The Post I Didn't Want to Write - When Companies Don't Follow Through

Well, I'm very sorry I'm having to write this post.

I have delayed, procrastinated and debated

about whether I should write it at all.

But, I find it a little ridiculous when large companies

use us bloggers as part of their PR strategy and then don't follow

through on their end of the bargain.

Who am I talking about here?

Tassimo.

Way back on March 3rd, I got an email from a fellow blogger that

I'd won her giveaway for a Tassimo T20 Brewing System.

(I even blogged about it HERE!)

As you can imagine I was pretty excited! That was a $129 value!

My mom and aunt both have Kerig's and I was interested to see

how the Tassimo system compared to theirs.

I waited.

April 28th I sent the blog owner an email saying I hadn't

received it yet and was wondering if she'd heard anything.

She replied that she would attempt to follow up with them.

On May 24th the blog owner emailed me asking if I'd

received the product yet.

I said that I hadn't.

This is the response from her,

"I haven't received a response from them,

its weird, like they are ignoring me.

 I'll try to see if I can get another email contact from

some blogger friends. I'll keep you posted."

Well, it is almost August and I've yet to see my Tassimo.

This is unfortunate on several levels.

Obviously, I'd like to get my winnings! =)

AND in anticipation of receiving my Tassimo,

I'd purchased some coffee pods to use in it - wasted money on my part.

But even worse than that, I think, is that they wasted

that bloggers time and blog space for their advertising

and then made her look bad in the end.

Having done reviews and giveaway's for companies myself,

I'd be pretty upset if they failed to send the product -

and then ignored me when I tried to contact them about it!

Yes, she got a Tassimo system out of the deal,

but she spent time writing a review, hosting a giveaway,

and using up valuable blog space on a company who

didn't follow through on their end of the deal.

Shame on you Tassimo!

I'd love some feedback on this.

What do you think about this situation?

Has this ever happened to anyone else?

(Blogger or winner)

Disclaimer: I've purposely not revealed the name of the blog I won this product from.

I feel her blog is reputable and she doesn't have control over a company's actions.

In my Mailbox

I finished my Outlander book just in time! 

I got the mail today and there was my copy of 

Abandon by Meg Cabot to read as part of 

Once Upon A Twilight's Book Tour! 

Super excited to read this book. 

Review coming shortly!

Why Blogs are Great

Know why blogs/blogging is great?

Because of the FREE STUFF!

Today I went to get my mail and this is what was in the mailbox

One pair of shoes that I paid $.99 for after using 

my Overstock.Com gift card I received for 

some Christmas posting.

AND

A book I won over at Colloquium (a book blog)

called Stilettos & Scoundrels!

Ever since I started blogging it's been

super exciting to go to the mailbox everyday!

No longer does it only give me bills!

I never know what might be in there for me to find.....

Like My Blog? Vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs!

Little Sprout Surprise Gift Exchange?

First of all, I want to say hello to all my new readers!

I am very excited that you've found me and I hope that you choose to stay!

I purposely do not require a GFC follow for my giveaways

in hopes that you WANT to be a follower (and leave me comments!)

I have a little question for all my readers...

(there are almost 450 of you now - wow!)

I was thinking that it may be fun to have a gift exchange between readers.

I have a theme/idea in mind, but thought I'd find out an interest level

before putting a bunch of work into it.

I'm thinking a $20-$25 spending limit -

do you think that sounds like a reasonable amount?

You would send a gift and receive a gift - just for fun!

Who doesn't love getting surprises in the mail?!

Send me an email or leave me a comment here

if you'd be interested in participating.

More details to come!

Like My Blog? Vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs!

In The Mail

I know... I've been a little absent from actual posts for a few days. Other than my giveaway post yesterday, I've been super busy all weekend and just decided that the easiest thing to cut was blogging. =)

But... now I'm back and I really do have some things to share! Okay.. this is kind of like "Show and Tell" when you were a kid - only it's what I got in the mail yesterday! Yay! Always so exciting when you go to the mailbox and there is a box for you. Doesn't matter if you know what it is or not haha!

So here's what I got yesterday -

These are all things for our trip - and if you can't figure out exactly what it all is (uh...like the camo thingy) don't worry because of course I'm going to tell you.

SafeFit By My Side Harness with Backpack, Purple/Black/Grey-

before you all think I'm a terrible mom for putting my child on a leash just think about how much easier this is going to make our time in the airport. Instead of having to hold him or restrain him the entire time we're waiting, he'll be able to walk around and explore and get some energy out before we get on the 5 hour plane ride. I like this one because the tether is actually removable and he can just wear it as a backpack. Only big enough to hold maybe a book and a sippy cup, but I think this is going to do the trick.

Next is the BooginHead SippiGrip, Boy Camo-

Also thought this would come in handy at the airport - and airplane - and the Dallas Zoo. Since the Little Guy is in a throwing phase.

And lastly our favorite Sandra Boynton - What's Wrong Little Pookie. =)

Okay... I promised the Little Guy we'd go for a walk, so we better head out. It finally warmed up today, so I thought we better take advantage of the sun while we have it.

In the Mail!

Fun stuff I received in the mail today!

My yarn from Knit Picks! Yay! I sold a bunch of my Candy Corn hats on Etsy and ran out of yarn! I've been hoping my yarn would come quickly, as I have more hats to knit up! =)

Also, I won this book Seduced By A Highlander from

Michelle and Leslie's blog - booksandmakeup.blogspot.com during Blogmania (or BlogFest maybe?)

Treasures in the Mail

Yesterday was a fun day to go to the mailbox. I think my family thinks I'm crazy because I'm doing all this stuff, penpals, giveaways, book swaps... etc., but it really makes it fun to get your mail everyday. No more dreading what bills are in there, but looking forward to FUN STUFF!

Here was my loot from yesterday:

I Spy toy from aebaby for our trip to Texas at the end of October (read more about that here). I side note about aebaby - I contacted aebaby because I wanted a gender neutral fabric used for my toy and there weren't any listed (although I'd seen them in the shop before). She sent me two graphics picturing available fabrics to choose from. Then I said which one I wanted (this was on Sunday) and she make me a custom toy and mailed it out on Tuesday (Monday was a holiday). Awesome customer service.

Then at the end of August I entered a giveaway over at Fabulous Family Reviews and one a Whamies Cloth Diaper! Whoo hoo! 587 entries and I won - how exciting!

Bloggy Opportunities

Well, the last couple months I've found so many great things to participate in here in the blogging world! I think my husband thinks I'm a little crazy because I keep saying, "Oh! can you watch in the mail? I'm expecting ___!" Or "Oh! By the way... I'm participating in this new ____!" Haha.

Here are a few things that I'm doing - I think you should check them out too!

Busy Moms Book Club

This months book is Where Are You Now? by Mary Higgins Clark. I'm a little nervous about this, since it's a little out of my normal realm of reading material. I'm not sure how well I'm going to like the Suspense genre, but I'm willing to give it a try. I've got the whole month of September to read it and then link back to Busy Moms Who Love To Read with my review.

Pear Tree Greetings Pen-to-Paper Challenge
I've posted about this quite a bit - find out more here. I've had a great experience with this so far... I would definitely encourage others to try sending out a few unexpected cards to friends and see what happens!

Dear Darlings Penpal Project

I sent out my "intro" letters to my three penpals for the Dear Darlings penpal project this past week and I'm looking forward to receiving letters back soon! Check out he Oh, My Darling blog for more information - there are "rolling admissions".

And last but not least...
A Pretty Place to Play Book Swap
Unfortunately I'm posting this a couple days too late for newcomers as the admission deadline was September 1st, but I am waiting to hear back from B on who my swap buddy will be. Then we are both supposed to pick a favorite book from our bookshevles and mail it off to our buddy! Hosted by A Pretty Place to Play.

Cool Stuff in the Mail!

I'm waiting for several things in the mail right now. I'm due to receive a cloth diaper that I won in a giveaway (whoohoo!), two workout videos I ordered (possibly a lost cause, but it makes me feel productive anyway) and my battery charger from Energizer.

Today the FedEx guy dropped off my Energizer Recharge Smart Charger along with a $15 Target Gift Card! Yay!

I think possibly I'm more excited about the Target Gift Card than the battery charger, but I know we'll use it a lot AND our current rechargable batteries are pretty much dead, so this was kind of a blessing. =) Thanks Energizer!

Dear Darlings Penpals

Well, I'm pretty excited to annouce that I've joined up with Dear Darlings - a penpal project hosted by Melissa over at Oh, My Darling. I came across her blog a few weeks ago and discovered the Dear Darlings project. I've been matched up with three other ladies to exchange letters via snail mail. She is taking "rolling admissions", so if you're interested in joining up, visit her blog post about it here.

To go along with my Dear Darlings letters though, I needed some stationary. Because of course, if I was going to be sending letters through the mail I wanted some pretty paper to write it on. I figured I'd just run out to Target and pick up some.... well, think again.

There was NO stationary at Target unless I wanted to buy notecards. Notecards are apparently the new stationary because no one writes actual letters anymore! I came home and Googled "personal stationary" and what did it come up with? Notecards. I had some notecards from Pear Tree Greetings, but decided that just wasn't going to cut it since I was writing letters not notes. I finally discovered that you have to be really specific in your search and use the words "stationary letter sheets" in order to come up with the correct thing. I even searched Etsy, but not too much was available there either (that is, unless I wanted to spead a fortune). I did find a cute set from wevegotpaper.etsy.com, but she's closing her shop, so I snatched it up quick!

My mom went to one of those little specialty boutiques we have here in the downtown area and found ONE set of stationary and it's super cute also. Those sheets above are one side and then when you fold it up to put in the envelope, the other side looks like this:

Thanks Mom for finding me some suitable stationary for my penpal project. =)