News of the World SALT Sat Nav offer

[Bubba Shaboo]

Hi folks,

 

Some advice please:

 

On 22/08/10 I applied for an offer in that day's edition of the News of the World, to tie in with the release of the movie Salt, for a Sat Nav system at a price of £35 + £2.75 p&p.

 

To do this I signed up at captaincash.co.uk and paid via RBS Worldpay - payment was taken immediately. The offer was to run until 06/09/10 and the terms stated delivery could take up to 40 days.

 

On 14/09/10 I received the following e-mail:

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Thank you for responding to the News Of the World Salt/Sat Nav promotion. We have processed your payment and your item is in our system. Please allow the full delivery terms as stated on the offer.

 

Due to overwhelming demand for this offer, initial promotion stocks of this product ran out and some readers are experiencing a delay in receiving their product. We have new stocks on order which are expected within the next 30 days. Any and all remaining orders will be fulfilled as soon as possible and we will contact you (via email) to give you a more accurate delivery time as soon as possible.

 

If you are unhappy with the extended promotion timescales please contact us at help(at)mediapromos(dot)co(dot)uk and we will be happy to process a full refund.

 

Thank you for your patience and your interest in this offer.

 

Regards,

 

The Fulfillment Team

Media Promotions & Publishing Ltd

 

 

Based on this, my assumption was they had received X orders and used up the initial Y stock so had ordered X minus Y stock to make up the shortfall and as they stated 'Any and all remaining orders will be fulfilled as soon as possible'.

 

 

I subsequently received an undated letter, saying almost exactly the same as the e-mail except the replacement stock was now expected in 40 days and asking for my RBS transaction details if I wanted a refund due to the extended timescales.

 

 

I was happy to wait but last week I received a further letter which said:

 

 

Due to overwhelming demand for this offer, we now regret to tell you that all stocks have run out and we will no longer be able to fulfill your order.

 

 

They then asked for my RBS transaction ID to process a refund which would take up to 14 days.

 

 

I e-mailed back declining their offer and asking them to advise how they would fulfill the contract that I believed had been formed - that was Wednesday 27/10/10 and as yet they haven't replied

.

 

Here's a link to the original offer:

h**p/www(dot)mediapromos(dot)co(dot)uk/salt

and according to another site run by media promos called freebiegifts(dot)co(dot)uk the Sat Nav was worth £100.

 

 

So, my point is they knew how many outstanding orders they had when they e-mailed/wrote to me and they clearly stated that any and all remaining orders would be fulfilled as soon as possible with the replacement stock they had ordered so my expectation was that I would receive my Sat Nav, worth roughly £100 for a bargain price of £37.75.

 

 

Can I pursue this matter in any way or should I just accept a refund and move on?

 

 

Any advice gratefully received.

 

[buzby]

Take the refund, the money is better in your bank than theirs, but rather than let them get away with it, taise a complaint with hte Advertising Standards Authority, who will investigate and censure the publication if their promotion or thise administering it were negligent.

[Bubba Shaboo]

Aye, reckon I'll follow your advice - time to move on.

 

Cheers.

[pclovejoy]

Has anyone actually had a refund yet, have sent the imformation requested twice now , but still no refund

[Bubba Shaboo]

Sorry, can't help with the refund as I actually ended up getting the Sat Nav unit.

 

I phoned up with the intention of giving my details over the phone to ensure a swift refund but decided to put my points over.

 

Ended up speaking to the Managing Director who explained their side of things but I persisted and eventually I got the news that one of the last of the stock which had just cleared customs was actually allocated to me so I would be getting one anyway.

 

I've now received it and it's a generic non-branded Chinese GPS unit running iGO Amigo software. Not tried it outside of the house yet but I'd say it's worth the £37.75 but certainly not £100.

 

Bubba

 

P.S. In fact, if you want to see the exact unit, have a look at item 270666229870 on eBay. It's the same unit although the one I received has a different car mount and didn't come with an SD card.

Edited December 5, 2010 by Bubba Shaboo
Added a P.S.

[clairetap1]

Hi, I have also received all emails as you have but have also given my details to receive my refund as they said that they could not get further stocks. I received another email thanking me for giving the payment transaction details on 4/11/10 & was told that I would receive yet another email shortly when the payment was refunded to me. It is now the 5/1/2011 & I am still awaiting the refund promised & have not received the goods. I have sent numerous emails requesting that I get my refund to no avail, any else in this situation that can advise please. Thanks

[clairetap1]

Have received my refund today after sending another email, but this time I put them in their place & had a reply straight away.

[MagpieMike]

Still no refund after chasing. Think I might call News Of The World to investigate. Nice interest free loan for months to the benefit of the SatNav dealer!!

[wimpy6298]

I am still awaiting for my refund but i am hitting a brick wall......no reply to my emails at all and i have been waiting since November last year and really frustrated.Is there any course of action i could take now.