coolmite

My apologies to Sen. Barack Obama, on co-opting a bit of his phraseology. I have a bone to pick with GiftConga.com, a business that is the home of “free” gifts so long as you try and subscribe to their partner sponsors.

I’m a soccer fan in Ohio, so I thought I’d get a Columbus Crew home jersey. All I had to do was try three offers, get these trials noted by GiftConga, and I’d get my shirt in 3-5 business days after that. Sounds simple, right?

I accepted offers from Doubleday Books, Overnight Genius and PC Now. They were approved and I was billed for products. I needed to get this done by March 29. I was done and approved on March 24. Come on, Crew shirt.

Wrong.

See, much to my chagrin–and probably the chagrin of thousands of others–I received no shirt. Oh, supposedly it was sent, but there is no record of any such package anywhere, any place, any time.

I have tried to plead my case with GiftConga, claiming I met all their requirements, only to find the only redress I have is to write them scathing e-mails that their customer service honks can choose whether or not to respond. Talk about your service.

Anyway, I’m pleading with all of you to avoid using GiftConga.com. They have been fraudulent to me; they’ll be fraudulent to you. If you have had a bad experience with them, list it here. I’d love to comiserate and see if there is anything we can do together.