MSE News: How to tell when a brand promotion is a glitch or gaffe

Former_MSE_Helen

Apologies for the broken link - we had to take the piece down this morning. It is now live on the site again:

Guest Comment: How to tell when a brand promotion is a glitch or gaffe

canterswest

I did not read the original version, if it was changed. Tesco's accounting problems are apparently linked to a sick promotions relationship between suppliers, retailer and customer that has spiralled out of control. Promoting so called free pizzas attracts the gullible and creates an opportunity for a few business to business suppliers like affiliate websites and promotion consultants to make money, putting the price up ultimately for customers. MSE was very slow to promote free pizzas. Numerous other affiliate websites advertised it weeks before, including one that produced an in store video in Morrisons. Shortly after, the affiliate's Facebook business imploded into unprofessional bickering between competing affiliates and reportedly a visit to a police station to report false allegations. Taxpayers paid for the police time.

Tesco's former CEO thought affiliates were god. He was so wrong and I am with Dave Lewis sweeping it all away, taking out the layers of non-essential business to business costs that add no real customer value.

Johnball

The textbook example of mishap is surely Hoover. Some years ago, they offered free flight to USA if you bought one of their cheap models, much cheaper than than flight value. Thousands took it up, many never got flight, Hoover UK collapsed and that lovely building on the A40 passed to Tesco.

mileslondoner

This article is simply an advertisement for PromoVeritas.

"My job is to make sure..."

"...all of this could have been prevented had Pepsi used verification experts such as ourselves..."

I did not learn anything new from this article and would not mind it on the homepage if it was written in form of analysis of the most spectacular promotions going wrong. Since it is an advertisement - the name of the company is mentioned and the writer encourages to complain on social media or by writing to managing director (instead of using a standard complaint procedure first) I find it dishonest and feel there is a sense of manipulation and arrogance to it.

mjm3346

Wonder why the title was changed from "when brand promotions go wrong is it all good?"

Pincher

Miele does standard warranty, five year and ten year warranties in rotation all the time. The one thing that they NEVER do is ten year warranty on washer/dryers. So imagine my surprise when the John Lewis website flashed up a ten year warranty about eight years ago.


I knew it had to be a gaffe, so printed the web page, and tried to order in store on the same day. The sales lady couldn't get the ten year warranty in store, but did confirm the website said ten years. I then phoned them up, and got the call centre rep to confirm the ten year warranty verbally, and ordered it. The next day, the website was corrected to five year warranty. Naturally, only a five year warranty leaflet turned up, so I had to haggle with them and eventually got £100 off.


Given the choice, I would have preferred the ten year warranty, though, but Miele simply did not offer ten year warranty on washer/dryers, even if John Lewis paid for it.


Hollow victory really, because I'm a fan of John Lewis.
I would much rather take money from a slimy insurance company with exclusion clauses and claim excesses so they never pay out. No chance there.

colsten

One particular family entered over 11,000 times and won lots of times, simply by using hundreds of fake email addresses and taking advantage of a loophole in the terms and conditions that didn't limit entries. Fraud – because that is what it is – on this scale meant that thousands of legitimate and honest entrants lost out on the opportunity to win.

Which laws did the particular family break to make it fraud? Exploiting the written T&Cs, as long as these T&Cs were lawful, does not amount to committing fraud.