When Blog Giveaways Go Wrong-Evenflo Car Seats *UPDATE*

pants

Update-While my winner has now received her prize, there are individuals that are still waiting that have been longer than my winner waited. I am truly frustrated by how many bloggers have had issues, been treated differently, etc. I am not okay with knowing fellow bloggers have had circumstances worse than my own. If you have had issues with an Evenflo giveaway, no matter who your line of communication was, please let me know.

Recently I was contacted by a rep, I was very excited to check out a car seat from Evenflo. Both my girls are very tall and even most car seats we’ve purchased, the girls end up too big for and I end up at a loss for words. I truly fell in love with my Evenflo Triumph Advance. Little did I know what would follow from working with this company.

I had heard from bloggers before of issues with the prize coming through. When I heard that a new rep had taken over, I had a sigh of relief. No worries, right? Everything would run smoothly and someone else who needed a car seat would get one.

Today, almost a month later, my winner contacts me to inform me she has not received her car seat. Not cool. But then as I look into it, I find MORE bloggers not having e-mails answered, winners without prizes, “it’s out of stock” answers, “It must have gotten lost in the mail, we’ll send a new one”. Um, is it just me or is a $150 car seat kind of a big thing to be ok with just sending another one if it was really lost in the mail? If that was truly the case and I was Evenflo, I’d definitely have an issue with my PR company being so free about sending valuable product out like it’s nothing.

I have heard of at least SIX individuals that ran a blog giveaway for Evenflo with the PR Company, The Zeno Group. Seeing the consistency in lack of follow through, I am sure there are more out there.

So please Zeno Group and Evenflo, get it together. We as bloggers work hard to promote your company and the lack of integrity I have seen today leaves a sour taste in my mouth. This isn’t a five dollar shirt that we can make up on our own for the winner that has been waiting patiently for something for their newborn child.

You may also like

26 Comments

  1. My winner was selected and her info sent over to the rep right before Christmas. I checked back in and hadn’t heard back.

    Recently I discovered my VERY PATIENT winner never received her prize.

    Earlier this week I contacted the person who was supposedly a “new” rep for Evenflo and have not heard back.

    This is a huge reflection on how much (or how little) Evenflo values their customers and it is absolutely inexcusable that so many bloggers were put in a position of awarding an expensive prize to someone and not being able to deliver. It makes us look bad and puts OUR integrity into question.
    .-= Kim @ What’s That Smell?´s last blog ..I’m good at my job. =-.

  2. Oh dear,

    thanks for the information on not working with that group.

    Jaclyn

    Thismamasays.com

  3. Hearing about this has certainly deterred me from buying EvenFlo products, and we seriously were considering a Triumph car seat.

  4. I’ve always been a huge evenflo fan! to the point of recently giving up my love for Graco infant seats to strictly buy Evenflo. But I absolutely refuse to give a company that does not value their customers my money! I worked with Evenflo and had a great response with the previous rep. Apparently they have chosen not to care what their customers think anymore! SAD!
    .-= Gena´s last blog ..I’m going to say it! Valentine’s is all about the MONEY! =-.

  5. I work with this group and haven’t ever had any issues on other brands that they work with. I have ONLY had issues with Evenflo through this firm. This ranges from a breast pump, high chair, booster seat and now this exact same car seat. While my winner was contacted late January, I was told right away that it was going out that week. I contacted just to inquire about a tracking number (the winner’s baby desperately needs this car seat) and was told it would go out last week. I checked back in after reading this & talking with Jenna and was just told that this was shipped THIS week, but they couldn’t give me a tracking number until Monday. If it was shipped – why the delay on getting a tracking number? It’s really easy to get a tracking number…. IF the product was shipped.

    If the product is on back order, be honest and tell us. Quit jacking around. It is just making the PR Firm look bad.

    While my issue isn’t with their other brands, my pattern is strictly Evenflo.

  6. I forgot to add that I don’t have any trouble with communication. I have gotten good communication, but I don’t feel it is truthful. One time it’s been shipped. Another time, we will have a tracking number next week. I get emails – but I don’t feel they are truthful.

  7. OH WOW.
    I won an evenflo convertable triumph seat from http://www.nightoulmama.blogspot.com (Night Oul Mama-Tricia)
    I was notified, claimed the prize & info was sent to the company on 1/14.
    I did not notify Tricia until this past week (going on a month – didnt want to bug hertoo soon) she contacted me back a couple days ago stating that the seat was ordered thru Evenflo on 1/20 and should be to me soon!
    I really hope that they arent screwing with us! We are a 1 income family right now, and our daughter is 2 lbs away from being out of her infant carrier seat!!!
    thanks for posting this!!!! & i look forward to hearing the outcome of your experience w/ evenflo!!
    OHHH YESS and i have started up my own review / giveaway site. i really do not want this to haunt me thru this PR firm!!

    Annie W mommawad@yahoo.com
    .-= Annie Wadsworth´s last blog ..*WINNER* Bebe Dulce – Peek A Boo Clip =-.

  8. Evenflo, don’t get free advertising through blogging mom’s, your payment is the prize you said you would do in the giveaways. If you’re not going to hold up to your end of the contract through the PR firm you subcontract with, then don’t do it at all. The blogging/reviewing mom’s could be using their time on more worthwhile activities.

  9. I don’t think that I’m working with the same PR rep as you, bUT I was offered 2 contacts with mine.
    Just for reference it took almost 7-8 weeks from contact til I received my carseat for review. So I think Patience maybe the key here.

    Pr deals with many bloggers on many campaigns and we need to understand that it is a 7-8 week wait(especially with the weather in some areas) for delivery and if you receive it within 4-6 then that is the usual wait time.
    .-= Night Owl mama´s last blog ..Dove Men + Care Celebrate The Unsung Moments "Manthem" =-.

    1. The problem is the individuals saying that it is being delivered within the week, etc. and then not following through with that. When a person tells me that the winner will receive the item the following week and then a month(s). Several individuals e-mails have gone ignored even after they had been read, individuals are getting told all sorts of reasons for the lack of followthrough but we are unsure to what the real case it.

  10. I can see where that could be frustrating and I’m sorry.
    Just double checked my info and I was working with the same pr.
    I was given a order date of the 20th of January so I’m not sure what else to do but wait and hope it arrives. I contacted her with a subject cap’s seeking confirmation of receipt and she got back to me the same day.

    Let me know if you want to try my rep to make sure the matter gets handled I’m not sure if we have the same one but we can compare notes, if you like.
    .-= Night Owl mama´s last blog ..Dove Men + Care Celebrate The Unsung Moments "Manthem" =-.

  11. I had been wondering if this kind of thing happens often. Clearly it must. Good to know when considering doing giveaways and even better to know about Evenflo!

  12. That’s very shabby on the part of Evenflo, and kind of shocking coming from a company of that caliber.

    I must tell you, though, that they are not alone in failing to fulfill prizes. I’m still waiting for wine glasses I won Nov. 29, 2009, and expected to have for Christmas. This from a company at least as prestigious as Evenflo.

    I suspect it’s the individual reps who are at fault, and that the companies’ execs would be mortified to know that bloggers and giveaway-winning readers are being “stiffed” by the PR departments. My solution is to write directly to the Marketing Director and request my prize. Perhaps I never will get it, but at least I will have made my point, and let them know that it’s NOT OKAY to accept the publicity and then not deliver the quid pro quo. And, of course, I’ll never patronize them again.

  13. That is very frustrating! I know I will not be buying evenflo products anytime soon–we were really contemplating the triumph advance for our daughter too as she’s about to outgrow her infant seat. This kind of unprofessionalism has surely found its way throughout the company with the frequency this has happened & I’d rather not support them until they get their act together. If this is what they do to get free publicity, where else are they cutting corners to save $? Hopefully not in a way my child’s safety is jeopardized, but who knows!

  14. I’m guessing these firms DON’T really get the power of moms. I’ve had some issues not with with firm but with a couple others over the last couple months and I have decided not to work with them anymore and made these choices very vocal. The lazy, I’ll get to it, it’s free anyway mentality is insulting to the brand they are representing and the brands need to be made aware of the situation they are being put into.
    Great Job Jenna for speaking out!

  15. That’s really crappy. Big companies like this have no excuse to behave this way. If you don’t want to hand out products, don’t involve yourself in giveaways. Sorry that you’ve been having trouble!
    .-= LindsayDianne´s last blog ..CBS rejects NORML’s 15 second anti-prohibition ad =-.

  16. My daugher went from a Graco Snugride to a Britax. I have always gone with the seat with the highest safety record for her size. She will be sizing up again pretty soon, guess I will stick with one of those brands.
    .-= Robin´s last blog ..Sickness to Smiles: $500 Photo Contest =-.

  17. I am not happy to read this however I didn’t expect anything less with this group.

    I was contacted last year late Summer from the new rep asking if I’d like to do a review and giveaway. I agreed because who wouldn’t want to review a new car seat and have a giveaway. These are expensive and I like offering free things like this to my readers since so many are unfortunate during this time with the economy.

    I was supposed to receive this very car seat before Christmas, it never came. I contacted the lady from late Summer to the first of January about 5 different times. Each time it was supposed to ship out the next week, etc. I finally decided it wasn’t worth my trouble trying to get one, even though they contacted me! {I can’t stand when this happens} Now that I have read this happening to you as well as others, I’m glad that I never received mine.
    .-= Joanna´s last blog ..Johnsons Baby =-.

  18. I spoke with a rep at the end of September and we agreed upon two items to be included in my holiday gift guide, the Snugli Sway and the Triumph Advance convertible car seat. I received an email September 30th stating the items had been shipped. By the end of October I still had not received the items nor had I heard from the rep. I sent the rep an email and several days later I got a response similar to everyone else”s: “I’ve checked with Evenflo and they said the products were indeed shipped. They’re checking the tracking #s with UPS and worse case scenario, they’ll just reship the samples. I sincerely apologize for the delay. I’ll get you an update ASAP. Thanks for your patience!” That was the last time I heard from her.

    I guess I should be grateful that I never received the products because I was hosting giveaways with the reviews as well. The winners would probably still be waiting on their prizes too.
    .-= Jessica´s last blog ..Winners & An Update =-.

  19. Gee, I never really considered Evenflo to be “of that caliber”. One only needs to look at the Evenflo Discovery “Safety Advisory” and the resultant “fix” to be reminded of that. This? Somehow it just doesn’t surprise me… I feel bad for the winners though.

    For the Mom whose child is 2 lbs shy of outgrowing her seat, she needs to make sure that she hasn’t already outgrown it by height. The shoulder straps need to be at or below her shoulders, and her head must be 1″ or more from the top of the shell. Please contact her and make sure that her child still fits in her infant only bucket seat.

    I’d also encourage the winners who have yet to receive their prizes to contact Evenflo directly, and ask to speak to the office of the President of the company and request action on the part of Evenflo. It is possible that they do not know what is going on. Just remember, the Personal Assistant of the President has almost the power of God within the company and can and will get things done! Don’t hesitate to raise a stink over this, but do it nicely…

  20. Pingback: uberVU - social comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.