Gratis Network Ripoff company unwilling to live up to their end of the bargain Washington District of Columbia
I would have never signed up for a site like this one, but a friend of mine actually signed up and received a free ipod. I should have known not to sign up - that it would not be THAT easy to also get a free ipod - but I signed up nonetheless. What followed is exactly what I thought would... complete BS!
After I signed up for the site, I completed my deal and forwarded the EXACT link supplied by the site to 7 friends. 4 signed up without any problem. The other 3 -all family members with the same last name - followed the link, but were not placed "under me."
I placed several "customer service inquiries" only to get the same response everytime - basically a few broken sentences that looked like they were written by a third grader. Each of these responses stated that I did something wrong and that there is nothing they can do.
I've attempted to find phone numbers and/or addresses, but have come up empty. The one phone number I found said that they do not take phone calls for customer service issues.
PLEASE HELP!
Matt
ravenna, Michigan
U.S.A.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Vince
Hilton,New York,
U.S.A.
Inform the Appropriate People
#5Consumer Comment
Tue, March 15, 2005
There are a few things you can do. The first, was to of course file with this website. The next would be to contact your local DA office, and make a report with them. Gratis Internet is also a member of the BBB, and therefore you should file a report with the BBB. You could also write a letter to the company itself. After enough people start making enough noise about Gratis, voices will be noticed. But by taking NO further action whatsoever, you are ensuring that nothing else will ever happen. Do what I am doing, and continue to make noise. Email the appropriate people, make phone calls, send out mail, file reports; make as much noise as possible.
Matt
Ravenna,Michigan,
U.S.A.
Thanks for Trying
#5Consumer Suggestion
Fri, February 25, 2005
I appreciate the feedback, however the people I need to find are from Gratis Network out of Washington, DC. I have found 1 phone number, but it's voicemail H@#*! Anybody have any advice with regards to these guys?
Jon
Jackson Heights,New York,
U.S.A.
Resolution for free merchandise issue (ipods, laptops, etc.) ignore any customer service contact information on their site - it's useless
#5Consumer Suggestion
Thu, February 24, 2005
I'm not 100% sure if this is the same company as I dealt with, but this should work either way. If that company is truly in DC rather than NC, you may need to find a different agency, but don't take the location they list as true!
Thanks to the advice that Todd from San Francisco left on this site, I finally have resolved this situation and received my ipod today. This is what I did, and strongly suggest you do the same. It took only a couple of phone calls and wasn't too much of a hassle (less hassle than fulfilling the requirements!).
Call the customer service/fulfillment department directly as listed HERE (ignore any customer service contact information on their site - it's useless):
Emarket Research Group (aka; TheUseful.com, Incentiverewards.com, etc.)
Jilliane Quiroz
Fulfillment
jquiroz@marketresearchsite.net
(561) 306-1915
(Note that this company goes by several different names and has many websites/email addresses.)
I got a voicemail when I called this number. I left a (semi) polite message stating this:
a) The website is not showing the offers as redeemed or is showing them in the wrong tiers (same "technical issues" as most of you are having).
b) I have made several unsuccessful attempts to resolve this issue using the customer service options on the website. I have never received a reply from anyone.
c)(AND HERE'S THE CRUX THAT WILL GET THIS RESOLVED FOR YOU) I strongly suggest that you call me back as soon as possible to resolve this situation, or I will be yet another person to report your company to the North Carolina Department of Justice. I sincerely hope that will not be necessary."
I received a call back within a few hours from someone in fulfillment. I re-explained the issue to her (she was quite nice). She said that she would allow me to forgo the rest of the process (sending in the request form once the site shows you as eligible) and was sending an order to have the ipod shipped.
At the end of this conversation, I told her that, considering all of the problems I have had so far, I would feel more comfortable if she would send me an email confirming this. I did have to call back twice to get that email (which I think came from someone else). But, DO get it in writing, don't let a voicemail assurance do.)
A couple of notes: the website never showed me as eligible, and a second account, with zero offers completed, came up under my email. Don't let that bother you, I still got the ipod. It did take the full 5 weeks for them to ship it after that conversation. I did not call back during that time. They sent an email with the FedEx tracking at the time they shipped.
Best of luck to all of you. I wish there was some way we could get this out to everyone!
And if it doesn't work, here's the North Carolina Dept. of Justice info:
Contact info for the NC DOJ:
State of North Carolina
Department of Justice
Consumer Protection Section
9001 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-9001
Ph: (919) 716-6000
Fax: (919) 716-6050
Jonathan
Dallas,Texas,
U.S.A.
Ensuring Credit Through Gratis
#5Consumer Suggestion
Wed, February 23, 2005
A lot of people have trouble getting credit through Gratis Internet sites, and are often times placed on hold. It sounds like possibly that the individuals who signed up and completed offers under you did not have their browsers configured properly to receive a referral under your, or get credit for their offers.
I used freeipods and received my freeipod, but I had to complete several offers because I was using the Mozilla browser, instead of Internet Explorer, and it caused me not to be issued credit for my offers. Their customer support is generally poor, but they do send out merchandise most of the time.