Blogaround Toronto

Wise Words by Sean Wise

Thu, 31 May 2007 16:09:04 GMT

Sean Wise wants help promoting his new book; Wise Words. This is a great opportunity to help promote a local Torontonian blogger.

http://www.seanwise.com/2007/05/help_promote_my.html

Bombay Bhel, Brampton is GREAT!

Thu, 24 May 2007 21:00:34 GMT

Today, I had lunch with a couple friends at Bombay Bhel in Brampton (map). The service was amazing, even though the waitress did spill my beer on me. The food (Chicken Vindaloo) was even better. Unlike many Indian restaurants in Brampton, the food is served a la carte, not buffet. My friends shared a Butter Chicken and recommended another great Indian restaurant in Toronto called The Indian Kitchen (map).

http://www.bombaybhelrestaurant.com/

Dixie Ford Lied to Me

Thu, 24 May 2007 20:53:34 GMT

Two weeks ago, I agreed to remove the word Sucks from the title of a critical blog post about Dixie Ford`s customer service in return for an apology letter in PDF form from Dixie Ford for the pathetic service they provided me. I removed the word Sucks immediately. Now Dixie Ford is denying that they agreed to send me the PDF. Wow! How pathetic. I`m gonna send a complaint to Ford.

http://www.kbcafe.com/toronto/?guid=20061026105738

Toronto Tech Week

Thu, 24 May 2007 00:50:06 GMT

Next week, is Toronto Tech Week. Check out the list the events. Toronto is tech!

http://www.techweek.to/participate/events

Kelsey's Newmarket Disappointing

Wed, 23 May 2007 01:39:02 GMT

On May 20th, my birthday, we visited Kelseys of Newmarket. Kelseys is one of our favorite restaurants, although we have noticed that Kelseys are both good and bad. We like the one on Queen, near Airport Rd in Brampton. I like the one in on Hwy 7 in Markham and near Don Mills and the 401. In particular, my favorite meal is the Balsamic Chicken Penne.

We sat at the bar, because no other seats had TVs. The bartender worked her ass off while most of the staff sat around discussing how cold the water was in the water cooler. The food also was disappointing. I wouldn`t remember this Kelseys.

BTW, I tried navigating the Kelseys website to give pointers to the locations I'm talking about, but the website was so slow that I gave up.

http://www.kelseys.ca/

Boycott the Canadian Open

Thu, 17 May 2007 02:48:22 GMT

The Canadian Open is July 23-29th, 2007 at the Angus Glen golf course in Markham. The secondary sponsor is the 407etr. The is a great opportunity for people to stand up and split in the face of evil companies. Let's boycott the Canadian Open to show the 407etr and other companies that we won't put up with their corruption. Do business with the 407etr and we'll boycott your business as well.

I'm also thinking about T-shirts. Imagine all the cameras at the event filming a sea of white t-shirts that say the 407etr Sucks!

407etr Racketeering

Tue, 15 May 2007 22:53:10 GMT

I now have definitive proof that the 407etr company is engaged in racketeering. You see, this company has been given a public trust of running a highway in Toronto. They have been incorrectly billing me for years and I've had to fight them for the last 2 years on clearly fraudulent charges. Two weeks ago, Anthony Pompilio of the office of the president of the 407 agreed that I owed no money on one account. In talking on the phone, he absolutely agreed to close the account. Later, he sent me the following email (excerpts only).

This is an exact facsimile of the request that was sent to our billing coordinator requesting the remaining balance on this account to be written-off. Please allow 1-2 bill cycles for the adjustments to be reflected on your account. [cut] The remaining balance of $34.96 that is comprised of the $13.50 collection fee, interest, and other VTCs/Account Fees from the September 2004 invoice that could not have been adjusted as the items were not displayed in PeopleSoft.

Do you see the ruse? He's not saying the account is closed anymore. Quite a deception from our phone call conversation. Now, it's going to take 1-2 billing cycles to have this reflected. Of course, 1 or 2 billing cycles later, he'll deny everything and the calls from collection agencies continue. The problem is that this time, he put it in writing. So, I have proof. Two weeks later, I received a notice of plate denial on this same account. That's called racketeering.

I had previously sent an email to the premier of Ontario and they reply by letter that I should engage with the company's Ombudsman, Denise Peltier. Yesterday, I sent her an email and she responded that she'd contact me today. We have a very bad conversation today where she basically explained four years of incompetence on the 407's part as my fault.

Let me explain, 4 years ago, the 407 incorrectly created two new accounts for me and billed them to mailing addresses that didn't exist. Of course, interest accrued on these account for years and I never received an invoice, so I didn't pay them. How could I? I never received an invoice. Two years later, I started receiving phone calls from collection agencies that I owed money. This was also put on credit reports and I was getting a mortgage at the time. The bank gave me the mortgage anyway, because most people do know that the 407 is running a racket anyway, but nobody does anything about it. This time, I have proof and I intend to press charges in the morning.

Anyhow, Denise Peltier said that I still owed $97 on an account unrelated to the notice of plate denial above. She said she would send me the details and call me back in the afternoon. She assured me that the total due was $97 and did not include interest or video toll charges. At 5:30PM, which I can imagine is when she leaves work, she sent me the details and didn't call me back. Of course, they didn't add up to $97 either. She now claims it's $82. Which includes $25 in toll charges which I received an invoice for only 1 week earlier and $57 in interest charges. The $25 in toll charges were from 2003 and billed last week.

Anyhow, after 2 years of 407 lies, I'm going to the police with this information in the morning and I want them to file racketeering charges against Denise, Anthony and the 407 executive. I'm also sending this to the Ontario Premier and Ontario Minister of Transportation.

These people should be jailed for their crimes. I understand their motivation. Ninety-nine of 100 people would simply pay the bills because they were afraid to lose their license plates. Sorry, not this guy.