Mobile carrier X fails to send me gift card

B

Bill Mee

New Member
Jurisdiction
New Hampshire
Mobile carrier X ran a promotion in November 2021, giving each line ported in from a competitor a $200 gift card. I took advantage of the promotion and ported a line to X. The T&C of the promotion stated that X would send me the gift card 16-18 weeks after the line was ported, or late March 2022 in my case. X provided a website where you could check the status of the gift card. I checked in mid March and the status of the gift card was "to be sent out very soon". Still not receiving the gift card when April rolled around, I went back to the status website and checked again. This time, the gift card status completely disappeared from my account. This wasn't right-- I had received their gift cards before from similar promotions and those gift cards were still shown in my account and marked as 'delivered'.

I contacted X's customer service by phone multiple times. They always said they had filed a ticket (or escalated the ticket) and they'd contact me in 3 days with resolution. They never did.

I plan to compose a demand letter to X's legal department to request the delivery of the gift card plus an extra amount to compensate for the time I spent on dealing with CS and writing the letter. I am inclined to give them 14 days to contact me to reach a resolution, or I'd sue them in small claims court and report the incident to authorities.

Is this a sound plan? Your feedback and suggestion would be deeply appreciated. Thanks!

p.s. I expect that one of the questions you may ask is 'Did you fulfill your end of the T&C'? I believe I have and their gift card tracking system said as much in mid-March. To further the discussion, let's just assume that I have.
 
Bill Mee said:
I plan to compose a demand letter to X's legal department to request the delivery of the gift card plus an extra amount to compensate for the time I spent on dealing with CS and writing the letter. I am inclined to give them 14 days to contact me to reach a resolution, or I'd sue them in small claims court and report the incident to authorities.

Is this a sound plan? Your feedback and suggestion would be deeply appreciated. Thanks!
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You aren't entitled to "an extra amount to compensate for the time ... spent on dealing with CS and writing the letter". Suing might not even be an option for you (read your contract). Also, there's no "authorities" to report this to. This is a purely civil matter.
 
Zigner said:
You aren't entitled to "an extra amount to compensate for the time ... spent on dealing with CS and writing the letter". Suing might not even be an option for you (read your contract). Also, there's no "authorities" to report this to. This is a purely civil matter.
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Thank you for your reply, and pointing out the 'contract'. I found X's service agreement online and scanned the relevant portion: Unless a customer opts out, s/he is bound to use arbitration or sue in a small claims court if s/he is the only plantiff.

Arbitration seems much less stress and I don't need to pay anything to initiate one. That seems to be the way to go, then.

In this case, should I still send the demand letter? Or go straight to arbitration? Thanks!
 
I don't think a letter specifically sent to their "legal department" will do anything for you. I would send such a letter to the "contact us" address that is provided. You definitely want to put your demand in writing.
 
Bill Mee said:
I plan to compose a demand letter to X's legal department to request the delivery of the gift card plus an extra amount to compensate for the time I spent on dealing with CS and writing the letter.
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I'd suggest leaving the bolded out of the letter. You have NO entitlement to any "extra amount."

Bill Mee said:
I am inclined to give them 14 days to contact me to reach a resolution, or I'd sue them in small claims court and report the incident to authorities.
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What "authorities"? You have, at best, a civil claim for $200.
 
Bill Mee said:
In this case, should I still send the demand letter? Or go straight to arbitration? Thanks!
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I suggest you go to the following website and see if your carrier is listed under cellular phones.

Company Contacts - Elliott Advocacy

If it is you may find email addresses of corporate executives.

Pick one and send an email. Be respectful and non-threatening (no deadlines, no ultimatums). You've gotten gift cards before so this might just be a glitch that can be easily resolved by somebody in authority rather than peons at the customer service level.

You aren't entitled to anything but the $200 that was originally promised.
 
adjusterjack said:
I suggest you go to the following website and see if your carrier is listed under cellular phones.

Company Contacts - Elliott Advocacy

If it is you may find email addresses of corporate executives.

Pick one and send an email. Be respectful and non-threatening (no deadlines, no ultimatums). You've gotten gift cards before so this might just be a glitch that can be easily resolved by somebody in authority rather than peons at the customer service level.

You aren't entitled to anything but the $200 that was originally promised.
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Thank you so much for the link! From there, I have found the email address for X's SVP for customer service. I will shoot him an email.
 
I have found that dealing with cell carriers that perhaps the best way to get attention is to go to the FCC.GOV site and click on the "file a complaint" link. This will eventually get routed to the carrier's legal group who are empowered to offer you stuff to resolve your complaint.
 
I don't blame the OP for wanting the time and effort required to enforce these agreements and probably deserves it and perhaps might receive some extra compensation via customer support. I'm not sure what went on here but all too often these delayed payment offers are little more than a scam where the offering company either keeps the money because the customer forgets or gives up or they are able to benefit from several more months of float on the cash they owe. Sometimes these companies will throw in a little extra to compensate you if there is the possibility that you may be a whistleblower who will cause more reputational damage for the company than it is worth to keep swatting you aside. Some MVNOs are notorious for shady promotions.

Given that the carrier offering the amount is of larger size and associated with a major ISP, going the route suggested is a good one. Putting these issues in writing is essential - document trail easily discoverable. The suggestions above are good in my experience, with customer support being one way and the FCC being a good route of last resort if you still don't see action. Get to the point immediately so that the representative can quickly identify the problem , e.g. "I'm writing to you as a result of six $200 gift cards not being sent to me as per your XXXX promotion. I have written and called for the past X months and it is still not resolved, etc. " You can share the facts after. Good luck.
 
Michael Wechsler said:
I'm not sure what went on here but all too often these delayed payment offers are little more than a scam where the offering company either keeps the money because the customer forgets or gives up or they are able to benefit from several more months of float on the cash they owe.
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I took advantage of this promotion last year and I did get the promised gift cards a few months ago. So, this is likely an oversight by the vendor rather than a scam.
 
retic said:
I took advantage of this promotion last year and I did get the promised gift cards a few months ago. So, this is likely an oversight by the vendor rather than a scam.
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Not surprising. It appears to be a larger carrier part of a major ISP. However, there are many fly by night companies that have been notorious for this in the space. Very happy to hear it was resolved and thanks for letting us know.
 
An update: Following @adjusterjack 's suggestion, I sent a message detailing the problem I was facing to the VP of CS at X. Two days later, a member of the 'executive resolutions' team called me and verified with me her understanding of the whole situation. She sounded apologetic and courteous. It took about three weeks after that phone call for my prepaid card to show up in the tracker once again. She did update me on the status of my issue weekly through either phone or email. I am supposed to receive the card in a couple of weeks.

Once again, thank you all very much for your comments and pointers. The prepaid card is taking a bit longer to arrive, but I am glad that along the way I picked up a new trick for dealing with bad customer service.
 

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