Free stuff just by asking for it? Anyone tried this?

bigmomma051204

Hi - Thought this site might interest people reading this post...its an american guys site; he sent off a whole LOAD of compliment letters to companies and he details all the stuff he got or didnt get - the examples of his letters to companies are mostly hilarious! It a funny site!! http://www.the39dollarexperiment.com/

Personally i once emailed Kiehls in US asking where they had stockists etc in this country for a particular lipgloss which i had run out of (a mate brought it for me from states) and they sent me a full size tube of it - rrp £18! Also emailed and phoned Pampers as i had a couple of bad experiences (not personally lol...my little boy!) with nappies leaking (the whole pack was knackered would you believe?!) and they sent me : 1st occasion:2x£5 vouchers off Pampers (anything in the range!) 2nd occasion: 1 x £5 voucher AND a a mini trial size pack of Pampers (5 in pack i think)

Oh and also some childrens book publishers are really good for freebies - i was setting up a creche day room in a teen parent housing project and emailed loads of publishers (Puffin,Little Tiger Press to name a couple) and asked for anything they could spare - books, or posters to brighten room up.......cant remember who sent what but i ended up with about 45 posters (all good characters like elmer, Postman Pat etc) and about 20 books!!!

But please people, dont abuse the system just for sake of it - by all means email companies which u WANT stuff off, but not just for the hell of it!

:j :j

masterthief

To the people who've criticised this post, can I just clarify that I really do not advocate 'creating' causes to write on behalf of, and my example did not include a 'created' cause - we genuinely were planning a fundraiser, then it got cancelled, then a little while later all this stuff arrived.

My point was that I don't think companies bother to check very wel if such an event is real or not - this might affect ppl wanting to request prizes for genuine fundraisers where the cause is small (like me school being broken into) and not an established charity.

I also think it is worth contacting companies you really like telling them this and why you like them - chances are they only ever/largely hear from dissatisfied customers, not the satisfied ones. Its a basic premise of a market that we can voice our pleasures and displeasures rather than merelyhaving these reflected (sometimes innacurately) through sales records.

I also think that ocmpanies do have a certain amount of product that they ear-mark for precisely this kind of thing - compensating dissatisfied customers, rewarding loyal customers, giving to events, getting further promotion, etc. Obviously we shouldn't abuse the system, but think tere is something of an 'english sensibility' which prevents us from accessing some freebies.

And Oakley are a fave brand of mine who I will be contacting because one of their tops I recently bought has got genuine faults. I may make this thread out to be good-fun, which it is, but I'm only going to contact companies honestly, and I don't see theharm in that (especially when mostof these companies request your feedback, good or bad, on their products).

The book example in the last post isa good one - I remember a a kid, my parents fundraised to replace a terribly stocked primary school library, when the teachers there said they couldn't improve it. But they could have done, either by having fundraising events, or by contacting book companies for some freebies (we had books talking about man one day maybe going to to the moon, and others talking about golliwogs - this in 1990).

masterthief

and thanks for that website link - some of those letters were hilarious!!

Merry_Wanderer

A few years ago my Avon rep. (who was new) failed to return with my order for 1 cheap nail polish. I phoned up Avon and complained, yet was pleasant, and they said they would send me out the nail polish. A week or 2 later I got a massive package with make-up and a nail grooming kit and other bits worth about £40!

blockleys

just before xmas my son and daughters v.smile pockets gave up the ghost so i e-mailed them to get some support and was sent a returns form to send them back and then within a fortnight was sent 2 brand new ones. i wasn't expecting that seen as they were the older models 2 years old. prehaps they have a common problem with these.

Also i find if i complain companys can't help themselves but to send me vouchers like perfect pizza though told them there was no way i would use them again and not to bother sending me a voucher, mcdonalds as i complained of very poor service on my last several visits and got £5 voucher then complained again as next 2 visits were just as bad and been told i am entitiled to 3 free meals, sent an empty can of beer back once as it hadn't been filled at the factory and was sent £5 in vouchers.

kristi

Hi, last year I organised a fundraising day in the shop where I work for Macmillan Cancer Research, it was the Coffee morning day but as we are a shop we thought it would be a bit dangerous to have hot drinks so I organised a raffle. I emailed a LOT of well known companies and we got quite a lot of response. Some didn't even acknowledge, some replied saying good on us but sorry they couldn't give us anything as they have their own charities they donate to etc but we got some really brilliant stuff, here is a list from the ones a can remember:

A BIG hamper from Loreal
A polo shirt from local footie team
Loads of stuff from Virgin Vie (so we made some goodie bags)

Well actually thats all I can remember, I've had a baby since and my brain has disappeared!

Another thing was when I was in college as part of my course we had to organise a fundraising event so we organised a night in a social club with entertainment etc (mostly free coz of charity) and then we trawled our local town centre shops asking for things. I couldn't actually believe I was going to be so cheeky and surely people would just say no but once we got out there we got masses of stuff. Each shop we went in we got something.

This is turning into a long post now but anyway. Another time at work, well when I had just started we were having an event where we had to promote account cards (slap on the wrist, I know but its my job ) Anyway I wanted to impress my new boss so I suggested putting some goodie bags together so she let me loose in town. About an hour later I turned back up with bottles of wine, perfume, gift vouchers, a few disposable cameras, a Ralph Lauren Towel, a designer bag, loads of designer cosmetics and more.

The point is, if a company knows that their name will be up in lights supporting a charity they will give you something!

Sorry for the long post :A

Kristi

svmitche

My friends and I once sent a letter to Monster Munch saying that we loved the product (especially Pickled Onion flavour), but why had they started to make them so small - we remembered them being bigger when we were kids (we were 18 when we wrote) and they sent us back a wholesale box of Pickeld Onion Monster Munhc, apologising for us thinking that the crisps were too small etc etc!

A while back there were some threads on here about writing to companies if you liked/disliked the product and a list was compiled - I've had a look but can't find it - sorry. I believe though that people thought most highly of Birdseye as they sent backa number of vouchers.

Butterfliesarepretty

Just emailed philosophy and benefit for samples as I got some lovely presents - never tried these before but they are lovely to use.

heather38

i emailed huggies when they launched the new natural fit nappies to ask why they were more expensive than the stay dry and they sent me a £5 voucher.
when i was a kid (about 8 or 9) my mum used to go to a cash and carry and she bought me a box of crisps for my lunch boxes. there was an empty sealed bag in the box so i wrote a letter to monster munch and they sent me 4 boxes to say sorry!

LizD_2

Badger_Lady wrote: »

Innocent have been known to send out "samples", particularly to your workplace so that you can share with your colleagues.

Of course, their "samples" are actually the little bottles that retail for £1.75 each!

Just remember not to take the pee

DH had a couple of bottles which went off really quickly and he emailed to tell them about it. They sent him a case of one of each of their flavours (12 little bottles I think), delivered to his office in a cow van. And it wasn't even their fault the smoothies had gone off!