Pampers Rips off Moms and Babies

[Grandma]

My daughter saved Pampers Perks Points all last year- those points that come on the Pampers box. She would not even consider buying any other kind of diaper. She paid a lot more for Pampers than she would have for other diapers. She contacted the company to ask for coupons and they said that they did not generally give coupons because they had the PERKS program. She saved points from when the baby was born in February 2001 till the beginning of January 2002.

When she had enough points (the baby was now almost a year old!), I sent the points in for her (Jan 2002) with a handling fee of 14.95 to get the Lil Wrangler ride-on toy. They cashed my check and I heard nothing.

I checked the Pampers web site. They said the toy was backordered and would be available in July. We were not happy but decided it was OK because he was too small to ride it yet anyway.

Then two weeks ago, (MAR 2002), my daughter got a letter saying she had 14 days to return the enclosed postcard to "continue your participation in the Perks program" or they would just send the 14.95 back and our (useless) points and that would be it. If we chose to wait, she would get something (undefined). They said "we are reviewing other possible offers." The letter also said "We apologize for any inconvenience and want our loyal customers to know we value their participation." She sent back the postcard, but was very upset.


The program terminated Jan 21, 2002.

Pampers started the points program to build a loyal customer base, which they did. Now, because of the "success" of this program, they are in the process of destroying that loyalty! My daughter's second baby is due this month. He will not be wearing Pampers! She now realizes he can wear another brand and save enough to buy premium toys herself.

[hellollama]

I had some problems with the pampers perks program as well, but I don't think it is fair to say pampers is ripping anyone off.
Before I started saving the pampers points, I made sure to read the fine print on the forms. It says "while supplies last". I am savvy enough to realize that this means to gather as many points as possible as quickly as possible because they are probably going to run out of certain popular items (think Jeep Wrangler).Assuming that the baby actually uses a standard amount of diapers, I don't think it takes a whole year to earn enough points for a Jeep if you use pampers exclusively.
It only took me until September to save enough points for the Wrangler and I sent them in as soon as I hit the right amount. Even then I was skeptical that I would actually have sent it in before they ran out of them.
I am actually getting my Wrangler,but it won't ship until August 31. (Which means my son won't actually be using it much util next year, since we live in Michigan.) I did send in another set of points for another toy and got the same letter as your daughter. I just asked them to send my check back.
As for whether you actually save anything with this promotion, It depends. If your grandchild has no problem wearing discount brands, you may in fact save enough money to buy the toys yourself. My son had problems with diaper rash and could not wear anything but pampers baby dry for some reason, so I was buying pampers anyway.
It is true that pampers was in way over their heads with this program. They clearly had no idea how popular it would be. (Just try calling the hotline and listen to it hang up on you!) But I don't think they were ripping consumers off. They did't raise their prices just for this promotion. Consumers paid the same price before the promotion and pay the same price now. If someone switched to pampers from a cheaper brand just because of the promotion, they should have investigated the guidelines before doing so. Especially if they were that concerned with the price differential.

[sophiesmom]

To defend Pampers:
I too sent away my little annoying points i constantly cut off my diaper packs. I received the letter as mentioned above. I chose to stay in the program and wait to see what Pampers would do. It was a great decision... today I received a check for $108 from Pampers! I couldn't believe it. The letter said that they tried to get the merchandise I ordered, but it wasn't going to happen. So they itemized all the toys I ordered, and sent me the cash value for all, plus refunded my $ for shipping. I plan on cashing the check and buying some new toys for my daughter! :-)

[twins r fun]

Me, too! Although my check was only for $28, but that's a pretty good for what little trouble it was to clip those points and send them in. Now I can choose any toys I want!

Nicole

[luvbeinmama]

I agree! I got $90 to go buy some great toys!!! Way to go Pampers!

[toymaker]

We received our Wrangler back in March. Since then we have received two mailers saying it was back ordered and would ship in July. I wonder if we will end up with two? ;-)

[Momtotwo]

We also have had good results from the Perks program (AND WE LOVE THE DIAPERS AND WOULD NEVER USE ANY OTHER BRAND). We received about 10 toys from the perks over the course of the program and also recently received a check for $200 for the toys they were out of and would not be able to ship. We would have been buying pampers (premium) anyway since we have found through experimentation that they are significantly superior to other brands, and the plus of getting the toys, books and videos for just the cost of shipping seems to have been a good deal for us.

[starrynight]

I also got a check for $53.00 from pampers. But to get that check you had to send in the card that said You wanted to continue participation, otherwise your shipping was sent back to you. And you must read all fine print and never buy something just because of a promotion. I buy pampers anyway because they don't leak and their wipes are usually cheap at walmart. The fine print said points would not be returned, only shipping fees paid if you had a problem.


On a side note, luvs are the same thing as pampers, same company everything. I will buy luvs or pampers depending on sales.

[hellollama]

Actually, when I sent my form back for one item I told them I didn't want to continue participation and to just send the shipping and handling back. I did this because I did not know at the time they would be sending out checks for the cost of the product. They sent me the money for the item anyway. I believe they actually sent the check to everyone, even if they did not return the form. They also refunded the shipping and handling on my Jeep even though I did receive it, because it had been backordered. So I didn't pay anything for that item but received it anyway.

[Gagesmom]

Well, I agree with you, I felt ripped off when I had saved up lots of points and then found I couldn't use them. I also use Huggies (I use either Pampers or Huggies, whichever I have a coupon for), and Huggies still have their rewards thing going, but the toys aren't as cool. You'd think Pampers makes enough money to at least honor all the orders it did get before they cancelled the program!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At least they sent out checks, etc. I get the feeling this is the last free-stuff promotion Pampers puts out.