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Dear Urban Diplomat: can I get my money back if my LCBO bag broke along with my booze?

Dear Urban Diplomat: can I get my money back if my LCBO bag broke along with my booze?

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(Image: smkybear/Flickr)

Dear Urban Diplomat,

I paid for a couple of large bottles of booze at the LCBO, grabbed the paper bag, and made it as far as the parking lot before the bag broke. Both bottles smashed, and I’m out a hundred bucks. I told the clerk it was the bag’s fault, but he refused to pay up. I want my money back, since I did nothing wrong. Any ideas?
—Can’t Hold My Liquor, Little Portugal

I hate to blame the victim, but you remind me of the woman who famously sued McDonald’s for their scalding hot coffee, which she spilled on herself. Yes, she won a ridiculous sum, but that doesn’t mean she deserved it—and neither do you. One doesn’t recklessly grab a flimsy paper bag of precious liquor but rather cradles it like a newborn. The LCBO has no official policy, but a supervisor will usually offer a replacement when a customer pleads a reasonable case. What constitutes “reasonable” is left to their discretion. If you’re dead set on some recompense, one option is to hit up the HelloLCBO customer service squad at 416-365-5900. They may be willing to fork over a refund, a small part of which you could invest in a stylish canvas bag for future hooch toting.

Send your questions to the Urban Diplomat at urbandiplomat@torontolife.com

Topics: Columns lcbo Toronto Life Magazine May 2015 Urban Diplomat

18 thoughts on “Dear Urban Diplomat: can I get my money back if my LCBO bag broke along with my booze?”

  1. That woman who didn’t deserve the scalding coffee settlement absolutely did deserve it, maybe do some research into it before you make a statement like that? She had third degree burns to her legs and the company was found liable. How did she not deserve the settlement? What a stupid statement.

  2. Agreed; McDonald’s received over 700 claims by people who received burns from their coffee, they knew they were keeping the coffee at a temperature that was undrinkable, and they lost their case in court after refusing to pay out the $20,000 the victim initially asked for.

    More info: http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm

  3. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about – that woman absolutely deserved the settlement – that coffee was overheated to a degree that caused 3rd degree burns to her lap and pelvic area. Do a little research before making such claims.

  4. The woman with the burns also was a very active senior citizen who was unable to continue to volunteer, move easily around and was in considerable pain with 2nd and 3rd degree burns to her pelvis and legs. It was agonizing and debilitating for that woman.

  6. This happened to me too, just with a bottle of wine though. The bags become like a thin sheet of glass in -30 weather.

  7. While I agree with you, posting a link to the Daily FAIL isn’t the best source.

  8. when the daily mail gets it right and you don’t…that is a scary day for a writer/journo

  9. I worked at the LCBO and as long as there’s evidence the cap and seal were not tampered with (opened) prior to the breakage, and within a reasonable time (>10 mins) we would always replace the broken bottles at no charge.

  10. For a column titled “The Informer” I find the author(s) to be remarkably ill-informed.

  11. so….because a person is not capable of transporting a bottle properly (what, you really thought that crappy paper bag can hold a bottle of wine properly?), or is not intelligent enough to understand that holding a cup of coffee between one’s legs in a moving vehicle could be a risky thing to do…we should blame the vendor. You know why this country is going to sh*t? Because people have no common sense.
    I see it all the time at the grocery store. People stuff arctic expedition volume groceries into the flimsy plasticky bag and on the way out of the store it splits. Duh……bring your own bag or at least double it up….

  14. It’s only common sense you pick up paper bags and cradle them from the bottom, unless your payload is extremely extremely light. Though, I do think there’s a good argument for the LCBO employees giving the guy a break, just maybe not a hundred bucks worth. But, I guess the real result will either be the end of paper bags or signs everywhere telling us how to hold them. Just like how the Rogers video store employee used to have to read me a script whenever I rented a foreign movie with subtitles.

  16. Use Uber code UBERTORONTOFREERIDE to get $20 off your first ride. Just download the Uber app and enter the code. Valid anywhere in Canada.

  17. The LCBO used to have plastic bags. They were great, of high quality, and were genuinely useful for transporting your purchases.

    The paper bags they have now are worthless. Absolutely, utterly worthless.

    What government bureaucrat came up with the idea of replacing the bags with something so completely inferior?

    Get rid of the government monopoly on alcohol sales, and customer service will improve.

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