Well, what do you know. It appears that social media does carry a bit of weight. That along with who knows how many people were shorted their rebates from Valvoline. Even though my UPC bar code was complete, Valvoline first declined my rebate because it is folded over a piece of cardboard. Here is the latest email I received after I responded "Sorry, the truth stays. If you want, sue me" after I first received a demand to take it off YouTube. Now I just received this:
Hi Mr. Norman,
I heard about your issue with the Valvoline offer so I jumped in and did some digging to see what was up. I'd be pretty frustrated too.
The first thing I did was have them cut you a check, and then I tried to figure out what went wrong. So, I have a check in hand now and ready to send to you. I found out the fulfillment house that processes these offers for Valvoline held back a few submissions because of what they said were partially damaged UPCs, and related issues. Even though they were strictly adhering to a policy, I would characterize this as a glitch, and I have informed them that 1) we need to have more flexibility in our process going forward, and 2) it is unacceptable that you waited months before being told there was a problem.
I hope you know we actually do stand by our offers, and actually redeemed a ton of those racing oil offers. To that end I have your check and will send it to the address I have at 3001 XXXX XXXX in Evansville. Also, please let me know what type and grade you're using and I'd like to send you a free case in a separate shipment.
I'm also happy to chat if you want to give us a call at 859-357-7777 and just ask for me. I'm also hoping that you agree that the YouTube posting is no longer needed.
Wishing you the best,
Rob
Rob Clendening
Manager, Global Brands
Ashland Consumer Markets