MilesBuzz! - Looking for advice: Getting Screwed by Alta Vista Rewards

On July 4 I took my daily visit to AltaVista and played their game. Surprise, I won 500k points! Or so I thought.

Over the next couple of days I didn't get the points added to my account and I didn't see any winners listed for July 4. I'm looking for suggestions after I got this response to an email asking them what was going on. By the way, I only played once and won on that single try.

--------------------------------

Dear Glen,

Thank you for playing the AltaVista Daily Instant Win Game. Unfortunately, over the Fourth of July weekend, we experienced some technical difficulties. While our system did correctly select legitimate daily winners, it also incorrectly informed many other Members that they were Instant Winners.

Please note that in accordance with the rules of the Instant Win game a Member is eligible to play the game once per day by clicking the link to the game page one time only.

We appreciate your understanding in this matter, and have deposited 1,000 bonus Points in your AltaVista Rewards account to make up for any inconvenience this may have caused you. You can view your account balance by visiting the Member Center at http://shopping.altavista.com/user/login.sdc.

Your satisfaction is important to us, and we sincerely hope you will continue to take advantage of the many benefits of AltaVista membership, including Web-wide shopping, fantastic rewards, and exceptional customer service.

Our Daily Instant Win game is now functioning properly, so please stop by http://shopping.altavista.com/rewards/ssiw.sdc for your chance to win.


Sincerely,

The AltaVista Team

I recieved the exact same letter. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif
..and I "won" friday night (7th).. then I immediately got the email.

[This message has been edited by lance (edited 07-07-2000).]

I got screwed to!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif I won on July 2nd, and July 4th. I got that letter to (on the 7th)

I gave them a few options in my reply.

The thing that gets me, is that they are telling me that some people won and others didnt (even though they were told they did win). Shouldnt they have just voided all winners/nonwinners for that day?

500k in points is not much (est $500cash) but its an entry into the weekly prize which is $10k and a trip. With odds of 1 in 140 (20 each day), I think the odds are pretty good.

Anyways, I gave them until end of day Monday to respond before I take other actions.

-ken

I went to sign up for this after reading that people were actually winning. What a colossal blunder!! They have the worst registration process, most error messages, run-you-in-a-cirlce process I have ever seen! I wrote to customer service and asked to have any trace of me removed from their system. I also mentioned the problems you had with semi-winning. They should take a look at the other programs out there to see how to administer this properly. I hope you guys can get what you deserve and not get ripped off. But I am sure their rules state, their decision is final and errors may happen http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

[This message has been edited by keithnj973 (edited 07-08-2000).]

Please write to your state's Attorney General. If you can figure out where
AltaVista is HQ'd, write to that AG too.

It is an election year and they seem to
be especially interested in the cra^H^H^
actions that you desribe. It'll get'm
notches for both sweepstakes fraud and
internet fraud - a double-win from the
AG perspective.

-doug

I, too, went to their site to register. Now I don't think I'll bother going back if that's how they're going to treat you. And I sent them a note saying so, too.
Hope they'll reconsider and give you all a better deal.

A follow up - customer (non)service wrote back saying since they are a free service they cannot/will not delete me from their system. I have to have 90 days of inactivity and supposedly then my account is cencelled. What a load of cr*p.

I wrote a message to AltaVista letting them know how unhappy I was. In the meantime, I discovered an interesting article on Yahoo that discussed the various glitches that happened on web sites on July 4. In the midst of the article was this very interesting statement paragraph:

All winners--legitimate and illegitimate alike--were sent an email informing them of the mistake. AltaVista spokesman Jim Shissler said the company will reward legitimate winners the $500 in credit as offered. He added that "winners" from the glitch will be given "something for their inconvenience for the false notification," but he did not elaborate what the prize would be.

Here's the reference to the entire article: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/cn/20000706/tc/glitches_let_net_shoppers_grab_free_go ods_1.html (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/cn/20000706/tc/glitches_let_net_shoppers_grab_free_goods_1.html)


[This message has been edited by TravelLover (edited 07-10-2000).]

I received a notice that due to the glitch I would receive 1,000 extra points. The irony is that I didn't sign up until the 5th. It must have been a major melt down at altavista.

And finally, to add insult to injury, AltaVista rewards posted 19 winners for July 4. I'm not listed among them, though I feel that I should be because I didn't break their "repeat try" rule.

I just received this e-mail in the continuing Alta Vista saga .........


As a follow-up to our earlier e-mails, I am writing to personally apologize to you for the technical problems associated with the AltaVista "Daily Instant Win" Game.

Some of you have questioned why we waited to inform you of these problems and exactly what transpired. The answer is simple: we wanted to have a complete understanding of the issues, how to fix them and who was affected. This issue has been a top priority for us.

Our investigation has narrowed the problem to bugs in the software code that caused an unforeseen site malfunction that happened under certain conditions. Consequently, you and other Members who played the Game during the Fourth of July holiday period and up to mid-day on July 8 may have mistakenly and, through no fault of your own, received a message stating that you had won 500,000 Points. We truly and sincerely regret this error.

While our Game rules permit us to make corrections due to technical errors such as this one, we understand how disappointing it must be to realize that you did not win this contest. Therefore, we have credited each Member who played the Game during this timeframe with an additional 5,000 Point bonus as a gesture of appreciation for your understanding and patience.

We will continue to investigate any additional issues and problems brought to our attention. And we will strive to improve our service and care of our Members. Thank you for your participation and use of the services provided by AltaVista.

Sincerely,

Mike Rubin
Vice President of Marketing and E-commerce
AltaVista Company

That's 6000 points (or 200 clickmiles) that I wouldn't have had otherwise. OK, but still lame in comparison to what the expectation brought on.

Now, if they took the list of people who got false winning messages (myself included), and "let" one of us be one of the 20 daily winners until the list ran out, why would that be so hard?

State of California
Office of the Attorney General
Department of Justice
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550

Consumer Fraud Division
District Attorney, Santa Clara County
70 West Hedding St.
San José, CA 95110

(Alta Vista lists its HQ as in Palo Alto.)

It looks like there isn't a daily winer anymore...(or not working today)