Ontario sledge hockey team finally gets Tim Hortons sponsorship cash after 5 months of phone tag

Tim Hortons is apologizing and pledging its ongoing support for Ontario'stop men'ssledge hockey teamafterthehead coach spent five months emailing and calling,looking for the $7,500 in sponsorship funds the company had promised.

The Canadian-based fast food giant has been a sponsor of Sledge Hockey Ontario for four years. The money pays the team's travel expenses for training camps in the U.S. and Canada.

"It's always been paid in the past," Sledge Team Ontario's recently retired head coach Todd SargeanttoldCBCToronto.

"It would be paid fairly right away, no real issues."

Each spring,Sargeantwould email a sponsorship representative to secure the next year's funding.

"It's always been a yes," said Sargeant.

And last season was no different.

In May 2017, he emailed a sponsorship manager with Tim Hortons and they wrote back.

"Yes, we would be happy to support the team again next year.Please send invoice for $7,500 in January 2018," the return email said.

The team went on to travel for competitions and camps with the understanding they'd receive the Tim Hortons money.

This should have been discovered and addressed internally.- Tim Hortonsrepresentative

Sledge Team Ontario is one of Team Canada's unofficial para hockey farm teams. The athletesreceive funding fromthe province's Quest For Gold program, which supports athletes "striving to reach the international level of competition," according to the provincial government's website.

Sargeantsayseightout of 16 players on Team Canada's silver medal winning men's para hockey team at thePyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games were Sledge Team Ontario alumni.

Phone tag frustration

Come January,Sargeantsent the invoice but heard nothing back.

"I just thought, 'Okay, he's busy or whatever."

Sargeantgave it a few weeks, calling back in February. No answer.He started emailing the representative.No reply.

Finally, Sargeantfound himself having to click through the customer complaint section on the Tim Hortons website.

He found a guest services number and called that. "I would call and they would say, 'We're going to get back to you,'" he said. "Three months go by and not a single communication from Tim Hortons."

Sargeantsaid he'dcall and follow up after a few days and each time he was told someone would get in touch with him but he says no one ever did.

"Frustration starts to creep in," said Sargeant,who said money aside, he was most concerned about keeping the partnership alive because the company had been a great help over the years.

Tim Horton'seventual explanation 'hard to fathom,' says coach

Someone from Tim Hortonsfinally reached out to Sargeantvia email the same day CBCToronto started calling the company'spublic relations agency.

Sargent says the employee told him they had always intended tokeepup the partnership but did not have his contact information.

Considering all theexasperated phone callsSargeanthad made, he calls that explanation "hard to fathom."

Tim Hortons had a different explanation for CBCToronto Thursday in an emailed statement.

"We always planned to continue as partners. Unfortunately, this request was not received by the appropriate person handling our sponsorships and as a result we did not respond in a timely fashion."

Sargeantis happy the team will finally get the money they were promised but even more happy their partnership with Tim Hortons has been reaffirmed.

"This should have been discovered and addressed internally. Weexpressed our regrets to our partners for that and confirmed our ongoing support," the company's statement reads.