Did you order a free leash a few days ago? If so, have you checked your email yet? If not, then let me tell you that an order cancellation email from Snapfish is waiting for you, due to “depleted inventory.” However, I am willing to bet that everyone that ordered the leashes got this type of email and they canceled ALL orders and won’t be fulfilling any. (Edited to add: some readers HAVE received their leash) Instead, Snapfish is now offering you a free mug ($9.99 credit) and you pay shipping.
Does the term Bait and Switch ring a bell here? “Bait and switch is a form of fraud in which the party putting forth the fraud lures in customers by advertising a product or service at an unprofitably low price, then reveals to potential customers that the advertised good is not available but that a substitute is.” source.
So what can you do?
a) Demand an equal value substitute from Snapfish. My friend Nicole, over at Nicole’s Nickel’s, logged into her account and by using the Live Chat service asked that she would like an item valued at $19.99 (same value as the leash) PLUS free shipping since that’s what she signed up for. They added the credit to her account and then refunded the value of shipping on this new order.
b) Be happy with your free mug and ask for refund of free shipping.
c) Shrug shoulders and move on to the next deal.
d) Write off Snapfish.
I am NOT going to apologize for Snapfish who has an offer available on its website that’s concurrent with a free shipping code available. I won’t apologize for Snapfish, who waits until the free shipping code expires to take action about the “depleted inventory” and cancel orders. I will sympathize with you on the time we wasted checking out this offer.
Personally, I am tired of companies treating their customers with so little respect and consideration. Will you be taking the time to get the offer that was advertised to you?
Hi! I am Mercedes and this is my blog Common Sense with Money! Helping other people live better, spend less, and save more is something I am very passionate about. I combine simple frugal living tips and smart shopping techniques to help moms across the U.S. become better home economists. Thank you for visiting my blog.
Thank you very much for calling them out. I agree – very much a bait and switch offer.
I finally received a full credit for my leash but it took almost 15 minutes of going back and forth on the live chat.Everyone that I know received the same email.What is embarrasing for me is I had my friend send the link out to all the Basset Hound foster parents.
Amen! I had this happen with the Target diaper deal – when they cancelled my order, I called to ask why (since the email was vague). The person on the other end said, “Well, we didn’t get enough stock from the manufacturer. We didn’t anticipate such a large response.” He then proceeded to offer me a $5 gift card for my trouble.
Really, Target. Five dollars!? Five whole dollars? That I have to drive to the store to use, and my closest target is 30 minutes away?
I told him to keep it, and will NEVER shop there again – between their wonky coupon policy, cashiers not knowing how to enforce said policy, and their “deals” disappearing constantly, I’ll just give my business to my local stores instead.
I just have never had the patience to deal with Target and coupons. Rarely do I find in stock the deal I want.
Shout out to Rite-Aid though: I put in an order for 1 picture online and got notice it was ready to pick up (would have been about a $0.15 order). When I got there, their machine had broken down. It was Christmas eve and the picture was to be a framed gift so I was bummed. But, to make it better, they gave me a $10 gift card for my trouble. I am still thoroughly impressed by that. Oh, and I agree, Target sucks!
Exactly the same happened to me with the target’s diapers deal. My order total was about $20 with free shipping, so they decided my purchase amount wasn’t good enough for them because my cousin order about $34 in diapers three days after me and she received her order. Deceptive Business Practice!! Target let me down.
On the target cancellation did you get a notification. I swore I had ordered the diapers but I did not print a confirmation. And when I tried to login into my account it had no account under my email. It was really weird and needless to say I never got my diapers… I wasn’t charged or anything. It was just odd.
What number did you use to contact Target about your diaper deal? I got the same email, have kept it in my inbox waiting to decide what to do. I’d like to call them.
Thanks!
I called their customer service number listed on the website. I’ll be emailing them about how disappointed I am with them – and how I’ve told everyone I know about how bait and switchy they are.
@Laurene – yes, I got a notification that the order had been placed.
@Erika – according to some people I’ve spoken with, they DID get their order. Why, I don’t know, but it’s frustrating!
My diaper deal got cancelled too! I was really upset.
Basically the savings came down to buy 3 packs at 6.49 get 1 free and free shipping. I didn’t think this was outrageous but apparently Target did.
I emailed them because the email I recieved was very vauge. I told them that I ordered the diapers in anticipation of the birth of my daughter and at 34 weeks pregnant taking care of a 1 year old a vauge email about how I wasn’t getting the diapers I paid for was just not acceptable. They apologized and offered me a $10 gift card.
I didn’t get my diapers either! And got the vague email…I am so bummed. That was a great deal! I think I”ll be giving them a call also.
Thanks for the heads up! I’d already gone ahead and ordered the mug, but I went back to the site and did live chat, and they are refunding my shipping charges. I still like their photo books, so I hope they don’t pull anything else like this. Does anyone have any recommendations for a substitute company if snapfish doesn’t do an about-face?
Ok, I posted this down below as well, but I have to correct myself here…it is shutterfly’s books I like. I was confused as to which company I had used for books in the past, and had thought it was snapfish. Thank goodness, because I really like the quality of the photo books at shutterfly.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE seehere.com – by fuji film. I ordered a woven blanket by them for my dad for x-mas and he won’t even use it because it’s GORGEOUS. He uses it as a wall hanging instead!
We use Shutterfly ALL the time – they’re fantastic! Good prices, stackable coupon codes, and beautiful products. Can’t recommend them enough.
Thank you so much for posting this!
I was one of the people who originally saw the dog leash post on your page. I was so excited and commented with a big thank you. I was disappointed when I read this. But was very grateful with the way you approached this and for your problem solving ideas. I did hop on to Snapfish’s live chat as you suggested. They put a $19.99 credit on my account for any item and told me to come back to live chat to get a refund for my shipping once the order was placed.
I still think the situation is totally shady. But I appreciate the help you offered and hope that Snapfish will make it right for everyone who approaches them.
Gotta admit…I am feeling a bit skeptical about those photo coasters now.
Thank again!
I ordered the photo coasters both this time and last time that they were offered with this same deal and I did get them last time so keep your fingers crossed! (they turned out really well!)
Nope. I just got an email stating that they were cancelled and they gave me a free 5×7 card. Hardly the same. I’ll be chatting with them….
I chatted with them after receiving this email as well and got free shipping and a $24.99 product as well. The greeting cards are only $1.49! That’s only 5% of the original value of the coasters!
Preach it sister.
Hmmph! What a bunch of bunk! I logged into my email account after reading this and sure enough, I received the same email. I was SO excited about this offer, that I emailed the info to all of my email contacts. I’ve already wasted my time uploading the file and going through all that nonsense—I will NOT be wasting more time trying to get a free mug–though “sticking it” to them would probably be a better alternative.
I should also at that I am currently uploading photos to the HotPrints website to get my free photo book…I wonder if this company will rescind their offer as well?
Amanda – Hot Prints works differently as they can offer FREE photo books because they have advertisements pages (tear out) in the books! That is how they can do FREE! Plus, they have been working closely with bloggers via Keri @ SheSaved.com to develop their products and promotions! I can’t guarantee that nothing will happen but it seems like they are working with customers and those who promote their deals more than other photo companies! Hope that helps!
I ordered from HotPrints and received my first print. It was absolutely free. The down side is that the shipping took about 3 weeks and the pictures are a little small for my taste, but it IS free. Great gift idea for a child after a vacation or a stocking stuffer for grandparents. I would recommend anyone trying HotPrints.
Amanda, Thank you so much for recommending HotPrints. We have seen so much creativity from all our HotPrinters. It simply amazes us. Makes us work even more harder. Thank you so much for your feedback.
Briana, That is right we have worked with Keri and would love to work with all our HotPrinters. We are looking to work all the cool bloggers like you and others who know what they are talking about. We would love to hear from you. Every single feedback allows us to impress you even more and helps us bring more awesome products to all our HotPrinters. That is what we wanna do.
I got the photobook from hotprints the other day and was VERY disapointed! On the back cover is the address label with my name and address on it. It is not a tear off one or anything. They used the back cover to print it right on. I was going to give this as a graduation gift, but with my name and address covering 1/4 of the page, it sure looks tacky! Not happy with that at all. The book looks nice, but now it is not giftable because of that.
Amanda, thank you so much for giving us a try. We hope to impress you and await your feedback. We love feedback (good and bad) and we love to work with all our HotPrinters.
If in fact those replies came from an actual representative from HotPrints, I will admit I am impressed that someone from the company took the time to comment. I actually stopped uploading photos and saved my album to work on later. I was frustrated and a little leery about taking the time to make an album with a site I’ve never used before. In light of the positive feedback, I decided to return to the site and continue working on my album. Unfortunately, the site isn’t loading right now–I would imagine they are getting a lot of traffic after this Snapfish snafu.
For those that are “dissing” our blog author, Mercedes, I can tell you it is uncalled for. She is one of my favorite bloggers and I read her site daily–along with a LONG list of others–Bargain Briana included.
For those not understanding why so many are upset–well, for many of us, this (deal-hunting/couponing) is our JOB. My husband and I are a currently a one vehicle, one income family and have been for well over a year. I spend hours!! each week cutting coupons, reading blogs, printing coupons, etc., etc. I don’t jump on every deal–I choose to complete the offers/deals that are best suited to our needs. Yes, with so many deals out there, you expect to get burned once in awhile–but not from a large, well-known company. To say Snapfish wasn’t ready for such a large turnout? Well, I think that is ludicrous. I have seen Snapfish deals posted on many of the blogs I read in the past. Blogs like this have received national media attention–so it is unlikely that Snapfish was unaware this deal would be talked about. Bottom line? Lesson learned–I will not return to Snapfish.com! After a poor experience my first time attempting to “work” a deal at Target more than a year ago, I vowed never to return–and I haven’t. You better believe I’ll be sticking to this decision as well.
Funny you should mention this. I got an email from them saying they would no longer be retaining my photos on-line unless I ordered something yearly. I purchased a $12 mousepad. A week later my photos were gone. Emailing has received no response.
Go get ‘em, M! This is seriously wrong of this company to do; it’s wrong for any company, at that. It’s definitely “bait and switch.”
I, for one, will no longer be using OR promoting Snapfish.
Thanks for this article, girl, and for standing up for what is right.
Mercedes,
I am so upset that Snapfish would do this. Thank you for posting the steps on what to do… I will be posting the link on the STS Facebook page for anyone who signed up for this deal.
Ugh. This is why I pretty much never take the time to get in on the “free” deals on photo sites anymore. After spending time uploading photos and getting my order just right, I end up with nothing. It has happened more than once (See Here photo ornament to name one). They say nothing in life is free, and I believe when it comes to photo sites, it’s true!
Well I will never deal with the company again. I was afraid the offer was too good to be true. Once again I was proven again to be proven correct. I gave those idots my credit card. Is this a reputible company? Should I worry about the safty of my credit card? Shoud I cancel my credit card in case they charge my card? I will never do anything like this again.
snapfish is affiliated with HP – hewlett packard – so I’d say your CC info is okay.
I signed up for a new account when they had the ‘Free Coasters’ deal. While I haven’t had my order cancelled yet (fingers crossed), my friends who I referred to sign up didn’t receive the credit to their account. I called Snapfish to resolve the issue, and all of their customer service is located outside of the United States (made it VERY difficult to understand them). I had to have my friends call to resolve their issues, and everything seems to be okay now. However, my order isn’t scheduled to ship until 2/25. We’ll see what happens.
I received my leash (in my account for over a year) and my daughter received a set of coasters and a keychain that were in her account, all free with free shipping during the promotion. Hopefully you receive yours too.
Ours are already in use. 
Hi! I am a snapfish customer and I have not had a problem till the pet leash. I contacted snapfish and they said they will credit my account for another leash when available.
None of HP’s customer service it in the US. When I had my HP laptop and had an issue I could barely understand the guy and he could not understand me. The computer is now crap after 3 years. So frustrating. I have since switched to a macbook pro and love it. I also have an iphone and love it as well. Apple has awesome customer service.
Yeah. My HP computer just died too. It was not two years old. I am done with that brand also. I am stuck having to buy a new computer.
I like shutterfly MUCH better than snapfish. I didn’t do the leash deal, but I would totally contact the BBB if I had.
I did not do this deal, BUT I am very proud of you for taking a stand. These companies exist merely b/c we the consumer find something of value and spend OUR HARD EARNED MONEY on their product. If it weren’t for us, the consumers, there would be no Snapfish or any of the many other companies if it were for US. They need to prize our business; especially in this economy. The strong will survive. The honest will survive. The ones with good customer service will survive, and the list goes on. If I were a company, I would be doing my very best to please my customers even if it were to make a small profit after paying out to employees and all the other expenses. It would be far better to get by than to go under. Companies better get their act together. Our family has way less money this year, so we have to pick and choose who is going to get it. WAY TO GO FOR YOUR POST!!!! : )
I had a problem with snapfish in the past. I made a well thought out picture book for my dad for his birthday and it never arrived. I emailed 4 times and tried the online chat and they would not offer to resolve the situation. I told them I would not use them again if I didn’t hear a reply, so I do not even take free thing from them. It is a bummer because I like their service and they tend to have good deals. But I stand my ground and will not give them any business!
I’m going to play Devil’s advocate and defend Snapfish and other companies. I bet most of these companies do not expect thousands upon thousand of frugal blog readers to take them up on their offers. Some of these offers are just for select customers, are limited time offers, or are just plain mistakes (Target Britax). Bloggers pick up on these offers, post them on their site, other people copy the info into new blogs or chat rooms, and suddenly companies are overrun with requests. If you blog and a company asks you to write about a deal-great. But shame on you if you and your blog just end up spreading bad information. Not saying this blogger did so but every single savings blog in my google reader listed this offer! I think bloggers need to do their research and determine if an offer is legit before they put it in their blog.
The fact is that I created a new account, logged in, had the free dog leash available to me, “did the deal,” and they have reneged on their end. I didn’t ask Snapfish to make this offer available. It was a legitimate offer available to new accounts, and I was a new account. Therefore, I, and others like myself, should have been able to get what was offered to us. Snapfish should have had a larger inventory on hand, and since they could not honor what they promised, they should have then offered an acceptable solution. What they offered was not acceptable.
You can bash blogs and bloggers all you want, but if it wasn’t for this type of internet word-of-mouth, many of these companies would not get any new or repeat business.
If you are going to play devil’s advocate, be very careful how you do it.
Jen,
I totally see what you are saying. The fact is that we had no reason to believe that this was not a “legit” offer. Our accounts, created on the Snapfish wbsite, ALL showed the credit AND our orders went through. How, are we as customers supposed to know that a warehouse (or whatever) was running low on stock? If that is really the case? If an offer goes viral, there are MANY ways a business can implement controls to stop the offer once it reaches cap. But that’s in the hands of the business not us sharing the information.
Mercedes
Although I did not participate in this promotion, I would like to add my two cents also, for what it is worth.
Many companies offer promotions that “go viral” through various media outlets, including the internet. This may be a result of bloggers, repeated email forwarding or social applications such as Twitter or Facebook. However, as Mercedes pointed out, these companies are savvy enough to have controls in place to ensure that they can meet the demand without exceeding inventory. They will offer to the “first 1000 customers” or deplete inventory appropriately to that which they have in stock. This is the simplest of all business practices and Snapfish dropped the ball on this one.
While it is true that deals end up reaching far more people than some companies expect, Snapfish has ran many many deals over the last several monthes, and knew very well that it would get around and A LOT of people would take advantage of the offer. I for one did and received only my prints which I may add were horrible, washed out and the color was entirely off. I paid shipping on the pics, the leash got canceled. I spoke with customer service, and nothing was resolved to my satisfaction.
Very poor business practices on their part.
Snapfish is not a new company so they should know better. They’ve been around the block and know that bloggers promote their offers. They should have had limits in place if they had limited stock.
I am with you on this one. I just love the fact that I got the email this morning, and the free shipping promo (for Presidents Day) ended yesterday. :{ I am NOT at all happy with them.
It is most definitely a bait and switch, and how do we know that once we go on and order the mug that we won’t get another email stating “depleted inventory?” We don’t…so I’m not sure I am going to waste my time with them.
considering we all probably get an unbelievable amount of FREE stuff and good deals and that ALL stores/companies have their faults I say we choose to be thankful that we are even able to be provided so many other good deals. It is situations like these that have helped to stop chasing every freebie out… it just isn’t worth the frustration that comes when things like this happen.
Got the email too
They better not charge me anything…..i thought it was weird that even if the total is $0 they asked for a CC number….
I hate those compagnies..I think i’m done with them no matter what offer they will give in the future…
I wonder if anyone even got the dog leash as they say inventory
I received my leash a few days ago. I ordered it on the first day of the free shipping promotion… before the links started appearing on blogs telling people how to get a free leash. Mine was already in my account from a year ago.
I didn’t get an email saying the dog leash is cancelled. It looks like mine will ship out on Monday. I placed the order in my husband’s name. Maybe they didn’t want to cancel an order from a man….
LOL hopefully you’ll get yours… (they cancelled DH’s)
I will keep you posted to see if it actually arrives.
I don’t understand the outrage over a FREE item. Yes, Snapfish should have an anticipated that a good freebie would attract lots of interest, however, it seems like they’re trying very hard to make up for their mistake. They could have sent an email saying, “Oops, we screwed up, your loss” and left it at that with nothing to offer as an apology. This has happened with several freebies that I’ve signed up for in the past. Instead of taking the easy and cheap route, they are offering a freebie worth $9.99 and free shipping upon request. That is still quite generous of them, and we should be grateful that they are giving away free stuff at all.
P.S. I didn’t sign up for the dog leash at all because it sounded too good to be true. Giving away an item valued at $19.99 with free shipping included? Very fishy indeed.
There have been many 25.00 and up freebies as well as gift cards that were honored from Snapfish and others companies so 19.99 isn’t really a high value freebie considering some past offers. We here are very serious about our freebies LOL
i didn’t do this deal, and although i agree it’s not worth getting fired up over a deal that is for a free item, it is worth getting fired up over a company not honoring their offers. i wouldn’t be thankful to anyone who lies to me.
in NO way do i believe Snapfish couldn’t anticipate this sort of reaction. it’s not like blogs, facebook, etc are new. i can’t imagine Snapfish and other companies aren’t computer savvy. other companies control the amount of free offers, Snapfish could do the same.
i’ve never heard of the Hot Prints company mentioned above but look at how they handle blogs and frugal people. someone at their company is monitoring consumer reaction to their products. I just can’t believe Snapfish isn’t also.
I have had prior troubles with SnapFish as well. Back in December they offered a free calendar,you oay shipping. I thought this would make a great little gift for my son’s nanny. Right? WRONG!…When i submitted my order the screen stated full price, so I then called thier customer service line…that was a bad mistake1 The rep told me to go ahead and process the order and not to worry my card would only be charged 5.99 for shipping…again…WRONG!! When the order was fully processed it was charged 29.99 plus 5.99 shipping…WHAT!? I told the rep what had just happened and all he could do was sat that he didnt understand what had happend. It took them 3 weeks to refund the price of the calander to my card and all they offered was 50 free prints…well we all know that they offer that to all customers…I will NEVER do business with them again!
I wrote earlier that I went ahead with the mug deal (not knowing the situation at the time) but that I paid shipping also, and chatted with them live to get my shipping refunded. The refund has already gone through paypal, so that much is good. Worst case scenario, I don’t get my mug. No big deal. Best case, I get a free photo mug (which I actually prefer to the leash). I hope everyone is able to get through this as unscathed as I feel I have.
Part of me hopes they were simply unprepared for this offer, which is bad business practice, and that I can still order from them without fear. In the meantime, I’m looking into other companies.
How embarrassing! Here I had said I like the snapfish books and that I’d like to give them another try.
I meant shutterfly! I had to go look at the book I just received (free with a code referral from a friend) and realized that all along I’ve preferred shutterfly! Thank goodness, that means I can keep going with the company I preferred in the first place!
I am so mad about this and the live chat helped nothing at all I will not rest untill I do not have to pay shipping. I got this email this morning a day after the code expired. Convenient.
I wanted to order a dog leash but of course they were sold out. I imagine they will have leashes in on Monday since the free shipping code is now expired. However, I did find this information on their site after going to Help and searching in the coupons/promotions section. Apparently this has been their policy since 06/09. So, if this is true, those who got their free leash AND free shipping were probably due to an error in their system that didn’t catch the free shipping code along with the credit being used together.
“search results
answer details
One coupon per order
Question
Can I use more than one coupon for an order?
Answer
You can only redeem one coupon, credit or special offer per Snapfish order.
If you would like to use two coupons, you will need to place two orders.”
Do you think this is happening more and more with all the freebie seekers out there?
How many times in the last month have you arrived at a page that says “sorry, we’re all out, but accept this $1 coupon” or how many e-mails have you received that state the same exact thing? For me this has happened at least 10 times a month.
It is also happening at the stores — CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid — who have increasingly told me to come back after their next “truckload” to see if the advertised item will be available then. This past week I have had a Walgreens manager tell me she would write me a raincheck for out-of-stock items, but the Register Rewards advertised would not apply and is only available during this week’s sale period. It certainly doesn’t feel right. So much wasted time and so much aggravation.
I too was so sad the leash deal was a no-go. Our new puppy would have been the talk of the town with her cute personalized leash…one thing I did notice was all these weird $0 charges that were pending on my debit card–like 10 of them for a day or two from snapfish. Why would you need to even run the debit card if the order was $0. I am in the process of taking care of my leash situation with live chat. I want equal value exchange, not a $10 mug with shipping charges!
I never even heard of Snapfish before I heard of this offer, so this offer did succeed in getting their name out there. I was offered the free leash, free shipping, and 20 free prints when I created my account. I even have my order confirmation printed out showing the leash, prints, and free shipping on it. I did not even notice the e-mail that I had gotten from them about this. When I saw this post I went and looked. Sure enough I got the same notice. I am not mad that they ran out of the leashes. I would rather wait until they have more than get a coffee mug, though. It is really dishonest for them to offer something valued at $19.99 for free, and then offer something valued at $9.99 for free when they run out. That is what makes me think it was bait and switch. There are other coffee mugs that are closer to the $19.99 value. They should have offered one of those. It is also frustrating that I spent time learning my way around the site, creating the leash, and then it is not even coming now.
I just talked with someone on live chat and told them I wanted two of the $9.99 mug credits and they issued them directly to my account. At first they only wanted to give me one, but I was able to talk them into giving me two in order to more closely match the value of the leash. Additionally they said that they would offer me free shipping, but I need to return to live chat after placing my order…that concerns me just a tad.
I copied and pasted my conversation into a word document as proof of the conversation just in case I run into more trouble…
they’re an HP company? That makes sense to me now….I got an HP wireless printer in NOV and have spent 30+ hours on the phone with customer service who STILL can’t get my printer connected.
Don’t get me started on HP! They won’t honor the waranty on my monitor because I bought it in a bundle! So, I still bought it! It is still an HP! I have a feeling I am going to have to right the better business bureau about them! UGH!
Hello all the cool people who read Common Sense with Money blog. If you have used HotPrints, we would love to hear your feedback. If you haven’t tried HotPrints, well what are you waiting for? Its FREE. Please give us a spin and let us know what you think. We would love to hear from you.
I got the same email and really disappointed.
My order still says processing, it that the same for everyone?
How about the PUREX deal at Krogers???
I sent out emails to several friends about the very cheap Purex after Catalina and Buy 10 Mix and Match deal at Krogers. The catalina deal is supposed to run until March 5th or so and the catalina was cancelled early on Thursday. I shopped on Friday. I bought a few extra items that I did not have to buy right then just to add up to 10 items. Krogers customer service said it was cancelled by the manufacturer and could not give me the $4 that I should have gotten. I had to call everyone I sent emails to and inform them of the cancellation, which was very embarassing!!!!
Oh and my Krogers had a full shelf and end cap of Purex, so I do not believe the cancellation of the cat. was due to low inventory.
I was mad about that too! I took in my little printout thing that showed the dates, and luckily the nice lady at customer service just gave me 4.00 in cash. But cancelling it just like that before the end date is just plain WRONG!
i only use shutterfly.. they dont have spectacular deals like snapfish but every now and then they do somethnig nice like free prints, photobooks etc. i have over 40 albums stored there and i can pick up prints from target too. i think all the other sites are too gimmicky for myself anyway
I got my prints in the mail. I haven’t gotten a cancellation order yet and on the site it says it is supposed to ship on Wednesday. We will see.
I think the problem exists with the bloggers; a company like Snapfish tries to do a promotion and the sites like yours cause the promotion to explode and they can no longer honor the offer. While you are pointing a finger at them, you “know” you are pointing at least three fingers back at yourself.
I don’t disagree that free offers go viral very easily and yes, I am happy to help thousands of people get in on it. However, the point is that as a business there are measure they can take to make sure the offer is no longer is available as soon as the inventory is depleted.
How come so many other companies have figured it out and there are print limits for coupons and samples that let you know there’s no more as soon as that limit is reached.
How backwards is Snapfish that they can’t figure this one out and wait six days to determine there’s no more stock.
Mercedes
I agree that this is a big part of the problem… but its not just bloggers. Do you know how many deal sites there are posting this same information (often faster than the bloggers). There are thousands and thousands of members on these sites taking advantages of the deals.
I’ve learned one thing…. to get the deal, do it RIGHT away, don’t wait. Most of the time when you wait, you get canceled orders!
Thanks for the heads up on the cancellation. I got a Snapfish associate on live chat immediately. I got him to up my reciprocal offer to two photo mugs and free shipping. It ended up being about 2 bucks more then the leash. To get there I had to threaten filing complaints with the BBB, FTC, Consumer Protection, and Attorney General. If anybody is not satisfied with their reciprocal deal, I recommend filing with all four agencies.
Thank you for the post! I contacted the Live Chat rep and requested a replacement item of equal value. I was given an 8″ x 11″ Classic Book credit to my account. However, free shipping was not given.
I’m really suprised to see snapfish acting this way. I had a free mug credit still in my account from when I signed up over Christmas. (When they were offering the free mug and the 20 free photo cards. I’ve been waiting to use my photo card credits for when my baby is born as birth announcments and I didn’t order the mug because the shipping was $5.99 and I didn’t really need a mug.)
So I went ahead and used my free mug credit with the free shipping since I already had an account and didn’t really need a leash. I’ve already recieved the mug and haven’t been charged anything. I guess they got all caught up canceling the dog leashes.
I am very dissapointed to see this. Thank you for letting us know both about the amazing deals you find and when things go wrong like with this deal. If I had ordered the leash I wouldn’t hesitate to let snapfish or the BBB know what I thought about this “bait and switch”.
Personally, I BELIEVE that they had a depleted inventory. I ordered my free dog leash (in my account for months, not a new one from starting a new account) the 1st day of the free shipping promotion and they DID send it to me. Sometimes things happen beyond the control of the company, especially during promotions like this. I know that at least SOME were sent though. That’s good enough for me. And, personally, I’d like a mug better than the leash anyway. LOL
“qudz104 Says:
February 20th, 2010 at 11:29 PM
i only use shutterfly.. they dont have spectacular deals like snapfish but every now and then they do somethnig nice like free prints, photobooks etc. i have over 40 albums stored there and i can pick up prints from target too. i think all the other sites are too gimmicky for myself anyway”
Just had to respond… I’m not sure how long you’ve been ordering from Shutterfly but I clearly remember the days where they had spectacular deals like this. I’ve gotten thousands of dollars of stuff free through Shutterfly and other items essentially free ($30 ornaments for 52 cents, for example). Just recently I got a calendar, 2 magnets and some prints free with free shipping. Anyway, about 18 months ago, not only was Shutterfly canceling orders WITHOUT offering replacement deals but they were threatening to file law suits against customers too for having more than one account. Their customer service was awful. I think Snapfish is being more than generous in this instance. I know people who ordered 15 to 20 of those free dog leashes… people who don’t even have dogs and planned to sell them. Its no wonder companies have trouble filling orders!
Just wanted to let people know that I got a free dog collar from Snapfish, and they refunded my shipping, all through live chat. Fair enough to me.
I just got off the Live Chat and got credited an 8 x 11 Classic Photo Book ($19.99 value). My representative responded very quickly and was very polite. I was ready to put up a fight, but they just offered me the book as soon as I asked. The shipping cost will be refunded (if they don’t pull another one on us).
I just sent an e-mail asking them if I could have a free travel commuter mug ($17.99), instead of the $9.99 mug that was offered. I did point out that the value of the first offer was $19.99, and that I felt it was dis-honest to now offer me something with only a $9.99 value. I did not make any threats, or anything like that. They were very professional about it. They e-mailed me back shortly after telling me that they had put a credit on my account for the commuter mug instead. They also said that I could just place my order and then respond to them with the shipping amount, and they would credit my credit card. I have never done business with them before, and I am disappointed about the dog leash (I have a new puppy). I think they did a good job of taking care of the issue, though. That was my experience anyway.
Here I am praising how well they handled my credit by giving me the commuter mug ($17.99 value), instead of the $9.99 value. What a joke! Shortly after I placed my order, I received a notice that there was a problem on their end. That my order had been canceled, and that I needed to re-place my order. I have e-mailed asking them to put the free commuter mug credit back on my account, so that I can re-create it, and order it again. The credit is no longer there, because it shows that I used it. I get e-mails back saying they will re-imburse me for the shipping. I also get e-mails telling me my dog leash was canceled due to lack of stock. The e-mails make no mention of the free commuter mug. I do still have my order confirmation showing the free mug, and I have the e-mail that they sent me offering it too. I sent them an e-mail tonight saying that if they did not respond I would be returning the photos that I ordered, stopping payment via my credit card, and reporting them to the BBB. I don’t want to have to go through all of that. I will if I have to, though! I was a new customer. I don’t think I will be using them anymore at all!
OK so now I am am REALLY frustrated!! I got on there and got my free mug but when it came to the shipping I ask why I didn’t get the credit for the free shipping and she said that it wasn’t offered before so you don’t get it now!! So now I have already placed my order and PAID for shipping, I will be getting a hold of them and complaining for sure!!
I emailed them and they credited my card no problems for the shipping!! Thanks for the heads up!!
I did ‘live chat’ the other night & was given credit for a free dog collar with shipping. It was pretty simple, but I haven’t recieved them in the mail yet.
I just received an email tonight about the deal of the free coasters. I was so excited to get free coasters and free shipping. Then I got this:
“It has come to our attention that an expired offer featuring coasters was incorrectly added to your new account. We regret the error yet we’re pleased to tell you that the intended offer – a FREE 5″x 7″ greeting card – is waiting for you. Use the link in this email to log in to your account, create a card featuring your favorite photo, and get it FREE. We sincerely apologize for this situation and any inconvenience it may have caused you.”
I just emailed them in hopes that there is some way that I can still get what I ordered. It’s not my fault that it was incorrectly added! How frustrating!
I just got that too. VERY frustrating!
Got this email too.
I too got the e-mail regarding the coasters. A 5×7 card is just not a suitable substitution. I definitely will not be ordering anything from Snapfish in the future.
Well said, Mercedes. I posted a link to this on my blog. My coaster order was just canceled today.
I couldn’t agree more…they did the same thing to my coaster order. I’m not ordering from them or posting any of their deals!
What a waste of time and effort.
Very deceptive advertising/solicitation. “free ” prints are not free unless you dig deep and read the fine print and pay the shipping charges. If you have them delivered to a local store you pay full price. For a lousy 3 bucks they lost a potential long time customer. Very foolish business practice.