another rumer concerning rewards

[eeyorefanatic]

Rumor has it that gitcertificates.com is going out of business on or about June 15th. As they supply the bulk of certificates on milesource I thought I would post this. I hope its not true as I am going end of June and need those certs!

 

[dmslush]

Oh, that is just awful! The "rumor" said that the employees would be given a $50 gift certificate as severance pay Talk about kicking you while you're down!

You know who I really feel bad for? All of those people that have been cashing in their supercertificates for the plastic supercertificate card so that they can use them later on. There was a discussion about this a while back on mycoupons and I said that I didn't do that because if the company went out of business those cards would be worthless. Some of the people thought I was crazy, they said that if they had the cards, that they would always be able to redeem them? Am I wrong, won't those cards be worthless when and if the business closes?

 

[LtlTee]

I am about 30 days away from the difference between a $25 GC and a $50 GC at Milesource. I hate to sit on this and lose all of my miles but hate to cash out for $25 when I am so close to $50 and it is more economical to get a $50 GC! After everything that's happened lately with Beenz, Etour, and Freeride, I guess I am a bit nervous!

 

[wonderlandaddict]

I'm confused! I am working toward $50 at RFC or
Planet Hollywood. Does this affect me?? Do I need
to cash out? Thanks for all of your help, I would never
be able to do any of these rewards without all of your
help I get off of these boards daily!!

 

[eeyorefanatic]

If you are using milesource for these GC, then this may be a problem. Milesource is not directly affiliated with PH of RFC but offers GC through giftcertificates.com. You cash in your miles for supercertificates or individual giftcertificates from giftcertificates.com. If they go our of business, we will have to cash out for something else

I have almost enough for a $50 as well and was trying to hold out. Guess I will have to go ahead and get my $25 worth while I can

 

[RweTHEREyet]

I actually have a paper gift certificate from them in hand for the RainForest Cafe. I wonder if this will be valid when I take my trip the end of June?

 

[CapeCod53]

I'm within 1000 miles for the $50 cert. too. I have yet to cash out thru Milesource yet. If I do order a gc, how long does it take to receive them? Also if I wasn't going to actually use the gc until our August trip it probably won't be any good because how would the restaurant get any reimbursement for the gc if the issuing company is out of business?

 

[Muffy]

I have 225.00 of supercerts that I was saving until closer to our vacation in 2002. I was very concerned when i read this post! I called G.C.com and the cust. service rep said that he had not heard about a closing. He also said they were hiring at this time and he thinks it is just an unfounded rumor. take from this what you will. I may cash in my supercerts just to be on the safe side. I will think about it for a few days. You don't get a card when you save your redeemed supercert. You just print the email confirmation and use the number on the confirmation to get the paper cert from G.C. com. Hope this helps!

Muffy

 

[tinkerbelltoo]

I posted this over at mycoupons.com, on aol boards and figured I'd post this here too.

====
When I heard the rumor about giftcertificates.com, I got really worried (re: Milesource). So, I emailed milesource and about 10 minutes later, someone from there IM'd me and asked me to give them a call-- so I did. I expressed the concerns of everyone regarding not only giftcertificates.com's demise but also the future of milesource. The gentleman on the phone was very nice and assured me that milesource isn't going anywhere and stated "as a matter of fact, milesource just attained profitability last month". I asked him if I could quote him and he stated yes and I told him that I would not reveal his name to anyone.

He and I then had a conversation about having a rebutable, desireable replacement for giftcertificates.com. I mentioned webcertificates and he stated that he wasn't familiar with them. I explained how they worked, to which he replied "interesting". I then told him that I suspected if they replaced giftcertificates.com with webcertificates, their user base would most likely double-- because webcertificates are the most wanted item in rewards programs (that and Disney Dollars!) I asked him if they would consider offering webcertificates and if he could please present that idea to the powers that be and he said "certainly". At first, he wasn't so sure that webcertificates would draw more users. I then informed him if the rumor is true, that giftcertificates.com is headed down the tubes (and sadly, it does seem to be true ) that they would have to have some viable solution such as webcertificates to make people stay-- that people aren't going to redeem their miles for Flooz (which is also shaky) nor are they going to wait to accumulate 25,000 miles and redeem for a free airline ticket. I told him that if they don't find a viable and desireable replacement, people are likely to drop off like flies and move to the next program. I told him that mypoints offers webcertificates and he replied "they do?? I didn't know that!" He then seemed to perk up and pay attention.

I certainly hope that milesource listens to our concerns and replaces giftcertificates.com with something great like webcertificates. I, for one would be completely and totally happy with webcertificates! As a matter of fact, I would much PREFER webcertificates over a supercertificate-- that way, I can use it anywhere, for anything and not be tied to just one specific place to use my money! (Can anyone say "I'm buying my premium annual passes for Disney with my milesource.com webcertificate???

Let's cross our fingers on this one. I am going to continue to click away for Milesource-- this gentleman has given me renewed hope!

Warmly,

Beaglette
aka tinkerbelltoo on the DIS boards

 

[madge62]

Well, I cashed out for my supercertificate long ago and was holding until next year, when we're actually going to WDW so the gc didn't expire. If I cash the gc now, they will likely expire this year right? What should I do?

 

[dmslush]

Rwethereyet,
I don't think we will have any problems with the giftcertificates that we already have. The companies have already been paid for those. Giftcerts.com bought them from the companies and then we bought them from giftcert.com.

 

[AF Brenda]

As for how long it takes to get your GC from giftcertificates.com, here is my story. I cashed out at Milesource on 14 Apr, got my Supercertificate by e-mail on 3 May, used it to buy a Marriott GC on 3 May, and received the Marriott GC by snail mail on 6 May. I was pleasantly surprised. Expiration on the GC is Dec 2002.

 

[jdads2]

It might be a good Idea if more than a few of us contact milesource about the possible demise of giftcerificates.com. I am planning on mentioning webcerificates as a replacement reward.

 

[bcorso]

I'm all for this one! If enough people call/email them they will probably at least look into it. I worked for a dot.com last year, and we were always trying to keep up on the latest trends.
B

 

[welovedis]

How on earth did you get them to answer your message in 10 minutes & have them IM you so quickly? Can you share the email addy you sent your message to? I rarely hear from them when I send them an email & if I do get a response it always takes at least a couple of days. I'd love to save this info for the future--thanks!

Karen

 

[redferg]

A representative of giftcertificates.com contacted me this morning to tell me the is rumor is completely false. They said it went around a few months ago saying they would be closing up in March. Surely, she had to tell the truth since I have it in writing, huh?