Though DTV converter boxes are stacked up in most electronics stores, there are not enough guaranteed government coupons for them since the funds for the program began to run out.
(Credit:
DTV2009.org)
With the scheduled transition to DTV broadcasting fast approaching (slated for February 17), one company is encouraging us to share the wealth. Retrevo's Good Neighbor Coupon Exchange Program links up those who have unused converter box coupons with those who are in need of them.
On Retrevo's DTV site, you simply choose whether you have a coupon to give or if you need one. Enter an e-mail address and a ZIP code and Retrevo will connect people living near each other so they can exchange. (Note: the person you are connected with will have your e-mail address, so consider that ahead of time.)
You can choose to give or receive your coupon through the mail or via an in-person exchange, but the only thing that can change hands is the coupons themselves--no buying or selling allowed.
Steve Horowitz, engineering director of Google's Android project to build a Linux-based open-source phone operating system, has left the company to become chief technology officer of Coupons.com.
"The company is at a pivotal point in its business, and I am eager to help further advance its development and deployment of new platforms and services for digital promotions," Horowitz said in a statement Tuesday.
Coupons.com offers coupons online. Using its technology, people printed coupons worth more than $300 million in 2008, up 140 percent from 2007, the company said, but it's not clear how many people actually used them.
A Dr Pepper promotion revolving around Guns N' Roses' new album has gone flat--and the band is getting the misdirected static.
The soda pop maker launched a marketing campaign in March that promised a free soda to "everyone in America" if the rock band released its long-awaited Chinese Democracy album this year. After a 17-year wait, the band finally released the album--and Dr Pepper gave fans 24 hours to go to its Web site to print a coupon for their free soda.
But apparently fans' thirst was greater than Dr Pepper predicted--or prepared for. The crush of visitors to the site crashed the site's servers, leading to a lot of angry fans, some of whom mistakenly blamed the band for their lack of liquid refreshment. Now frontman Axl Rose and his bandmates are ready to pop.
"When you go on the blogs and you read the responses from the fans, they associated Axl with this promotion...and blame him for the fact that they didn't get their free soda," Laurie Soriano, the band's lawyer, told CNN. "We've gone public with the fact that we are not involved but are trying to clean up the mess."
Dr Pepper told CNN that it had "taken great steps" to keep its part of the deal and that it had extended the window for the giveaway from 24 to 42 hours. The drink maker also set up a toll-free line to handle consumer requests for the coupons. All of those measures have since expired.
Despite those measures, the band is still waiting for its apology.
"The door to a lawsuit being filed is always open until the fans are taken care of and Dr Pepper has done the right thing," Soriano told CNN.
- prev
- 1
- next
