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vaeaglesfan wrote:

I think the Eagles suck

I too, vouch for Kev.

I would pay Kev's bail.

I've thought about updating this post for a while now, but I really haven't had much to report. But things are getting interesting now, so I figure I'd throw in a little background before I explain the rest...

There is a "status" page where you can track your offers. On that page is EVERY offer you clicked on when you signed up (even if you didn't end up taking that offer), and next to each is a word or phrase listing the status of the offer.

From the website:

Pending - If your Offer Status shows "Pending," it means that we are awaiting a response from our offer partners (i.e. the credit card companies). This also applies when your Gift Status shows pending too.
In Progress - A response has been received from the offer partner. We are now awaiting an approval notice from them. Please allow 6-8 weeks for an "In Progress" offer to be reported as "Approved".
Approved - This means your free gift card is ready to be ordered! You can click on the "Approved" link and have an Approval Email sent to you! Please refer to our Help Section for more information.
Confirmed - When you have entered your email address and generated a Free Gift Card Certificate, your Gift Status is flagged as "Confirmed."
Shipped - Your gift card has been ordered and is on its way! Please allow 6-8 weeks to receive your gift.

For over a month, the status next to the offers I completed was listed as either "In Progress" or "Pending." Then, a couple of weeks ago, two of them changed to "Approved." Then another. I had THREE offers down...only three more to go!

But wait...there was a problem. When the status is listed as "Approved," it is supposed to create a clickable link that takes you to a page with a redemption certificate. The idea is to print these certificates and then mail them to the company to redeem one's "gift." The problem came when I tried to click on the "Approved" links: nothing happened. They were supposed to auto-generate and send emails to me that I would be able to click in to take me to the certificate pages; it didn't work. I don't know if it was a browser problem, an OS problem, or what (I tried both Safari and Firefox)...but I couldn't get the emails to send.

Frustrated (and a bit wary), I emailed the customer service folks at the redemption/promotion company indicating the problems I was experiencing. After I didn't hear anything back for a couple of days, I started feeling a bit like a sucker. I had almost written this off as a bit of a learning experience, when I got an email from the customer support folks. They very politely explained that some of the free email services were experiencing intermittent issues with receiving the "Approval" messages, and they actually replied with some tinyurl links that led to the certificates for the offers that I had completed. And in addition to the three offers I had emailed them about, there were two others that had reached "Approved" status between the time I sent my email and the time they had replied, so they sent me all five certificate links.

I had expected one of the offers to be delayed; after all, I had applied for a Discover card as one of my first offers, but was declined...so it was another week before I fulfilled the replacement offer (an Entertainment coupon book). But when I scanned my status list, I noticed that the only offer that hadn't yet been approved was the first offer I had signed up for. I emailed the redemption company again to let them know I had indeed fulfilled my requirements for that offer, and to ask if there was anything else I needed to do. Within a couple of hours, I received a reply indicating that they had no record from the vendor of my status, but if I could provide proper documentation (like my confirmation email), they would review it and update the status accordingly.

(This is where the "document EVERYTHING" advice comes in REALLY handy!)

So, I went back to my email account (remember, I had set up a Gmail account specifically for this experiment), and I printed every correspondence from the vendor to a PDF file. (And, if necessary, I have the entire signup process documented, as well!) I put them all in a folder (there were five total), zipped it, and attached it in an email to the redemption company.

That's where we stand right now. It's nearly two months since I initiated this process. I'm 5/6 of the way to having the paperwork to send to claim the iBook, and although it was a bit slow going at first, I've been pleasantly surprised at the level of customer service I've experienced by the promotion company.

Last edited by CaptKevMan (2005-09-21 5:40 am)

If you've got four aces, take the house for all it's worth!!! 

Good luck, Kev.

I'm more than sure that this is a 'legitimate' offer (as I've said before, my girl's neighbor got one with just a little over $100 out of pocket expenses.) but very difficult to complete due to the technicalities of it.

Don't stop pressing them until you have a package tracking number in your possession.

-Tim

I am not associated with this spam.

If this works for you too, I might think about completing a similar program.

Hell, one of the last PPC iBooks for $100 give or take another $50? I'm down for that.

-Tim

Good luck, Kev!

Even if it works, I won't be asking you for a link to the company, as I already have a 14" iBook. Even though turning down an almost free Mac seems a very stupid idea, theres no need to go through this work when I already have a fully functional laptop.

vaeaglesfan wrote:

This could be a well thoughout attempt to sneak attack us with the SPAM. He posts an innocent topic detailing his attempt at getting a cheap iBook. In a few days he'll post again telling everyone it works and we should all try. He probably hasn't figured out how to word it quite yet because he does in fact need referrals.

Moron.

Last edited by Macskeeball (2005-09-21 6:39 pm)

BTW, why did it cost so much. Like I said, I only will be spending $10.00. Most of the offers are for a "free trial" with no stipulation you you stay past the free point. The only reason I paid the $10.00 was because as you go further on in the process there are less and less "free trial" offers. :shug:

Again, as others have said, document everything and you should be good to go.

CaptKevMan wrote:

I'll let y'all know when the iBook arrives!

You mind PMing me a link to the program you used?

TheConfuzed1 wrote:

Yeah, he left out the part of the plan where he leads us on for years before hand, in an attempt to gain our trust, right before he unloads his trojan horse. 

Well, smurf. I should have figured this one out!

Damn you, Kev! How can you use our trust like this!!

Oh, and I don't think this site uses referrals. At all. Like, at all.

-Tim