Seemingly good promos gone horribly wrong.

[awhit066]

As Smart Canucks, we are all on the hunt for money savings. For some it's looking for store deals like 50% off, others hunt for coupons or sign up for free samples, and some take advantage of them all.

Being a member of this amazing site since April 2011 (having stalked the site as a guest since about Dec. 2010) I have scene my fair share of post for free product samples that have become known in the community as being scams and result in no samples being received. We are lucky to have a dedicated thread "Freebies that never come - Freebiers beware" to help us avoid these scams.

However, in light of some recent events, I wondered about (as the title of this thread states) good promos gone bad. Here are a few that I have noticed.

Timothy's Coffee Facebook K-cup promo:

In this promo, customers were offered 2 24-packs of Perfectly Pumpkin K-cups and 2 24-cups of Decaf K-cups. The offer was open Dec. 16-31, 2011 or while supplies last. Upon filling in the form everyone received an e-mail confirming their samples were on the way. On around the 18th of December, Timothy's took down the request form, informing everyone that their samples had been depleted and the promo was over. Some people did receive this offer and thus it is not a complete scam. But it didn't end there...

On Jan. 13, 2012, many people who had signed up and received confirmation e-mails were enraged to learn that they would not be receiving samples but would instead receive a BOGO coupon to order some k-cups online only, with an added ~$9 shipping fee. The people flooded Timothy's Facebook page with complaints stating they will no longer purchase the company's coffee, and no responses have been made by the company as of yet.

LaSociete Stella Artois

The LaSociete Beta program was a loyalty program being tested by the people at the Stella Artois Beer company. In this program, members were asked to write posts about their social life on Facebook and/or Twitter and tag the company. In essence, the members were providing free advertising on social media for the Stella company. In return, members received points for each post which could be redeemed for some pretty nice prizes like Chalices, BBQ tool kits, and luggage.

This programs first error was in removing the reward points when they moved out of the Beta phase. This would mean that a certain amount of their free advertising would not be rewarded as many users had accumulated large totals of points with no prizes to redeem them on before the expiry. Stella attempted to reassure us that they would post enough prizes to deplete everyones points, but that never happened. Oh well.

Then things got worst. Many of the rewards that had been redeemed were not making it to their owners. Despite the confirmation e-mails that members received stating that they had effectively redeemed for a reward, the company claimed they had no records of missing rewards and would not honour the confirmation e-mails. The enraged group of members were forced to e-mail back and forth for weeks if not months with various members of the Stella company as well as filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau. Some members did eventually receive the rewards they deserved while others (I believe) are still without.

Unfortunately this program saw lots of abuse from members who set up various fake accounts, sending rewards to their pets and to both their homes and offices. It's too bad that a few greedy people make thing bad for those following the rules.

Zellers 50% off Printable coupon (can find original post)

From what I understand, (I didn't attempt to try this one so I can't remember all the details) customers were offered a printable 50% off coupon for any one item at Zellers during a specific time period. The coupon was first restricted to certain items, and then they decided they would no longer accept the coupons even though they assured customers online that the coupon was still valid just not on some items. Sounds like a great coupon for those who got to use it, and terrible for those who made it to the store only to be turned away.


What other seemingly good promos gone horribly wrong do you remember?

[mulock]

I received the Timothy's 4x free boxes of coffee. I also took advantage of the BOGO coupon, because if you do it right you also get the Columbia Decaf free too....that's 3x boxes of coffee for the price of one + $7.50 shipping

[Shwa Girl]

Old Navy's 2 dollar deals, April 2011.
The bad news started with this post:
http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/3269010-post38.html

The great thread was started by bobbsagget
http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/195577-...s-more-canada/

[DianneS]

My opinion is that the Timothy's promo fiasco falls under "bait and switch". Entice the customer with a great deal and then pull the switch once you have them engaged. If Timothy's was an honourable company they could have sent one FPC (along with an apology) to each person to whom they originally sent a confirmation e-mail. It would have all but eliminated delivery charges and it would have been the right thing to do.

[slayer_glade]

On Jan. 13, 2012, many people who had signed up and received confirmation e-mails were enraged to learn that they would not be receiving samples but would instead receive a BOGO coupon to order some k-cups online only, with an added ~$9 shipping fee. The people flooded Timothy's Facebook page with complaints stating they will no longer purchase the company's coffee, and no responses have been made by the company as of yet.

How many of those complainers are actual buyers and not just people wanting free stuff? lol

Do you know if the email confirmation was an automatic one or it was sent later from a person?

[DianneS]

What I don't get slayer_glade is why, in this age of technology, there wasn't a automatic "counter" on their system? I'm sure websaver, save.ca, etc. don't have someone manually counting the e-mails that come in and then manually shutting the offer down when their coupon quota is reached.

It must not be a good day to work at Timothy's...pity the staff on their customer service line.

[awhit066]

How many of those complainers are actual buyers and not just people wanting free stuff? lol

Do you know if the email confirmation was an automatic one or it was sent later from a person?

It was definitely (ok maybe not definitely but highly likely) an automatic e-mail. Within a few minutes, or seconds, of sending my request I got the confirmation e-mail.

As an added note, I do personally have to overall feeling that free is free. If it comes, great! If it doesn't no big loss. It's just too bad that problems like this happen.

[slayer_glade]

*shrugs* I don't know why they couldn't count it. I don't think they imagined the offer would get copy/pasted over the internet. Otherwise, I doubt they would have had such a long promotion period and then pull it only two days after it started. And they wouldn't have offered such a large amount of coffee for one person. A box, maybe. Or a special 12 pk box. Something smaller. Especially since people used multiple names to get multiple offers to the same address.

It was definitely (ok maybe not definitely but highly likely) an automatic e-mail. Within a few minutes, or seconds, of sending my request I got the confirmation e-mail.

As an added note, I do personally have to overall feeling that free is free. If it comes, great! If it doesn't no big loss. It's just too bad that problems like this happen.

Thanks for the info. I think a BOGO offer was a good substitution even though it's not the free items people wanted. Lots of people on FB are even asking the complainers to give them the codes to use, lol.

I think the company saw all the money floating out the door and panicked. Hopefully they'll arrange smaller promotions in the future to satisfy more people.

[DianneS]

I think, though, that these 'promos gone bad' can end up costing companies their reputation with some consumers. That is something that is hard to get back. Of course, the fact that this has happened on the heels of the Zellers debacle isn't helping Timothy's

[annedougherty]

I don't know why we make excuses for these companies and point fingers at people who "just want free stuff," lol and that's all I'm going to say about that.

But, if anyone has found that *$^#ing Tenderflake Easy Pie kit in the Hamilton/Stoney Creek area, could they let me know where before I go mental. lol EPIC FAIL on this promo too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

[slayer_glade]

I don't know why we make excuses for these companies and point fingers at people who "just want free stuff," lol and that's all I'm going to say about that.

But, if anyone has found that *$^#ing Tenderflake Easy Pie kit in the Hamilton/Stoney Creek area, could they let me know where before I go mental. lol EPIC FAIL on this promo too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

I'm not condoning what they did. At all. Just offering an explanation.

Especially when some members on SC are already complaining about it being illegal and reporting them to higher ups. Really? What they did isn't illegal.

[annedougherty]

I'm not condoning what they did. At all. Just offering an explanation.

Especially when some members on SC are already complaining about it being illegal and reporting them to higher ups. Really? What they did isn't illegal.

Why are you quoting me?...I didn't even read what you wrote

[slayer_glade]

Why are you quoting me?...I didn't even read what you wrote

Because I wanted to respond to what you said? That's what quotes are for, lol.

Your post described mine. I wasn't replying to you, but to what you said.

[GeorgiaK]

Anne, you are hilarious!

As for the promos gone bad, how could companies not know that an online promo would not go viral? In this age of social media, things like free stuff promos are going to spread faster than wild fire.

[krysta lynne]

I don't know why we make excuses for these companies and point fingers at people who "just want free stuff," lol and that's all I'm going to say about that.

But, if anyone has found that *$^#ing Tenderflake Easy Pie kit in the Hamilton/Stoney Creek area, could they let me know where before I go mental. lol EPIC FAIL on this promo too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

OMG! i can not find this anywhere either! wtf?