Tim Hortons Faces Roll Up the Rim Class Action Lawsuit

The recent Tim Hortons ‘Roll Up the Rim’ contest snafu has reached the next stage, as the company now faces a potential class action lawsuit.

Tim Hortons told numerous Canadians they had won a boat and trailer worth up to $64,000, but later rescinded the message, claiming it was due to human error.

Now, the firm LPC Avocats has submitted an application for a class action lawsuit with the Superior Court of Quebec, made on  April 19. It turns out Tim Hortons sent its erroneous winner emails to about 500,000 Canadians, according to the class action filing.

“On April 17, 2024, Tim Hortons sent an email (from the email address promo@promo.timhortons.ca) to approximately 500,000 of its mobile application customers declaring to them that they won a Tracker Targa 18 WT 2024 boat and its trailer as part of their “Roll Up To Win” campaign,” reads the class action lawsuit application.

“The email was addressed individually by name to each Class Member. The Tracker Targa 18 WT 2024 boat and its trailer is worth $64,000.00 inclusive of taxes. Just as in the Supreme Court of Canada case of Richard v. Time, the general impression of the representation in the Tim Hortons email clearly gave the average consumer the impression that they won the boat and therefore constitutes a prohibited practice,” explained LPC Avocats.

Tim Hortons told CTV News in a statement that it is ready to address the matter in court, saying the class action has “no merit.”

“Despite this human error, we firmly believe there is no merit to the lawsuit and we will address this through the court,” said a Tim Hortons spokesperson.

“After the Roll Up To Win contest ended, we sent out a recap email message to give our guests an overview of their play history. Unfortunately, there was a human error that resulted in some guests receiving some incorrect information in this recap message. When we became aware of the error, we quickly sent out an email to guests notifying them of the error and apologizing,” added the spokesperson.

“Indeed, section 41 of the Consumer Protection Act (“CPA”) stipulates that when a merchant makes statements about its services, such as the Tim Hortons mobile app or the Roll Up to Win promotion: “The statements or advertisements are binding on that merchant or that manufacturer”. Section 42 CPA goes further and stipulates that “A written or verbal statement by the representative of a merchant or of a manufacturer respecting goods or services is binding on that merchant or manufacturer”. The CPA is of public order and cannot be derogated from pursuant to sections 261 and 262 CPA,” said the lawsuit application.

The goal of the class action is to obtain the boat prize for each member, plus punitive damages of $10,000 per class member as well.

Did you get this prize notification of a free boat and trailer?