MSE News: Colgate forgets its toothbrush in promo fail, as it's kicked off...

pt88

i know this is not going to help, but colgate actually started the promo yesterday around 5.30 - 6pm and at that point it was already causing issues as there where delays and cancellations for SW Trains due to hot weather.

morg_monster

I must say I feel a right wally today walking around with my toothbrush in my handbag! Really think Colgate did not do their homework on this one. Had any of the staff who thought this up actually BEEN to waterloo during the morning rush hour? Yes, promotions run here but as liz545 says they are always freebie handouts. There are never queues for them no matter what the item (examples: snickers, smoothies, goody bags with popcorn and chocolate), the items are just given out as fast as people walk by with their hands outstretched. Plus, they don't advertise these giveaways in advance. This toothbrush thing was a whole different kettle of fish - forms, giving details, adverts in papers and online etc etc. I thought it would just be a straight swap.

What is even more ridiculous is thinking that they could have been there during the evening rush hour such as as yesterday where the station was full of hot sweaty cross commuters waiting for trains that were all either delayed or cancelled. Honestly even the thought of a free £80 toothbrush would not be enough to entice me to spend another minute in that hell hole this time of year.

morg_monster

pt88 wrote: »

i know this is not going to help, but colgate actually started the promo yesterday around 5.30 - 6pm and at that point it was already causing issues as there where delays and cancellations for SW Trains due to hot weather.

seriously, they were there yesterday evening?!!! haha!

messalina79

I'm not surprised - I'm pleased I managed to get mine yesterday morning (9am), but I could tell it was going to be chaos. They originally had staff taking people's details on iPads - really, really slow, and queuers were getting very frustrated. They eventually switched to paper forms, but they had to verify the details on each one, so that also took time. They had no plan for the queue (mindboggling), and moved mine when it was very long - a lot of people lost their place and were very angry (I actually ended up closer the front, through no fault of my own, felt so guilty ). It's so stupid - they were giving away free £150 toothbrushes, how many people were they expecting to get? 10?

vaderag

So they did it yesterday then, despite saying they werent doing it?

messalina79

Yep, it started yesterday morning at 7am. There must have been about 80 people when I got there at 8:45. I made sure to go on the first day as I knew it would only get more popular as word spread.

DaleN

I got mine on Monday morning on the way to work, having made a note in my diary after seeing the offer in the email a few weeks ago. I arrived at 9.30am and there were about 10 people ahead in the queue. Got to the front after about 10 minutes. Sorry it sounds like it completely descended into chaos the next day, after all the passers-by from Monday remembered to bring their old brushes in on Tuesday. Not such a clever promotion!

vaderag

That's ridiculous. I had it diarised for Monday but as colgate and mse said it wasnt happening i didnt bother going...

mrs_lds

Epic pr fail. Lesson learnt never do this in a railway station during rush hour

MobileSaver

razam wrote: »

Its also a disgrace that they tell people to come back at 10.30, and then people take more time out of their day, only to be told that they are closed for the day.

Clearly a PR disaster for Colgate and I can understand your anger but this is unfair criticism.

Colgate staff cannot insist on keeping the stand open if the Police and/or Network Rail tell them to close it.