Thursday, December 13, 2018

There’s Another Fine Mess

Happy National Day of the Horse! And Collector’s Club Appreciation Offer Day!


It’s a surprise which one you'll receive, and they are all beautiful, exclusive pieces!  Will you get a lovely glossy Shire?? Or will your surprise be the beautiful Paint Me a Pepto in high gloss finish? Or superstar athletes PVF Peace of Mind and Cobra sporting high shine? Or a glossy Kodi Paint horse? We know you’ll enjoy each one of these lovely models! 
I had a sinking feeling that they’d do this today. Dare I leave the house? Can I hold off on grocery shopping until tomorrow? Is a quick run to 7-11 in the cards?

Fortunately I managed to catch the offer only about an hour after it went up, and I had already written up several theoretical orders ahead of time so I could just zip right on through my order…

Well, first I spilled my Diet Dr. Pepper Big Gulp on the kitchen rug. So I had to mop that up first. (Vita helped.)

Then I ended up typing my web site password wrong a couple of times, resulting in me cussing up a storm and Vita giving me a very concerned look. (Though that also could have been a “Do you have any more of that deliciously-flavored crushed ice to throw on the floor?” look.)

I filled out my “first choice” order, and started to panic because one of my items was, for the love of everything Cellulose Acetate, now on sale. Fortunately the discount wasn’t huge, and my order still comfortably met the monetary threshold. Whew!

So I followed the instructions in the e-mail and on the web site to the letter – Mom used to be a big couponer back in the day, and I had it drilled into me that you always had to be super careful about following the wording on offers exactly – since I had been waiting all year for this I made darn sure I did not screw it up!

I added the Appreciation Horse to my cart, which added $150.00 to my order. Then I typed in the redemption code, which subtracted the $150.00 from the order, and proceeded with my order as normal.


Checked my order (see above) and everything looked peachy keen.

If I had a choice in the matter, my preference would be for the Paint Me a Pepto, because I have been eyeing a nice Semi-Gloss one at the local Tractor Supply for a while now. But really, they all sound nice and I’ll be happy with any of the five. And I get a bunch of stuff I had been wanting, besides! (I ordered more than the Tote, obviously.)

After all that I decided to check out what the rest of the hobby was doing/thinking/ordering, and…

Apparently it was raining fire, cats and dogs were living together, and ice cream now tasted like aluminum siding.

What the heck, my peoples? I didn’t think it was that hard or obtuse!

I mean, yeah, I practically ran a Ninja-style obstacle course to complete the offer (did I forget to mention that I almost ran into a tree this morning?) but most of that’s on me. I’m big and clumsy and kind of shamble my way through every day that way. Today was only slightly more chaotic than average.

Anyway…

I don’t know what’s going to happen with the mess; I am assuming that all orders that had the code for the offer, but not the actual item entered might be corrected. (Though if you did screw up, or thought you did, contact ‘em ASAP.)

I’m guessing that the ability to buy the model without the purchasing of other things was a design flaw that will not be repeated. Logically you’d think most people, in the absence of finding anything they would want on the web site for themselves (unpossible!) would just use the purchase requirements as an opportunity to get Toys for Tots donations, PIFs and items for people who don’t have CC accounts, saving themselves the extra $25 or so in the process.

I am not sure what they’re going to do with people who took “the expensive route”. That’s a “spirit of the law” vs. a “letter of the law” kind of problem, and I am not a lawyer. The web site let them do it, and I didn’t see any specific wording that forbade it, though I didn’t look that closely.

I don’t know what they will do, though I certainly wouldn’t mind being a fly on the wall in their offices Friday morning…

5 comments:

DrButterscotch said...

I found it pretty simple if you just read the email which apparently a lot of people didn't bother to do. I got my order in a few hours before it sold out. Now there are plenty of people complaining theybshthey have made enough for every single person in the club. I imagine if they did that they would complain that $125 is too much money (with FREE SHIPPING!).
I bet they loved the torrent of phone calls yesterday.

Corky said...

As an employee of an online retailer, I read this post with a savage glee, and look forward to more news about this event.

Unknown said...

When you were the kid constantly tasked with being the go-for for dad during DIY projects,you quickly learn anyone who refuses to read written directions always needs a daughter sat on the floor calling them out (and handing them screws) as they go. I always read directions from top to bottom before I begin, that's something I was taught young like you. I wasn't expecting the manure storm either, but I still feel bad for those who had the anxiety of not knowing if their order went through. I hope all get resolved. Fingers crossed for a Shire or Cobra, though I like all.

Betsy in WI said...

Huh? I'm not sure what the problem is/was? I had a little trouble because my cart kept flagging me for ineligible items (Lt Ed or already on sale) and it seems a bit off that you can't use your collector club discount at the same time, but I figured it out eventually. Ordered the minimum, plus the collector club item, and finally the code worked. Were people buying just the model? or entering the code off a full cart of items without actually buying the model? How odd. What more "expensive" way to do it existed?

I'd be happiest with one of the bays but if I get a pinto I can probably swap.

CJ said...

The problem was the extra step of adding the bonus model to your cart, in addition to the promo code. Last year you just needed the code and I can't think of any good reason for adding the extra step. The "more expensive" way of getting the bonus model would be to just buy it at $150 and not get anything else. I wish I had thought of this because I bought $125 of stuff I didn't really want (and my local dealer has Breyers 40% off so I could have bought them there and made up the difference AND supported the local business. Bah.