OffTheHook — Local services in Quinte West

About a month ago, I pulled into a parking spot at OffTheHook. It was after their store closed (they close at 5PM and I arrived at 5:20PM). I did not intend to park there but needed to get out of the middle of the road while waiting for a spot to open at Service Ontario. There were only two cars parked in front of the store (one of them the owner's) and many open spots. I was waiting to pick up my mother, who is an acquaintance of the owner, from next door however she wasn't finished yet.

Upon pulling into the spot, an elderly woman was leaving the back door of the next door building and trying to make it down the wheelchair ramp. She was walking with a cane and struggling because it was icy.

I got out of my car to help her (left keys in ignition with four ways on). Within taking two steps, the owner came out of the store and started screaming at me to get off her property. She pointed to a sign hidden behind one of the other vehicles that said customer parking only (again, store is closed).

I said "I am not parking here nor stopping anyone from attending your store, I am helping this person and picking up my mother. I will move in a minute."

The owner became more irate and begun swearing and threatening me.

Another woman, who I assume was another staff, was there at the time trying to calm the owner down.

A patron in a Service Ontario parking spot called over to me that she was about to leave so I could take her spot. I got back to my car and said "You could have asked politely and I'd have moved" at which point she threw something (maybe snow?) at my car and screamed that it was her private property.

I moved my car, helped the elderly woman down the ramp, and watched as the owner locked the door, walked toward me and spat at my vehicle, and then left in her OffTheHook branded SUV.

I live in Trenton and understand the frustrations she must go through during store hours with limited parking for both her store and the busy Service Ontario office next door. But this is inexcusable, absolutely chaotic, and borderline violent behaviour.

If you run a local business, treat everyone with respect. If you have an issue, address it politely.

Editing my review after reading the owners response: Yes, Service Ontario closes at 5PM. I was picking up my mother who had been there before closing and was still in the building after their normal closing time to complete whatever she needed to do at Service Ontario. While their doors close at 5:00, they finish serving people who arrive before that time. This happened two years ago and took over a year to receive a response so the fact that the owner specifically remembers this one incident enough to know what happened is unlikely.

Instead of taking responsibility for being rude and acknowledging their poor behaviour, they chose to try to discredit someone because they don't like the narrative. That further speaks to the character of this...

I had an appointment at Trent Travel a couple of doors down from 'Off The Hook' today and I thought I should share my experience with the business. I pulled into what I thought was a shared parking lot. Upon parking I saw a sign that read (paraphrased), "Off the Hook parking only, violators will be towed...". I got back in my car to find a different spot to park but couldn't pull out onto Ontario St as it was backed up with cars stopped at a red light. For those that don't know, It's one of, if not the, busiest intersections in Trenton

I got out of my car again but paused for a bit trying to decide what to do, ultimately I chose to grab a Toonie out of my car's console, explain that I had an appointment at 3:00 (it was 2:58) and that if it was okay, I would give the business $2 for my estimated 20 minutes of parking time.

As I came out of my car for the now third time, the shop door swung open and out came (who I later learned was) the owner. Before I could say anything she asked if I was planning on visiting her shop and that the parking lot was exclusive to it. I said that I have an appointment at 3:00 and referenced the line of cars blocking my only way out of the parking lot. Before I could offer my Toonie, she said, "Well then I'm going to have you towed. This lot is for customers only." She retreated into her shop.

Because I was a bit offended by the way she talked down to me and because I knew that my appointment was going to be quick, I skipped giving her my Toonie and ran over to get my appointment done with. Upon coming back to my car, I was happy to see that it wasn't towed and decided to go back into the shop to give her my Toonie (even though at this point I think there is a pretty strong case to keep it). As I entered the shop (and for the third time, before I could even get a word in) I was met with her telling me that she has a business to run (there were no other cars in her parking lot during either of these interactions by the way {3 open spots}) and that I was somehow in the way of that. I finally got to explain my situation and then I asked if she treats everyone that she interacts with the same way she had treated me and she told me to get out of her fu**ing store.

Needless to say, I won't be recommending Off the Hook to anyone that likes to be treated with...

I have had an amazing shopping experience at Off the Hook. While shopping on my lunch hour with a co-worker I had picked out a mountain of clothing to try on and ran out of time. Brandy and her friendly sales associate (can't remember her name) were kind enough to hold the items so we could come back after work. Their customer service was incredible, they even stayed open late so we could finish our purchases without feeling rushed. All items are high quality and fairly priced. I HIGHLY recommend this...