You Might Be Due A Coffee & Donut Following A Tim Hortons Class Action Settlement
It's all about geolocation tracking, in an illegal way.
The facade of a Tim Hortons store in Montreal.
In a breathtaking display of legal acumen, a class action lawsuit against Tim Hortons has won the grand prize of... one coffee and one pastry for each affected individual.
"Affected by what?" you may ask. Well, if you downloaded and registered for the Tim's app between April 1, 2019, and September 30, 2020, it's possible that your geolocation data was used illegally. Call that a peeping Tim. Or not, up to you.
And if that's you, you're owed one hot beverage and a pastry for your troubles. Yes, seriously. It's part of a settlement first proposed in 2022 that has since been accepted, according to an email sent to affected customers on February 1, 2023.
That means if you received the email, you're eligible for the compensation Tim Hortons is offering. According to Narcity, the email explained that the credit customers received can be used on any baked good that costs up to $2.39. This includes croissants, muffins, biscuits and more cheap pastries.
As for your complimentary hot drink, it can cost you only up to $6.19... plus tax.
Back when the settlement was first proposed, Twitter users were up in arms complaining about the apparently insufficient consequence for, you know, tracking people illegally using their phones. "I swear to f*cking god," one Twitter user wrote, "This is real."
\u201cOk so Tim Hortons spent more than a year silently and illegally tracking users through their mobile app, and the proposed class action settlement is ... a free coffee and a donut.\n\nI swear to fucking god. This is real.\u201d— James McLeod (@James McLeod) 1659107690
But when you're enjoying the taste of a free coffee and a free doughnut, those lines of good and bad seem so much blurrier. Maybe it's all that sugar.