An Open Letter to Roger's Communication

Oh Rogers, what can I say.  I've always been a fan, but I'm quite upset now. 

Less than a year ago I had a rep call me to review 'my needs'.  The rep put together a package and told me the price.  I asked if that was a promotional price that would expire in 3 months or a year or if it was good for the term.  He told me that rate was GUARANTEED FOR 8 YEARS.  It's now less than a year later and the price of my internet just went up $3/mth.   That may not seem like a whole lot, but multiply $3 x the remaining 85 months of that 8 years that I was GUARANTEED no increases and that's over $250.  Plus, who knows how many more times you're going to increase my rate in the next 7 years.

I just spoke with a customer service representative "Patricia" and her explanation of the "RATE GUARANTEE" was that that was Rogers' position at the time I was given the plan.  Now they've reviewed the competition's rates and feel that they were under-valuing my plan, thus the increase.  So I'm told I wasn't LIED TO about the rate guarantee at the time, because at the time it was a guarantee, but now it's not.

Interesting business model.  That's like ordering a pizza for $20 but being charged $25 when you go pick it up because they feel they under-valued the toppings compared to the competition. 

Feel free to contact me if someone actually feels that your company should hold true to it's GUARANTEE.

Steak and Cheese Panini

Tim Hortons has had grilled Panini's on their menu for a while now.  They're alright.  Generally they've got good flavour.  In my opinion they're slightly overpriced in the $5 range for what is essentially a toasted sandwich.

Then Tim Hortons introduced a new menu item.  An item aimed specifically at my demographic.  That being males 9 - 99 years old.

Let me introduce you to the GRILLED Steak & Cheese Panini.

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Looks good, doesn't it?  I thought it did.  So I decided to try one at lunch one day.  It was good.  The perfect ratio of steak, onion, cheese and bread.

About a week later I wanted to share this delightful sandwich with my wife so she could give it a try.  We stopped at the Penetanguishene Tim Hortons to grab a Panini we could share and a couple beverages.  We went and parked and I unwrapped the sandwich to divide it.  Immediately I noticed this sandwich was nothing like the one I had previously enjoyed.  The onions were about 1/2 thick (not a huge issue for me), and there was only about 1/2 the steak that there was on my first sandwich.  I swore not to buy another GRILLED Steak & Cheese Panini from this location.

I however did not swear off the sandwich all together.  I would purchase one more from yet another location to see which of the first two sandwiches most closely resembled the 3rd.

HA!

We waited about 5-7 minutes at the drive thru window for our meals.  I was expecting perfection after waiting this amount of time forour Panini's to be made.

HA!

After driving away and finding a place to park and enjoy our food, I took my food out of the bag.  I began to drool.  I slowly unwrapped my nicely toasted bun.

Umm, wtf?  As the Wendy's ads used to say... "WHERE'S THE BEEF?"  Did they actually forget to put the steak on my GRILLED Steak & Cheese Panini?

Nope.  After opening up I confirmed there was a miniscule amount of 'steak' on the bun.  The second Panini had a fraction of what the first did, and this one had a fraction of what the second one did.

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I immediately took the above picture.  I tweeted the photo immediately to Tim Hortons corporate account.  When I got home I posted the photo to their Facebook page.  I also visited their website and completed an online customer satisfaction survey.  This crappy sandwich wasn't going to go unnoticed.