Interesting story from
http://www.stltoday....87?OpenDocumentArea furniture customers still waiting for free groceries and gas vouchers
By Matthew Hathaway
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, Nov. 07 2009
St. Louis consumers waiting months to get promised gas and grocery vouchers
will need to wait a little longer, says a Chicago area firm hired to manage a
rebate promotion offered by local furniture retailers.
In June, I wrote about how three local furniture chains hired an Arizona
company to run the complicated voucher promotion. When Mesa-based BBZ Resource
Management went under, the stores scrambled to find another company that could
make their customers whole.
Now, consumers complain, the new company — My Free Travel based in Joliet, Ill.
— seems to be dropping the ball. At least one of the St. Louis furniture stores
is telling its steamed customers to complain to the Illinois attorney general's
office.
First, here's some background on the voucher-based sales held at Rothman
Furniture, the Bedroom Store and area Ashley Furniture stores.
Programs varied, but all of them promised consumers hundreds of dollars in free
groceries or free gas — and sometimes both — if they spent a certain amount,
sometimes as little as $500.
To consumers, this sounded like a no-brainer. They could recoup most of the
cost of new furniture through the vouchers.
The devil, of course, is in the details. Consumers, for instance, might get $25
gift cards every month for 20 months — totaling $500 — but they'd have to
diligently mail BBZ receipts every month, proving they spent at least $100 on
groceries.
The furniture stores paid BBZ to run the program, and that company also made
money on the back end by selling consumers' receipts to product-marketing
companies. It's a sustainable business model, but only if not too many
consumers follow through and complete the paperwork.
Unfortunately for BBZ, a lot of consumers did participate. Maybe the bad
economy is to blame. In a recession, people are more likely to jump through
hoops for free food and gas. BBZ filed for bankruptcy on June 29.
With BBZ out of the picture, consumers nationwide demanded answers from the
retailers that signed them up for the program. As a result, more than 1,000
retailers — including Rothman Furniture, Ashley Furniture and the Bedroom Store
— hired My Free Travel to replace BBZ.
The company, which has been in business for 22 years, seemed like a good
candidate to take over the program. Unlike the fly-by-night BBZ — to which the
Better Business Bureau had given an F rating — My Free Travel had a solid A
rating from the watchdog group.
That was then. On Oct. 20, the Chicago BBB stripped My Free Travel of its
accreditation, said Tom Joyce, a spokesman for the watchdog group. The firm
currently is not rated.
Shortly after My Free Travel took over the voucher programs, the BBB recorded a
spike in complaints. Some consumers — like Alice Trebus of Kirkwood — alleged
that My Free Travel changed participation rules after they registered in order
to avoid sending out vouchers.
Trebus, who purchased $1,200 in furnishings from Rothman to qualify for the
vouchers, said she still hasn't received any of the promised free groceries and
gas. Last month, the furniture store suggested to Trebus that she file a
complaint against My Free Travel with the Illinois attorney general's office.
Trebus said she fears My Free Travel will go the way of BBZ.
"I just want them to honor their commitment," said Trebus, a former nurse who
has been on disability after a 2005 kidney transplant.
Executives from all three of the area furniture stores said in interviews or
e-mails that they've received assurances from My Free Travel that it will begin
mailing vouchers soon.
Eugene Vinnykov, the director of sales at My Free Travel, said consumers just
need to be patient — and, perhaps, a little forgiving.
"People slip and make mistakes, and that's what we did," Vinnykov said.
"Believe me, we aren't happy with what's happening."
Vinnykov said the company grossly underestimated the size and complexity of the
program, and now it's on the hook for sending out about 350,000 vouchers. Some
consumers were told they didn't qualify for vouchers when they did, he said,
and the company is going to make things right.
Vinnykov said that the company has hired extra workers to catch up with the
angry consumer complaints and that, over the next few days, the firm will be
e-mailing thousands of apologies and explanations. By the end of the year, he
said, My Free Travel should be caught up on the backlog of vouchers that should
have been sent out months ago.
