Achi news desk-
A technical error by Tim Hortons led coffee drinkers across Canada to mistakenly believe they had won a $55,000 boat as part of the franchise’s Roll Up To Win promotion.
It’s not clear how many people were affected, but the chain told CBC Hamilton in an email that it was an “unfortunate mistake” and an email with incorrect information was sent to some customers.
Darren Stewart-Jones of Hamilton said he opened an email Wednesday morning from Tim Hortons that retrieved all the prizes he won this year and it included one he didn’t recognize: a 2024 Tracker Targa 18 WT boat and trailer, which retails for $39,995 US (approx. $55,000 Cdn) – the only one available to participants.
“I thought, ‘Wow, this could be really great,'” Stewart-Jones told CBC News in a telephone interview.
But his initial excitement turned to questions as he scrolled through his emails to find out when he had won the boat.
He said he had always received emails after winning awards in the past.
Within an hour, she got a call from a friend in Brampton, Ont., who said she also won a boat.
“That’s when I zoomed in and thought, ‘I think this is a huge mess,'” Stewart-Jones said.
Chris Rivet, from Edmonton, had the same experience.
“I went from being a winner to being a loser,” Rivet said.
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Alanna O’Hoski of Hamilton said she received the email and spent part of the day waiting for a response from Tim Hortons.
“With how tight things are today, it was definitely a gut punch,” he said in a message to CBC News. “A lot of people, including myself… thought they had gained something of value that could change lives.”
Tim Hortons emailed customers with instructions to “disregard” the summary email they received, saying “technical errors” may have allowed some prizes they did not win to be included in the summary email in eventually.
“We apologize for the frustration this has caused and for not meeting our high standards of providing an exceptional guest experience,” read the letter, which Tim Hortons shared with CBS.
Rivet said it has filed a complaint with the Canadian Competition Bureau and is considering filing a lawsuit.
On Wednesday afternoon, a Facebook group was formed with over 200 people expressing outrage at the mistake and threatening to file lawsuits.
“NOPE, Didn’t take this as an answer!! Two words: CLASS ACTION,” read a post by Christiane Marie.
“I want my boat!” read another post, from Beau Johnson.
Just over a year ago, a Tim Hortons app falsely notified users that they had won $10,000.
“This is a repeated pattern of behavior and to say it’s a technical issue shows that Tim Hortons didn’t do its due diligence,” Rivet said.
“It does not absolve them of the harm they have caused.”
After the latest accident, Hamed Aghakhani, associate professor of marketing at Dalhousie University’s Rowe School of Business, told CBC News that the coffee chain’s terms and conditions are likely to protect the company in case of a problem like this.
But he also said that if the issue remains unresolved, it will erode public confidence in the brand over time.
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Tim Hortons says ‘technical errors’ mistakenly told people they won $55K in Roll Up To Win boat – CBC.ca appeared first on Canada News Media.
