Netwinner has not sent ECount any funds since March 13!!

[Kycha]

I found this blog very interesting...especially the comments.

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cach...and+sunshine+rewards&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

NetWinner Updates: No $ to Ecount, Major Privacy Violation, Referral Policy Change

April 27, 2008 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

I know all of NetWinner's members would like some sort of update but there isn't much to tell and what I do have isn't good.
First of all, yesterday a NetWinner member named Sue called the number on her Ecount card to find out the status of her payment and was told by Jessica, an Ecount manager, that NetWinner had not sent them any funds since March 13.
Second, on Friday two NW forum posters reported receiving emails from NetWinner requesting copies of their IDs by fax in order to process their raffle prize. This isn't all that unusual and has been done occasionally in the past. HOWEVER, the company committed a huge privacy violation by sending out the email by publicly addressing (versus BCC'ing) the message to what was described as around fifty member email addresses.
Third, members need to be aware that the site's Terms of Service have been changed in regards to referral earnings. Formerly, members would receive 100 points for referring a friend, then another 400 after the friend completed 100 game plays. Now, that has been changed to be after their friend wins 100 contest entries. You do still get 10% of your friends' winnings, but if you didn't notice, now that the 10-point prize has been removed, you don't get anything if your friend gets the most likely win, a raffle entry.
What can players, some waiting nearly six months for their payments, do about the situation? Here are some suggestions, proposed by fellow players, an attorney friend of mine, and yours truly:
1. File a complaint with the Attorney General for the state of North Carolina. The instructions on how to do this are here. If you have a printer, you can print the complaint form here. It includes their mailing address and a toll-free number, 1-877-566-7226. I'm not sure if they accept complaints by phone; I confirmed that they definitely don't accept them online, so mail may be your only method.
2. File a complaint with the BBB for Charlotte, NC. Start your complaint process here and it will redirect you to the Charlotte BBB. Note that the BBB "does not act as a collection agency." They do, however, "work closely with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies," should they determine that fraud is involved.
3. File a complaint with the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, Division of Marketing Practices. Their website is here, and you can file a complaint here. I think this would need to be complaints along the lines of, they advertised one thing and that's not how it worked.
4. Contact the local (Charlotte, NC) media. Wikipedia says that TV station WBTV "is the largest television news department between Washington and Atlanta," so they may be the best ones to approach. Information on how to contact them (including their assurance of confidentiality) is here, or go straight to the story tip submission form here.
5. Contact Ecount. Last year, members of the Freeride rewards program waiting for Ecount GCs called Ecount directly, and they were able to tell the members whether the delay was due to the rewards program not paying Ecount, versus some other reason like the program sending Ecount an old email address for the member, or the member's ISP blocking Ecount's email. You can contact Ecount at 1-800-522-7458.
To read other members' experiences with NetWinner, including the latest payment (or non-payment) reports, you can visit their forum at NetWinnerCentral.com.
Lastly, as an aside, do you remember the video about the NetWinner Fairy? Take note of the costume and the background (red walls, white paneling). I found these other videos interesting: "Netwinner Dog LOL," "This is how we stamp our mail! LOL," "bright eyes crazy dancing," "eyes," and www.netwinner.com Dogs!!! sooooo cute!!!." I think these show behind the scenes at NetWinner far better than the "Spin Report" PR video released a few days ago.

 

[Tantor]

I have been trying to get to there Forum and there is nothing there??????

What the heck is going on??????

 

[reford]

You have to click the link toward the top to register before they'll let you see anything.

 

[Tantor]

Thanks, I never had to do that before, very weird!

 

[reford]

Yup, they just changed it yesterday. They've banned a good number of people in the last week for complaining too vocally about the site's downturn, and I think this change was to keep those banned members from even being able to read the forum. Also, this way people can't link to posts on their forum for outsiders to read. It's an ugly situation over there.

 

[Tantor]

Well I guess that's one way of getting control of the situation..........

 

[Winner]

Becky:

In response to your recent posts regarding NetWinner, which have been inaccurate and misleading, I urge both you and your readers to read this entire response.

In our previous exchange, I found you to be diligent in trying to present the "truth" and both sides of a discussion to your audience. More recently though, your "reporting" has become biased and unsubstantiated and is a disservice to your readers.

With more than 25 years experience as an investigative reporter/writer, and now under contract to NetWinner, I do my fact checking with great diligence. If you had done your research properly, you would have let your readers know that the annual Dragon*Con in Atlanta with more than 30,000 attendees does not have anything to do with "porn" but is actually, according to their site, "the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the U.S." It's a family friendly event with fans dressing as Klingons, Superman, Harry Potter, and other characters. More information can be found at dragoncon.org.

If you were presenting the whole truth, you would also have made the distinction by reading the industry newsletter that you excerpted that there were in fact "two separate discussion panels sponsored by xpeeps.com and NetWinner.com" and determined that the discussion panel hosted by NetWinner at Dragon*Con had nothing to do with the other one.

Your unfounded insinuation is both insulting and damaging to both Dragon*Con and NetWinner. There was nothing odd about the "business decision". Why wouldn't the company want to see if NetWinner's casual games could find an audience with a sci-fi, game-oriented gathering?

NetWinner is a game that gives people a chance to win. There are no "earnings" here; playing a free online game is not a job. It's a privilege. If you don't enjoy it, don't play. If you do, please continue.

As a venture-backed start-up company, NetWinner is unbiased in its pursuit of potential investors, as any company should be. Mr. Coffman has invested in NetWinner, as well as many other companies and industries, not unlike many other successful businesspeople. If your readers have issues with loose connections to “adult” content, they may also consider boycotting HBO, Cinemax, or Showtime, reading any magazines from Time Warner or Hearst Corporation, buying any products from General Electric, and staying in any hotels with pay-per-view movies. They might also boycott Hannah Montana and other Disney content, perhaps even Disney’s advertisers, since their companies produce controversial “adult” content including movies such as Pulp Fiction, Cold Mountain, and many others.

You are indeed correct I wrote an article about Mr. Coffman. I was assigned the article six years ago by a business magazine and was very impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit and success of the man I interviewed. I also wrote for that magazine about a professional bass fisherman, an auto racing safety expert, a billionaire auto dealership owner, and an Olympic track coach. I have written for hundreds of major magazines and newspapers including Time, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle and Playboy among others. I'm proud of all my work. When presented the opportunity to work for NetWinner several years later, I gladly accepted.

As for the backlog in prize fulfillment, it is a primary concern here and we are working fervently to not only bring it up to date but improve it going forward. The reality remains that NetWinner has paid over 20,000 individuals in instant win and redeemed cash and prizes since its inception less than two years ago. The delays in fulfillment are an ongoing concern and are primarily due to the company's growth and continued diligence towards fraud prevention.

Your information regarding the company's status with Ecount, a MasterCard solutions provider owned by Citi Group was also false and misleading. Any person at Ecount who would divulge company information would violate legal confidentiality agreements, which would constitute an egregious breach of contract.

What is NetWinner? It's a business based on giving lots and lots of people a place to have fun while playing engaging casual games with the chance to win some cash and prizes. It is and will always be free to play because of its advertising-supported model. For the player, it's meant to be an enjoyable diversion, not a career. It's an opportunity to win cash and prizes, not an obligation.

Lastly, reviews of posts made by you on your site and others such as gather.com, by legal counsel has caused them to inform senior NetWinner management that these false representations, as disseminated, may constitute malice aforethought, libel, and wire fraud. While it will not repair the damage you have already done, we expect a retraction and ask that you please consider carefully before making any further misrepresentations about NetWinner. We reserve the right to take further action as necessary.

Steve Goldberg
Director of Communications
NetWinner, LLC

 

[reford]

There are replies to this letter on CompareRewards, just FYI.