Ottawa Foodies

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7

I agree with PB&A - if the new owners had called it "Joe's Meats" or whatever, then fine, I would expect zero from them. But they kept the name because they want to bank on the long tradition of good service from Aubrey's and hope to be able to avoid the train wreck that was their last year or so. Well, sorry, can't have it both ways. You can't want to bank on the name but then turn around and tell people "we have nothing to do with the former owners"

I'll never go there again, and will encourage others to do the same.

10

I am one of those people who bought coupons from Kahoot for Aubrey's. I bought them way back when they first issued them and there were no restrictions on them, none whatsoever. When I went to redeem one, I was told the rules had changed and I could only buy a certain amount of dollars worth. The balance stayed on the coupon but in effect, I would have had to make three trips to use one coupon. Then came the change in ownership and even more rule changes. I too read the article in the Citizen and wrote to the author to suggest he look into the whole legality of the coupon business, specifically vendors changing the rules AFTER sale of the coupons. I should note that I tried to use my coupon before the ownership changed hands. I also tried to get Kahoot to refund my money, which they will not do. Good for the two coupon sellers who respected their clients enough to refund their money. Needless to say, I have blocked Kahoot from sending me any more "offers" aka taking your money and giving you nothing but grief in return. I also tell anyone who will listen my little story and discourage them from using Kahoot.

12

Nope. If another butcher shop called Joe's Meat Emporium opened there and I didn't recognize any of the same people in charge there, then yeah, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and a new start. But if the former business owners don't have the savvy to hire an accountant, then don't try to bank on their name while distancing yourself from the downsides.

Quite frankly, you can't have it both ways.

And yeah, Kahoot messed this up too.

5

5

While I can appreciate people's frustrations with the coupons, only part of the story is being presented. It is suggested that Aubrey's issued these coupons, and that now those same people that issued the coupons are refusing to accept them. That is not the case.

What is being left out is that the owner died, the business went bankrupt, and new owners have stepped in. These new owners are under absolutely NO obligation to accept the coupons at all, but are doing what they can to help people who were on the hook for them, without burying their new business.

Here's a recent story in the Citizen that goes into more detail:
www.ottawacitizen.com

If you are not happy with the quality of the meat or the service at Aubrey's, by all means, don't go there. But if you are harbouring a grudge for getting screwed with the coupons, that anger should be directed at the former, now deceased, owner and the coupon company that refuses to give you a refund. Taking it out on the new owners punishes for something entirely beyond their control.

4

7

To bring in new customers and new revenue, management signed up with online coupon retailers to bring in business. But then they announced that they won't honour any coupons until May 1st. AND NOW they have added rediculous rules to the coupons - you actually have to give them cash to be reimbursed, you can only use them 2 days a week, and they are going to stop honouring them entirely soon.

The quality has also really gone down hill over the past year or so. The store shelves are almost always empty, people have to call ahead to make orders, and they don't post the prices anywhere so you have to ask the price. Overall the shopping experience is MUCH nicer at Sasloves just up the street. The quality and the customer service is better too.

My opinion is to avoid Aubrey's at all cost.

9

Speaking as a lawyer, I don't think this is the place to advertise, Cast Iron Warrior.

14

9

This is not a post about any personal experience I have had with Aubrey's coupon strategy. I am a lawyer and I would be interested in hearing from people who have not been able to have their coupons either honored or refunded. Please PM me as I would like to assist.

7

What Aubrey's has done by selling these coupons and then refusing to honour them is just plain fraud. They knew or ought to have known that selling over $500,000.00 worth of meat coupons at a discount when they couldn't even pay the bills for the product they sold at the regular price was going to end up as a disaster. They took peoples hard earned money from these offerings with the sole intent of paying down debt knowing, or should reasonably have known, that they would never be able to supply the product. Instead of doing the ethical thing and closing the doors of their failed business they continued to finance the money losing venture with more offerings of discount coupons to unsuspecting customers in an ongoing ponzi scheme. Shame on you Aubrey's, you are nothing but con artists. They say the coupons will be honoured in May but they will most likely go bankrupt or reopen with a new owner before then-either way the customers will be left with worthless coupons they bought with trust from these scammers. Anyone stuck with these ponzi scheme coupons should file a report with the Ottawa police fraud division as I have.

I don't like eggnog... except this one. I don't know if its the nog-to-egg ratio but man is it good.

I didn't know about the bottle deposit... to bad, I could have saved up the bottles and brought them back to exchange for another eggnog.

Personally, its by far and away the best eggnog I've ever had. I've never made homemade eggnog nor have I had ever had homemade eggnog so I can't say how it compares to others.

I would like to add a comment in light of zymurgist's comments on the deposit.

With regards to the deposit. I have bought the eggnog lots over the years and what I was always told, by Aubrey's owner (Brian if I remember correctly) was that Cochrane dairy had a deposit on the bottles to ensure they got them back as they have ran into shortages in the past. They now use plastic bottles but up until Christmas 2006 (I think it was then), they used old fashioned glass milk bottles. At that time, I believe the deposit was $3 per bottle.

I am a semi-regular at Aubreys - meaning I buy almost all of my good quality meat there (say 15-20 visits per year), and it would strike me as odd for them to do what zymurgist recounted. I am not doubting at all that someone said that, I am just curious if it was one of their core employees or a new or temporary one. It would be very out of character for them in my experience. .

Cheers

I bought some of this when I was down buying my thanksgiving turkey this year. Yup, it's really good, but I cannot say it was significantly better than anything else I've ever had. Then again maybe I'm just not an eggnog feinschmecker. One thing I really didn't like was there is a $1 deposit on the container. The guy told me straight up that it's just a ploy to get me back into the store to return it. Pretty crappy if you ask me. And it didn't get me back, it just got me upset about the whole thing.