Kellogg's- Co-op Gift Card Promo - Ticked off with Kelloggs

[dahliagrower]

Just need to vent ....
So in Feb there was a Co-op Promo - Buy 5 Jumbo Kelloggs Cereals and get a $20 Co-op Gift Card..... I had initially thought it would just be done at the cash register - but the cashier read the form and advised me I would have to send it all in - to get the gift card. In this case they required the co-op form for the rebate, the original store receipt and the 5 original UPCs from the jumbo cereal boxes ...

I called them as I had recycled the first box before realizing that they wanted the UPC from all of them ... and also called as the UPCs on their form did not match the UPC for the Jumbo box of Mini-Wheats..... this call was in early March ... they advised me the promo was over on the phone initially and I said the purchase period was but the mailing date was mid-march..... I then advised that I only had 4 of the original UPCs but the receipt showed the 5 purchases - didn't indicate it was a problem - and then with the UPCs not matching their form they said there was an error with the codes on the form.... So all good - completed and sent the envie off. Postmark is March 11 - deadline was the 14th.

Long story short (well okay not that short ) - today in the mail I got the whole thing back - envelope too.... with a form letter that started off with "Dear Valued Consumer" and ended with "we are returning your submission as it does not comply with the criteria above..." But didn't specifically state which criteria it didn't comply with. I am guessing it was that I only had 4 original UPCs rather than 5.....

I am feeling really ticked off ... If I purchase one additional Jumbo cereal and re-send it - they will undoubtably send it back as it is past the mailing deadline. What a stupid promo to require both the original receipt and the original UPCs (from the bottom of each box) from 5 jumbo boxes (we are just now going through the last package). And then to add insult to injury I went on-line and typed my comments in an email which wouldn't go through until I got it down to 3-4 sentences! 3-4 sentences doesn't fully explain my frustration. Oh really mad now. How stupid can their marketing/promotion department be? I've worked in marketing before and I know it can be really hit and miss with promo stuff - but Kellogg's is a huge company - you would expect that they could do promotions better than this?

[Kitty77]

Hi Dahlia, have been doing refunds for over 40 years and if those forms say just write the UPC, I write the UPC on the cash register receipt and always include the original UPC from the package with each refund and part of the product name, even cut the darn things off hard plastic and attach to a sheet of paper with the mail in refund form and receipts and then mail all. Then, there is no questions about the product. Sorry to read you missed out on the refund.

[Natalka]

Also sorry you missed out, but like Kitty, I've learned to be uber-careful with such promos because the companies want their instructions followed to the letter.

[dahliagrower]

Thanks Kitty and Natalka ... I do feel better having gotten it all out of my system. Lesson learned Be uber careful in the future with any mail-in offers....

[TooCouponCrazy]

Aw, sorry to hear that happened. And yeah, you have to be so careful. I have had some bad experiences with similar promos myself.