Man Collects $200,000 In Box Tops To Raise Money For Schools, But Did He Cheat?

Scott is just one of many brands participating in the Box Tops for Education program.

Where do you draw the line between being industrious and being a cheat? That’s the question the folks at Scott are working through after a Brooklyn man, attempting to get the most out of a school fundraising promotion, submitted around $200,000 worth of box tops to the company.

At the heart of that question is just how much help the man received from a local wholesaler who was able to supply several thousand of those Box Tops for Education coupons — worth up to $.50 each for the school of the donor’s choice.

“I feel this is a just cause. Everything was done by the book. There was no monkey business,” the man tells the NY Daily News. “We had a team of parents helping. I created a network. People were excited. We were working hard thinking we would get this big donation.”

He also claims that he only sent in around 75,000 box tops, a significantly smaller number than the 300,000 Scott says it counted.

The man, who was trying to raise funds for four private Jewish schools in the area, says that he located the wholesaler, who then provided him with any unused wrappings that contained the Box Top coupon.

“He buys truckloads and repackages them,” says the man. “He supplies the bodegas and throws out all the packaging.”

When Scott received the garbage bags full of coupons last year, it began investigating.

“We had such an extraordinarily high number of coupons redeemed by one person,” says a Scott rep, adding that the company has hired a private investigator to research the matter. “We still need to figure out if the coupons were gathered appropriately.

Until we are comfortable with verifying how this was obtained we are not in a position to pay.”

The wholesaler who provided the coupons for the fundraiser fears that if he outs himself to Scott, the company could drop him as a customer, hurting his business.

“I was trying to do this as a charity,” he explains. “Once they sell me the product, we can do whatever we want with it.”

The Daily News spoke to the rabbis of two of the schools that would receive funds from the collected coupons, and they appear to be divided in their view of this issue. One called it an “illegal campaign” while the other says, “more power to him. He did it trying to help the school.”

Thanks to Dov for the tip!

by Chris Morran via The Consumerist

Hotmail Going The Way Of The Dinosaur As Microsoft Opens Outlook To The Public

Hotmail, we hardly knew ye.

I remember the giddiness of being freed from the yoke of a paid AOL membership, ready to choose my very own email address instead of the one my dad had set up. I probably searched AltaVista or asked Jeeves before finding I could set up a free account at Hotmail.com. It was a heady feeling, one of liberation and unbounded email opportunities. Fast forward to the present, when those still faithful to Hotmail are no doubt mourning its impending demise.

Nowadays it’s a source of comedic joy to giggle at a friend who doesn’t have a Gmail account, or a guy who gives you his email ending with “@hotmail.com” (“Really? Please!). In order to compete in that more Hotmail-deriding world, Microsoft has released Outlook.com to the general public in a move that will shift its email services away from Hotmail.

Users with a Hotmail account will still be able use those addresses, but they’ll be accessed through Outlook’s cloud, notes the Los Angeles Times. Microsoft had a hard think about this move before unveiling it, say company executives.

“It’s not a light brand decision,” said Dharmesh Mehta, senior director of product management for Outlook.com and SkyDrive. “I don’t know of any other company that has hundreds of thousands of users and has changed the brand name. But this is something new, an opportunity to set us up for the future.”

Despite the fact that pals may snicker over a Hotmail email address, there are still 300 million users of the service, says Microsoft. That’s not too bad, considering Google says Gmail has 425 million users. It all came down to the fact that Microsoft needs to have one email service to present to users, and “Outlook equals email for Microsoft.”

In a fit of nostalgia I tried to access my old Hotmail account and was told there’d been too many attempts to access it so I’m locked out. If only I could remember the security question I set up years ago or still had my first cell phone, I could reset my password and relive my glory days of emailing questionnaires about my favorite colors, songs and what kind of guy I liked.

Microsoft opens Outlook.com to public as Hotmail brand shuts down [Los Angeles Times]

by Mary Beth Quirk via The Consumerist

I Want Toys ‘R’ Us Protection Plan Help, Manager Threatens To Call Cops

Not working.

It wasn’t very long ago at all that Esdras went to Toys ‘R’ Us and bought a tablet for his son. Barely four months ago, he picked up the KD Interactive Android tablet, along with a protection plan. A protection plan is generally a good idea when you combine a toddler and an electronic device, even if it is one designed especially for kids. Where Esdras got confused, though, was when the cashier gave him incorrect instructions regarding the protection plan. Just bring the item back if he had any problems, he was told. No plan brochure, no details, nothing.

Esdras says that he was told to just bring it back. Only that’s not how the Toys ‘R’ Us protection plan works. Something went very wrong, and store staff ultimately blame Esdras. Esdras blames the clerk. We’re not sure who the clerk blames. Probably Geoffrey the Giraffe.

Back in October 29. 2012 I purchased a KD interactive Tablet for my son from the ToysRUs store in [redacted] with the protection plan. As a rewards members, I have spent several hundred dollars over the past five years for my kids [at this particular store] and when purchasing this tablet it was no different from other times. The clerk simply stated, bring the item back if you have any issues and we will take care of for you under the protection plan.

No pamphlet, no further instructions, just my receipt.

Well, lo and behold, the tablet stopped working for my son and I decided to go back to the store for assistance. When approaching the counter, the young lady decides to give me a lecture on having to register my product through a website and file any claims through that site and not the store. I told her what the clerk had told me and she absolutely refused to handle anything and instead decided to call the “manager”.

The manager heard my plea and all he did was give the the brochure on how it works and told me to register the claim through there. So far so good? NO!!! When I asked for them to print my receipt for me, the manager then proceeded to walk away from the counter stating I was harassing them by asking for that and said he would call the police! I said, how do I register the product without the receipt, to which he said “that is your problem!”

Needless to say I walked away and trying to get a hold of anyone from the district has been as useless as finding a needle in a haystack.

Shame on these people. A quick search for my Toyrus charges in the financial bookeeping software addition came up with over $1800 in purchases including our baby “stuff” over the last 24 months only to be treated like this by some kid in that store.

Never again will I ever purchase anything from TOYSRUS!

It helps to back up and figure out what the problem is that Toys ‘R’ Us needs to solve. Is it “I need a new tablet” or “the cashier who helped me back in October did not explain how to sign up for the protection plan”? Regular customer service (1-800-869-7787) might be able to help with that if you have the receipt at home. Other customers have found help from the social media representatives on the chain’s Facebook page.

by Laura Northrup via The Consumerist

Man Collects $200,000 In Box Tops To Raise Money For Schools, But Did He Cheat?

Scott is just one of many brands participating in the Box Tops for Education program.

Where do you draw the line between being industrious and being a cheat? That’s the question the folks at Scott are working through after a Brooklyn man, attempting to get the most out of a school fundraising promotion, submitted around $200,000 worth of box tops to the company.

At the heart of that question is just how much help the man received from a local wholesaler who was able to supply several thousand of those Box Tops for Education coupons — worth up to $.50 each for the school of the donor’s choice.

“I feel this is a just cause. Everything was done by the book. There was no monkey business,” the man tells the NY Daily News. “We had a team of parents helping. I created a network. People were excited. We were working hard thinking we would get this big donation.”

He also claims that he only sent in around 75,000 box tops, a significantly smaller number than the 300,000 Scott says it counted.

The man, who was trying to raise funds for four private Jewish schools in the area, says that he located the wholesaler, who then provided him with any unused wrappings that contained the Box Top coupon.

“He buys truckloads and repackages them,” says the man. “He supplies the bodegas and throws out all the packaging.”

When Scott received the garbage bags full of coupons last year, it began investigating.

“We had such an extraordinarily high number of coupons redeemed by one person,” says a Scott rep, adding that the company has hired a private investigator to research the matter. “We still need to figure out if the coupons were gathered appropriately.

Until we are comfortable with verifying how this was obtained we are not in a position to pay.”

The wholesaler who provided the coupons for the fundraiser fears that if he outs himself to Scott, the company could drop him as a customer, hurting his business.

“I was trying to do this as a charity,” he explains. “Once they sell me the product, we can do whatever we want with it.”

The Daily News spoke to the rabbis of two of the schools that would receive funds from the collected coupons, and they appear to be divided in their view of this issue. One called it an “illegal campaign” while the other says, “more power to him. He did it trying to help the school.”

Thanks to Dov for the tip!

by Chris Morran via The Consumerist

Hotmail Going The Way Of The Dinosaur As Microsoft Opens Outlook To The Public

Hotmail, we hardly knew ye.

I remember the giddiness of being freed from the yoke of a paid AOL membership, ready to choose my very own email address instead of the one my dad had set up. I probably searched AltaVista or asked Jeeves before finding I could set up a free account at Hotmail.com. It was a heady feeling, one of liberation and unbounded email opportunities. Fast forward to the present, when those still faithful to Hotmail are no doubt mourning its impending demise.

Nowadays it’s a source of comedic joy to giggle at a friend who doesn’t have a Gmail account, or a guy who gives you his email ending with “@hotmail.com” (“Really? Please!). In order to compete in that more Hotmail-deriding world, Microsoft has released Outlook.com to the general public in a move that will shift its email services away from Hotmail.

Users with a Hotmail account will still be able use those addresses, but they’ll be accessed through Outlook’s cloud, notes the Los Angeles Times. Microsoft had a hard think about this move before unveiling it, say company executives.

“It’s not a light brand decision,” said Dharmesh Mehta, senior director of product management for Outlook.com and SkyDrive. “I don’t know of any other company that has hundreds of thousands of users and has changed the brand name. But this is something new, an opportunity to set us up for the future.”

Despite the fact that pals may snicker over a Hotmail email address, there are still 300 million users of the service, says Microsoft. That’s not too bad, considering Google says Gmail has 425 million users. It all came down to the fact that Microsoft needs to have one email service to present to users, and “Outlook equals email for Microsoft.”

In a fit of nostalgia I tried to access my old Hotmail account and was told there’d been too many attempts to access it so I’m locked out. If only I could remember the security question I set up years ago or still had my first cell phone, I could reset my password and relive my glory days of emailing questionnaires about my favorite colors, songs and what kind of guy I liked.

Microsoft opens Outlook.com to public as Hotmail brand shuts down [Los Angeles Times]

by Mary Beth Quirk via The Consumerist

I Want Toys ‘R’ Us Protection Plan Help, Manager Threatens To Call Cops

Not working.

It wasn’t very long ago at all that Esdras went to Toys ‘R’ Us and bought a tablet for his son. Barely four months ago, he picked up the KD Interactive Android tablet, along with a protection plan. A protection plan is generally a good idea when you combine a toddler and an electronic device, even if it is one designed especially for kids. Where Esdras got confused, though, was when the cashier gave him incorrect instructions regarding the protection plan. Just bring the item back if he had any problems, he was told. No plan brochure, no details, nothing.

Esdras says that he was told to just bring it back. Only that’s not how the Toys ‘R’ Us protection plan works. Something went very wrong, and store staff ultimately blame Esdras. Esdras blames the clerk. We’re not sure who the clerk blames. Probably Geoffrey the Giraffe.

Back in October 29. 2012 I purchased a KD interactive Tablet for my son from the ToysRUs store in [redacted] with the protection plan. As a rewards members, I have spent several hundred dollars over the past five years for my kids [at this particular store] and when purchasing this tablet it was no different from other times. The clerk simply stated, bring the item back if you have any issues and we will take care of for you under the protection plan.

No pamphlet, no further instructions, just my receipt.

Well, lo and behold, the tablet stopped working for my son and I decided to go back to the store for assistance. When approaching the counter, the young lady decides to give me a lecture on having to register my product through a website and file any claims through that site and not the store. I told her what the clerk had told me and she absolutely refused to handle anything and instead decided to call the “manager”.

The manager heard my plea and all he did was give the the brochure on how it works and told me to register the claim through there. So far so good? NO!!! When I asked for them to print my receipt for me, the manager then proceeded to walk away from the counter stating I was harassing them by asking for that and said he would call the police! I said, how do I register the product without the receipt, to which he said “that is your problem!”

Needless to say I walked away and trying to get a hold of anyone from the district has been as useless as finding a needle in a haystack.

Shame on these people. A quick search for my Toyrus charges in the financial bookeeping software addition came up with over $1800 in purchases including our baby “stuff” over the last 24 months only to be treated like this by some kid in that store.

Never again will I ever purchase anything from TOYSRUS!

It helps to back up and figure out what the problem is that Toys ‘R’ Us needs to solve. Is it “I need a new tablet” or “the cashier who helped me back in October did not explain how to sign up for the protection plan”? Regular customer service (1-800-869-7787) might be able to help with that if you have the receipt at home. Other customers have found help from the social media representatives on the chain’s Facebook page.

by Laura Northrup via The Consumerist

Man Collects $200,000 In Box Tops To Raise Money For Schools, But Did He Cheat? Chris Morran

Scott is just one of many brands participating in the Box Tops for Education program.

Where do you draw the line between being industrious and being a cheat? That’s the question the folks at Scott are working through after a Brooklyn man, attempting to get the most out of a school fundraising promotion, submitted around $200,000 worth of box tops to the company.

At the heart of that question is just how much help the man received from a local wholesaler who was able to supply several thousand of those Box Tops for Education coupons — worth up to $.50 each for the school of the donor’s choice.

“I feel this is a just cause. Everything was done by the book. There was no monkey business,” the man tells the NY Daily News. “We had a team of parents helping. I created a network. People were excited. We were working hard thinking we would get this big donation.”

He also claims that he only sent in around 75,000 box tops, a significantly smaller number than the 300,000 Scott says it counted.

The man, who was trying to raise funds for four private Jewish schools in the area, says that he located the wholesaler, who then provided him with any unused wrappings that contained the Box Top coupon.

“He buys truckloads and repackages them,” says the man. “He supplies the bodegas and throws out all the packaging.”

When Scott received the garbage bags full of coupons last year, it began investigating.

“We had such an extraordinarily high number of coupons redeemed by one person,” says a Scott rep, adding that the company has hired a private investigator to research the matter. “We still need to figure out if the coupons were gathered appropriately.

Until we are comfortable with verifying how this was obtained we are not in a position to pay.”

The wholesaler who provided the coupons for the fundraiser fears that if he outs himself to Scott, the company could drop him as a customer, hurting his business.

“I was trying to do this as a charity,” he explains. “Once they sell me the product, we can do whatever we want with it.”

The Daily News spoke to the rabbis of two of the schools that would receive funds from the collected coupons, and they appear to be divided in their view of this issue. One called it an “illegal campaign” while the other says, “more power to him. He did it trying to help the school.”

Thanks to Dov for the tip!

by Chris Morran via The Consumerist