… or why I probably won’t make BlogHer this year.
I wrote a long, creative piece to tell this story, but sometimes I think it is best to just write things in a boring, just-the-facts manner. So, here it goes:
A year ago, Sophia read about this Father’s Day promotion online:
“Buy $125 dollars worth of Dockers pants from JCPenney and receive a “free round-trip ticket within the U.S.”
So, off we went to JCPenney, where I spent two hour trying on different Dockers pants, each time parading in front of Sophia like a male runway model, waiting for her sign of approval. Did it fit in the back? Was it the right color? Finally, we made our choices, mailed in our reciepts, and received the official brochure in the mail.
From the brochure sent to me by
TLC Marketing
c/o Dockers/JCPenney
1 Faneuil Hall Marketplace, 4th Floor
Boston, MA 02109
“This complimentary round-trip airfare allows you to visit one of these ten exciting cities: Boston, New York City, Washington D.C., Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago, Orlando, or Dallas. Name your destination; we just named your price: FREE.”
The promotion had some odd stipulations. You had to choose –
“Different first, second, and third choice destinations.”
“Different first, second, and third choice date preferences for both outbound and return travel.”
“That’s weird,” I thought. “This free ticket is not very useful if you really need to get somewhere important, like for business. It’s a bit of a crap shoot.”
I decided to try to use it to go to BlogHer in San Francisco this year. I joked with some of you that I might end up in Chicago or Dallas during BlogHer, but I was fairly confident that I would get tickets to San Francisco. After all, there are dozens of flights from the New York area to San Francisco/Oakland. Surely, there was room in one of them during the days I gave them, even if I had to do a stop-over.
The brochure gave further instructions:
“A Representative from TLC Marketing will contact you within 14 days of receipt to book and confirm travel itinerary.”
A few weeks ago, I received two automated voice messages. One said that my completed form was in order and to expect a call. The next offered me other options besides the free ticket. I could receive a $125 rebate or $150 in “restaurant coupons.” It was a bad deal. Coupons to what — Olive Garden? I took the flight. Still, a red light went on in my head. It was sneaky of them, because in the brochure they clearly write:
“TLC Marketing may substitute another reward of equal or greater value if promotional availability runs out.”
Free ticket to SF does not equal Olive Garden coupons.
Time passed. It was now two weeks before BlogHer. I called the TLC Marketing “Dockers Concierge” number to find out what was going on. A few months ago, I had spoken to a woman in India at this number who helped me correctly fill out my form. Now, there was no one to talk to. All that was left was a message that participants would get a call by “July 3rd.” It is now July 9th. I already missed BlogHer registraion.
I was as if the promotion has been taken off of TLC Marketing’s agenda.
I googled this promotion online and quickly found out why. This promotion was an ongoing PR mess for TLC Marketing. There were already 500 complaints issued with the Better Business Bureau of Massachusetts against TLC Marketing and their company president, Walter Osterman.
There were problems from the get-go, even from those customers who received their flights. Their free flights ended up costing them $90 in taxes and and processing fees, which might be considered legitimate if the airlines themselves didn’t charge $50 in taxes and fees. Why were customers being charged this extra money?
Now, customers couldn’t get flights. Was the promotion defunct? Why would Dockers offer a promotion that they can’t fulfill? To get customers to buy $125 dollars of Dockers pants at a time?
And who needs so many Dockers anyway?
I sent emails to Dockers (owned by the Levi Strauss co. of San Francisco) and JCPenney, but received useless automated responses. I phoned them and received more run-arounds. The customer service woman at Dockers said she would ‘present my information to upper management.” The woman at JCPenney gave me some phone number in Florida to call.
“Who is this that I am calling?
“It is the number that can help you with this promotion?”
“And who is it?
“Just call them?
“Do they have a name? Is this someone at JC Penney.’
“I can JUST give you this number.”
I called the number and no one answered.
Both JC Penney and Docker seemed to point the finger at TLC Marketing I’ve seen this before – a corporation not taking responsibility because they chose to deal with a incompetent company.
The moral of this story is the same as the one about my cheap, useless, not-Vista compatible web-cam from a few days ago.
You get what you pay for.
So, unless someone at Dockers or JCPenney reads this and is embarrassed by this post, I won’t be at BlogHer, even if I was mostly going just to flirt with girls at the parties.
I take responsibility for my dumb mistakes — of being cheap and trying to use a free ticket. I wish some companies would take responsibility for their own stupid mistakes, like offering promotions with tons of restrictions, and then not keeping their part of the bargain.
If I don’t make it to BlogHer, I blame myself AND –
DOCKERS (R. John Anderson, CEO Levi Strauss)
JCPENNEY (Myron E. (Mike) Ullman III CEO)
TLC MARKETING (Walter Osterman, President)
Hey, Consumerist — here are some links of others who are pissed at TLC Marketing, Dockers, and JCPenney.
I am soooooooooo glad to read this and to know that I wasnt the only one with this EXACT same story. I did almost everything Neil did and got so frustrated along the way. I then concluded the same thing…”that’s what I get for trying to get a free ticket from buying only $125 worth of Dockers and thinking it was a real deal.” I cant believe this guys just wont fess up and admit they cant accommodate all the requests. Then none of would be sitting here hoping and wishing someone actually might call and book that FREE flight we REALLY want to take to get away from all the other stress in our lives.
If there is any kind of legal action that can be taken, count me in as a member of the team to fight this.
Ok Everyone, THIS IS GOOD. I am so glad that we have someone with this blog to see how many people out there fell for this scam. I Just sent an email to Levi Strauss Co. and asked them to forward it their CEO and requested a reply back from him. Does anyone know how to find his email? I think everyone should get together and file a big law suit against Dockers. This is totally wrong and misuse of peoples trust.
Same deal here, but mine was for a Hotel Stay if you buy Dockers. They were supposed to call within 14 days of getting my requests, but I got no call and my three requested dates have now come and gone. And, the 800-number that initially offered help is just a recording now.
TLC did a very poor job on this ‘campaign’ as they call them.
I think a class action lawsuit is certainly in order.
I got the same scam!! Dockers and JC Penney need to make good on this crap!!
Same thing is happening to me right now! I can’t get in touch with TLC at all, and the Dockers concierge number is useless (have called numerous times and they give no information whatsoever).
I got same scam.
I called Docker at 1-800-362-5377, hope you could do so. Let us give more pressure to them.
Checking Boston BBB, you will find that TLC is rated “Unsatisfactoy” company. Here is the link: http://reports.bosbbb.org/Boston/Public/Reports/BrandedReport.aspx?firm=102351
HSBC Bank (USA) also had simialar promotion through TLC Marketing in Boston, except the free round trip was internation. Other choices of free gift were a sony ultra-thin series Cyber Shot 8 MP 3X digi-zoom camera (which they switched to a inferior model on the redemption card), Bose headphone, or $150 HSBC Msatercard gift card. TLC made every effort to discourage eligible HSBC account holder to redeem the ticket successfully, by zero availability to some destinations, and by travelling on 9/11 to Frankfurt on Air India (no thanks!) They would not substitute unavailable roundtrip tickets for even $150 gift card. To me, it was a scam and TLC’s partner HSBC Bank has knowledge about the discouragement all the way…..like Dockers. On top of it, HSBC Bank’s promotional leaflet misled customers by phrasing wordings in such a way that made them to believe a free camera, Bose headphone, or $150 gift card to “accompany you on your adventures”, even its representative was selling the promotion in such manner!
Let me know if and when you guys are filing a class action/lawsuit against TLC Marketing/JC Penny/Dockers, as there will be many HSBC customers throughout US (especially on the east coast) who may join you!!! Sorry for the typos in my last message!
Yes, please let us know about any class action lawsuit. We never heard back from TLC at all, despite our follow-up calls and e-mails. I have copies of the postmarked certified mail receipt showing I mailed the materials on 6/30/08, copies of the completed form I mailed, and a signed certified mail card showing TL’s 7/3/08 receipt of said materials. D’ya think I anticipated a there’d be a problem with the promotion?
count me in, I was taken too. Would love to join a class action.
If anyone has the original JC Penney ad that had the promo, it would help in pursuing the class action case. I will check our local library for the ad. Thanks
I, too, have spent countless hours and energy on this Dockers promo. My family managed to spend over $600 on dockers clothing in hopes of this promo. I mailed letters last week in hope of some honest reply, at least. JCP and Dockers should make this offer good if TLC doesn’t (and that doesn’t look likely). Bummer
The original ad’s for the two Docker promo’s are still on the internet, just google the Docker Free flight and Docker Hotelbreak. Are you wanting the ad’s from the paper?
The ads on the internet I found were related to TLC. I would like the actual JCP ad insert from a newspaper. That is what my attorney has requested.
I hate TLC Marketing! I can’t find anyway to get through to them. I’ve called Dockers 2 days ago at the number above and was told I would get a response. I’ve got my fingers crossed, but not for too long. Class action suit, I’m there.
I have called over and over also. I am now being told I will receive my $125 monetary reimbursement. I too did everything the instructions requested. I think they never thought they would have such a response. Ah come on now why would you not buy $125 Dockers to receive a free airline ticket. I am waiting to see if I get my money. My son is also waiting. Dockers was very nice when I called. Let’s see if this works. People are filing lawsuits? Good Luck let us know how it turns out.. Probably not worth the aggrevation…
I sent a letter to JC Penney and Levi Strauss
Rip-off. They waited until may of 2008 to tell me the price of airfare had gone up so high it made the deal too expensive. Well, I filed the darn paperwork many months before the price of airline tickets soared. Looks like a bait & switch to me.
I’m with the rest of you. It would be nice to see a lawsuit and some publicity. The word should get out to the public that Dockers has run this scam on more than one promotion and will probably run a new one with the holiday season coming up. TLC marketing was contracted to assist with the promotions by Dockers knowing full well what the outcome would be. Dockers should be publicly berated for its poor if not illegal marketing. If anyone knows of a lawsuit, please let me know. I will spend the time, energy and even some money to see this issue resolved to the consumers’ satisfaction.
I had the same experience. I finallly settled today for the cash out just because they didn’t honor the dates I’d requested to fly this past spring. It’s too hard for a working person to just take off anytime they want you to. Has anyone contact legal services about a class action suit?
I’m joining the club!! Told me they had a flight for me and my husband to Orlando with one stop and I needed to send $90.90 each for “taxes”. Went on Delta’s website where the tax was $42 each. Something is wrong with this picture! Sent e-mails last night but of course will not hear from anyone. Class Action Suit sounds real good to me!
10/30/08
We have just been told by Dockers that our check was in the mail….. If not received, I am very interested in a Class Action suit. Has anyone contacted the Attorney General?
I made sure I followed all directions completely. I also called the concierge service to go over it with them before mailing for 2 (yes 2) flight vouchers. I mailed them by registered mail. I have been fighting this since July 2008. The last phone recorded message I received was on August 22 that they were still working on it. Please include me in any class action suit against this injustice. I have made copies of everything since the beginning. I also have the original entry form.
Just received a call from someone from bcdtravel requesting dates for the flight….anyone else have this happen recently…and has anyone really received their flight confirmation>
I’m there! It’s time to get a class action started. I don’t know how, but please include me in any actions someone takes or tell me how to start and I’ll do it.
I originally printed off the information from the internet regarding the promotion, will that work instead of the original J.C. Penny ad? Obwana@aol.com
Well my story is very much like yours. I still have my message on my cell phone from Kim who tells me to call 617-788-9634/ I have called this number 25 times and left 25 messages. It is a vm for Lisa Mckennon. I have never received a return call even though I did receive my paperwork stating all was in order. I feel my only option is to file a small claims suit. I think this is the only way to get their attention.
I have not had any luck getting my free airline ticket. I am going to start a class action suit! That should get their attention.
Dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s but haven’t received any call yet about arranging airfare. I called back once in the fall to ask if I could switch to the $125. cash choice and was told I had to take the flight which has never materialized.
I like to be in on a class action suit they need to be never alow to do other promation
I too have, to this point, been “stiffed” by TLC Marketing. Many messages left on their voice mail system, no response.
I cannot complain about JC Penny or Dockers, though. We made our purchases on the last day of the promotion, a Sunday. That weekend JCP was having a big weekend sale and since we went to the store just as it opened, we were able to take advantage of even deeper discounts. For the (just barely over) $250 that we spent, we probably got $400-500 (retail) worth of Dockers.
Like all of you I am fed up with all the run around. Both my husband & I made the purchases as requested, sent in our certificates, even called and left the message when they got bombarded in the fall. Finally I did hear from and agent named Kent Coleman at kent.coleman@bcdtravel.com. Only problem was that he could never accomodate my travel requests, whether it was dates or places. RIDICULOUS!! Finally he said there was nothing further he could do and gave me a number to contact TLC Marketing 617-788-9600. Little be known to me that thismust be just a pooled number to unanswered messaged machines. My last contact with Kent was on Dec 22, 2008. I have left message after message since then, I’ve recorded my calls and have made a total of 26 calls. Little to say this is a long distance call, they should reimburse me for all those toll call charges. Finally I wrote an email today to Mr. Walter Osterman hoping to getting a reply. I will blog if anything happens of it, otherwise class action suit…where do I sign up?
For those of us who were scammed by Dockers, JC Penny and TLC we filed a class action lawsuit this past July 13, 2009 in Federal Court in Los Angeles.
MY HUSBAND BOUGHT A PAIR OF DRESS DOCKERS AT SEARS DEC. 2009. HE WEARS A 44 WAIST AND 29 LENGTH ALL THEY HAD WAS 44 WAIST AND 30 LENGTH. NO BIG DEAL I CAN SHORTEN THE PANTS BEEN DOING IT FOR 55 YEARS OF MARRIAGE. WELL THIS WAS A NEW ONE ON US. THE LEFT LEG MEASURED 30 THE RIGHT LEG MEASURED 32. WHEN ARE THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE CLOTHS STOP HAVING PEOPLE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES MAKE OUR CLOTHES……NOW WE USE TO GET DAVID TAYLOR FROM SEARS AND THEY NO LONGER SELL THEM WHY???? BECAUSE THE PANTS METAL HOOK WOULD BREAK OFF AFTER ONLY ONE TO THREE TIMES WEARING THEM AND GET THIS ALSO THE PANTS WAS SUPPOSE TO BE A 42 HE WAS SLIMMER THEN AND IT MEASURE 38
THEY WERE MADE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY ALSO.
My case goes back to summer 2008 and a promotion that JC Penney and Dockers were running for a free weekend hotel stay with breakfast. But this was being run (or better yet…mismanaged) by TLC Marketing which failed to fulfill their end of the deal.
I bought the required clothes, sent in the required proof, got the marketing materials in the mail, sent back my list of cities, dates and hotels….but TLC never gave me my free weekend stay. I followed the letter of the agreement but they never followed through.
I did complain to Levis/Dockers and while it took more than a year for them to respond….they finally did and gave me a refund for part of my clothes purchase. I got the check just last week and cashed it. So I finally got someting back almost two years later and not from TLC. Warning to consumers and business….don’t deal with TLC Marketing!!!