Process designed to make you give up

This review is about the ‘REWARD’ one gets when buying a Samsung appliance and I have given up claiming my R7000 ‘REWARD’ before I throw myself in front of a bus.

I love the Samsung brand, but them using the company Buy and Get as processor of this reward scheme has damaged my image of the Samsung brand to the point that I will avoid buying my next fridge from them. I don’t like being conned or **********!

The saga starts with buying a fridge from Hirsh’s in November 2019, making the BIG MISTAKE of buying this for my company and obviously having a receipt in the company name.

After initial registration with Buy and Get, which was an acceptable process, I was first told the receipt was blurred ( it could read just fine) and then finally that the reward was not possible for companies, only people. I was called by Buy and Get to inform me of this fact and that they would contact Hirsh’s for a new receipt. After not hearing anything for a month, I was called again and asked when I would submit a new receipt, and OFF COURSE Buy and get could not request this for me, despite the fact I was told by the previous person they would do so. I went to Hirsh’s then on a weekend and got a new receipt, which was not a problem, but Hirsh’s obviously does not ensure that their staff all know about this exclusion of companies, nor does it say so on the big marketing sticker for the Reward on the freezer. This stage took 4 months!

Once I got past this, a back-office supervisor called me beginning of March, apologising for the problems (he saw the calls in their support system) and ensuring me that all would work out now and I would get an SMS. End of March I emailed the supervisor that I had still not heard anything and he rep**** the SMS was going to be sent again. Why email is not used when all other communication comes via email is anyone’s guess, part of ensuring I stay confused and frustrated?

End of April I again emailed saying I had still not received anything, without getting a reply. End of May I again emailed and surprisingly got a response, telling me I had the received the SMS beginning of March (by the way, no phone company guarantees any SMS being delivered) but that I should now call them quoting a number in the email. I then receive a call a day later asking me some questions, amongst others about my ID number.

Just be clear, the ‘Reward’ is for buying a fridge, it is not for a specific person and having the receipt of purchase should give me access to the reward. Buy and Get has no right to ask for all my personal details and has obviously never heard about the POPI privacy law of South Africa. They have no business relationship with me, my only relationship is with Hirsh’s.

I got an email with a form to fill in, 100% of the information which they already had from me, or had given me, to complete and send to another email. All their emails sent to me are off course ‘do-not-reply’ email addresses.

A day later I get called and asked to provide a copy of my ID, and that is the final straw, they are now welcome to keep their money and Samsung can again mark down another success in saving a ‘Reward’.

I don’t know what percentage of sold appliances have the reward claimed, but with this kind of process it must only be a fraction. Talk about negative marketing. I have never written a negative post about any product in my 50 odd years, but this has infuriated me no end and I will never touch a product that has anything to do with Buy and Get.