Complaint Review: Rewardsflow

 Luckily, I have had the displeasure of discovering awful businesses like this one when I worked for a major banking company in the credit card division. I can't even count the number of members calling in, frustrated and angry, requesting to dispute charges or to inform us that companies like this one are still charging their account after multiple hours spent with the member, the bank and, if lucky, a live representative from said company. So, when I looked at my emails today, the email that had "Thank You, Walmart" as the heading stuck out like a sore thumb. I was in a rather cheeky mood today (a result of about 4 hrs of sleep in 3 days due to a puppy who thinks he's a vampire and had to visit the vet today due to the worms he so graciously left on my bedroom floor at 2am) so I chose to play Detective A. Gumshoe and see what silly offer this company was trying to snare people with. Upon opening the email, a few noticeable flags caught my attention. Now, I don't know how long this "business" has been around, technically I didn't really care, these things seem to change company names more frequently than Madonna's wardrobe during her concerts. That said, I hope they are the "freshman" on campus at the prestigious WeScrewYou University. If that isn't the case, well, let's just say it is a good possibility that this is only a 24 hour bug and not the kind you get hospitalized for. (If that is too obscure I mean that they may not have the brain power to efficiently swindle money from good people.)

The initial flag I noticed was the lack of a recipient or summary in the "re:" space. Not a exactly a five alarm flag. As I continued to read, I noticed that they used the name Mel, not my full name, and they refrained from attempting my last name. That isn't too unusual, most people see my last name and panic, as if they have forgotten the art of sounding out a word. It's actually a pretty straightforward name. Say it the way it appears, I promise there are no "silent" letters or rolls of the tongue. Apologies, I got sidetracked there. There were three discrepancies in this email that all but screamed "scammers"and "tricksters". First, it was the small grammatical error in the heading. " Hi Mel, NEED YOUR SHIPPING INFORMATIONS" Yes, it was in all caps, also. Like I said, small error, but one that only a person who speaks English as a second language and marks the "I know some English" instead of "Fluent" on their application. If this was the only thing wrong, I would've just chalked it up to a simple, last task of the day mistake. We have all had one of those. However, the next bit of info combined that smalls oops with two far more obvious flags. These two are something I have learned to keep my eye out for. When you look at one of these emails, take note of the use of punctuation, capital vs lower case letters and numbers replacing letters. If YoUr EmAiL lOoKs LiKe ThIs and/or takes out the O and puts the 0 (zero), then trust that company about as much as the world trusts ISIS. Crooked businesses use these little tricks in order to bypass any kind of filter settings or security scanners. That way they can make it into the 'Inbox' instead of 'Spam' or get completely rejected. If you see one or both of these in an email that looks like a reply to an email you never sent or references money, winning and/or addresses you informally (my nickname and not full name), then CONGRATULATIONS- you are a proud recipient of yet another crappy, questionable ploy to ensnare the naive, gullible or (far more rare) trusting soul who mistook the email as a sign of much needed good luck. If you remain aware of these little flags, or anything else out of the ordinary, you will save yourself one monster of a headache and your money. The people who stand the greater risk are the older generations or the young adults. I have taken so many calls from older gentlemen or women who lived during a period of time where businesses operated with strong ethical and moral intention. The younger crowd just hasn't experienced enough of the business world to know better. When I discovered this site- ripoffreport.com- I was just interested in seeing what others had experienced. What prompted me to throw in my two cents was the rebuttal from the merchant, themselves. If you still doubted the true intent of these people, the rebuttal should clear it up. The fact that they were so unprofessional, condescending and highly defensive really caught my eyes. Anyone who has worked in any position that can be defined "Customer Service" knows how to handle customer complaints. It's fairly easy and very efficient.

First, apologize for the inconvenience and acknowledge it by repeating it back. Offer a solution to correct any errors and provide the correction promptly, accurately and with a smile. If necessary, inform a supervisor, so they can check in with the customer personally. When the transactions are complete, ALWAYS make sure to thank them for their business and that they come back for more. This company, though, starts off by gruffly acknowledging the customer who had posted the message. Immediately, they jump right into defense mode by implying that the customer was highly mistaken. From there they pull out the god-awful Politically Correct reference and guide; using it to argue that they did not violate any codes of conduct. When referencing quotes from the complaint posted, you could almost physically see the sarcasm and disrespectful attitude dripping from their words. More than once, they alluded to the fact that all of the people who had complained, did so in ignorance and in error. As disgusting as this display was, I admit I chuckled a bit reading their insistence that EVERYONE completely ignored the "rules" and fine print provided.

Sadly, this is how they found the loophole allowing them to conduct business AND abuse people's trust, naivety and gullibility. As long as the rules and disclaimers are located on the page, no one stands a chance of shutting them down. These people are where defense attorneys, politicians and the sharks of society go if they can't keep up with the soulless colleagues who take great pleasure in exploiting, abusing and crushing anyone who poses a threat. All they want is to become filthy rich with the least amount of work necessary. They excel at manipulation, misrepresentation and the highly irritating art of cramming words in our mouths, unless they can simply twist our own words for their benefit. What I find funny is, the "customer" who posted the complaint, sounds suspiciously like a professional journalist who was given a few points to cover, told to act like a sympathizer and end with a positive note implying that the business is legit- but lazy and impatient people are the dissatisfied crowd. I could be a bit off-base with thinking that, but that comment was too upbeat for someone who had to wait MONTHS for the reward and far too candid with how the gift cards were set and how they had used them almost completely. All legitimate businesses are going to present themselves in a respectful, professional and educated manner. Generally, there will be a spot on the email showing a pic of a lock(displays a secure site), the business's home base address and/or a link for you to contact them directly- from the company's website. If you don't see any of those or the return email address does not contain the business's name, delete it and move on. Pass it on, people! The only way to fight these disgusting and under-handed crooks is to inform everyone on how to identify and avoid this junk! Merry Christmas and have a WONDERFUL New Year!