Sunshine Rewards Mess Up!

[dohgusgus]

I recently did one of the offers through sunshine rewards (reward website that you can cash out the money in either Paypal or other gc even Disney dollars) and there was one offer that if you applied for a credit card you would get $10 back. Well usually under the link it says what you must do to receive the money and under this certain link it said apply for a credit card. Well I did so and went pretty quickly through it. They asked for a CC or DC in the 2nd step and I put my amazon CC thinking it was just to check one's credit WELL, BOY WAS I WRONG! In the last step, final step, it says "Your CC or DC has been charged $79.99 per your request"

WHAT! Well I went back and sneakily (to me) in small print of course it says they charge you an initial fee, another fee blah blah blah

GRRR THAT MADE ME SO MAD. I wish sunshine rewards had said something about this in the description :furious:

Now i have to go call those people on Monday and fight them to take back the charges...

[Miss Kelly]

Sorry to hear about that. Unfortunately, you should have read all the fine print. It's not really Sunshine Rewards mistake. Its yours. :)

[HayGan]

Sorry to hear about that. Unfortunately, you should have read all the fine print. It's not really Sunshine Rewards mistake. Its yours. :)

I'm sorry that you are going thru this but I have to agree. No one would need a credit card to check your credit worthiness. You have to be very careful when doing any offers as you can get bit in the butt with some of their terms.

Make sure that you really understand the offer and its' terms before you sign up for anything.

[Toby'sFriend]

sorry. :(

I avoid the offers that are going to require running a credit report or applying for a credit card so I'm not familiar with the offer you are talking about. $10 isn't enough compensation for me to take hits on our Credit Scores.

[teslaaunt]

While I agree that the OP should have been more careful, the ad should be VERY CLEAR about any charges that the person will be responsible for UPFRONT. I cant stand shady operations like this and for Sunshine Rewards to allow such an ad does place some responsiblility on them. My opinion of them just dropped a little. Note to OP--everytime you have a company run your credit report it is listed and does show up, be very selective who you give this information to. Also, it will be a pain but you should get your money back and you have learned a lesson along the way. Im sorry this happened to you.

[Rustysmom]

I do other GPT sites similar to Sunshine Rewards, and you always have to read all the fine print. Read everything first and don't try to get through it quickly. Most of the offers are on the shady side to begin with. They want you to sign up for things and then forget to cancel so they can charge you. So you have to be one step ahead of them. Whenever I do an offer that involves any kind of trial, I always take a screenshot as I go through each step and save it. This way if anyone tries to charge me something later on, I have proof, and I'll also have any information I need to cancel the offer.

I hope you're able to get them to take the charge off. Good luck!

[teslaaunt]

Whenever I do an offer that involves any kind of trial, I always take a screenshot as I go through each step and save it. This way if anyone tries to charge me something later on, I have proof, and I'll also have any information I need to cancel the offer.

Smart lady!!

[MommyBoo!]

Read through the rewards forum here. There's lots of good advice there on what are good offers to do and how to cancel offers.

[azgal81]

Always read the fine print. I couldn't imagine doing an offer and not reading the fine print :scared1: There have been a few offers that I haven't done since something in the terms didn't sound right to me. Also the rewards forum is very helpful we always help each other out about what offers to do and which to stay away from.

[sunshinegirl]

While I agree that the OP should have been more careful, the ad should be VERY CLEAR about any charges that the person will be responsible for UPFRONT. I cant stand shady operations like this and for Sunshine Rewards to allow such an ad does place some responsiblility on them. My opinion of them just dropped a little.

We are very clear on our site that we are not affiliated with any of the companies that we advertise for. In fact, we almost always have our Super Members test our offers before we release them to the general membership to make sure that the companies are paying out like they say they will and that they are posting their terms such that people know what they are getting into. Unlike most other rewards programs, we will not run any advertisers who do not disclose their terms, install any kind of adware on your computer, or who defraud our members. I routinely delete offers from the site when members complain about them. I also never run any Screensavers offers, Toolbar download offers, or fake ringtones offers that take advantage of the members.

I'm truly sorry that you had a bad experience with a merchant. It is extremely important to read the fine print of the offers. The folks on the Rewards Board are wonderful at checking out that information, sorting through it, and posting their experiences.

[teslaaunt]

I appreciate your response Sunshinegirl. I do have to ask though why SR does not take it one complete step further and not allow fine print disclaimers. In reality there is a reason these items are in fine print, they dont want you to see them or read them, and that is shady. If they feel they are justified in their charges to the consumer then why hide what they are saying? It is the consumers responsibility to read everything and she really should have before giving her credit card info, that really is common sense, but why not eliminate this from happening again. If there will be charges encrued by the consumer then why not tell them that from the beginning in bold, normal sized print. Im sure you would lose some ads on the sight but in the end wouldnt you really be protecting the very people who are helping to make your sight successful? Please understand that Im not really singling your site out, but if I have your ear Im going to use it.

[sunshinegirl]

It's always a tough call deciding which offers to add. When I do not add offers like this and people see them on other rewards programs, I take flak for not having as many offers as the other sites. When I do add them, I run the risk of having some of my members get unwelcome surprises on their credit card statements. I try to balance that but sometimes it doesn't work. Some offers I take a very strong stand on and do not list at all. I did go in and add a line to this particular offer to let members know that they need to read the fine print. I almost pulled it but it sounded from the OP like the information is there, just not really easy to see.

We list about 500 offers at any given time. I've actually hired someone to start policing the offers more closely by literally going through and clicking on every single one of them every couple weeks. She got redirected to a site last night with naked women on it. OUCH! She immediately emailed me and we got it pulled because I will not tolerate that.

I really do appreciate the feedback. I like to think that SR is more member driven than other rewards sites because we try to respond to criticism openly. We sometimes screw it up and need to be kept on target. :)

[teslaaunt]

It's always a tough call deciding which offers to add. When I do not add offers like this and people see them on other rewards programs, I take flak for not having as many offers as the other sites. When I do add them, I run the risk of having some of my members get unwelcome surprises on their credit card statements. I try to balance that but sometimes it doesn't work. Some offers I take a very strong stand on and do not list at all. I did go in and add a line to this particular offer to let members know that they need to read the fine print. I almost pulled it but it sounded from the OP like the information is there, just not really easy to see.

We list about 500 offers at any given time. I've actually hired someone to start policing the offers more closely by literally going through and clicking on every single one of them every couple weeks. She got redirected to a site last night with naked women on it. OUCH! She immediately emailed me and we got it pulled because I will not tolerate that.

I really do appreciate the feedback. I like to think that SR is more member driven than other rewards sites because we try to respond to criticism openly. We sometimes screw it up and need to be kept on target. :)

I have to say it is refreshing to actually speak with someone who can make a difference and is willing to listen. You listened and responded professionally and for that you have my respect. I am a member of your sight and I like that it gives me an opportunity to earn an little something extra, but Im also very careful about my personal information. Again, thank you for hearing my complaint and I do understand where you are coming from. I hope this consumer will have learned a major lesson from her experience.