City Mommy's Professionalism/Respect or LACK OF - Update 4/12/10

Back in December I was introduced to a site called City Mommy. Initially I was SUPER excited because this site was fairly new and had community forums for different cities. So, as always when I find something that has great potential I take a head dive and jump right in to help out however I can!

Immediately I started referring all my friends to this site then about a week in I found out there was a referral contest with great prizes but I couldn’t find anything with details for me to promote it. I thought being new to the site and not quite familiar with it all I missed posts some where because I was unable to find deadlines, prizes etc. So with the excitement to promote a great contest for a great site I contacted the leader of my area.

Mrs. C responded with a VERY basic response simply telling me it was a referral contest, send invites through the site and it included lots of prizes and she didn’t have one list because the info was in different areas on the site and she didn’t have all her notes.

Hmmm, this was my first iffy situation because at this point I was not motivated to promote the site but because I had already promoted it so much I just finished off promoting that day and stopped.

I forgot to mention that I also donated an Ultimate Body Applicator worth $30 value. Again, hoping to help out anyway I can.

Well surprisingly I WON!

Mrs. C Contacted me to let me know I won, request my address etc.. I sent everything back within minutes (proud wahm with fast response, YA me!)

So A MONTH goes bye and I was getting kind of worried that maybe I sent my address with typos or maybe they forgot my apartment number or misc reason. In the mean time I realized there was a second leader of my area, someone I had previously contacted off site and connected with, Mrs. G. So I contacted her just because I “knew” her and excitement was boiling, I was ready to see my prizes. Only to find out... Mrs. G quit the site and she told me she had no info on the prizes anymore.

So back to Mrs. C.. She told me she was “chasing down” prizes and hadn’t gotten everything together yet. That’s fine, she’s a mom, I understand. All prizes were donated locally so I just told her I didn’t mind picking up a prize or two, maybe then I would even get to meet the owners and see their goodies in person. She responded that she wanted to wait til she got them all. I joked, do you get paid gas, she responded “ I wish” and that was about it. She didn't seem excited about her "job", just right to the point like I wronged her.

So I waited.

Waited…

Waited..

Another month goes by and after a few attempts to reach Mrs. C and no response I went to the site owner. Mrs. D, she quickly responded but then just told me she was referring me to the site director and I would be contacted shortly. Sheesh, what a run-around but maybe now I can get prizes.

So Mrs. J contacted me trying to get this taken care of and I felt “comforted” that it would be resolved and I would get the prizes I worked for. I couldn’t believe what a mess it was just to get prizes for giving them ALL MY CONTACTS and even putting in extra effort to donate.

She said she was trying to figure out what went on, said Mrs. C claimed Mrs. G was in charge of that giveaway. In response to that I forwarded my entire email conversation with Mrs. C to prove I had not one time been contacted by anyone but her until I chose to contact Mrs. G. But again I contacted Mrs. G and explained the issue and she said she had a few donations from friends but that the info to redeem them was turned over to Mrs. C when she quit. Info forwarded to Mrs. J.

Mrs. J replied with apologies and said she would get it out soon, for me to understand she has kids etc etc {almost in a rude tone, maybe? YES, I think so}.. I COMPLETELY understand this, which is why I let it go for 2 months before contacting the owner but it was starting to be a pain in the rear.

At this point I was feeling bad.. I felt selfish asking for my prizes but then found out from a few friends their visit on this site wasn’t very pleasant either. So I dropped the guilt and back to "business."

So, almost 4 months later I got this decently sized package from CITY MOMMY! WOOHOOO Finalllllly!

I opened it up and ………

WOW! Lots of stuff. I got a few books, gift certificates, cute embroidered napkins, note cards and City Mommy T-shirt. I was SUPER siked and sooo ready to read the books, sport the shirt and redeem the  GC's.

One of the gift certificates I immediately recognized. Piggy Paint!!!! YES! I love this company. They offer Non-Toxic, odor FREE nail polish and nail polish remover. It’s the BEST!!! (But read what happen below)

So, I made a mental note to get RIGHT to my gift card when my daughter was awake the next day and then continued to look through my goodies.

Other Items I got: {Goodies that were so "well-respected" that they were thrown around in the box and bent up. Maybe it’s just due to shipping but that’s not great packaging or respect for the sponsors, in my opinion.}

1. Book from Good Housekeeping, The Complete Household Organizer. Review coming soon. AWESOME. Who couldn’t use one of these.

2. The Everything Baby Shower Book. Review coming soon.

Pretty cool. Great for future parties or to help others. BUT, there are notes in this book, sticky tabs throughout. So I got a second-hand book as a PRIZE for bringing traffic to their site? WOW. That's not very cool and not very professional, but that’s ok. It’s a good book.

3. Mama Never Told Me book. Review coming soon. 

A diary of unbelievable comments and questions posed to a pregnant woman.

HOW GREAT! I’m not pregnant but I have 3 kiddos, know a few pregnant people, this would be great to check out. I can relate ;) It's easier to laugh at that stuff now that its over.

4. Penguin thank you cards from unknown.

 Hmm, who can I thank for this prize?

5. Sailboat and flower cloth napkins for kids from Fabkins.

So adorable! I have two boys and one girl, perfect for all three to uh hum SHARE {I hope they are reading this lol}

6. City Mommy T-shirt.

It will fit me. Not sure if I wanna wear it and promote their site, again. It's been a crazy time since I got on there.

Now these are great prizes, my "complaints" may seem pity but it is just total disrespect the way the prizes were treated and how long it took for me to get them.. THEN to top it off!!

The next morning, I got my daughter all excited to shop {shopping doesn't happen often in this house, so when we do shop they are overly thrilled and appreciate ANYTHING} for new nail polish on the wonderful Piggy Paint site. We shopped for about an hour just to find out that the gift certificate had been………. REDEEMED! What? You’re kidding me!

At this point I was starting to realize that the prizes were probably just thrown together from their personal gifts or leftovers they got because there was obviously no respect for their sponsors or the prize winners. And this was just my final straw. CRAZINESS!

So yet again, I contacted Mrs. J, the director of the site to let her know that the GC was redeemed, the books were used and I was not very excited about this site anymore and wanted to know how I could remove my profile. {I couldn’t easily find the removal anywhere on the site.} Well that was a few weeks ago, she never responded and I even contacted the site owner again and STILL no response from her either!

So here I am to let you Mommy's know that , in my opinion, it is NOT worth the effort to give this site any attention because they don't appreciate it or show any of the members respest and especially not the sponsors. I was both..

To the sponsors who were listed on this site, if you would like to contact me for more details  concerning your donations I received by all means, please feel free to do so.

I would love to help you "right" this " wrong". Although I was not in charge of this mess I would love to make sure you and your prizes and websites get the attention they deserve!

4/12/2010
Simply wanting my voice to be heard as a mistreated sponsor and winner of this contest and also wanting to reach out as a reader and fellow blogger.

I was contacted by Mrs. J with a sincere apology, replacement for the Piggy Paint code and possible resolutions are being worked out with her.

I wanted to point out that I am not complaining about the prizes but the fact that I never received the original prizes (so where did those go?), the way I was treated (specifically by the owner, Mrs.D) and the fact that the owner STILL has not contacted me.

I am not looking for extra prizes or special treatment but an apology from the Owner for her lack of communication and unprofessional actions would be great! The true apology should go to these wonderul sponsors and I hope they receive it!

I was contacted by the owner with an apoplogy after my conversation with Mrs. J was forwarded to her. I am not sure if the apology was sincere and I honestly feel she has no clue of the exact situation. They do have 42 cities on their site but as a wahm of 3 (1 with steady medical checkups), 1 kid in school, business owner of a graphics company, blogger and affiliate for two successful businesses with well over 200 on my team (many cities, states and countries). I know that if I take on a responsibility when my plate is too full I may fail. Maybe this is the situation with City Mommy? 

Did she even read my post?????

** I was not paid in any fashion for this post. I have posted this to help other moms save their time and bring attention to the sponsors who deserve an apology and more respect then what they were given**

Share