Vocus Fibs
February 12th, 2011 by Bob Bly
Today I received a direct mail promotion from a company called Vocus selling a PR management system.
The offer: take a demo and get a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card.
Only problem is, I took the demo months ago and never received the card.
Each time a Vocus rep called me to follow up and sell me their product, I explained we had nothing to talk about until I got my gift card.
The reps told me they had no control over that and seemed totally unconcerned.
If you are going to make an offer in direct mail, honor it when you get a response.
This entry was posted on Saturday, February 12th, 2011 at 8:18 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 12th, 2011 at 8:31 am
We would like to help with this, if we told you were going to get a BN card, then that’s what you’re going to get.
Can you email us at the address above: ATTN: Jimmy
Thank you!
February 12th, 2011 at 8:36 am
Funny, I like the way Bob shows how to treat him. This is the power of the Internet on a real example. Thanks!
- Kamil
February 12th, 2011 at 11:14 pm
Same thing happened to me, Bob. Only it was almost 4 years ago. I was promised a $50 iTunes card, took the demo, even referred them to our PR director. No card ever came. I got the offer several times afterward, each time I replied that I had taken the demo and never received the premium. No one seemed to care.
I figured it was an oversight and finally gave up. Vocus appears to have a good product. But they also appear to lack integrity or follow through.
Good luck getting your card.
February 13th, 2011 at 12:33 am
WOW! Power of the Internet! Looks like they’ve got someone on hand now to hand customer service complaints on social media. Interesting example…..
February 13th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Why do so many people think they can buy their way out of a bad demo or offer with an unrelated gift?
(You can always spot the worst demos at a technology trade show — they’re at the booth with a “win an iPad” sign.)
February 14th, 2011 at 9:58 am
Hi Bob, did some research on this this morning and our records show that we sent you a $50 Barnes + Noble card on 8/30/10. The balance is still intact, so if you need us to resend it, let me know.
Since these gift cards are sent via email from a third party, they often get lost in spam filters. I suspect that was the case here. Here’s a short post about it: http://bit.ly/aBqowo
Do let us know if you’d like us to resend the card! fstrong(at)vocus(dot)com
February 14th, 2011 at 10:00 am
And Rob, given your comment, feel free to send me a note. We do care and we do want to make good.
March 1st, 2011 at 11:43 am
Gotta love what one blog post can get you!
March 3rd, 2011 at 10:15 am
Bob,
I was promised an ipod shuffle for taking a demo months ago, but weeks went by and I didn’t receive it. I just signed up with Vocus a couple weeks ago and told my (new) sales rep I was waiting for the ipod, and she is supposedly expediting it. That was two weeks ago and still haven’t received it. Good luck with your card.
August 24th, 2011 at 9:07 am
i hate delayed mails. It causes a fuss specially with bills, i won’t know that i have a due bill not until the connection got cut. then i will only received the mail notice when i already settled the bill, crazy right.
- Jack Leak
October 28th, 2011 at 6:38 pm
I was promised an ipod if I sat through a demo. That was over two months ago. Never received it.
November 1st, 2011 at 10:33 am
I never got my B&N card either. I called once they sent the second mail piece with same offer. Someone told me they would have marketing call me, noone did. A few weeks later (today) I got an email from them with more product offerings. I emailed back, and said send me my card, Im sure I wont get it or a response. If they treat you like this as a prospect, imagine the service youll get once you buy the product and they have your money.
March 7th, 2012 at 11:31 am
I was also promised an ipod shuffle in Dec 2011 for doing a demo. It was supposed to arrive in 4-6 weeks but still has not come. I have made several attempts to get Vocus to send the ipod shuffle as promised but all efforts have gone ignored. A rep emailed me this morning to try and do another demo. I told her that all she could possibly do for me is to find out why I did not receive the ipod shuffle as promised. This company has no integrity and I have reported them to the Better Business Bureau.
June 5th, 2012 at 10:21 am
I also took the demo with a promise of an ipod. I followed up after 2 months and it became clear that it would not be sent unless they felt you would definitely do business with them.
I delt with Russell W. Morgan. It is an absolute bait and switch. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME.
July 10th, 2012 at 7:06 pm
Same thing that happned to Joseph happened to me. Repreated attempts to contact and NOTHING. It is a very small industry and people talk. Perhaps we should start contact Vocus clients to see iof this type of behavior is common place. That might get their attention!
September 11th, 2012 at 11:24 am
I am asking our IT guy to post this info on every blog he can and on our website. Vocus shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this. Our time is too valuable to waste and that is what they are hoping that we will just give up. The more people that know the less business they will get and then maybe they will do the right thing.
September 14th, 2012 at 2:57 pm
I got my iPod after doing a demo 3 months ago. Stinks that you guys have been having such a problem. I would also just remind people that don’t do demos of this kind unless you are really interested in what the product being demoed has to offer. I mean if you are just sitting for 30 minutes for a free iPod or Gift Card you are already wasting your time and the time of the sales person doing the demo.
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