Saturday, December 11, 2010

Beware Coupon Duds

From MSNBC.

"There's no shortage of discount coupon codes on the web, but alas, they don't always work.

For example, the Twitterverse and an array of deal websites were all abuzz yesterday and today with a free-movie offer at Blockbuster kiosks. An array of coupon codes were circulating, but I decided to go straight to the company website to make sure I got one that was valid.

I signed up at BlockbusterExpress.com, had to fill out some personal information, then got an e-mail with my code. I also wrote down one code that was provided on several sites including FabulousDailyDeals.com and SimplyFreeGadgets.com, and then headed to the local Blockbuster kiosk the website said was the closest to my house.

Unfortunately, the system rejected both codes.

So, I drove a few miles to save $1 on a one-night rental and came home empty handed.

A Blockbuster spokeswoman said: "I’m not familiar with coupons for free kiosk rentals. Because the kiosks are licensed by NCR, I’ll need to talk to them, too, to learn what’s going on."

It took a while, but NCR finally got back to me with some information on the problem but it's not going to make those of you hoping to snag a free flick tonight happy. "We are in the process of resolving those issues and they will be fixed by Monday," said Jeff Dudash, an NCR spokesman. "We are also reaching out to those cusotmers who received that code."

I sent an e-mail to FabulousDailyDeals blogger Veronika Clark and shared my story with her and she wrote:

"I used the code yesterday and was able to get a FREE movie, I was just on my way to return it. That did happen to me once before though."

Lesson learned: cyber coupons are like gambling.

If you're feeling lucky, here are the codes I used: G419A and XU14A."

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