Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ***, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:
[Your Answer Here]
I will first respond to some of the uncalled for portion of PinchMe's response, which is how they started their response.As for submitting feedback on samples receivedI've done so with each thing I've received, even the stuff that I couldn't even bother to use as per the fact that it was never offered to me on any given "sample Tuesday" but they sent certain stuff anywaysThis happened more than once, one such item was a feminine product.They mention when a snack item is offered it can be offered only to female mambers residing in certain zip codes with kids living at homeThis is discriminatory to(ward) menI've made it quite clear with PinchMe several times that it's not 'necessarily' THEM discriminating, but that it's them allowing the companies they work with to provide samples to do soThey also specifically admitted to sending items that are neither offered nor claimed by any given member to (up to) all members).Now on to their lies regarding me specificallyotherwise referred to here as their actual response to my report.As I clearly stated above as well as made quite clear to PinchMe several timesTHEY do not 'directly' discriminate within the way their 'targeting' is set~upThey allow the companies they work with to provide samples to discriminateMy "complaint" has plenty "basis." One major factor of why I've ONLY received "six separate free PINCHme boxes containing "fifteen" different free product samples in total" is because when I first joined there was absolutely no way of knowing how their website works and thus I hadn't done anything for several monthsWhen I finally figured out their website I started claiming samplesHowever, there were also an uncalled for number of months in which nothing was offered to me at all yet, after finding out that there were products offered which there was no reason to not be 'targeted' to me and I wasn't able to get anything as a resultIt'd have been entirely different if I was offered products that there was no reason to not be offered to me yet the supply had been depletedAs stated above, of the products I've received thus far, at least a couple were indeed feminine products said products were never offered to me nor did I claim them but they were in my boxI never said I'd received any pet products, yet they claim otherwise.Of course I "accepted and agreed to" their "Terms of Service." Otherwise, I wouldn't be a memberHowever, there's also this thing called the lawNo company can override the law by including something in their TOS that would violate the lawThey also did this by recently doing a contest in which they insisted that everyone entering must be members and must use their email address they use for their PinchMe accountThey can't control how people use their email addressesI've even informed them of the fact that they can get more members by not requiring those entering to already have an account, thus those entering without an account would also be using an email address not already in PinchMe's systemThey ALSO added email addresses used when entering the contest to a list, which is illegal! Entering a contest (or even giveaway or sweepstakes) is not to be used as a tool to also add the email addresses to any list, especially not without properly informing those entering otherwise.I've had other members that also like the PinchMe *** page like my comments, especially the ones regarding the fact that they're allowing the companies they work with to provide samples to discriminate as well as sending, 'targeting' and not 'targeting' certain items that there's no reason to not offer to all membersThus, implicating the fact that they do need to change their 'targeting.' They claim I've harassed and abused others/them within my comments on their *** page, which most definitely is NOT trueThe fact that they lied about this implies that I indeed deserve to be unblockedMy "communication and sharing" within the comments of their *** posts have ALWAYS been positive as well as factual/trueMy comments have always bee "mindful of others" and have never included anyhting "offensive, threatening, unlawful" and most definitely have NEVER contained any "use of profanity." My comments have never 'featured' "swearing, bullying, personal attacks" (on anyone), have not 'contained' "political agenda," have never been "offensive, defamatory, disrespectful of or misleading to other fans" in any way whatsoever.If PinchMe unblocks me on *** then I most certainly can do my best to reword certain comments such as when a snack item is offered but wasn't 'targeted' to meHowever, they need to also realize the fact that people DO make mistakes even PinchMe doesIt was their 'mistake' to block me as per the fact that I did nothing wrongThey only blocked me after communication with them VIA EMAIL regarding how they set~up their recent contestThe block had absolutely NOTHING involving/regarding *** AT ALL.priately process your response, you MUST answer the question above
Sincerely,
*** ***
December **, 2015[redacted] [redacted] Dear Revdex.com Dispute Resolution Services:Thank you for forwarding the complaint that you received from [redacted]. We appreciate having an...
opportunity to respond to [redacted]’s particular claims and always appreciate feedback in general as it helps us improve our member experience and business overall. PINCHme.com is a free website and community that provides members the occasional opportunity to claim free grocery, beauty and other consumer packaged goods (CPG) samples which we send to them in a PINCHme branded box via the United States Postal Service. PINCHme’s service is entirely free for our members, with the only obligation being that our members provide honest feedback on each free sample that they receive. Our members provide feedback via completion of short multiple choice surveys that appear in their online accounts a few weeks after receiving samples. Members who claim samples but do not complete their feedback surveys will not be able to claim additional free samples from PINCHme in the future, until their delinquent feedback surveys have been completed. PINCHme members may also choose to share their experiences (positive or negative) with the free products that they receive from PINCHme on social media, although this is entirely at their own choice (i.e ., opt-in) and is not mandatory.PINCHme’s clients from a revenue payment perspective are the CPG brands who pay PINCHme to market their products to all or specific portions of the PINCHme audience. Our clients determine the exact marketing specifications and requirements that PINCHme must contractually follow when offering their free product samples to our members, including the targeting of specific portions or segments of our membership base to the exclusion of others. In order to determine whether an individual PINCHme member meets the specifications and requirements set by one of our clients, PINCHme leverages information that the member has voluntarily provided to us in their member profile upon signup or at a later date (e.g., whether they have a pet), information available to us from any social media profile the individual has voluntarily linked to their PINCHme account (e.g. the member’s age from their [redacted] profile), interactions with our site over time (e.g., the member’s his tory of claiming similar or other samples) as well as data from various other external third party data sources. So for example, a client may direct PINCHme to only offer their snack food product to female PINCHme members of a certain age group, who shop at a particular grocery store, who reside within specific zip codes and who have young children living at home. PINCHme members who do not meet each and every one of the client’s specific targeting criteria will not be able to see or claim the product sample from PINCHme, notwithstanding that the member might otherwise feel the product is suitable for them.In addition, since only limited quantities of each client sample are available and samples are offered on a first-come-first-served basis, even if a PINCHme member meets a client’s targeting criteria, the member may nevertheless miss out on an opportunity to claim a free sample if all the samples have already been claimed by other members.Furthermore, since choosing whether or not to claim a sample is completely up to an individual PINCHme member and members typically do not claim samples that are not of interest to them, some clients direct PINCHme to offer their products to the entire PINCHme membership base in order to maximize brand awareness across the widest possible audience, rather than targeting a more specific segment of the PINCHme membership base. This may occasionally result in some members being offered free product samples that they do not feel are particularly suited to them. It should be noted that PINCHme members are not obligated to claim a free box of samples, claim any particular free product sample or, in fact, to be a PINCHme member at all. PINCHme allows and provides direction for members to easily deactivate their free PINCHme account and opt-out of any future communication from PINCHme at any time, if they so choose. In response to [redacted]’s specific complaint, PINCHme in no way “discriminated against” [redacted] and [redacted]’s complaint has no basis whatsoever. Since he signed up to be a PINCHme member, [redacted] has claimed and received six separate free PINCHme boxes containing fifteen different free product samples in total. None of the fifteen free products sent to [redacted] were feminine products or pet products.Most importantly, like all PINCHme members must do, [redacted]’s accepted and agreed to PINCHme’s Terms of Service Agreement ([redacted]) when he registered for his PINCHme account. The terms of this Agreement cover and refute all of the claims made by [redacted]. In particular, Section 1.4 of the Agreement states that:You acknowledge and understand that (i) you are not guaranteed to receive anything in return for using the Service, including but not limited to complimentary products, samples and/or any other promotions or giveaways, (ii) we offer complimentary products, samples, promotions and giveaways to select individuals that meet specific requirements including but not limited to those set by our clients, which we may or may not disclose to you at our complete discretion, and which you may not meet based on the information that you have provided, and (iii) these requirements are determined solely by us and may change at our discretion at any time.Section 2 of the Agreement further provides that:You acknowledge and agree that the form and nature of the Service which we provide may change from time to time without prior notice to you. You acknowledge and agree that we may decline to provide you access to the Service or stop (permanently or temporarily) providing the Service (or any related products, features, programs or Content) to you or to users generally at our sole discretion, without liability or prior notice to you. You may stop using the Service at any time. You do not need to specifically inform us when you stop using the Service. You acknowledge and agree that if we disable access to your account, you may be prevented from accessing the Service, your account details, or any files or other Content which is contained in your account. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate [redacted]’s request to change our targeting practice. Nor will we unblock him from posting on our [redacted] page due to his continued harassment and abuse of both PINCHme and other PINCHme members. PINCHme’s community guidelines, attached to this letter, and also publicly available in the ‘About’ section of our [redacted] page ([redacted]), provide for our complete discretion in blocking any user or deleting any comment that we believe does not meet our posted guidelines.Once again we appreciate Revdex.com Dispute Resolution Services bringing this to our attention and giving us the opportunity to respond to [redacted]’s claims.Sincerely,PINCHme Group, Inc. PINCHME’S [redacted] COMMUNITY GUIDELINESAvailable at [redacted])Our community guidelines aim to ensure that our [redacted] page is inclusive and inviting for everyone. We want to encourage positive communication and sharing, if you have a great product tip, video or question, please post it on our page. If you are commenting about a free sample you have received through PINCHme.com, please remember to acknowledge that you received a free sample in your response by including the hashtag #PINCHmeFreeSample.Please note the PINCHme community is here to create a community for PINCHme fans, if you have questions about PINCHme or experience any issues please email [redacted] and our customer service team will be able to assist you!Comment Moderation PolicyPlease be mindful of others. Comments will be removed if considered offensive, threatening, unlawful or contain the use of profanity. We review all comments and any content posted that breaks these guidelines will be deleted, and repeat offenders may be banned. If we feel any comments or posts are inappropriate we hold the right to delete these from the PINCHme page. The PINCHme [redacted] Page is a forum for fans to connect and communicate, if you have a customer service issue or complaint please email [redacted] and our customer service team will be able to assist you. It is PINCHme’s policy that any comment or wall post that features swearing, bullying, personal attacks (on authors, moderators, other users or any individual), contains a political agenda, are offensive, defamatory, disrespectful of or misleading to other fans will not be tolerated and will be removed as soon as possible. We will also remove any content that may put us (or you) in legal jeopardy. This includes potentially defamatory comments; material or links posted in potential breach of copyright and includes offensive profile pictures that contain profanities or indecent imagery. PINCHme also notes that [redacted] has its own policy in relation to use of pages and posting on the site, and expects users of this site abide by [redacted]’s policies for use of [redacted] generally. PINCHme does not endorse any threads or posts placed on this site and will remove any posts which do not comply with these policies.If you ever have any concerns that there are posts not in the keeping of this page, please email us at [redacted]. We will treat every contact with seriousness and confidentiality
To whom it may concern, PINCHme apologizes for the delay in deleting this individual’s member account. An oversight by a member of our Customer Service department meant that her account was flagged for ‘deactivation’ but the process wasn’t completed. Her account has now...
been closed, her information permanently deleted from our system and her email address deleted from our mailing list. In addition to emailing our customer service team, PINCHme members can deactivate and permanently delete their accounts at any time via clicking on a link labeled ‘Deactivate account’ that is provided at the bottom of their ‘Basic Profile’ [redacted]
* Sincerely, PINCHme Team
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ***, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:
[Your Answer Here]
I will first respond to some of the uncalled for portion of PinchMe's response, which is how they started their response.As for submitting feedback on samples receivedI've done so with each thing I've received, even the stuff that I couldn't even bother to use as per the fact that it was never offered to me on any given "sample Tuesday" but they sent certain stuff anywaysThis happened more than once, one such item was a feminine product.They mention when a snack item is offered it can be offered only to female mambers residing in certain zip codes with kids living at homeThis is discriminatory to(ward) menI've made it quite clear with PinchMe several times that it's not 'necessarily' THEM discriminating, but that it's them allowing the companies they work with to provide samples to do soThey also specifically admitted to sending items that are neither offered nor claimed by any given member to (up to) all members).Now on to their lies regarding me specificallyotherwise referred to here as their actual response to my report.As I clearly stated above as well as made quite clear to PinchMe several timesTHEY do not 'directly' discriminate within the way their 'targeting' is set~upThey allow the companies they work with to provide samples to discriminateMy "complaint" has plenty "basis." One major factor of why I've ONLY received "six separate free PINCHme boxes containing "fifteen" different free product samples in total" is because when I first joined there was absolutely no way of knowing how their website works and thus I hadn't done anything for several monthsWhen I finally figured out their website I started claiming samplesHowever, there were also an uncalled for number of months in which nothing was offered to me at all yet, after finding out that there were products offered which there was no reason to not be 'targeted' to me and I wasn't able to get anything as a resultIt'd have been entirely different if I was offered products that there was no reason to not be offered to me yet the supply had been depletedAs stated above, of the products I've received thus far, at least a couple were indeed feminine products said products were never offered to me nor did I claim them but they were in my boxI never said I'd received any pet products, yet they claim otherwise.Of course I "accepted and agreed to" their "Terms of Service." Otherwise, I wouldn't be a memberHowever, there's also this thing called the lawNo company can override the law by including something in their TOS that would violate the lawThey also did this by recently doing a contest in which they insisted that everyone entering must be members and must use their email address they use for their PinchMe accountThey can't control how people use their email addressesI've even informed them of the fact that they can get more members by not requiring those entering to already have an account, thus those entering without an account would also be using an email address not already in PinchMe's systemThey ALSO added email addresses used when entering the contest to a list, which is illegal! Entering a contest (or even giveaway or sweepstakes) is not to be used as a tool to also add the email addresses to any list, especially not without properly informing those entering otherwise.I've had other members that also like the PinchMe *** page like my comments, especially the ones regarding the fact that they're allowing the companies they work with to provide samples to discriminate as well as sending, 'targeting' and not 'targeting' certain items that there's no reason to not offer to all membersThus, implicating the fact that they do need to change their 'targeting.' They claim I've harassed and abused others/them within my comments on their *** page, which most definitely is NOT trueThe fact that they lied about this implies that I indeed deserve to be unblockedMy "communication and sharing" within the comments of their *** posts have ALWAYS been positive as well as factual/trueMy comments have always bee "mindful of others" and have never included anyhting "offensive, threatening, unlawful" and most definitely have NEVER contained any "use of profanity." My comments have never 'featured' "swearing, bullying, personal attacks" (on anyone), have not 'contained' "political agenda," have never been "offensive, defamatory, disrespectful of or misleading to other fans" in any way whatsoever.If PinchMe unblocks me on *** then I most certainly can do my best to reword certain comments such as when a snack item is offered but wasn't 'targeted' to meHowever, they need to also realize the fact that people DO make mistakes even PinchMe doesIt was their 'mistake' to block me as per the fact that I did nothing wrongThey only blocked me after communication with them VIA EMAIL regarding how they set~up their recent contestThe block had absolutely NOTHING involving/regarding *** AT ALL.priately process your response, you MUST answer the question above
Sincerely,
*** ***
December **, 2015[redacted] [redacted] Dear Revdex.com Dispute Resolution Services:Thank you for forwarding the complaint that you received from [redacted]. We appreciate having an...
opportunity to respond to [redacted]’s particular claims and always appreciate feedback in general as it helps us improve our member experience and business overall. PINCHme.com is a free website and community that provides members the occasional opportunity to claim free grocery, beauty and other consumer packaged goods (CPG) samples which we send to them in a PINCHme branded box via the United States Postal Service. PINCHme’s service is entirely free for our members, with the only obligation being that our members provide honest feedback on each free sample that they receive. Our members provide feedback via completion of short multiple choice surveys that appear in their online accounts a few weeks after receiving samples. Members who claim samples but do not complete their feedback surveys will not be able to claim additional free samples from PINCHme in the future, until their delinquent feedback surveys have been completed. PINCHme members may also choose to share their experiences (positive or negative) with the free products that they receive from PINCHme on social media, although this is entirely at their own choice (i.e ., opt-in) and is not mandatory.PINCHme’s clients from a revenue payment perspective are the CPG brands who pay PINCHme to market their products to all or specific portions of the PINCHme audience. Our clients determine the exact marketing specifications and requirements that PINCHme must contractually follow when offering their free product samples to our members, including the targeting of specific portions or segments of our membership base to the exclusion of others. In order to determine whether an individual PINCHme member meets the specifications and requirements set by one of our clients, PINCHme leverages information that the member has voluntarily provided to us in their member profile upon signup or at a later date (e.g., whether they have a pet), information available to us from any social media profile the individual has voluntarily linked to their PINCHme account (e.g. the member’s age from their [redacted] profile), interactions with our site over time (e.g., the member’s his tory of claiming similar or other samples) as well as data from various other external third party data sources. So for example, a client may direct PINCHme to only offer their snack food product to female PINCHme members of a certain age group, who shop at a particular grocery store, who reside within specific zip codes and who have young children living at home. PINCHme members who do not meet each and every one of the client’s specific targeting criteria will not be able to see or claim the product sample from PINCHme, notwithstanding that the member might otherwise feel the product is suitable for them.In addition, since only limited quantities of each client sample are available and samples are offered on a first-come-first-served basis, even if a PINCHme member meets a client’s targeting criteria, the member may nevertheless miss out on an opportunity to claim a free sample if all the samples have already been claimed by other members.Furthermore, since choosing whether or not to claim a sample is completely up to an individual PINCHme member and members typically do not claim samples that are not of interest to them, some clients direct PINCHme to offer their products to the entire PINCHme membership base in order to maximize brand awareness across the widest possible audience, rather than targeting a more specific segment of the PINCHme membership base. This may occasionally result in some members being offered free product samples that they do not feel are particularly suited to them. It should be noted that PINCHme members are not obligated to claim a free box of samples, claim any particular free product sample or, in fact, to be a PINCHme member at all. PINCHme allows and provides direction for members to easily deactivate their free PINCHme account and opt-out of any future communication from PINCHme at any time, if they so choose. In response to [redacted]’s specific complaint, PINCHme in no way “discriminated against” [redacted] and [redacted]’s complaint has no basis whatsoever. Since he signed up to be a PINCHme member, [redacted] has claimed and received six separate free PINCHme boxes containing fifteen different free product samples in total. None of the fifteen free products sent to [redacted] were feminine products or pet products.Most importantly, like all PINCHme members must do, [redacted]’s accepted and agreed to PINCHme’s Terms of Service Agreement ([redacted]) when he registered for his PINCHme account. The terms of this Agreement cover and refute all of the claims made by [redacted]. In particular, Section 1.4 of the Agreement states that:You acknowledge and understand that (i) you are not guaranteed to receive anything in return for using the Service, including but not limited to complimentary products, samples and/or any other promotions or giveaways, (ii) we offer complimentary products, samples, promotions and giveaways to select individuals that meet specific requirements including but not limited to those set by our clients, which we may or may not disclose to you at our complete discretion, and which you may not meet based on the information that you have provided, and (iii) these requirements are determined solely by us and may change at our discretion at any time.Section 2 of the Agreement further provides that:You acknowledge and agree that the form and nature of the Service which we provide may change from time to time without prior notice to you. You acknowledge and agree that we may decline to provide you access to the Service or stop (permanently or temporarily) providing the Service (or any related products, features, programs or Content) to you or to users generally at our sole discretion, without liability or prior notice to you. You may stop using the Service at any time. You do not need to specifically inform us when you stop using the Service. You acknowledge and agree that if we disable access to your account, you may be prevented from accessing the Service, your account details, or any files or other Content which is contained in your account. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate [redacted]’s request to change our targeting practice. Nor will we unblock him from posting on our [redacted] page due to his continued harassment and abuse of both PINCHme and other PINCHme members. PINCHme’s community guidelines, attached to this letter, and also publicly available in the ‘About’ section of our [redacted] page ([redacted]), provide for our complete discretion in blocking any user or deleting any comment that we believe does not meet our posted guidelines.Once again we appreciate Revdex.com Dispute Resolution Services bringing this to our attention and giving us the opportunity to respond to [redacted]’s claims.Sincerely,PINCHme Group, Inc. PINCHME’S [redacted] COMMUNITY GUIDELINESAvailable at [redacted])Our community guidelines aim to ensure that our [redacted] page is inclusive and inviting for everyone. We want to encourage positive communication and sharing, if you have a great product tip, video or question, please post it on our page. If you are commenting about a free sample you have received through PINCHme.com, please remember to acknowledge that you received a free sample in your response by including the hashtag #PINCHmeFreeSample.Please note the PINCHme community is here to create a community for PINCHme fans, if you have questions about PINCHme or experience any issues please email [redacted] and our customer service team will be able to assist you!Comment Moderation PolicyPlease be mindful of others. Comments will be removed if considered offensive, threatening, unlawful or contain the use of profanity. We review all comments and any content posted that breaks these guidelines will be deleted, and repeat offenders may be banned. If we feel any comments or posts are inappropriate we hold the right to delete these from the PINCHme page. The PINCHme [redacted] Page is a forum for fans to connect and communicate, if you have a customer service issue or complaint please email [redacted] and our customer service team will be able to assist you. It is PINCHme’s policy that any comment or wall post that features swearing, bullying, personal attacks (on authors, moderators, other users or any individual), contains a political agenda, are offensive, defamatory, disrespectful of or misleading to other fans will not be tolerated and will be removed as soon as possible. We will also remove any content that may put us (or you) in legal jeopardy. This includes potentially defamatory comments; material or links posted in potential breach of copyright and includes offensive profile pictures that contain profanities or indecent imagery. PINCHme also notes that [redacted] has its own policy in relation to use of pages and posting on the site, and expects users of this site abide by [redacted]’s policies for use of [redacted] generally. PINCHme does not endorse any threads or posts placed on this site and will remove any posts which do not comply with these policies.If you ever have any concerns that there are posts not in the keeping of this page, please email us at [redacted]. We will treat every contact with seriousness and confidentiality
To whom it may concern, PINCHme apologizes for the delay in deleting this individual’s member account. An oversight by a member of our Customer Service department meant that her account was flagged for ‘deactivation’ but the process wasn’t completed. Her account has now...
been closed, her information permanently deleted from our system and her email address deleted from our mailing list. In addition to emailing our customer service team, PINCHme members can deactivate and permanently delete their accounts at any time via clicking on a link labeled ‘Deactivate account’ that is provided at the bottom of their ‘Basic Profile’ [redacted]
* Sincerely, PINCHme Team