Flavourful Santa's Secret Tea at DavidsTea

Saturday morning I was out shopping and decided to try out DavidsTea (2277 Riverside Drive, Ottawa) for a couple of reasons.

I visited the new store that opened in the summer of 2014 to find a well stocked store with 100 plus teas lining the wall behind the counter.  One employee was carefully removing each tin one at a time and dusting the shelving.  She saw me approach the counter and stopped dusting.

She got down off the chair she was using to dust and approached the counter with a bright smile on her face asking how she could help.   I was there for two things:

First to sign up for the "Frequent Steeper" program.  This is DavidsTea customer loyalty program.  For signing up for the program customers receive a free cup of tea.  Another free cup of tea is given on the day of your birthday. Then once customers reach 100 points they receive so many grams of free tea. Currently 1 point is the equivalent of 1 dollar in sales.

DavidsTea Storefront

I signed up for the program mainly for the two free teas after sign up.  I don't really have a hope in reaching the free tea portion.  The main issue with the point system is DavidsTea resets the points balance at the end of each December.  Thus, if a customer spends 90 dollars in November, by next January those points are lost and they need to start over.

The next was to try out some tea.  I reviewed my options both from the cans lining the wall but also the specials neatly written on the chalk board.  I decided to try one of the specials as this was $3.00 (taxes included) instead of the $3.85 for a regular size.

The Order: 1 Santa's Secret Tea.

The tea was poured quite quickly by the excitable guide.  Guide? Yes, that is what DavidsTea markets their employees as.  Their guides are supposed to guide you through choosing the right tea for you.

The tea was hot and flavourful.  Felt like a warm comforting blend for a cold winter day.  I guess it could of been a more holiday season themed cup, but Santa's Secret would be perfect even in January long after Christmas has past.

Overall, this DavidsTea location has cheerful, warm and welcoming employees who are willing to help with your tea exploration.  Added "specials" are a great way to try a new tea for those, like me, who feel adventurous instead of just having the same old same old.

Postmedia Fails to Deliver: Flyer Force Follies

In the Ottawa area there are two main sources for advertising flyers.  Metroland's community newspapers and Postmedia's Flyer Force.  Both are supposed to deliver their flyers on Thursdays.  My wife likes to dig through the flyers to take advantage of the deals for her weekly shopping list and meal planning for the next week.

Metroland's newspapers in the Ottawa area are sister papers to those found in the Toronto area including The Liberal in Richmond Hill as well as having the same parent company as the Toronto Star.  Since starting distribution to my home at the beginning of January 2013, the Metroland Newspaper in my area, Ottawa South News, has been delivered weekly on Thursdays.  At first it was hit and miss as I guess the local delivery was being established.  There have been a couple of occasions when we received the newspaper late on Friday or even Saturday.  But this newspaper currently really only has the M&M Meat Shops and Freshco flyers that are worthwhile. The others usually are the one offs here and there.  So we are not usually too worried if this particular paper arrives on time.

Since the beginning of January,  Metroland's Ottawa South News has been delivered either Wednesday evening or sometime on Thursday in a prompt fashion, dry and secured in my mailbox. The carrier might even be a Canada Post employee doing extra deliveries as they have a Canada Post emblazoned bag while doing the paper route.  Right on time and dry, what more could advertisers' ask for?

Postmedia's Flyer Force is supposed to deliver a package of flyers to residential doorsteps between on Thursdays between  6 A.M. and 7 P.M.  according to Flyer Force's website for the Ottawa area.   Since moving into my home in October 2012, I doubt this target for delivery has been achieved. Most of the flyer packages, if delivered at all, are delivered either after 10 P.M. on Thursday or even Friday evening or early Saturday morning.  With the bulk of the major flyers being delivered by Postmedia's Flyer Force in the Ottawa area, advertisers are getting ripped off.

A case in point is delivery of the flyers since late December 2013 until now.  Just before Christmas delivery of the flyers stopped.  Nothing for two weeks, not even the Boxing Day flyers were delivered to our address.  Don't tell me brands like Wal-Martt, Future Shop, Target, Best Buy and others do not have Boxing Day flyers!

January rolled around and this non-delivery continued.  My wife was puzzled and frustrated as she didn't have the flyers to go through to figure out what was on special at the various grocery store flyers.  We did some online digging and called Ottawa's Flyer Force to investigate on Friday January 10th after nothing arrived.  My wife left a voicemail and received a phone call from Sal who said they would have someone drop off a new set and it happened by 2 P.M. on the Friday.

A week later on January 17th, nothing was delivered, my wife called again and Sal had someone drop it off.  Wash, rinse repeat for the January 24th.

January 31st, I spoke with Sal after yet again nothing arrived on our doorstep.  Sal inquired about the history of receiving our flyers.  I ran through that the flyers were usually delivered late on Thursdays, Fridays or even arriving late Saturday afternoon.  There was really no rhyme or reason to the delivery.  I even asked Sal if perhaps the number of addresses being delivered to by the carrier might be an issue and the carrier was trying their best.  Sal declined this option saying the lady needed the position.  I tried to inquire with Sal what the issue was, but he declined to comment.

It should be noted that my street during the entire month of January has virtually had no delivery of Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Future Shop, Food Basics, and Sears flyers because Postmedia's Flyer Force can't deliver.  Only after taking our calls did Sal have flyers delivered to our street.  But mysteriously only my next door neighbour and I received copies.  Across the street?  I checked 5 houses across the street each time and mysteriously nothing was on their doorsteps.  Seems like Sal's supervisor of carriers is trying to pull a fast one on us by trying to make it look like the flyers were delivered late.  Nice try, but quite frankly only delivering to two addresses on the street late after a phone call doesn't cut it.

Last night, Thursday, at 8 P.M. we received our flyers.  I peaked out to see lady pulling a grocery buggy down the street with the packs of flyers.  She would pull up to the end of a driveway, roll the flyers up, elastic them and fire them to the door step.  She did one side of the street and 30 minutes later, did the other.  She made quick work of the street.  I'm not sure if this is the old carrier who finally found nice weather to deliver her flyers in or a newly recruited carrier.  Either way, the flyers were still delivered later than the advertised 7 P.M.

Since moving into our house, Postmedia's Flyer Force has failed to deliver the product on time or even at all. It is a wonder how the advertising departments of the major retail chains put up with such shoddy service.  Hopefully Postmedia can pull up their socks in the delivery department because it is awfully hard for readers to enjoy Postmedia's product if they can not receive it.

A Free Coffee at the Cupcake Lounge

This afternoon, while downtown, I thought I would use a coupon for a free cup of coffee with the purchase of a cupcake at The Cupcake Lounge (6 Byward Market Square, Ottawa).

I walked down to the small store next to Zak's Diner but just short of Clarence Street on Byward Market Square and entered.

Inside is a small storefront with two tables in the window for consuming your favourite beverage and your cupcake of choice.  Behind the counter is where the magic happens where two employees make the cupcakes by hand and sell them there.  From their website they sell both individually to walk in customers like myself to big corporate functions and weddings.

I waited for a lady in front of me to finish ordering.  Sure there were two employees, but one was putting the finishing touches on the icing of another chocolate cupcake while the first was cashing out the customer in front.  No problem there as there was not that many customers in line.  Less than a minute and I was next.

I walked up and handed the coupon to the lady behind the counter and ordered.

The Order: 1 Chocolate Chocolate Cupcake and 1 Small Swiss Brewed Coffee.

Waited two minutes while the employee first got the coffee brewing in the espresso type machine.  She then grabbed a pair of tongs, took a cupcake from the front display, deposited into a paper bag and labelled it.

The Cupcake Lounge Cupcake bag

The coffee was brought forward from the espresso like machine and handed to me along with the cupcake.

I sipped the coffee as I made my way through the Byward Market on my way.  The Coffee  kind of plain really and nothing special.   Not sure why it was "Swiss brewed" as it tasted like any other coffee I could obtain at an independent coffee shop.  Size wise, it was the same as a Tim Hortons small.

Cupcake Lounge Small Swiss Brewed Coffee

The Chocolate Chocolate Cupcake was interesting.  After unwrapping it and taking a bite it was interesting.  Sure the icing was delicious but not as good as the one I had at the Nutty Greek Bake Shop.  The chocolate was not rich creamy tasting like I expected, but a little sugary tasting.  Interesting gourmet take on the frosting but not the best I have ever had.  The chocolate cake bottom was not any better than a home made one. In fact the chocolate bottom was a little drier and tasted like it had been in store for a little bit.

Cupcake Lounge Chocolate Chocolate Cupcake

 Overall, the Cupcake Lounge needs some assistance.  Using the word "lounge" in the name is a misnomer.  The words "Cupcake" and "Lounge" together makes me think of a dessert place with comfy chairs accompanied by delicious cupcakes with gourmet tea or coffee. Instead at the real Cupcake Lounge is a small storefront with two cafe style chaired tables in the front of the window with Cupcakes priced at $3.45 (including taxes) and mediocre coffee claimed to be "Swiss Brewed".  For probably $5.00 for the coffee and Cupcake I could easily go elsewhere.

The Way Way Back Movie

My wife had found earlier this week free movie prescreening tickets on Gofobo.com for Fox Searchlight Pictures'  "The Way Way Back" movie that is to be shown starting July 5th.  The movie stars Steve Carell and many others including Allison Janney (The West Wing) in a coming of age comedy.

Following dinner at Kelsey's on Thursday evening, my wife and I headed over to the Cineplex Odeon at South Keys Shopping Centre.  We were expecting unorganized chaos and long waits in line due to our previous experience with "The Guilt Trip". Thus, we packed a couple of books and a lot of patience.

We arrived shortly after 6 P.M. to the theater for the 7 P.M. showing.  We were met at the front with a representative scanning our printed passes in exchange for free movie tickets.  We then moved over to Cineplex Odeon's usher who admits people into the theater area.  So far so good. Next, we were asked to line up outside the theater.   So far so good, GoFobo seemed organized and moving patrons along quickly.

We arrived at the lineup to enter the theater to wait.  We had expected here to wait for 30 minutes.  But a couple of pleasant surprises were in store.  There was another representative, possibly from Fox Searchlight, handing out free movie t-shirts.  Then we were invited to enter the theater.

Front of T-Shirt

Before the movie started, a draw for a $100 HMV Gift card was held that was won by someone in the "Way Way Back" row of the theater. A nice touch compared to the previous experience at the Guilt Trip where only 2 things of swag was handed out and the rest of us left with nothing.  Fox Searchlight Pictures went above and beyond the call by handing out free t-shirts as well as the free prescreening tickets.

Back of T-Shirt

Finally, the main presentation began! No movie trailers for other movies were shown, just the 90 minute main picture.  The main plot line sees a young awkward teenager who is forced into a summer trip with his mom and her new boyfriend (Steve Carrell) and boyfriend's teenage daughter to a summer house.  Duncan, the teenager, seems completely awkward and is derided by Carrell's character.   Duncan looks completely depressed until he happens to upon the Water Wizz waterpark where he is hired onto a staff of missfits.  Here he gains his self esteem and moves on from there.

The movie itself is a decent family comedy but not as funny as the Hangover series. But it is more funnier than The Guilt Trip which was saw last December.  Don't expect this movie to garner any awards for hilarity or acting, but do at least see it in theaters coming July 5th.

Thanks to Gofobo and Fox Searchlight Pictures for providing this opportunity to see a decent comedy in theaters.  Organization and speed of service seemed to have been improved.  The free t-shirts, which I have now worn my shirt twice, was also a nice touch. Congrats on providing a fun night out for my wife and myself.

McDonald's Mayhem at Billings Bridge

My wife and I visited Billings Bridge Shopping Centre to do some shopping.  A couple of weeks ago we had also received some McDonald's coupons in the mail.  So we thought we would have a morning brunch and then start our shopping at the mall. 

We arrived at 10:30 A.M. to find the Mall's Foodcourt McDonald's (2277 Riverside Drive, Ottawa) closed and not opening until 11 A.M.  But the Tim Hortons outlet directly opposite was lined up and could barely keep up with the flow of customers looking for coffee, muffins and other breakfast items. 

Observing the food court unscientifically customers were enjoying many items that Tim Hortons provides that McDonald's made their name on (i.e. the Egg McMuffin Sandwich).    It is a wonder how the Foodcourt McDonald's doesn't open before 11 A.M. to provide breakfast as the demand, as demonstrated by the Tim Hortons food court location, was obviously there.  The demand was also quite obvious as the Tim Hortons and McDonald's Food Court outlets are opposite each other with the main entranceway from OC Transpo's Billings Bridge Station to the mall being right there presenting a lot of customer traffic.

With the Food Court McDonald's obviously not wanting our business, we continued through the mall to the McDonald's location in the parking lot of the mall (2269 Riverside Drive, Ottawa).

We entered to a semi busy McDonalds with quite a few customers enjoying some breakfast meal with many reading free copies of the Ottawa Sun newspaper.  We walked up to the counter to find four employees working the front.  Two employees were working the drive thru to the left, one female employee was taking our order and one male employee was also working the front doing some running to obtain orders.  One male customer was awaiting his order to be put together.  All seemed normal for a McDonald's. 

We placed our order with the cashier.

The Order: 2 Can dine for $6.48 coupon: 1 Sausage ’n Egg Buttermilk Biscuit, 1 Small Green Tea, 1 Sausage McMuffin, 1 Small Black Coffee and 2 Hashbrowns. 

We politly stepped to the side as the female server went to collect the sandwiches.  The customer who was waiting started getting a little antsy.  The female employee who served us brought over our sandwiches.  Meanwhile his, a Sausage McMuffin was still yet to be served and his hash browns were obviously ready but out of reach of the regular customers.  

The two employees at the drive thru were not doing anything but chatting to each other waiting for more cars to pull up.  The male employee was putting through one customer who needed a drink and that was it. 

We continued to stand there alongside the other customer. His sandwich showed up but not the hashbrown which was still teasing him from the fryer area but not reachable to the average customer.  It was infruriating.  He had to speak up as the female employee and the male employee were now more interested in talking to the kitchen staff as they were holding an easy to hear conversation about when they were going to do after work.  Added to that, he had previously requested a copy of the free copy of the Ottawa Sun and never go it.  But considering the effort he needed just to get the food he duly ordered and paid for, it wasn't worth it.

The male customer, getting agitated, asked for his hasbrown. The female employee ventured over and obtained the hashbrowns and so he was off.  We obtained our hashbrowns but were still waiting for the drinks.  The female employee dissapeared around the side of the drive thru.  I figured she was working on the green tea.  Turns out that was not the case.  She reappeared empty handed to start talking again with the male employee and now the two drive thru employees.

There was obviously no coordinated management at this McDonald's in terms of who was doing what or the attention to detail that the customers were receiving what they ordered in a timely fashion.  At other McDonald's locations there usually is a coordinated effort of one employee taking orders and another running to fulfill the orders.  This works with managers filling in as needed.  But at this McDonald's nobody was wearing the traditional black shirt of the McDonald's manager or supervisor.    All we had were young teenagers wearing blue and black coloured shirts more interested in figuring out what they were doing after they clocked off instead of doing what they were paid for. 

Like the previous customer who got impatient in obtaining his Egg McMuffin, I raised my voice, while pointing to my receipt, asking where the drinks we had ordered were.  The male employee looked over and said he would be filling my order.  Dumbfoundingly, he finally clued in that my wife and I weren't just hanging out at the counter with two breakfast sandwiches and 2 hashbrowns for the ambiance.  He fulfilled our order, finally, and we headed off to find a seat. 

Sadly, there were four tables available.  All of them with empty trays, egg crumbs or other remnants of previous customers meals.  There didn't appear to be any effort of cleaning the tables despite the large number of customers enjoying a Sunday morning breakfast at this McDonald's. 

We found a table in the back of the restaurant that someone was just picking up his tray from.  He conveniently left his copy of the Ottawa Sun on the table and left. We sat down and opened up our meal. 

The Sausage 'n Egg Buttermilk biscuit my wife had tasted like it had been mingling with the hashbrowns and french fries in the fryer.  It was doused in grease.

The hashbrowns were the usual taste.  I will hand it to the McDonald's chain overall, they have the better hashbrowns than Tim Hortons.  Tim Hortons' version tastes like an afterthought to the sandwich instead of making an effort to compliment it.  

The Sausage McMuffin was also wanting.  The processed cheese surprisingly enough was melted unlike other locations.  But that was the only good thing about the sandwich besides the usual English Muffins.  The sausage oaddy was overcooked dry and not very warm.  The sausage paddy tasted like it had been out to long. 

Overall, our stay was not enjoyable.  The service stunk despite there being adequate staffing and the food was below mediocre even by McDonald's standards.  There obviously was no interest from McDonald's in properly managing this location on a typically busy Sunday morning breakfast.  This is one McDonald's location we are not likely to return to for quite sometime.

Delicious Kettleman's Bagels

I had planned to visit Kettleman's Bagel Co. (912 Bank Street, Ottawa) on Friday for a little lunch.  But with a winter storm warning issued for Ottawa, I thought I would visit this morning for a bagel. 

Coincidentally, in Monday's Ottawa edition of the Metro newspaper there was a coupon for a free Sesame Seed bagel from Kettleman's Bagel Co. in thanks for customers voting them as Metro's Readers Choice Awards for bets bagel.  As well, with Kettleman's Bagel Co. also ranking in the top ten on Urbanspoon.com the bar was set high for these little bagels.

I entered about 8:20 A.M. this location (there are at least three locations in the Ottawa area) across from Lansdowne Park to find two employees slicing the bagel dough, forming them and a third at the ready to move them into the wood firing oven.

I mosied over the cash where I handed over my coupon and placed my order right away.  There was no lineup at the cash but service was quick and there was a family of four in the small seating area enjoying their bagels.

The Order: 1 plain Sesame Seed bagel and 1 Sesame Seed bagel toasted with cream cheese.

The free plain Sesame Bagel was the first casualty to my tastebeds.  Absolutlety delicious, just the way a Montreal style bagel should be served.  The bagel was warm right out of the woodfired oven after being baked that morning.  

Kettleman's Bagel Co. across from Lansdowne Park.

The Montreal style Sesame Bagel led me to contemplate which is better, New York style bagels or Montreal Style bagels.  I have now had delicious bagels of both version from my time in Brooklyn, New York and now Montreal style bagels in Ottawa at one of Ottawa's best bagel places. My taste buds will continue this great debate but first, a little cream cheese and another Montreal style bagel were ready. 

The Sesame Bagel with cream cheese was also delicious.  Kettleman's does not skimp on the cream cheese either.  So it is a freshly baked bagel with gobs of great tasting plain creamcheese.  Your tongue doesn't know which is better tasting the cream cheese or the freshly baked bagels.  Yet another delicious debate courtesy of Kettleman's.

Overall, Kettleman's Bagel Co. lives up to the acclaim.  Delicious freshly made bagels direct from a woodfired oven are reasonably priced.  It makes for a great breakfast and lunch place for bagels and bagel sandwiches available.   It is worth the walk to this location as it is in the scenic Glebe area of Ottawa.

Guilt Trip

Last Friday my wife found free tickets for a screening of the Guilt Trip (starring Seth Rogan & Barbara Streisand) at the SilverCity in Gloucester Centre.  The tickets were courtesy of GoFobo where you can be invited to a screening of a movie before opening day.  Just don't expect any stars to show up as this isn't a traditional Hollywood prescreening. 

After eating our sandwiches on Monday evening we headed off on the rainy / snowy evening to the theatre.  On the tickets we printed ourselves GoFobo says to arrive early so as to not be dissapointed.  We arrived at 5:45 P.M. for the 7:00 P.M. screening only to find no indication as to where to go.  We walked over to one of the entrances to ask a ticket taker.  He looked at two people behind him for guidance.  These two people were setting up something for an event.  They signalled for us to go to the main ticket area to exchange our printed tickets for SilverCity issued tickets.

We walked over and got into line at the ticket counter.  To SilverCity's credit we moved at a steady pace as the ticket wickets were decently staffed.  We got to the front and handed over our computer printed tickets.  The ticket taker was a little confused, she had another set of computer printed tickets in front of her but had to call her manager over.  The manager came over and said we should go visit the gentlement next to SilverCity's ticketing area. 

We slid aside and the gentlemen said he was from GoFobo and explained to us and another group of four that normally they don't start taking tickets until an hour before the screen time. He looked at his watch and realized it was 5:55 P.M. and he just said he was going to be taking tickets in 5 minutes while not even being close to ready as he was short a table and his handheld scanner wasn't qued up.  I signalled to him that two people were setting up a table near the cinema itself next to the ticket taker.  The GoFobo gentlemen thanked me for my observation but dismissed these two as possibly cell phone promotional team.  He signaled for the manager of SilverCity that he was missing a table.  The manager and GoFobo representative dissappeared.  Two other employees appeared and set up the table.   At this point GoFobo didn't seem ready for a prescreening despite requesting people to show up early.  But the disorganization goes from there.

At about 6:05 P.M. the GoFobo representative was ready to start scanning tickets.  But one hitch was the preprinted rippable tickets from SilverCity Gloucester Centre showed a screening time of 7:30 P.M. instead of the GoFobo computer printed tickets that said 7:00 P.M.   The GoFobo representative asked the SilverCity manager to screen the movie at 7:00 P.M.  A few V.I.P. tickets were scanned before GoFobo started to scan the tickets of those who dutifully signed up and printed off.  

We were then asked to go over to Cinema 1  and wait outside the theatre.  As it turned out the two people earlier setting up near the SilverCity Ticket taker were from Ottawa's Hot 89.9 radio station.  They had set up a banner outside of the Cinema.  We were lined up outside the theatre and asked to wait for over thirty minutes.  With about 10 minutes left before we were let in, the SilverCity Manager stopped by, said we were going to be let in but the line needed to tighten up as two theatres were going to empty soon.  We tightened up like cattle headed into the slaughterhouse for ten more minutes. 

At 6:35 P.M. we were let into the empty Cinema 1 and sat down.  The reason for the delays as the theatre wasn't apparently ready?  Hot 89.9 had to set up their portable speaker, microphone and soundboard to play their on air music and have two of their roadies insincerely welcome us to the screening.  Great, organization by both GoFobo and Hot 89.9 for cross promoting this screening then not getting it together so ticketing and seating could occur in an organized fashion.  Perhaps the wait outside the theatre was a way to try and create buzz for the screening so other movie goers would see us lining up for the prescreening of Guilt Trip.  It left many of us in line wondering if GoFobo and Hot 89.9 were really that organized of companies to even coordinate showing a movie.

Once everyone was seated, the Hot 89.9 radio station brought up someone who welcomed us to the screening and then proceeded to hand out only 4 loot bags as prizes.  The loot bags consisted of a movie poster and a cloth bag.  Great, hand out only 4 cloth bags, they could have given one to everyone in the theatre as there were only about 100 of us there. Suggestion: if you are going to encourage people to come early to a screening, then perhaps give out bags to the first so many customers who show up.  That is what the Toronto Blue Jays do during giveaway days.

After the giveaway the radio station person hoped we enjoyed the screening.  We then had to wait another five minutes for the disassembly, the good byes of the three people from Hot 89.9 to leave and the GoFobo representative to take his seat.  By the time movie started it was 7:05 P.M.  Yes GoFobo which prescreens movies from Paramount and Fox can't even start a screening on time. 

The movie itself was a delightful comedy about a mother (Barbara Streisand) whose grown up son (Seth Rogan) invites her on a cross country car trip from New Jersey to San Francisco to sell a new cleaning product.  The movie took a little while to get started with the son visiting his mother for a day and then asking her about the road trip to San Francisco.  The dumb part was when the mother had to hedge whether she was going on the trip or not. 

Let's stop right there, if the mother decides to stay home, we have no movie.  There is no "Guilt Trip" of mother and son driving across America.  If she decides to go with her son, we are good to go with the movie plotlines. So why the dilly dallying?  Get on with it!

The mother and son depart from New Jersey and the movie advances along between car scenes, hotel scenes, scenes where the son is attempting to peddle his product to prospective buyers.  Throughout this of course are attempts at humour.  At the beginning the jokes seemed kind of lame and not well written.  As the movie progressed thow there were a few guffaws but nothing hillariously funny that I fell into the aisle.  The storyline though was endearing especially the scene at the end involving the son and mother in San Francisco.  No, there was not a sale in San Francisco of the cleaning product but something involving love that provided a quirky ending.  You will have to see the movie to find out. 

The movie was definatly not Oscar material but did provide for an interesting night out.  It won't be the best comedy you will ever see but it won't be the worst comedy you will ever see. 

Overall GoFobo needs to get things together.  This was the second movie screening we had seen (our first was in Richmond Hill) and making prospective customers to wait in the hallway like cattle going to slaughter seemed a little much when there was an empty theatre available doesn't seem right.  Add to this the ticketing issues of not being ready despite requesting customers come early also added to the frustration.  If this was a half price movie deal I would have left due to the unorganization of the event by GoFobo and Hot 89.9.  Hopefully on the next event SilverCity, GoFobo and whomever the radio station is will pull up their socks otherwise they need to have a serious Guilt Trip of their own.

Terminate the McDonald's in Wal-Mart on Terminal

This week McDonald's is advertising free small coffees for all customers.  As well, the Monopoly Game is also running with free prizes being periodically won by various customers including myself. 

So I thought I would visit a McDonald's (450 Terminal Avenue, Ottawa) for some free coffee (this week's McDonald's promotion) and a free muffin (from the Monopoly Coupon I received from eating at McDonald's earlier).   I approached the counter, passing by a large grey container on a McDonald's promotional counter, to place my order with what appeared to be a McDonald's on duty manager.

The Order: 1 Small Black Coffee and 1 Blueberry Muffin

The manager rang in everything and got out my Blueberry Muffin from the on counter display case.  Normally I enjoy the Oreo Chocolate Muffin, but I didn't see any in the display case despite the case appearing almost full.  

The coffee? The manager pointed over to the promotional display and explained coffee was free for the week. I was free to help myself.  Normally to the McDonald's I have visited in the Richmond Hill and Aurora area (near Toronto) the free coffee is ordered at the counter and poured by the people behind the counter as if you were regularly ordering it. At this McDonald's, apparently the volume is so overwhelming you can pour your own. 

I attempted to grab a single small cup and ended up with three.  I had to separate the extra two cups individually before grabbing my single cup. I finally poured the coffee from the oversized bulk plastic coffee container you would find at any McDonald's special event.  I looked for a lid, nothing, so I  left figuring this location had cheaped out on the free coffee promotion.  

The coffee was the usual tasting McCafe Coffee that McDonald's has been promoting for the past couple years with the free coffee weeks.  However, this coffee was luke warm at best.  Perhaps if this McDonald's, like its Toronto area McDonald's compatriots, would serve the coffee using it's existing counter staff, the coffee would be warmer and perhaps fresher tasting. 

The blueberry muffin tasted like it had been in that display case all weekend and maybe even thensome. Usually, I find McDonald's muffins taste a little fresher than despite them being shipped in from who knows where.

This particular McDonald's, located inside the large Wal-Mart in the Ottawa Trainyards, I have been to at least three times now.  I've never been really impressed as this location seems understaffed and overwhelmed when customers visit for meals.  This leads to lengthy waits at the counter to order  and obtain food.  As well, issues with cleanliness with condiment and drink station,  tables, floors and other eating areas also result It is a good thing that Wal-Mart store itself looks after the washroom as I highly doubt this McDonald's store management could keep it up to health standards.  

Overall, this McDonald's needs help.  Serving luke warm coffee from an oversized plastic thermos during a head office promotion sanctioned coffee will probably not attract future customers to switch from your competitor Tim Hortons to McDonald's on a regular basis.  Issues with cleanliness and slow service also tend to turn off prospective customers from purchsing and existing customers from returning.  Hopefully, this McDonald's can pull it's Ronald McDonald striped socks up and improve.

Pinecresting for an Ikea Restaurant

Today we ventured over to Ikea (2685 Iris Street, Ottawa) to do some hmming and hawing over some new furniture.  We arrived at 9:30

First we discovered the new Ikea Family Card that allows for discounts on food (i.e. free coffee or tea!) and furniture.  We signed up online last night and obtained our card today in a matter of seconds at the automatic kiosk via scanning the bar code provided. 

We then mosied upstairs to the restaurant for our the breakfast offerings at the Ikea Restaurant.  We grabbed our trays and moved along the cafeteria style line for our food.

The Order: 2 Breakfast Combos (Scrambled eggs, 2 sausages and home fries), 1 Large Cinnamon Bun, 3 Pieces of Bacon, 1 Coffee and 1 Green Tea.

All of the above was only $5.08 including $0.59 tax.  This is because 30 minutes before store opening there is free coffee and tea for all customers (Note: All day Free Coffee & Tea as well for Ikea Family Card holders).  As well, the 2 breakfast combos were only $1.00 each plus tax.  Pretty good value pricing for a breakfast meal. 

After paying the cashier, we gathered our drinks from the drink station and then retraced our steps back to the cashier station to pick up our cutlery.  

The only issue with this self serve style is the confusion it creates in finding where you need to go.  When waiting in line at the cashier, there were two families of four trying to figure out where the start of the entire process was.  A little encouragement towards the start and they found their way.  Then there was trying to gather our utensils, that we missed and got to the drink station.

A simple suggestion to resolve this issue would be to number each of the spots of the restaurants.  This would resolve a lot of the confusion as customers would only have to visit #1, #2, etc. For example, picking up your tray would be "Start Here #1" and then move through the organized line to gather you food.  2 Cashier would be next, cutlery 3, drinks 4 and so on.  This would make it easier to have customers get from start to finish in a expedient way without the frustration of missing a step and having to backpedal. 

We found a clean table and dug into our meals.  The food overall was medium warm in temperature.  If this was a diner, I would have sent it back for being lackluster in temperature.  The scrambled eggs were the worst, it seemed they had been warmed an hour ago and left to cool since then.  The sausages and bacon were medium room temperature.  But for the price of the food, it was still good value. 

The coffee was decent quality but probably the warmest thing there.  Coming from a Bunn-O-Matic machine, keeping the coffee warm and great tasting was probably the simplest thing the Ikea Restaurant did. 

Overall, the Ikea Restaurant is a satisfactory only.  For the pricing available, one should not expect high quality pancakes, waffles and such topped with whipped cream and fruit.  The total aim of the Ikea Restaurant is to provide decent food with a great price before and after a shopping trip to Ikea.

Wal-Mart Garden Centre Pricing: How Much for this Bag of Fertilizer?

How much for Qty 1 Bag of Fertilizer?

This past weekend I decided to do some work around including weeding and fertilizing the lawn. 

On a visit to Wal-Mart in Richmond Hill I visited the garden section to investigate what they had for some mulch and fertilizer. 

I picked up one bag of "Schultz Supreme Green Turf Fertilizer" clearly labelled "2 for $18.00". I reviewed the label to see how many bags I would require for what little grass I have.  One bag seemed to suffice.

I ventured onward with my shopping to grab some groceries and other household necessities and proceeded to the check out. 

Before leaving the store my wife and I, as we always do, reviewed our receipt.  We stopped at the itemized listing for the fertlizer.  Hmmm... $11.70 can't be right.

We ventured over to the Customer Service Desk at the front of the store to inquire.  With no one in line we were quickly greeted.  The attendent, who ironically enough had "cashier" on her name tag, scanned the bag and explained that because I only had one bag it was at the regular price. 

I replied that the price clearly said "2 for $18" and no where did it say $11.70 if a customer bought one.  I said this is a case of misleading advertising and wasn't right.  I furthered my point by noting an average customer would think if I purchase quantity one it would be $9.00 unless
otherwise noted.

She replied it was the scanned price is what the price was.  I replied to this last claim by pointing out that not all the time was scanned price correct as sometimes the tag on the shelf is cheaper than what is scanned.  This of course is why the Government of Canada created the Scanning Code of Practice which Wal-Mart volunteered to adhere to and the Richmond Hill store clearly posted the required label on it's front door.  I also pointed out the shelf label in in this case was not clearly marked and the average consumer would believe if one bag was purchased it would cost $9.00. 

She replied the correct price is what was scanned in this case. 

I asked to speak to the Customer Service Manager. 

The Cashier paged the Customer Service Manager three times despite my wife and I witnessing one clearly marked "Customer Service Manager" on her name tag three cashes over replenishing the plastic bags. 

Another Customer Service Manager visited us at the front counter and I explained the issue. I also noted the Cashier at the Customer Service Counter in her actions may be unfortunatly leading this store to not live up to the Scanning Code of Practice which Wal-Mart had dutifully agreed to adhere to. 

She gave the same answer as the Cashier at the Customer Service Counter.

I said I begged to differ and invited her to visit Garden Centre as I believed this was a Scanning Code of Practice issue.  Together we retraced my steps to the Garden Centre and she carried the decently weighted bag with us.

While walking there I inquired if someone from the Garden Centre could join us to review the issue.  We happenned to find a gentleman with a handheld scanner.  He explained, while we reviewed the fertlizer and the posted price that one bag was at regular price and the sale only happenned if you bought quantity two.  I explained my position that this tag was unclear. 

A middle aged Wal-Mart customer ventured by to stop and inquire about something else.  I asked him politly how much he thought one bag of fertilizer would be.  His reply: $9.00.  

The Garden Centre employee said it was $11.70 and agreed upon it with the Customer Service Manager. 

I asked to speak with Store Manager on this issue.  The Customer Service Manager and I left, not before she tried to put back my duly overpriced purchase of fertilizer.  I said to her I have duly purchased that bag of fertilizer and have the receipt to prove it, please bring it along so the Store Manager can review this issue. 

The Store Manager retraced our steps back to the Garden Centre with the Garden Centre employee to review.  He took a three second look a the pricepoint and said the Garden Centre employee that this item was not correctly priced as set out by Wal-Mart policy as there should be indication of what the price was if one of the products was purchased.   The Store Manager said he would return in five minutes to show the Garden Centre employee how to properly print the pricing.  

The Store Manager returned with me to the Customer Service Counter carrying the bag of fertilizer.  I stopped and waited with the Cashier I had visited earlier.  The Store Manager instructed her to return the product, then input it under the $9.00 and then discount it under the Scanning Code of Practice. 

While the cashier was processing the transactions, the Store Manager said that I was very concientious in pointing out a confusing pricing issue.  He said that I would be receiving the fertlizer under the Scanning Code of Practice (i.e. free in this case) and the pricing would be clearly marked.  He thanked me for visiting his store and hoped, despite this situation, I would return again. 

I replied that I thanked him for his kindness.  I left with my wife to a beautiful Saturday afternoon of sunshine and gardening.

An Inexpensive Day in Toronto

On the Labour Day Monday in Toronto my wife and I headed down to Toronto's waterfront for a little sightseeing of the military variety.  We took the subway down from Finch Station using a TTC Day Pass ($10.00 for two adults and two children on weekends). 

First we stopped off at Coronation Park which is near the Canadian National Exhibition to watch the air show which we thought started at 12:30 and ended at 4:00 P.M. as it was advertised on their website at the time.   We waited from 12:30 until 1:00 and only saw a brief glimpse of the Airplane/Helicopter from the U.S. Army.  At 1:00 P.M. we threw in the towel and started walking eastward as we had another stop we wanted to see.  We started working our way around the condos on the waterfront when a couple of military planes took off.  We admired them as they dissappeared in the distance.

The CNE should get together with the air show and have tighter start and end times for the planes taking off.  Having air show fans sitting for hours on end while the planes come and go every fifteen minutes doesn't seem that impressive to me.  As well this spread out air show keeps patrons who are on the CNE grounds from taking part in rides and travelling very far from the waterfront to spend money because they are worried about missing something.   Anyway, we missed most of the airshow except what we could see from our travels by foot to the foot of Yonge Street. 

Our second stop was the visiting HMCS Montreal and the HMCS Summerside. 

The HMCS Montreal

The HMCS Summerside (left) and the HMCS Shawinigan (right)

The best part about visiting the HMCS Montreal and Summerside?  It was all FREE!  So watch out next year to see which of the naval vessels of the Canadian Navy will be in port.  For more pictures of the HMCS Montreal and the HMCS Summerside check the Toronto albumn of my pictures.

For the entire afternoon for two adults cost us $10.00 Day pass for the TTC plus a lunch at Tim Hortons resulted in an afternoon of fun and frolic.

FREE Harvey's Burger Upgrade

Like many other foodies out there I enjoy a decent burger.  In Richmond Hill there are several choices for burgers. 

On the last day of each week I tend to like to also to go out for lunch.  Again in Richmond Hill there are several options to choose from that sometimes I have no idea where I want to go. 

Sometimes a little help comes along.  Help?  I don't mean in terms of the four flyers and counting I received in my mailbox now that Canada Post has returned normal operations after a strike (READ: All I get is flyers and Canada Post says that there is a backlog in mail?  Um...how about dumping the outdated flyers in the recycling bin and start moving the mail with addresses on it!)....but I digress....

The little help came in the form of an online coupon from Harvey's.  The coupon entitles the bearer to enjoy a Great Canadian Hamburger combo for the price of an Original Combo.

That did it, I headed off to my local Harvey's (9471 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill) for one of these combos with fries and Pepsi. 

The burger was deliciously good.  The mushrooms and cheese just added to the deliciousness of the burger goodness. The fries were run of the mill warmish Harvey's fries and the Pepsi the boring fast food fountain pop.  But at least on this day the fast food burger meal was a decent find.  In fact I might try this all again next week as the coupon does not expire until July 12th. 

Happy eating!

Norton Auto Renewal = One hand in your pocket, in your pocket

Recently Jack blogged about his travails of his dealings with the call centre of AT&T. His blog posting read like the ranting and raving of anyone who has had to deal with a "customer service" call centre supposedly designed to respond to customer inquiries and concerns.  On Jack's posting one could simply replace the company name (i.e. AT&T) and insert some other company name and it would all work out. 

Last Friday, I had the same horrible experience as Jack.  Instead of it being a telecommunications company like AT&T or Bell or Rogers, it was with the trusted company of Symantec, the makers of Norton Antivirus.  That evening I was trolling through my junk e-mail folder to see what pharmaceutical companies were offering these days.  As well I was looking to see what free money I could get from African countries who seem to more than willing to send these funds my way as long as I send them my banking information.

 In this junk mail folder was also a message from Norton complete with my name and some credit card information.  The message was a little mysterious to me as Norton normally lets me know via a pop up window that my antivirus subscription was about to run out.  Never in has it shown my credit card information and sent it via e-mail.  I scrolled over the link to see the internet address to see if this was a phishing scheme.  No it was not, it was a complete Norton.com internet address for renewal.  I clicked on the link.  Both the e-mail and newly brought up webpage said that if I do not request otherwise that my subscription to Norton Antivirus would be renewed on my credit card.  As well, to request this automatic renewal from not going forward I would have to sign in with my e-mail and password. 

E-mail address and password?  Since when did I have an account with Norton? I requested the password be sent to my e-mail address.  I then signed into this supposed account to find my complete mailing address and credit card information.   I cleared out as much information as I could from this account. To say the least I now have a few newly painted blue walls to take care of in my house. 

FIRST CALL: I called Norton's customer service number and somehow by act of the big man upstairs my call was routed to the Phillipines.  I nicely explained the issue to the customer service agent who picked up the phone what the issue was and how I did not appreciate Symentec and Norton storing my personal information without my express consent. I also had her promise that Norton or Symantec would not use, sell or give away my e-mail address and that her agreement would constitute a legal agreement.  She agreed to this statement. She offered to put me through to a manager right away and put me on hold.  I stayed on hold for 10 minutes listening to their music before hanging up. 

SECOND CALL: I called back and got the same agent.  She said she would put me through to the manager once again.  I was then put through to a different sounding que that said "Your call is very important to us, a project manager will be right with you."  I heard this again for another ten minutes before hanging up yet again. 

From what I can tell at least this time the customer service agent put me through to a que to speak to a manager.  The first call the customer service representative put me on hold and hoped I was going away.

While on hold during these time periods I did a Google search and found several customer service complaints about the Norton Antivirus auto renewal process.  All of these complaints noted that the customer never got to speak to a manager at any point.  A few of these complaints the customer's bank was contacted and charges to the credit cards were at reversed only to have Norton reapply the charges back on later. Norton customers were understandibly frustrated.

THIRD CALL: I called back again and gave an agent, named Raj, my Norton case number and asked to speak to a manager.  He said "yes Robert I can do that."  Um...Robert?  Whose Robert?   Great, customer service who cannot even get a name right.  And these guys hold onto and have access to your credit card information?  I said to Raj that I wanted a customer service manager on the phone within 5 minutes or I would be leaving Norton as a customer due to the poor customer service.  Raj then wasted another one minute reading his script apologizing profusely for the experience I had undertaken.  I, of course, rudely interrupted his "Recitation of the Great Apology" to periodically tell him the time he had left to get a manager on the phone every fifteen seconds. 

At the end of apology, Raj just sat their silently.  I asked after 15 seconds of this if he was still there, he said yes,  I said did he understand what I requested, he said yes.  I then asked why he was not transferring me to a customer service manager as per my request and repeated the time back to him of how fast I wanted to speak to a manager.  Raj said he understood and then sat their silently.   Apparently Raj is great at reading corporate customer service call centre scripts but is terrible at completing simple tasks like transferring a customer to a manager for escalation of the case.  I got put on hold again (same music as the first call), I waited the prescribed five minutes and hung up again. 

FOURTH CALL: I called again, I got through to customer service agent named "Lay".  I asked to speak to a customer service manager again.  She put me through to the same que promising some hogwash about the importance of my call.  I waited five minutes before hanging up. 

During the second and fourth calls I drafted two e-mails.  One to the Toronto Star consumer columnist, Ellen Roseman. The second was an e-mail to the executive team of Symantec which I found the addresses after a Google Search here.  I sent both off before dialing again.

FIFTH CALL: I dialed yet again, and I got an agent who did not even give his name as far as I could tell.  I explained the issue again, the fact I had just sent off e-mails to a consumer columnist with Canada's largest daily newspaper and the higher ups at Symantec about the terrible customer service I had received.  I said he had two minutes to put me through to the Customer Retention department as I was now ready to leave Symantec for their competition at McAfee. The agents response was he was not allowed to give out the contact information for executive level personnelle and that I would be put through the to department.  He then went on with yet another "Recitation of the Great Apology."  I interuptted him about three sentences in.  telling him he had two minutes from when I say go to give me the Customer Retention Department.  Then I had silence.  Apparently this agent was trained by Raj. I merely counted down till there was no time and hung up on him. 

SIXTH CALL: I called again and hoped at least I was helping to run up the phone tab for Symantec's 1-866 number to the Phillipines. I got another agent with no name.  I explained that I wanted someone to call me back.  She promised someone would and asked what time would be the best.  I replied before I give that out, I said I would like to, no offense, speak to someone in Canada as I had enough issues with the call centre in the Phillipines.  She replied with the start of the "Recitation of the Great Apology" followed up with having someone from the United States call me.  I gave her my name and number (reciting my number a second time for good measure) and said to have someone call me between 9-5 my time.  She agreed this would happen.  I followed up with that if I'm not home the manager is supposed to leave their name and number of where they can be reached on my voicemail. She agreed and we hung up.

Fast forward to Saturday shortly after 11 A.M. I received a phone call from an American sounding manager.  I relayed my frustration from the night before and all the action I had taken in trying to escalate this issue to no avail and was glad he called. 

Next, I went through the research I had done online.  The manager said that I did not have any context for the cases found online and if these customers ever found resolution.  My response was that I had plenty of context of the frustration.  Like the other customers, Norton was holding onto my credit card information and was going to charge my credit card information without my consent.  I also noted that these other customers were also angry with Norton for doing so and outlined that they also had issues in speaking with a customer service manager when calling.  I also mentioned that I had contacted the executives and a consumer columnist for follow up if need be.

The Norton Manager then walked me through how Norton obtained my personal information.  He explained a year ago when I renewed my subscription with Norton using my credit card and other information that somewhere in the process there was a Auto Renew function turned on.  I told him that I had never knowingly authorized  the autorenewal function and felt this was like negative option billing.  I explained that a number of years ago Rogers had a similar incident that caused them to lose a bunch of customers.  

The manager then ensured the auto renew function had been turned off from my actions I took online Friday evening.  He confirmed this option had been turned off.  I followed up with the simple question of "what credit card number do you have on file?"  A couple of computer clicks on his end and he said he was unable to see the number.  I replied it was a trick question to ensure the Norton record systems were working as I had cleared out that information the evening before.   He then apologized, this time without the "Recitation of the Great Apology" and asked if there was anything he could do.  I replied that considering my experience, I would be contacting my computer specialist to see what other products that Symantec did not have a hand in were available.  The manager then said if I wished to renew with Norton to watch for the autorenewal function on the sign up process.  He said this option comes after the agreement in a tic box on this years renewal process.  I thanked him for his time and we hung up after that point.

On Saturday, I checked the junk mail folder of my e-mail again.  I found the below e-mail:

Dear Michael,

I’m sorry to hear that you have been encountering issues with the support that you have received.

To ensure that these issues are fixed, I would like to organize a time to call you back.

Please provide me a date, time and phone number of when I can call you back or you can call me up on + 1 866 870 0267.

Thank you

Vayapparaj K
Symantec Customer Relations
Direct Ph # 1 866 870 0267.

----------

Obviously Vayapparaj K had failed to read the notes on my case number.  Otherwise he would have found that I spoke with one of this American counterparts that day.  He would have also noticed that I had specfied what time I would like to be contacted at. 

I wrote back to Vayapparaj with the following:

Hi Vayapparaj,

I'm thoroughly disgusted with customer relations. I waited over an hour combined on multiple occassions to speak to a supervisor. I'm not interested in speaking with you at this point as I spoke with an American representative of your company who understood what I was concerned about and actually answered my technical questions about renewal.

I also find it funny that you need my phone number as I, reluctantly, gave it to the customer service relations person on the final call after giving up.

I have contacted the Toronto Star's consumer Columnist Ellen Roseman about the poor customer service and autorenewal functions provided by Norton and Symantec.

Again, if you and Symantec wanted to resolve this issue, you had plenty of time last night to have a manager on the phone. After all, I was told repeatedly "your call is important to us..." several times while I was holding in the que. But apparently my call was not important as Symantec and Norton would have ensured enough management was there to take the call.

I'm now waiting for the Toronto Star to contact me about the possibility of others learning how Norton underhandily automatically renews contracts without the consent of it's users.

I hope their follow up will help others in my situation as I have noticed that I was not the only one to have issues with Norton. I had plenty of time last night waiting for a manager to use Google to see about how others felt about Norton Automatic Renewal process and the commentary was not good from over ten users that I found.

As well, I had time to e-mail all the top executives about the customer service issues with the Phillipines and the lack of customer service supervisors available in that call centre to adequately address Norton's customer service issues. I also included all the names I had from the phone calls and how useless they were. I also included the fact that I do no approve of the autorenewal process used by Norton.

I hope this helps Norton to become a better company in the future. For now I'm weighing my options of joining McAfee for my virus protection as Norton has lost my confidence.

Thanks

Michael

-------------------------

On Sunday, I received a reply from Ellen Roseman of the Toronto Star.  She noted she had received my e-mail. She also pointed me to an article she wrote last December about similar issues with McAfee and other companies.  I replied thanking Ellen for the heads up on autorenewals with McAfee and how I may have to "hold my nose and renew with Norton." 

On Monday I received a phone call from Stefan Osthaus, Symantec's Vice President of Worldwide Support & Customer Service.  He apologized for the experience I had calling it a perfect storm.  He also noted that according to their records I was hung up on twice by their agents.  He asked if I had any feedback for them or questions on what I experienced. 

I started from the very beginning on how frustrating the experience was.  I also said that I was now considering exploring my non-Norton options due to the autorenewal practices by Norton. 

We then had an engaging conversation about how to best go about resolving the issue so other customers would not run into this issue.  I suggested that the autorenewal option check box be not automatically filled in when going through the subscription renewal process online.  This would ensure customers would have to add the check box to this function while those that just wanted to renew and move on could do so.  He seemed to like this idea.

As for the account creation online, I told him I was against this idea for yearly renewal subscribers similar to myself who did not want their information stored and no autorenewal function instituted. He liked that idea as well saying he could probably have the system programmed so that only those choosing the autorenewal process would create an online account with Norton.  I then said both sets of customers should have their product keys e-mailed to them after the renewal is complete for safekeeping.  I told them that is what HP (Hewlette Packard) does for new computers who are activated under their warranty programme and that I still had that e-mail. He also like that idea. 

At the end of the conversation he double checked with me what Norton programme I was using and  inquired if I still wanted to be a Symantec customer.  I replied that I was sitting on the fence considering my findings via Ellen Roseman about McAfee and my experiences with Norton. 

Stefan then offered two things, he said he felt he needed to make amends for making me feel like Norton had a hand in my pocket for money and needed to have his company regain my trust.  In doing so he said that he would personall e-mail me a product key that would give me a one year subscription for my Norton software for free and if at any point I had any further customer service issues with Symantec and Norton that I could e-mail him directly and he would have someone contact me immediately. I agree that that would be satisfactory to me in assisting me with my decision with choosing antivirus software.  After we hung up I had an e-mail in my inbox from Stefan with the product key and his contact information. 
At the end of it all, I spent over an hour off an on the phone running up the long distance tab of Norton via their 1-866 customer service number, e-mailed a well known consumer columnist, talked to a Vice-President and received a free one year subscription worth over seventy dollars. Sometimes it pays to be a persistant customer in search of customer satisfaction.  Too bad most of this customer service satisfaction has been contracted out by companies like Symantec and AT&T to script reading customer service call centres.

Free Slurpee!

Yes that title is right.  Today I got myself a free Slurpee!   How?  By signing up for their e-mail newsletter.  So here are the details. 

1. Click here to be taken to the sign up spot.

2. Fill in the detials required and click "submit".  Suggestion: For deals, draws and newsletters from companies I suggest having a seperate e-mail address.  That way if they sell the e-mail address or somehow a spammer gets a hold of it all spam will be sent to this account. 

3. Slurpee.ca will send a confirmation e-mail to your account.  Note: This took about ten minutes to arrive in my Hotmail.com account, so be patient!

4. Click on the confirmation link in the supplied e-mail to confirm your Slurpee.ca e-mail account adress.

5. A confirmation screen at Slurpee.ca will appear.  Close this window and double check your e-mail. 

6. You should have one coupon for a free 828 ml Slurpee.

7. Print the entire e-mail and take the coupon to your local 7-Eleven and collect your free Slurpee!

Warning! Coupon expires at the end of April 2011.

Toronto Paper Comparison: A Reader's Perspective

Newspapers periodically release circulation numbers and various readership studies. The release of the numbers includes percentage increases, number of readers and comparisons to previous years. The papers obviously try to portray the numbers in a positive light towards their readership that basically says "hey we are number one!". So many numbers and bragging it makes a reader's head spin.

This past October my wife found on Redflagdeals.com a free subscription for the Saturday Toronto Star and Monday to Saturday delivery of the National Post and the Globe & Mail.  So each Saturday until next weekend we will receive three newspapers on your doorstep.  I've found this to be a great opportunity to investigate which newspaper I prefer to read based on various aspects that I, as a reader, look for in a paper. I explore these various aspects below for the deliveries of the Toronto Star, Globe & Mail and National Post.

Delivery: The first and most obvious is delivery of the newspaper itself.  For each of the papers I requested front door delivery and all promised delivery before 6:00 A.M.  Thus, every morning of delivery I should have a copy of the paper at my front door at 6:00 A.M.  Here is how the papers ranked:

1. National Post - Only had one missing paper the first Saturday.  After that, I've never had an issue with the paper not being there.   The paper has always come dry and on my front porch.

2. Toronto Star - The carrier on our route delivers the paper closer to 7:00 A.M. on a Saturday since subscription started.  On weekends this may not be such a big issue.  However, for some this may be an issue if they leave for work early before 7 and hope to take the morning paper with them on their commute (e.g. subway, bus, etc.) or to work. Otherwise the paper has been properly delivered. 

3. Globe & Mail - Over the past two weeks the paper has failed to show up on first attempt and sometimes many after that:

a) The first time my wife called circulation.  Circulation had an automatic recording saying there would be no delivery for the Globe & Mail that day and two copies would be delivered on the next day.  Well we waited for the paper to show up the next day and there was only one edition.  

b) The second time it didn't show up I called at 6:50 A.M. and was promised delivery within 90 minutes.  Nothing showed up after 120 minutes (i.e. 2 hours).  So I called again. I was promised again delivery.  Nothing.  The third call, the Customer Service Representative said I was basically out of luck and the next day I should have the regular paper. 

c) Then third time this past week I called and the Globe & Mail Circulation had an automatic recording saying there was an emergency situation at their place and they couldn't pick up the phone.  I called back 30 minutes later and there was a recorded message saying delivery of the paper was delayed until at least 11:00 A.M.  By 10:00 A.M. we had the paper delivered.

If we were paid Globe & Mail subscribers, we obviously wouldn't be pleased.  But as a free trial, the Globe & Mail fails miserably on delivery.

Customer Service:  We've had to call all three Customer Service Centres for the papers. Each paper was ranked based on, how annoying their automated systems were, how long after we dialed in we had to wait to speak to a live person and were the Customer Service Reps able to assist us in resolving our issues.

1. National Post - Called once about a missed delivery.  The Customer Service agent picked up within 30 seconds and had a new paper delivered within an hour. 

2. Toronto Star - Called to cancel our trial subscription.  The Customer Service agent was more interested in figuring out why we were cancelling and then offering us another paid trial offer.  Bottom line, if we were interested in continuing we would inquire about another offer to further our subscription.  

3. Globe & Mail - Called around five times to have the paper delivered in the first place.  An automated voice recognotition system picks up and asks you a bunch of questions in appearance of trying to help.  One time I called and told the automated systemd "missed delivery".  The system responded if I would like to add the Sunday New York Times to my subscription. I responded "no" and then it kept asking me what I was calling.  After repeating the "missed delivery" fiasco above two more times I hung up and retried.  Bottom line, every time I called in with questions on my account (i.e. to cancel the trial subscription or a missed delivery) I end up at a live person anyway.  Is it really hard to train a live customer service person to answer simple questions like: 1. "How much longer do I have on my subscription?" 2. "The paper didn't come today, can I have a redelivery?" After all the Globe & Mail has been around for over a hundred years, newspaper delivery on specified days to subscribers homes on time shouldn't be rocket science anymore.   To make matters worse, I can't remember ever waiting less than 5 minutes to talk to a live person,  but again I kept being reassured that "your call was important to us" and that there were "higher call volume".

Ottawa Bureau Coverage (Parliament Hill):  Newspapers that provided in depth coverage of the House of Commons and other goings on at Parliament Hill tended to rank better.  This coverage included the day to day goings on by the reporters to analysis and opinion by columnists.  

1. Toronto Star: The Star excels at covering Parliament Hill with in depth articles written by veteran newspaper reporters who know the workings of Canadian politics.  From the day to day coverage by Bruce Campion-Smith and Allan Woods  to the columns by Chantel Hebert and James Travers and in depth coverage by senior writers Susan Delacourt and Linda Diebel, it is hard to beat this coverage. 

2. Globe & Mail:  Not to be outdone, the Globe & Mail has a decent set of writers as well (e.g. Gloria Galloway, Jane Taber, John Ibbitson).  They are close to what the Toronto Star has in terms of quality.  However, being a "national focused" newspaper instead of a "Toronto focused" the coverage doesn't really tell me how the parliamentary decisions really affect those that live in and around Toronto.

3. National Post: The Post has gobbs of commentary by John Ivision (not to be confused with John Ibbitson of the Globe & Mail) but the straight news isn't really lacking.   There really is no memorable writers from the National Post that seem to be able to bring the straight goods from Parliament Hill without some sort of "analysis" or "comment" label being associted with their name.   However, the commentary by John Ivison and the odd feature article from the National Post's writers or associated writers from the Post's sister papers do provide some interesting reading.  But overall, the National Post needs to either grab a writer from somewhere else or grow a Parliamentary Bureau reporter that can dig into the goings on at Parliament and give the readers the straight goods without the bias that a columnist would present. 

Greater Toronto Area (GTA) News: Like the Ottawa Bureau Coverage, the GTA should have both reports of what is going on at City Hall (i.e. Toronto City Hall) and analysis provided by columnists. 

1. Toronto Star:  Obviously a Toronto based paper like the Toronto Star would have better coverage of the Toronto area than the other two national papers like the Post and the Globe.  The Star even has better local GTA coverage than it's main Toronto area coverage competitor, the Toronto Sun, as well.  The Star has the lead stories on the front page, letter to the editor on the comment page and a full "GTA" section everyday except on Sundays included in the paper.  The coverage is quite complete from Royson James and Christopher Hume providing their commentary of items both at City Hall and in the community to Jack Lakey taking on City Hall in one of my favourite columns "The Fixer" and of course the usual staff writers investigating the day to day goings on at Toronto City Hall.

2. National Post: On most days the Post has two pages and one or two letters to the editor on Toronto issues.  The Post really only ranks higher than the Globe & Mail as I've found a new columnist, Chris Selley, who I enjoy reading.  Otherwise, the coverage is focused on city hall and matches the same coverage provided by the Globe & Mail.

3. Globe & Mail: The Globe only provids two page on Toronto goings on and some letters as well like the National Post.  However, like the National Post, most readers want the national news instead of the local.  But for myself, Toronto and national coverage together better. 

Comics: The papers were ranked based on the number of comic strips in the paper (i.e. space taken up), are the comics humourous most days and were there comic strips that provided "reliable" (i.e. almost guaranteed to provide at least a smile on a daily basis).

1. Toronto Star:  The Star beats the others hands down.  The Star has really invested in being the number one spot for newspaper comics by having such reliables as "For Better or for Worse, " "Sherman's Lagoon" and others on a daily basis.  But the Star also expanded their Saturday paper's three pages of comics content by picking up  "Garfield" and "Baby Blues" from the Toronto Sun. Also, the newer strips like "Retail" have been a hit as well.

2. Globe & Mail: Beats the National Post because they have six strips and the Post has none. Although these strips are nothing to write home about.

3. National Post: Comics?  None.  Hence last place finish.

Overall: What do the papers bring to me overall that I appreciate.

1. Toronto Star: The Star has great local coverage of the Toronto area and compliments it's local sister paper, The Liberal, with local Toronto area coverage.  A full page of comics is a great asset to this paper that it probably doesn't get the recognition it deserves.  Specialty columnists like Jack "The Fixer" Lakey going after simple day to day problems around town and Consumer Columnist (and blogger!) Ellen Roseman provide good tips and provide an interesting read.

2. National Post: Reliable delivery!  I've never wondered where the paper was after the first phone call.  Every time the front door is opened int he morning there the National Post is guarenteed dry and ready to be opened and explored.  I've also enjoyed the City Hall Musings of Chris Selley as well and may look him up more often after our free trial subscription ends.

3. Globe & Mail: Poor delivery performance  and Customer Service issues seem to be major problems at this publication. After one hundred years in existance in the Toronto area, one would figure that delivering a paper to subscribers reliably wouldn't be an issue.   Otherwise the paper is a decent read for both it's National politicial coverage and business news.

Finally, the main question, will I subscribe to one of the above papers?  No it's not worth having a paper land on my doorstep every morning to read.  Not at a cost of over one hundred dollars a year for a subscription.  Besides for commuting the Richmond Hill area is well served by the freebies of Metro and 24 Hours that easily help to pass the time on the bus.  For news and information in the evenings and weekends I can usually turn to the newspaper and television websites for nothing more than the cost of an internet connection.