to change how they did in-store pickup and she said that Head Office told them to do it that way and that all the stores did it this way. I, again, called 1-800# and spoke to a guy and made another complaint.
The staff at that Michaels treated me like I was weird for expecting my order and personal information to be safeguarded where it was not visible to the public or stolen. I have never experienced this with any other store I have used for in-store pickup and I never agreed to have my data left on a shelf to be stolen along with my order! With identity theft and fraud out there this is unacceptable. My conclusion is THEY JUST DON’T CARE SO BEWARE.
