This morning, May 22 at 6:55 I had the horrible realization that starbucks didn't open until 8. I had not slept this entire night for reasons unbeknownst to myself, and I decided to try and fight sleep as long as possible. In order to assist with this I would require some assistance from caffeine. Seeing as starbucks was not going to be able to fulfil this need I turned to my last resort - Tim Hortons.
I ordinarily do not go to your establishment for many reasons. One - your track record of customer service is one of the worst in the fast food industry. Most often I don't even use a drive-through because I'm in fear of your workers being to incompetent to correctly prepare my order. Most of the people in my peer group agree, and I am in one of your target markets - broke university students (judging by the two locations on my university campus). Another- your coffee really doesn't appeal to my. I generally postpone the majority of coffee consumption until the beverage has cooled. Yours tastes worse once cooled. I prefer drinking coffee in it's natural state, but I must add milk and sugar if I am to bear an entire cup of your brand.
This morning my encounter at your Winnipeg location on gateway began pleasantly. I was pleased that your location was open. I walked in and was greeted with a timid hello by a small asian lady, whose name currently escapes me although I do remember she was in training. She took my order without any issue, and then began to prepare my order. A toasted everything bagel with cream cheese. Once taking my payment I was expecting my two cents of change. Obviously I don't care about two cents. I did want to opportunity to drop those coins into the kids camp jar. I did not indicate in any way that I didn't want my change, and she didn't even make an attempt to hand me any change. To be overly dramatic, your company owes me two cents. Do I care? No. The next point - I watched as she prepared my bagel and the small small amount of cream cheese that she put on my bagel, was barely any. It was worse than a poorly buttered piece of toast. It was as though she didn't want me to actually enjoy the bagel. Once she brought the bagel over to package for me I had to inform her that she did not put enough cream cheese on my bagel, and I asked her politely if she could put more on. She turned to go back to the preparation station and began to scrape it off. I stopped her immediately and have to re-clarify what I was telling her. That task was then adequately performed and so she moved to prepare my coffee. As she began to pour to liquid into my cup I noticed that the time on the pot read 5:05. That is an HOUR prior to my arrival. It is my understanding that there should be a fresh pot of coffee every twenty minutes. I also recognize that efficiency within your company sometimes means that you can't follow every promise. I also don't encourage wastefulness, howeverI was disappointed with the fact that I was not receiving what was promised to me. I had already complained once that morning and I truly did not want to give this girl a hard time because she was new.
To sum up, I left your store with very negative feelings, and of course all my previous feelings as to why I don't go to your store regularly were confirmed.
The reason I chose to act in this matter instead of dealing with the issue when it happened is because I feel the girl working may have taken my comments personally. It is not solely her fault. Perhaps not listening properly would be one issue, however proper training and proper evaluation is essential in building strong employees that are able to carry out services to exceed customer expectations.
Customer service is not about giving the bare minimum - it is about ensuring that people are pleased with your service. You must positive feelings towards your company so they can either pass along positive word of mouth, or they themselves become loyal customers.
Basically - You fucked up.
All I expect is a reply to this email so that I know someone actually read it. Tim Hortons is an important Canadian company, and I really would like the chance to be able to support it, but right now - you are lucky that you can sell such cheap food and drinks and that there is no real national competitor.
You never fail to disappoint.
I know I used a bad word - I just wanted to see what kind of a rise I can get from that. I really hope that I get a response. I will be sure to share it with all of you.
Here's something to remember - I am overtired. I do understand that this letter is completely ridiculous and I actually stopped a few times to laugh at this long long rant. I guess I just took out years of frustration and hatred out in the letter - it's not like I have anything better to do. I'm still laughing a little. but yeah - I really hope I get a response.
Another reason I didn't complain while I was in there was because I was thinking about Karma and I was in such a spectacular serene mood I didn't want to ruin my chakras. Then on my drive back home I was turning down my street and saw one rabbit really close to my car. Then I drove a little bit further and was so so close to hitting another rabbit. I am convinced that keeping my mouth shut saved that poor rabbit. I might be over exaggerating.
