More Off Topic Creole Business-RE: From Willy Dog Canada Int'l...



Will Hodgskiss :
toJMarshall@tssa.org, scooke@tssa.org, mgoldberg@tssa.org, kmilsom@tssa.org, Ean Bordeaux , WILLY DOG , Malcolm Hodgskiss Hodgskiss , Jay Rayner , John Crouchman
ccJocelyne Lavergne , mevans@tssa.org, cblatchford@globeandmail.com, "Macolm Hodgskiss mhodgskiss@gmail.com Malcolm Hodgskiss" , martinlaw@legal.com
dateMon, Mar 22, 2010 at 8:15 AM
subjectTSSA incompetence
mailed-byaol.com









Attention: Marvin Evans et al,

I am writing this letter because after two full weeks of me pleading TSSA inspectors have refused to call me back to schedule mandatory inspections.

Marvin the last time you sent me an Email you punitively and arbitrarily charged me for it at a flat rate of $150.00/hour plus taxes. You also charged me $150.00/hr to read my response to it. You also charged me $150.00/hr to receive & make phone calls to me.
Am I paying you and TSSA for the note you wrote below too? Am I again paying you $150.00 to read my answer to it?


Please advise me up front this time. 

Let me get you all on the right page again: I use TSSA because I am bound to by law & under penalty of fines or worse if I do not.

I own a company that I started out of poverty 21 years ago; Willy Dog. I employ about 20 people at my Canadian head office and more in my US offices.

All we do is make simple hot dog carts. Nothing else; no rocket science here. I sell these hot dog carts internationally, we are very successful. 


I have no problem doing business anywhere else in the world. USA, other parts of Canada, India, Australia, etc, take your pick we have no problems.


Only here in Ontario do we have problems. It is because of your "organization" TSSA". You bully me, you overcharge me for inspections, your inspections fail, you lie to me, your directer John Marshall laughs at me and now you will not even return my phone calls when I ask for an inspection! 


With the exception of the top office in TSSA and rare other exception, to a man you treat me with utter disrespect. 

To make matters worse TSSA, a quasi-government organization is protected by legislation that effectively says:
  • You can charge whatever you like.
  • You can make mistakes, even big mistakes and you are not responsible for it.
  • You are immune from all laws that would bind you to any sort of responsible or businesslike behaviour.
  • You don't have to communicate with your clients so they can set up the mandatory inspections with TSSA.
  • You appear to be all but immune from any Jurisdiction I can find (not that I am done trying).
So what am I to do now. Go out of business in Ontario? 


I am at the end of my rope because of TSSA incompetence yet all you do is cover your asses, change the rules arbitrarily and blame others.


I am a very even tempered fellow but TSSA disgusts me. If you were in my shoes you would be disgusted too.

The latest issue of many you have put me through is this:

1) I have been pleading with TSSA to do some inspections for about 2 weeks as of this writing.


It started March 8/10 when I called Oscar Warren and asked him to do some routine inspects. (Oscar has always been fair with me if not always abreast of the regulations).

2) Oscar advised that Wayne Pillon would now be doing our inspections and Wayne would call me. Mr Pillon did not call me and I left him 4 messages. After about 3 days I called Oscar again to plead for service. 

3) Mr, Pillon called the next day to say he couldn't do my inspection because he had medical issues. He said Anthony James would do the inspection.
He said he would call Anthony James and have him call me. I also began to call Mr. James. Mr. James ignored all my calls till I called Mr. Pillon again to pressure him. 

4) Mr. James called the next day to tell me he wasn't doing my inspection, that Mike Goldberg was doing my inspection. He said he would call Mike Goldberg and have him call me. I also began to call Mr. Goldberg. I called 6 times and left 4 messages over 3 days. Mr Goldberg did not call back.

5) On Friday morning Mar 19/10 I reluctantly called the office of the CEO of TSSA, Cathy Milsom and left a total of three messages (Ms Milsom & staff have always treated me fairly). Two calls dealt with the fact (as above) that I was being ignored by the inspectors and that I was in dire need of service from TSSA in order to serve customers at the only time of year they order. In the third call I mentioned that a customer had driven for a total of 6 hours to pick up his hot dog cart and because TSSA was ignoring me it was not inspected. I left the message that TSSA had successfully forced me to let equipment out of my factory because they effectively refused to inspect it.

6)At 4:00 Friday March 19/10 I received a call from Mike Goldberg to tell me that he was not doing our inspections Marvin Evans was. He said he would call Marvin Evans (whose last bill just to look at a one page line diagram cost me a whopping $1338.00 and forced me to sue TSSA in small claims court) and get Mr. Evans to call me.

8) About 10 minutes later I received a somewhat frantic call from Marvin Evans advising me that he would do the inspections next week (but he has changed the rules again).


7)Two full weeks have now passed and the inspections are not done. I am not sure what this week will bring.

Over the last 2 years TSSA has effectively put me into a corner. A corner wherein I have been forced, through their negligence, shoddy, money grabbing, inconsistent and achingly slow "inspections", inspections that fail simple propane tests in the field, I have been forced to discontinue almost my entire model line up (in Ontario only). Now TSSA have put me into a position where to stay in business in Ontario I may have to sell my hot dog carts un-inspected! TSSA is a disgrace. Most of you should be fired and replaced with people who can think and who are truly concerned about safety. 

I am concerned about safety and frankly I am extremely worried that given your well documented failure rate someone will be seriously hurt or worse. Not hurt with my simple little carts but by something far more complex that you are supposed to be dealing with. 

I want an apology from TSSA regarding the above. 


I want some guarantees that you will look after me as you are supposed to do. 



Will R Hodgskiss


President & Top Dog


Voted Best Business of Year








1-800-915-4683
1-613-389-6118

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