Emarket Research Group suckered me into their offer for a $250 Toys-R-Us gift card right around Christmas. I filled out the surveys on November 17th, and bought into six of their services (Blockbuster Online, Entertainment Book, Formula GC, PetCareRX, Bargain Incentive, and My Daily Dose). All of these were services I didn't really need or want, but I certainly did want the card. After being contacted by all the services, I spent a total of about $50 in shipping, membership costs, and that Entertainment book, but I wisely cancelled each service before they charged their monthly fees. And yet, Emarket Research Group's Incentive Reward Center status page never updated my status to "Redemption Requirements Met".
I emailed them repeatedly over the next couple of weeks without reply, then found their number on usacomplaints.com. When I called them, I told them I was greatly disturbed by the number of negative reports (around 41) and wanted my card! Having met their redemption requirements, and having the proof on my credit card statement, I told them I was ready to file with the Florida State Attorney General, BBB, etc. Until everyone new to steer clear. Imagine my surprise when a nice person called my home from EMRG, and confirmed that, yes, I had met the requirements, and my card was on the way.
Sure it was, I thought. That's just a stalling tactic. So I waited, and Glory Be! On December 31, a Bank One $250 Visa Gift Card showed up at my door. I was shocked, and called Visa to verify the authenticity. It was real. I won one!
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not endorsing EMRG, because I think one of two things happened: either they got nervous that I might throw my considerable weight around down in Florida (not likely) or (more likely) they give these cards to maybe 1 in 100 of their subscribers, and I got lucky. Do you like 100:1 odds? No, so you should probably steer clear from offers like these. Remember, I wanted a Toys-R-Us card, but got the more flexible Visa card. So they ran out of Toys-R-Us cards, and gave the squeaky wheel whatever they had handy. My advice to you if you've already been suckered, is to call these people, calmly explain to them that you've been here and read all the reports, that you've complained to each and every service company solicited through them (I did) and squeak Attorney General a couple of times into their answering machine. Heck, it actually worked for me.
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