Good Service Needs to Be Rewarded

Sometimes great Customer Service goes unnoticed, especially at restaurants. Sometimes the kudos go unnoticed. 

Is this because the bad experiences scream louder?  Most people rant and rave about bad customer service or experiences.  I'm guilty of that.  But usually bad customer experiences can be amusing and leave a smile on the face of the reader as to how something so simple ended so badly.  This is not one of those stories.

My Wife and I wondered where to go on Friday night. We hummed and hawed over where to go.  We searched for coupons for inspiration and savings.  We came up empty.  We settled on Swiss Chalet (9350 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill)

Now the local Swiss Chalet, as I have said before, is a hit and miss location.  Sometimes it is a long wait to even get a seat or you walk in and sit down immediately.  Sometimes the service can be sluggish and other times outstanding.  Really it is like going to Vegas and spinning the wheel. 

This past visit though was simply outstanding.  My wife and I were immediately sat at our table.  It took a little while for the waiter to come over, but I don't really blame him.  I first disappeared to the washroom to wash my hands and when I returned my wife did the same.   

As good Swiss Chalet Customers, my wife and I took a quick look at the menu and when our waiter, Ahmad, finally came by, we ordered our drinks and our food order.

The Order: Half Chicken dinner with fries and white roll with a Pepsi and a Quarter Chicken Dinner with a multigrain roll and a refreshing glass of water.

In less than five minutes our food was being brought out from the kitchen!  There were copious amount of fries, the sauce was hot and not watery and the chicken was excellent!   This was truly Swiss Chalet goodness at it's finest. 

Ahmad came by a couple of times and refilled my Pepsi glass in minutes.  He also inquired, while offering to refill my glass if everything was fine and if there was anything he could do.

Complaints?  The only one we have after this Swiss Chalet visit was why can't all Swiss Chalet Visits be like this one?

Dropping Some Coin at 3 Coins Restaurant

On this fabulous Thanksgiving Monday holiday my wife and I headed out to downtown Richmond Hill to try out the 3 Coins Open Kitchen Restaurant (10140 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill).   This restuaraunt is considered to be mainly "the greasy spoon" of Richmond Hill. What better way to enjoy a greasy spoon than to venture into this local for a little brunch. 

We arrived shorlty before noon and the small dining room (barely 10 tables) was nearly full.  The friendly waitress wandered over to take our orders.

The Order: 3 egg breakfast with sausages, bacon, toast and coffee.  A BLT Sandwich on White with fries.

The order came within 10 minutes.  The breakast, unlike some other greasy spoons, came all on one plate.  However, this works for my wife as normally I end up eating a lot of what she can't finish.  The best part was the home fries, nice, hot and tasty.  The wrest of the breakfast seemed average for a greesy spoon.

The BLT sandwich was delicious.  I noticed first that the bacon was so well packed into the sandwich it started to fall out.  No worries, scoop it up eat separatly and continue on with what is left.  The fries however were a different story. These weren't anything to write home about.  The fries were thin and stringy and luke warm at best.   The Cole Slaw was decent but could have been a little more creamier for my liking.

Overall for portion size we could have gone to Daybreak.  For better tasting food I would have visited somewhere else.  But for a decent meal at a decent price, 3 Coins Restaurant is a decent place to be.

Duffs a DUD but Menchies is MMMM Good

My wife and I headed out for some chicken wings and frozen yogurt at Duff's Famous Wings and Menchies Frozen Yogurt (both at 9360 Bathurst Street, Vaughan, Ontario).

At Duff's Famous Wings we were seated immediately at a table for two.  The next table over sat about four people.  The seating seemed a little to cosy (i.e. too close to the table next to you with little room to manouvre to get out of your table).  

The service at Duff's was fantastic.  The waitress, who seemed to have a male trainee in tow all night, was fast and efficient.  We ordered our drinks and 20 wings right away and everything arrived at our table within ten minutes of ordering.

The Order:  20 Wings (10 Mild and 10 Honey Garlic) + Lg Fries + Sm Pitcher of Pop (Coke)

The Wings and Fries though were a different story.  The Mild BBQ sauce Wings were luke warm at best and had obviously been out of the oven for a little while.  The Honey Garlic Wings were a little warmer.  Both types of wings seemed rather dry tasting as well.  

The fries were just average for any bar and nothing to write home about. 

Overall Duff's Wings just aren't that famous.  There are only thirteen types of wings and most of them are BBQ or spiced hot.  For those that want neither hot nor BBQ there is Honey Garlic or Hot Honey Garlic (Read:  It's honey garlic or hit the road!).


Over at Menchies (right next door to Duff's Famous Wings) we had a little more luck.  We shared a strawberry frozen yogurt and added some chocolate chips.  The frozen yogurt was quite good in consistancy and taste.  The service? Excellent considering you make your frozen yogurt creation yourself.   The only real worry is that nowhere did I find a list of ingredients on their website or in store as to what is in the yogurt itself.  Considering allergies of everything from milk to gluten to peanuts out there, the ingredients should be better displayed.    But since I do not have any allergies, I'm more than happy to partake in a little frozen yogurt action.

Memories of My Mom

Over the past month I've had several people tell me how much they appreciated my Mother.  I've heard lots about her smile, joy of life and hardworking nature.  I also provided many memories as well to others.

Also, I can't remember the number of people who I've met this past month who've said, what I've come to learn, the "usual things" during times of mourning:

1. My Condolences

2. My thoughts are with you

3. My prayers are with you.

4. I'm thinking about you

and on and on. These I know are all heartfelt as you can see it in people's faces. 

I also have received hundreds of hugs from my Mom's friends, family and coworkers.   The stack of cards at my Dad's place takes hours to read and sort through.  Each time I look I find something new to learn about my mother or others appreciation of the kindness my Mother provided. 

Perhaps this past week the school she worked the past two years at as an Educational Assistant at published the notice of her passing in their September School Newsletter complete with a poem by one of my Mom's coworkers.  It is definately worth a read. 

The Memories of my Mom will no doubt continue.  That I will appreciate forever.

No Frills "Will Be Beat" 2

Today my wife and I returned to the scene of the crime, Enzo's No Frills in Richmond Hill. 

This time we came armed with the latest Wal-Mart flyer hoping to price match some Mr. Christie Oreo Cookies and Nabisco's Ritz Crackers.  Why the Wal-Mart flyer...REWIND to last time!

"I asked if Wal-Mart was a competitor. She said yes..."

So we thought we would see if Wal-Mart was still a competitor this week because, as you know from last week and to test my theory that No Frills "Won't Be Beat" marketing sham actually is:

"We Won't Be Beat by a select few competitors who we refuse to provide a clearly publicly posted list of because they may beat us in price in the future and we wouldn't want to have to admit that...so we have to keep this list a moving target due to several factors...Read: the list changes as it suits us and screw the consumer with a valid case". 

So after finishing our grocery shopping I ventured forth to cashier with the Oreo Cookies, Ritz Crackers and Wal-Mart flyer in hand.  The cashier inquired if I wanted to price match.  I replied that I was.  She said that if I was going to price match I needed to go over there, and she motioned to where the cashier supervisor was standing.  I said this is the checkout and there is nobody behind us, lets do it all here.  She called over the Cashier Supervisor and she reviewed the Wal-Mart flyer and quickly put through the price match transaction without any fuss.   

Lesson:  This week Wal-Mart is still considered a competitor by No Frills.  Zellers? Don't ask even though they maybe across the street.

The Cashier took over and quickly rang the rest of the groceries through without any issues.

So on the third attempt, we finally got No Frills to price match.  We now have a list, courtesy of the Cashier Supervisor at Enzo's No Frills from our last visit and Paula from No Frills Customer Service of competitors they are willing to price match with.  This this list in hand, all by doing a little bit of research on our part because No Frills still refuses to post the list of competitors online, we cruise the flyers on Fridays in preparation for Saturday's shopping trip.  

The moral of the story here is No Frills and LCL Companies provide an awesome marketing campaign on "Won't Be Beat" with flyers, instore cardboard signage everywhere, t-shirts, websites and much more.  But when it comes time to the actual price matching, it gets complicated...who is a competitor (SECRET!), why won't you price match with this chain (SECRET!) and where can I find the list (SECRET!).  Thus it is hard to nail them down.   It makes one crazy. 

In the end though, LCL Companies still adheres to the Scanning Code of Practice at least.  How do I know?  In the past two months I've walked out of Enzo's No Frills with free Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent, No Name Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips and, today's score, No Name Smooth Peanut Butter. All of this because of the shelf tag in store doesn't match what comes out on the cash register receipt.

Gotta love Enzo's No Frills, there's always something good going on there!

No Frills "Will Be Beat"

Last Thursday (a week ago today) the local paper The Liberal hit my front doorstep.  I brought in the paper, pulled out the flyers and watched my wife devour the flyers looking for deals.  

One of the deals was from Zellers for any Peak Frean Cookies for $1.79 on Saturday and Sunday only.  So we headed over to Zellers to see if we could find any.  But it was not to be, they were sold out on Saturday by 10 A.M. (i.e. the shelves were bare).  

So later that day we took our Zellers flyer to Enzo's No Frills (Loblaws Companies Limited Store #770) on our regular grocery trip in order to price match the Peak Frean Cookies.  No Frills, on their website, throughout their stores and in their flyer say they "Won't Be Beat".  The details of this marketing program is on their flyers.  A copy of this legal jargon can be found here on the No Frills website.  

We finished our grocery shopping and at the cashier I sent my wife ahead with the flyer and two boxes of Peak Frean Cookies for the price match while I loaded the rest of the groceries onto the conveyor belt.  The cashier, as expected, called the Cashier Supervisor over to authorize the price match.  The Cashier Supervisor said that Zellers wasn't a competitor of No Frills. 

I took over the price match issue at this point with several pointed questions.  The Cashier Supervisor basically said that LCL Head Office sets who their competitors are and the details are in the flyer. I basically did a line by line deduction of the flyer legal jargon.  I inquired as well if Metro was a competitor. She said yes.  I asked if Wal-Mart was a competitor. She said yes.  I asked if it made sense that Wal-Mart is a major competitor of Zellers and yet her No Frills store refused to price match.  She said it was up to Head Office.

I inquired with the Cashier Supervisor where one could find a list of the competitors.  Her reply was that the competitors were listed on the No Frills website.

The Cashier Supervisor would obviously not bend, so I requested a meeting with Store Owner, Enzo Tatangelo, right away over this issue.  Enzo was paged but the call back, via the Cashier Supervisor, was that Enzo was in a meeting.  The Cashier Supervisor did receive authorization to price match one box of cookies but that the other one I would have to pay full price.  I replied I would take the one box but they could reshelve the other box as they refused to honour their price match. 

I also requested the Customer Service Line for No Frills at Loblaw Companies Limited Head Office.  This was provided. I called the number while leaving the store and the awesome LCL Head Office Customer Service line is not open on weekends.  I have to "call during regular business hours" (whatever that means) in order to speak to someone.  So I checked the No Frills website for "regular business hours" and called on Monday early in the morning.

I spoke to the Customer Service Representative and told her the story of what happened.  Her first reply was that they don't price match with Zellers and I was basically out of luck.  I replied that I was told by the Cashier Supervisor at Enzo's No Frills that there is supposedly a list of competitors on the No Frills Website for the "Won't Be Beat" guarantee.  I also said that for someone with two University degrees I couldn't find a definitive list.  The Customer Service Representative directed me, step by step, to their website on their Won't Be Beat.  She then had me select my store (i.e. Enzo's No Frills in Richmond Hill, Ontario) and then on the next screen had me click on a link in the "How We Choose Our Competitors."  Um...full stop right here.

The section "How we Choose Our Competitors" is used not for their flyer price matching guarantee.  It is for their "We Won't Be Beat" because we checked the prices at the other stores marketing campaign.  Sorry the list on the ensuing link doesn't work.  I pointed this out to the Customer Service Agent and also pointed out that the list of stores for price comparisons had geographical areas next to it and "Richmond Hill" was never mentioned.  In fact the closest place on the list was "Etobicoke, Ontario" thus No Frills in Richmond Hill, by her flawed logic, doesn't have a competitor in Richmond Hill then.  Thus, the No Frills Richmond Hill "Won't Be Beat" marketing campaign was worth less than the paper they printed their flyers and in store glossy cardboard signs on. The Customer Service Representative then promised a LCL Customer Service Manager would call me back within 48 hours and took down my address and phone number.
Well, it is now Thursday, over 48 hour later, and I finally received a voicemail in the morning at 10:39 A.M.  The Manager, Pauline, said:

 "Good Morning Mr. Suddard this is Pauline calling from No Frills Customer Relations. You called in regards to our Won't Be Beat program. The agent that you spoke to correctly informed you that Zellers is currently not part of our program currently.  It might be in the future but as of right now it is not part of our Won't Be Beat program.  You can go to...we do price match with stores like Food Basics, Price Chopper, Metro, Foodland, Longos, Highland Farms, Freshco, Sobeys, and our Banner Stores. But as of right now we do not price match with Zellers.  If you need to speak with me please feel free to do so at 1-800-296-2332..."

Well I have no intention of calling back Pauline at No Frills Customer Relations.  Bottom line is the "Won't Be Beat" concept at No Frills is a sham.  I've been to Enzo's No Frills on two occasions. The first with the Concord Foods advertisement from The Liberal and the Cashier Supervisor at that time refused to price match claiming "Concord Foods is not a National Competitor".  The second time, as detailed above
with the Zellers flyer, they claimed it was because Zellers was not on their list approved by No Frills Head Office and that the list is on the website (which is not the case).  

As for the whole "Won't Be Beat" promise, as posted on the the No Frills Website, here is breakdown at how Enzo's No Frills and LCL Companies limited refused to honour their ""Won't Be Beat" promise using my experience with a current Zellers advertisement and a box of Peak Frean Cookies.

Title: "Won't Be Beat"
No Frills will not be beaten in by price by anyone!

* If a competitor offers a lower price on any item that we carry in our store simply show us an advertisement or receipt and we will sell you that item at the same price.

Zellers Store Number 321 (located at 9350 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill, Ontario) advertises via a flyer in The Liberal newspaper that Peak Frean Cookies on Saturday and Sunday are $1.79 then No Frills will match that price guaranteed!

We will match the competitor’s price only during the effective date of the competitor’s advertisement or within 7 days of the date of the receipt.

That with the Zellers flyer and 2 boxes of Peak Frean Cookies, both boxes would be rung through at the cheaper Zellers price by No Frills on the same Saturday that the Zellers flyer is valid for.

Item must be identical (defined as same brand, size and attributes) and for produce, meat and bakery items, we reserve the right to determine a comparable item.

Michael's belief: A same sized box of Peak Frean cookies as advertised in the Zellers flyer would also be the same price at No Frills.

‘Our major competitors’ and ‘geographical trade areas’ are determined solely by us and are based on a number of factors which can change from time to time.

That national chains with locations in the local area would be honoured.  Since there is a major Zellers store (a Canadian national chain of HBC) right across the street from Enzo's No Frills that this would be honoured as obviously this would be within a "geographical trade area".  Also, since Zellers, in their grocery section and advertisements has a lot of similar food, drug and grocery products (i.e. a measure of a number of factors) as No Frills that this would be deemed as "a competitor."  If no competitors are listed on the No Frills website (i.e. a clearly posted list of major competitors No Frills is willing to match prices with) then a customer has to assume which competitors No Frills will price match with.

Excludes ‘multi-buys’ (eg. 2 for $4); ‘spend x get x’; ‘Free’; and discounts obtained through loyalty programs.

Peak Freans were on sale as a single item at Zellers, thus, it No Frills could honour the same price (i.e. 1 box of Peak Freans at the same size would be the same price for the same size box at No Frills). 

In the end I learned something.  No Frills marketing campaign of "Won't Be Beat" is a SHAM!  What No Frills refuses to mention is that really their campaign should read: "We Won't Be Beat by a select few competitors who we refuse to provide a clearly publicly posted list of because they may beat us in price in the future and we wouldn't want to have to admit that...so we have to keep this list a moving target due to several factors...Read: the list changes as it suits us and screw the consumer with a valid case". 

So in future, I will continue to flyer shop as normal.  If a competitor of No Frills has a deal on, like Zellers had with Peak Frean Cookies, I will gladly go to that store.  This decision is based on my experience with as, obviously, No Frills doesn't want to live up to their marketing campaign. 

As for the cookies, my wife and I returned to the Zellers location and picked up three boxes of cookies last Sunday at $1.79.    Why Zellers?  "Because the Lowest Price is the Law!"

And Congratulations Zellers, you proved that No Frills "Will Be Beat!"

Oskee Wee Wee, Oskee Wa Wa, Holy Mackinaw! Tigers ate the Argos Raw!

Been a while since I had time to download my photos from last Monday.  Ah the Labour Day Weekend in Canada.  One last breath of fresh summer air, one last weekend before the kids head back to school and one last weekend minnie vacation.   Where would one go in Canada on Labour Day Monday? 

Why not the Labour Day Classic football game at Hamilton's Ivor Wynne Stadium between the evil Toronto Argonauts and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.   It was a great day for an outdoor football game between the two archrivals with Hamilton hosting. Hamilton won the game 28-13.  

During the game I got to visit my uncle, Bob Young, of the Ticats and noticed the Lieutenant Governor David Onley was also taking in the game.  My father got to talk to David during the second half of the game.   

Below is are some photos and video I took during the game. 

From Hamilton

From Hamilton

From Hamilton

More photos can be found in the Hamilton Album in the Scrapbook Section of my Website.

Finally, a big OSKEE WEE WEE to Uncle Bob for allowing us to have such a good time.