Most-read stories of the week: trouble with tenants, fake boat wins, and geese deterrents

Landlords reporting increase in tenants refusing to pay rent or leave

A property management company in Fergus is still cleaning up after they say a tenant trashed one of their units and refused to pay rent.

E-Van Management looks after properties for what it calls “mom and pop landlords.” Jennifer Kamphuis with E-Van Management said in this case, it was a tenant who had lived in the building for years.

“They stopped paying rent last summer,” she said.

In total, it took almost eight months from when the eviction order was filed for the tenant to leave.

Roll Up to Win false boat win frustrates customers

Tim Hortons is facing backlash after hundreds of Canadians thought they won a $60,000 boat in the Roll Up To Win contest only to find out it was a “technical error."

Sandra O’Connell from Waterloo said she couldn’t contain her excitement Wednesday morning when she got an email from Tim Hortons saying she won big.

“I called my mom, I phoned my husband, my kids and friends and I thought, ‘I won a boat, I won a boat,’” she told CTV News.

Hours later she got another email from the company saying she didn’t actually win.

Bernard Wall, who works in Elmira, is part of a Facebook group dedicated to this year’s Tim Hortons glitch. He said people in the group are considering taking legal action and he is prepared to join them.

Driveway paving scammers reported in Waterloo Region

As warm weather arrives, there are renewed warnings about driveway paving scammers around Waterloo Region.

Cambridge resident Samantha Falkiner said she experienced a scammer first-hand on Friday afternoon. It was around 1:30 p.m. when there was a knock on her front door.

“He said, ‘Are you looking to get your driveway done?’ And I said, ‘No, I’m not.’ He said, ‘But it’s a special deal today if you wanted to sign up. We do a great job,’” she explained.

“I said, ‘Absolutely not. No thank you.’”

The man left a business card with her and she did some digging.

“I looked up all the information online and none of it was legit,” Falkiner said.

“The address was an on-ramp to the 401, the company did not exist. It did not have a website. It was not registered with the Better Business Bureau.”

Cambridge resident Samantha Falkiner says something felt "off" about the man who approached her and offered to pave her driveway, pictured here, on Friday. (Stefanie Davis/CTV Kitchener)

What are these things doing in Waterloo Park?

Don’t be alarmed if you see some strange new creatures in Waterloo Park. They’re plastic, totally harmless and the wild-eyed beasts are there to scare geese, not you.

The City of Waterloo stationed about eight decoy coyotes around the park earlier this month to test if they’ll keep geese – and the mess they create – away from popular spots.

City staff say they received a number of complaints about the birds last season.

The decoys aren’t meant to make the geese go away entirely, but mostly to keep them off the main paths.

Spencer Turcotte attempts to interview a goose on April 18, 2024.

Customers react to pizza as a new menu item at Tim Hortons

Pizza and coffee wasn’t what Jeet Shergill was expecting to order on his lunch break, but he saw the posters of the new menu item at Tim Hortons and decided to give it a shot.

“It’s got good flavour to it,” he said, after taking his first bite.

According to the fast food company, with the new ovens at Tim Hortons locations across the country, the flatbread pizza can be ready in about 65 seconds.

The flatbread bases are shipped to the store but the rest of the pizza is made to order.

Some are skeptical and think that Tim Hortons is straying too far from the staple items we are used to.

A Tim Hortons pizza box sits open on a table at the Tim Hortons location on King St. in Kitchener on April 17, 2024. (Heather Senoran/CTV News)