What would you do if this happened?

lynnie06

yeah - but the book could have been ordered for someone else and not necessarily by the person with the alcohol problem..........

olias

I agree OP, your reaction is completely OTT.

I'm sure scratchcards or bingo website promos are put in with Gamblers anonymous books as well, or chocolate club vouchers in with dieting books.

What you need to understand is that onliine stores - particularly the large ones - will be sending out literally thousands of books a day. They will have a production line where a packer grabs the book, grabs the pile of vouchers, wraps it in cardboard, slaps the address label on and moves on to the next one. I doubt they even have the time to read the title!

Do you really expect them to grab the book, read the title, then sift through the vouchers/flyers to check if there any that may conflict or cause offence when bearing in mind the title of the book and who it is likely to be aimed at, reject any problem vouchers/flyers, put the remainder in, and then carry on with the production line!

It was an unintentional and unavoidable result of a fast/semi automated packing system, nothing more.

Olias

vuvuzela

Jon_01 wrote: »

I'm posting this for a friend as he doesn't know what to do and is very angry (which is an understatement).

His wife ordered from an online store a copy of Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book.
Clearly I don't need to go into the reasons why she ordered this.

My mate took the package in and was horrified when he opened it to find that on top of the book was a voucher for £X off wine!

He was on the phone to the supplier within minutes, the persons he spoke to had to pass it up the chain and next day he had an answer that it was an automatic system and everything they sent got the same marketing stuff and that's the way they do it...

Understandably not happy he went up the chain himself and had an email basicly saying sorry and here 15 quid!

They seem totally unaware of the potential harm this could have caused and don't seem at all bothered.

I've suggested that he contacts AA, his local TV and newspapers and gets them as much bad PR as possible.

Any thoughts guys?

My thoughts are that you are MASSIVELY OVER-REACTING.
It will be Amazon and they do this as an automated marketing thing.
I ordered some kids toys and of the sveral boxes, some had this leaflet in. I didn't immediately think "Won't someone please think of the children", I binned them.
Your friend has had a 15 quid discount for what was an exceptionally minor marketing error. I think that's a good result.

GlynD

Drink, drink drink - f eck!

vuvuzela

Jon_01 wrote: »

I'm posting this for a friend as he doesn't know what to do and is very angry (which is an understatement).

His wife ordered from an online store a copy of Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book.
Clearly I don't need to go into the reasons why she ordered this.

My mate took the package in and was horrified when he opened it to find that on top of the book was a voucher for £X off wine!

He was on the phone to the supplier within minutes, the persons he spoke to had to pass it up the chain and next day he had an answer that it was an automatic system and everything they sent got the same marketing stuff and that's the way they do it...

Understandably not happy he went up the chain himself and had an email basicly saying sorry and here 15 quid!

They seem totally unaware of the potential harm this could have caused and don't seem at all bothered.

I've suggested that he contacts AA, his local TV and newspapers and gets them as much bad PR as possible.

Any thoughts guys?

As an addendum, if your friend permits his wife to go outside, does he make her wear blinkers so she can't see the enormous beer adverts that are all over the high street ?

Velcro_Hotdog

I would have stuck the voucher in someones birthday card and saved my self the hassle of having to go buy M&S ones. Hate gift shopping grrrr grumble grumble

vuvuzela

Velcro_Hotdog wrote: »

I would have stuck the voucher in someones birthday card and saved my self the hassle of having to go buy M&S ones. Hate gift shopping grrrr grumble grumble

It's a 'money off when you spend xx pounds' voucher. Bit mean to give that to someone for birthday

relic

Haha, that's brilliant!

I hope whoever put that voucher in with the book comes on and reads this thread, think I would wet myself.

Dave101t

maybe a recovering alcoholic may want to celebrate with wine? or buy some for a friend? this is a nonsense story to be honest.

alisonannk

£15 for a marketing error? Someone was feeling generous (or someone was better at complaining than me). I only got £5 from tesco for taking nearly £200 from my account 'in error' and sending me overdrawn a while back. All sorts of stress. It is in very poor taste but if we tiptoed around everyone's issues then we'd all be walking on eggshells (this kind of reaction to life's events has led to the 'lets sue everyone for everything' culture). People on diets/with eating disorders get sent junk food ads, smokers not so much anymore with the ads but it doesn't stop people trying not to smoke from going into a newsagent, people with mental health problems can still be exposed to a number of sensitive topics..... if its not malicious then it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt and seen as a test of willpower if needs be. Poor packer was probably a hungover student paying less than zero attention to their job anyway.