Tim Hortons: What happened to the good coffee and donuts I used to love?

I have fond memories of visiting Tim Hortons, Canada's largest donut chain, whenever I travelled north in the mid-1990s.  I remember excellent coffee and tasty donuts.

Today, when visiting a Tim Horton's location in Calgary near the Airport, I had high hopes. A large line of customers snaked out the front door, and there were fifteen cars lined up in the drive through. The store was clean and the use of a flat screen TV over the counter to tell the company's story was interesting.

However, the customer service was the worst I've received in a long time. Rather than a friendly smile and greeting, the counter person barked, "What do you want?"  When I gave her my Visa to pay for the donuts, she said, "We only take MasterCard." I gave her my MasterCard, and she said, "We only take debit cards." When I gave her my debit card, she huffed, "We don't take this type of debit card." I relented and paid in cash since the people behind me were grumbling (a real inconvenience since I was about to return to the United States and didn't want to take Canadian money with me).

As soon as I walked away from the counter, I noticed that I needed milk for my coffee. I returned to the food preparation area and asked where I could find milk. Two counter people gave me blank stares and said nothing. In retrospect, I'm not sure that they understood English. Only after going back into the line and asking the woman who sold me the coffee for some milk did I get what I wanted accompanied with an ugly glare.

The donuts - stale and greasy - were much worse than I remembered. But the poor customer service is what will stick with me.  I will never be back to a Tim Hortons, and I'm guessing that others who were in that location will never return as well.

American fast food giant Wendy's International, which bought Tim Hortons in 1995, is spending millions of dollars every year sponsoring NHL hockey gamees and buying ads. Rather than bringing people into their donut stores only to disappoint them with horrible customer service, I suggest that Wendy's International spend its money and energy on improving customer service and the quality of their products, and business will grow through positive word of mouth.

Comments

[Larissa]

I'm sure that what you expierenced really happened, and as a Tim Horton's employee I'd like to apologize. I can truly attest that where I work the facility is clean and efficient, and you'll always get a smile ;) There's alwayys a rotten apple...

[Mike]

No Tim Hortons takes credit cards, does Mc Donalds? No didn’t think so, Burger King? What no? dang. I would hate to imagine how SLOW service would be as at least 5 people a day try to put their $1.50 drink on a credit card....Drive through would be useless.

Milk when you order your coffee please state what it is in, it really speeds up the service! If we gave exactly what customers ordered without asking any questions customer complaints would shoot through the roof. People would get a black coffee and a toasted bagel, no cream, no sugar, no butter on the bagel or cream cheese, just what they ordered, but wait the employee would be at fault not the customer 9so you have noted above)

I agree with some of the statement as partly the bad experience was from customer service a lot of employees need to be weeded out, I’m sure at your work place everyone is cheerful, never has a bad day, and there is not one person with a bad attitude 24.7. But I'm I would be 100% sure you have some people at work like this, no? Ask a fellow employee I'm sure that they will point you to a mirror! People try to take employees for granted we are not mind readers,

Please be nice to us and we will be nice back, we remember when customers are snarky and treat them how we remember them, 1st impressions mean a lot!

[Bernie Giesbrecht]

I used to go to Tim Hortons in my town almost daily, but the service in the past year or so has declined to the point that it can hardly be called service anymore. Also the tables are seldom cleaned of dishes or wiped anymore, and while I realize customers are encouraged to clean after themselves, many don't, so when I went to my local Tims today I can see that my decision to not visit there anymore was the right one, and I will likely not attend a Tims for another year.

[Patrick Galvin]

Bernie,

Thanks for visiting my blog. Your comments about your recent experience at Tim Hortons are interesting and mirror the experience I had when I visited Canada in August. I hope Tim Hortons is getting this feedback and making customer service improvements.

Best,
Patrick

[Mike]

It is very easy to talk to Managers about what is lacking in there store, comment cards are also read and considered. Talk to a manager about how the tables are dirty or how the service you received was poor, they wilk talk to that individual.

And not all Tim Hortons are the same, I am 21 and a supervisor and there are, many, many people who tell me that our store is the "best" in town (out of 4) and only a few times have I received complaints about poor customer service. Try a different Tim Hortons if you must....but the experience from store to store varies!

[Lee]

If you don't return to a store because of bad service, you'll never go to a store again! i guess you'll have to stick to dunkin donuts.

[bob white]

my wife bought a gift card just before christmas, 10.00 she was in the drive thru and no receipt, she went to use it and there was no money on it. we can't prove it, get money back, it was not punched in the computer, being so busy and all, and the lack of care from employees. we believe the staff were just pocketing the money, just before christmas and never could go back on them. the company said it is a new thing, do you ever get a receipt from timmy's for anything? some employee now has a new lip piercing or pack of smokes,(nice job timmy). i feel i make enough money not to worry about it. i would not try to scam a lousy ten bucks from them. so i'll just post their scam. it could have been a 50.00 purchase. i will never ever tip again, saint john nb.

[Patrick Galvin]

Bob,

I hope that somebody from corporate headquarters sees this post and offers to give you a refund. There's no excuse for what happened.

Patrick

[bob white]

thanks, i'm some glad my wife never gave it to anybody as a christmas gift, we would look some cheap, embarassing for a person that would have tried to use it. stick with the gift certificates.

[bob whitef]

hi again, somebody from head office called my wife at work, how they got her number, she's not sure. however, they sent her a ten dollar gift card, after two call centers could not help her, she wrote a letter to head office. they said she purchased the card at a lansdowne location, she said no that she never goes there, she explained she purchased it at mac allister mall, so mac allister sold her a used card. they now have a print out receipt upon purchasing cards, make sure you receive one. all is well, take care, bob.

[Patrick Galvin]

Bob, I'm glad that somebody from Tim Horton's tracked you down to provide you with a ten dollar gift card. That's smart business. I think most consumers are willing to give companies the benefit of the doubt when they try to make good for things that have gone wrong. Enjoy those donuts and coffee!

[Katrice A.]

I live in Kitchener, Ontario, my coffee order may seem strange to some, as does my partners. What I would like to know is why can so many employees ruin my day with an improperly made coffee? We have been to almost every drive thru in the city and seldom are our orders correct. My preference is 1/2 decaf, regular. My partners is 1 1/2 milk and 1 1/2 sugar. Alway larges and daily. I often get black, my partner often gets cream. I feel as though the organization should train thier employees to accurately mix coffees according to the customers requests. There could be health issues involved, or the company itself may lose my business.
I would also like to address the lack of politeness towards customers and appreciation shown towards customers. As a retail manager myself, I am 100% aware of how important good customer service is to sustain a business. It is unfortunate that your company has lost its touch in this area. I have seen such a downfall in good service over the last few years. In truth, when I read resumes where the potential employee has worked at Tim Horton's, I will not consider them for my own business based on my experiences as a customer.
Sincerely,

Katrice Abt

[chris]

I go to tim horton's at least once a day. This is the first time I tried paying with debit card. Yeah, so paying with debit can slow things down, but there was only 2 people behind me, and they typically make you wait longer after filling half our order while they stop to mark something on the coffee pot as just happened.

Of course I found out I couldn't pay for my order because they don't take debit cards, they only take mastercard or something else. I offered to pay with Visa, no, only mastercard. What the hell, kind of backwards place is that? They have all the power of the bank such that supposed collector edition quarters are released only at tim horton's, and favor one credit card while not servicing the other, and after making you wait dont' even take debit cards. I had to pay for my coffee with the change I had and had to leave the rest of the order there that I couldn't cover.

Not a very pleasant experience, and I suggest that since they DO have the equipment already they offer the service of using it, while not favoring one particular type over the other.

[Missy]

I was in a Tim Horton's recently, where the woman takin my order was completely rude to me from the git go. She filled up my drinks about halfway, and gave me short, rude answers. I won't go into specific detail about the whole situation, but the words exchanged from her to I were in fact rude. I later called the manager, who informed my complaint was irrelevant, and she was yelling at me, and talking over me, not letting me get my words out at all. I ended up hanging up on her, and I plan to never go into another Tim Horton's again. I hope someone from corporate reads this, and takes action. This was in Farmington, Michigan by the way.

[Tim Hortons Manager]

Does anyone remember the adage The customer is always right ?
I agree with the employee that says that often times the ingredients of the coffee are not stated or the butter and the cream cheese are omitted or that the customer may not be the nicest person in the world. I have a solution I work with the public I choose to work with the public. I understand the errors that can come in orders I understand you may be serving a person that has just left the hospital maybe their significant other walked out the door that morning perhaps they just got out of bed on the wrong side. These are lots of reasons as to why someone may appear grumpy, so be it. It is what it is. We chose to be in the public eye we chose to do this. You know I rarely have someone come back to the counter from my errors as I do not allow errors to be made as an example everyone is either going to have a black coffee or a coffee with ingredients it is OUR job to find out what they take or don't take. It is OUR job to find out if they want cream cheese toasted, not toasted butter, no butter for here or to go. We have the control of what the customer gets. Imagine if your client is a regular customer of Second cup they do not put cream and sugar in the coffee for you like we do, so if you have a potential new client in front of you and you are snarky because you did not ask them if they wanted cream, milk or sugar that is somehow their fault? Tim Hortons set you up with a better blend of coffee at more reasonable prices and you chase them away because you made a mistake and they ire you that is not smart business. I realize as a counter person you look for the duration of the customer base to be equal to or greater than your employment term at that location but keep in mind your community members might like to enjoy the benefits you have received from working for a good company.As well to drive it home as simply as possible Good Service = Good Tips. To address the issue of why only Mastercard now and not Visa, Tim Hortons approached both companies prior to implementing credit cards and in plain business sense Mastercard brought a very good deal to the table for exclusivity. The good deal benefiting the Tim Hortons Childrens camps benefiting them greatly I applaud their efforts.

[Michelle]

I just experienced the most offensive, insulting, and rude customer service from an employee working at the Tim Horton's on 443 Main Street West in Hamilton. I have already put in a call to the Corporate Head Office in Oakville and have the names of the owners written down. I am going to take this as far as possible as this simply wasn't about someone having a bad day, but someone who was deliberately rude to me for no other reason except that I ordered a sandwich at a dead drive thru with no other customers. I am going to the owners, Corporate, and wherever else I need to to inform TDL Group of this employee.

For those who have also had terrible experiences with Tim Horton's, their toll free customer service hotline is 1-888-601-1616, and their hours are Mon-Thurs: 8-5:30pm, and Fri: 8-5pm.

I have rarely complained about rude customer service in the past since I often think about the myriad of possibilities that the employee was dealing with that could affect them that day. However, this was far more than a simple "thank you" not being received. In fact, these things tend not to bother me. I was so angry at her sarcastic, provoking, and continued slurs, that I had to restrain myself from reaching over the counter to throttle her.