Secure Gas Redemption review: A scam, can't get any response 157

Fred,

Join the crowd. There are probably 2, 000 of us that complained and the Florida AG finally filed suit against Tidewater Marketing Global Consultants Inc., and its president, Crystal Marie Clark on Friday, Feb 13th, 2009.

Meanwhile, the Pinellas Department of Justice and Consumer Services has opened a criminal investigation into the company and its president.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article975783.ece

Robin, I am so sorry you fell for it, just like I did. Only it was a car I bought last August.

Now, 6 months later I still have nothing to show for sending in receipts and coupons month after month.

But maybe there is some hope on the horizon.

The Florida State Attorney general is filing suit against them for unfair and deceptive business practices and the Pinellas Department of Justice and Consumer Services has opened a criminal investigation into the company, Tidewater Marketing Global Consultants Inc., and its president, Crystal Marie Clark.

You can read all about it here:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article975783.ece

We also got scammed by this company. We bought 2 TV's, two different names and addresses. We sent in vouchers with gas coupons since last October 2008. We only got e-mails stating they received our vouchers and gas receipts in good order. Last month they said their computers went down and they were in the process of fixing it. They said the gas cards were going out the end of Jan. What a joke. The e-mails now don't go through. The phone is shut off. We noticed on 2-15-09 the AG in Florida is filing a lawsuit with the company. We filed a report with the AG in Florida. We also reported this to Lenders Furniture store. They should take responsibility too. They should of checked out this gas redemption company before doing business with them. We would not of bought the TV from them.

We have been dealing with Secure Gas Redemption since June 2008 and have received $25 Gas Cards from June-October; however, we had to call to get them to send them to us. We have followed all the rules of this promotion, but this company is not. Now we cannot get in touch with them either by phone or email. Can you help us

John Steggemann
Troy, OH

We have been dealing with Secure Gas Redemption since June 2008 and have received $75 Gas Cards for June-August; however, we had to call few times before they send them to us. Now we cannot get in touch with them either by phone or email, and their web-site no longer exists.

Ashley Furniture has decided to use a different marketing company, which in turn is using a different gasoline redemption company.
MDC Group [protected]) has taken over where Tidewater left off. The website for the new redemption program is: www.claimyourgas.com
I am told MDC is going to make Tidewater fulfill their agreement with consumers. Hmmm...okay.
Ashley Furniture told me MDC was going to honor any past gas card submissions, but when I talked to MDC the lady on the phone told me otherwise. Again, not sure who to believe. I read the article about Tidewater and the Attorney General. Pretty strong action. I see www.freebeegas.com is no longer in service and I've noticed www.gasolineredemption.com has made subtle changes to their site.

Foolishly I still await my 3 gas cards to arrive from Tidewater. To be honest I don't have any more faith in MDC to fulfill the contract. Sounds like a pyramid scheme to me. Pay the top of the crop first.

B.T.W.: I live in Canada.

I have sent in vouchers since August 2008 and have not gotten the first card yet. I have e-mailed and been assured they will send them. I called several months ago and it said they couldn't take my call. Then yesterday Feb 20th 09 it said the phone number was out of order then on the web site to call a direct Fl line. Today it wo't even come up on the internet? Guess it was a scam. j in Ohio

I have been sending my gas redemption coupons to your company faithfully since December of 2008 and have yet to receive anything from your company except for 2 emails stating that you have received December and Januarys mailing of 2009. I have tried to reach your phone number and sent emails that sent me to the complaintsboard.com so now I guess I have found out I have been scammed. So instead of receiving $500.00 worth of gas I will be receiving air that I have spent more money on by sending envelopes and stamps that I also spent money on. You should be ashamed of yourselves, cheating, lieing and stealing you know you will be punshed maybe not now but God is watching you.
Beavercreeksmith@aol.com

I have had the same problem. I think I'm going to contact the Chevrolet Dealer and file a complaint with them.

I am no longer receiving emails back from this Laura L. Edwards (from Tidewater). I have sent several emails asking her where my cards are...no reply from her.

I am still awaiting my new voucher to arrive in the mail (from MDC).

My last resort is to call Laura and harass her - I would, but I don't want to waste money on long distance fees!

I see the 1-800 number is no longer in service (for Canada, at least.)
So, does that mean FreeBeeGas is no longer?
I hope the Florida State Attorney continues in their quest to shut down this company, and hold the owner liable for all outstanding cards owed to past and current customers. I'm sure the amount owed is a substantial dollar amount.

One burning question I have is how did the companies that used this service not know this whole thing was a scam?

During a visit to a recent Trade Show, I noticed a company soliciting other companies for "FREE" gas. The company in question is claimyourgas.com. This one works a bit different from freebeegas.com in that you can shop for groceries, as well as other commodities. You are not limited to only gas purchases. The fee to sign up is $25.00 (quite a bit more than the $5.00 registration fee the other company was charging.)
I really can't see any company paying $25 on $100 spent as a reimbursement for shopping at their store.
As an owner, I would not pay an advertising company $25.00 for $100.00 in receipts. I would have to think it would be cheaper to advertise in "print", "radio" or "tv". I may be wrong.

Suppose they go for it. Here's what I came up with:
Consumer spends $100.00 and submits original receipts in.
(Now we all know most goods are marked up at least 50-100%, so assuming a 50% markup, the company has sold you $100.00 in product, which cost them $50.00). Now, the company is supposed to reimburse me back $25.00, that means they have made $25.00 profit from my $100.00 of spending. That is a very low profit margin, considering they still have to pay their associated costs (heating, electricity, staff, etc.)
I, for one, can't see this as being legit.

One of the companies listed on the sheet I was given at the show listed Wal-Mart as one of the stores you can shop at. I don't know about you but, I don't believe Wal-Mart needs to do any advertising. People seem to flock to their stores in herds (at least in Canada).

I still think these companies are operating a "Pyramid" scheme that pays the top of the crop first. They rely on new customers signing up..that's how they keep making money.

The $25.00 gift card supposedly can only be used at the place you bought your goods at. That means the $25.00 gift card in turn is only costing the company $12.50 (assume a 50% markup). That means they are making a better profit than what I outlined.

Having said that, my mind has not been swayed to think this offer is legit.

Hi,
I have been in a similar situation since we bought furniture from Ashely Furniture in Oct 2008. We have sending in our receipts without any response. Calls to Ashley Furniture Customer Service are re-directed to the store we bought our furniture from which re-directs us to contact the gas company directly. What a scam!
Finally, after complaining to the manager at the local Ashley store we got this website that states that gas company has been taken over by the Attorney General of Florida. You can send in your redemption code to get an update. Hopefully, this will get the ball rolling.
-Ontario, Canada
www.gasresults.com

(AND ANY OTHER CANADIAN'S THAT WERE SCAMMED BY THIS OFFER)

You should contact Peggy from Ashley Furniture, located in Wisconsin.
A new marketing firm has taken over the gasoline redemption program (MDC).
Thru Peggy I was contacted by MDC and sent out a new gasoline redemption certificate (claimyourgas.com).
You should not have to jump thru hoops to get what was promised to you. The staff at your local Ashley store are not acting in a professional, nor compassionate manner.

MDC told me (they) are diligently trying to get Tidewater to honor all outstanding certificates. If the Florida State Attorney has taken "ownership" of Tidwater don't expect to see the gas cards anytime soon. I am owed from October 2008 and I don't expect to see them in the mail anytime soon.
Ashley Furniture originally told me MDC would be honoring the outstanding cards, but that story changed once I personally spoke to MDC.

MDC also sent me out a "vacation" certificate, good for a few nights stay at some resorts/vacation spots in the U.S., which doesn't do me much good since I'm in Canada. It would probably cost me more to purchase my airfare on the side than to purchase a complete vacation to one of the spots they offer.

The last update I have is Ashley Furniture is meeting again to discuss what should be done for the Canadian purchasers.

You can reach Peggy at Ashley Furniture (in Wisconsin) at [protected].
You can reach MDC at [protected] (You'll reach one of their CSRs)

I have not received my gas cards for October, November, December (all '08), January ('09). And now February is almost done and even though I'll probably submit my receipts (I was instructed to send them to Tidewater), I don't hold out hope to see my $25 gas cards. I did receive my new redemption coupon in the mail however, I am waiting to activate (it) until I hear back from Ashley Furniture (to see what they plan to offer Canadian purchasers).

Stick with it people and one day we will prevail. I'm kinda glad Tidewater has been taken over by the Florida State Attorney! Looks like they got what was coming to them. I read somewhere the owner of Tidewater is up on non-related drug trafficking charges. Seems (she) sold some pills to an under-cover policeman.

Honestly, I can't see this company ever being allowed to be back in business. She'll probably change the name of her company and reopen for business as usual.

In regards to the statement above that the Attorney General has taken over the case of the alleged "scam" and the $500 reembersment voucher. I would like to know how reliable is the address that we are to give personal information and our voucher number? I am a bit reluctant to post anything. Is this a scam too? check out this address and see for yourself how shotty it looks!
I am unsure if I want to post anything. Does anyone know for certain this is legit?
www.gasresults.com

What should we do in the meantime? I filed a complaint. Should we all fill out the form at www.gasresults.com regardless of where our promtion is? I got mine thru Tire Kingdom. Do we keep buying gas at the same place and keep our receipts in the meantime? What do you all think?

I actually live very close to their business address. There was a story in the paper a few months ago about the problems they were having.

I would like to eventually get my $500. I just don't know what hoops to jump thru.

Thanks. I'm glad I found you all here. I was beginning to think I was crazy!

TO

I did have a look at the www.gasresults.com website and I agree it does look a bit amateurish. MDC group DID NOT give me that address to go to, they gave me www.claimyourgas.com; that's the one I'd be using to register!
And how did you come across the www.gasresults.com website? I first heard about thru your posting.

If in doubt call MDC and ask them personally (number supplied in my last post).

------------------------------

TO

How did you come across the www.gasresults.com website?
You should pay Tidewater a visit to see if they are still open for business.

-------------------------------

I'll update everyone with more information once I hear back from Ashley Furniture regarding the manner in which they are going to handle their Canadian customers.

The magnitude of just how many people have been affected by this promotion simply blows me away!

Just remember this..."If it's too good to be true, it probably is"...

But we all want to believe there are honest people in the world, and even though it seemed too good to be true, I still got suckered in to the deal. After all, it was an offer from Ashley Furniture. Their reputation is splattered with this promotion gone bad. They need to step up and take responsibility for this mess or their name will be tarnished forever!

I have sent in 2-cuponds and have not gotten back my $25.00 Gift Cards.
I tried calling the toll free # [protected] and it is not working.

I plan on contacting Tire Kingdom to also file a complaint.

I have tried to contact by Phone and Email and get not get with them. The Ph: # I tried is [protected].

I have sent in 2- couponds and have not recieve my Gift cards.

What? You're not getting something for nothing? Shocking!

I agree it's a scam. I sent in receipts for November 2008, December 2008, and January 2009. I have receipts ready to go for February 2009. To date, I have received nothing except 2 emails for earlier submissions to acknowledge they have my receipts. I bought new audio equipment for my house and the company from whom I bought the equipment had the $500 free gas card ad on their sign above their store entry. Fortunately, it was not for that reason I made my purchase there. Since then, the company (Tweeter in Raleigh NC) has filed bankruptcy and closed. Go figure.

I bought furniture from Ashleys in Dallas, TX and got this deal of 500$ GAS rebate back in sept.
I have mailed all my receipts back from Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan 09, Feb09. I have not received a single gift card.

Yesterday after contacting Ashleys they gave me phone number for MDC and the lady asked me to register at

gasresults.com

I saw in an earlier post that there are couple other websites that MDC group is asking others to register.

I have filed complaint on Florida Attorney Generals website, but have not received any confirmation on that. I tried contactig the Attorney Generals office but cant reach them.

Need to find out a way of handling this and getting my 500$ back.

Thinking of purchasing something from Ashleys on payment plan and not making those payments :))
(Scared of ruining my credit though)

Ashleys should suffer the same pain that we go through.

Sorry, CommonSense... but it was NOT "free". You have to register with them by paying a $4.95 sign-up fee first. So, technically... it costs these people (including myself) $5 to get fooled.

I would call expecting to get $25 in gas for $5 "something for nothing".
###s

My wife and I have been waiting for Ashley Furniture (U.S. head office) to get back to us regarding the "Free Getaway" certificate we received from them in the mail, along with the new registration certificate. The getaway offer is pretty useless to us - for us in Canada - as we would still need to pay for the cost of airfare to the U.S. destinations and once everything is tallied I'm pretty sure we could get a better price if we bought a package. So we await for a phone call, which was supposed to have already happened last week. Because we have been waiting to hear what they will do for us I haven't activated my gas certificate. The contact I have over at Tidewater is no longer replying to my email and to date MDC has been unsuccessful in getting them to honor any missed gas cards.

If I didn't have such a love for fight I probably would have given up on this a long time ago. I'll certainly think twice about buying anything else from Ashley Furniture too. We are in the middle of a struggle with our "New" furniture; it came damaged and they are only willing to "fix" the issues, not replace with another unit. This is not a warranty issue - it's a "hey, we sent you damaged goods but we're not going to replace it." Customer Service was rude to my wife and told her she either lets a technician come out and sew the new parts in or we take the unit "as-is"! What the hell kind of customer service is that?

I'm pretty much sick and tire of having to deal with Ashley Furniture and MDC on an almost daily basis. Again, as I said above, if it were'nt for the love of a good fight I probably would have given up long ago.

I will never fall for a "free gas" promotion ever again, unless it's an actual card that holds $500 in free gas, and not one that makes you submit monthly gas receipts. 20 months of sending in stamps and envelopes adds up. LOL. At .52 (is that what it is now for a stamp?) x 20 = $10.40 + the cost of 20 envelopes (say .05 cents each) = $1.00...so that means it costs me, out of pocket, approx. $11.40 for $500 in gas, so I am actually only making around $488.60. Dumb!

Has any Canadian customer contacted the Attorney General in Canada?

We recieved $25 only from october.If you dial the [protected] it is invalid.The web site does not come up either.Nice job!

shouldhaveknownbetter - I too bought stuff at Ashleys in Canada. Like you, I have gotten nothing from FreeBeeGas. I have been dealing with Peggi from Ashleys Corperate Office, she has been of some help and has promised me that they will give me $125 for the gas reciepts I sent into FreeBeeGas and a new certificate to this new gas company, in which she promises is not a scam. They probably said this about FreeBeeGas as well. Until now although, she has not gotten me anything, just promised me all of this stuff.

I have not heard about this 'Free Gataway' though, I hope its not one of those where you have to pay something like $50 to register for the trip, which is apparantly refundable, then make you sit through a time share session.

Who have you been dealing with at Ashleys? I too am pissed at this whole thing. And like you said, I would have given this up a long time ago if I wasn't up for a fight, and I hate getting screwed to big corperations.

Mike

shouldhaveknowbetter - p.s. (looking at your account) where are you from in Alberta? Have you dealt with your local Ashley's Store? I am from Lethbridge, AB

Hi.

We have also been dealing with Peggy from Ashley Furniture's Head Office (in the States). Like I mentioned in my previous postings we are still waiting to hear back from her regarding the "free" travel voucher. Yes, the certificate does require a $50 refundable deposit - and my wife and I were quick to say to each other that it is probably a timeshare coupon, and we also said this to Peggy.

The last time my wife spoke to Peggy she mentioned that the company that has taken over the promotion also offers other programs besides gasoline. There are ones where you can shop (Walmart, etc.) and submit your $100 in receipts for a $25 card (Visa, I believe). It's easier for me to spend $100 in groceries vs. $100 in gasoline each month.

We are located in Edmonton. We have been in contact with our local store; they gave us an in-store credit, which we used to purchase some furniture (see my previous post as to the problems I am having with Ashley Furniture's service dept.)

We contacted the financing company yesterday, inquiring about putting in a dispute. They were very helpful over there...they will step in as a mediator (legal dept.) and if enough complaints are lodged, Ashley Furniture could lose the finance company as one of their lenders. Like I said, they were very helpful, and sympatheic to our situation. We have some baby/kids furniture that Ashley's has been trying to fix since we purchased in October '08! It's already March '09!

What is that taste I have in my mouth? Tastes like...(enough said)

shouldhaveknowbetter-I've been given the travel voucher in the past, I think it was through worldwidetravelcenter.com, same thing, its tough to book a trip on the dates you want, then they make you sit though a timeshare session when you get there, and I assume, that you don't get your money back if you don't goto the time share session.

How much of an instore credit did you get from your local Ashley's store? I haven't been to the local store here, maybe I should try going here as well.

Ever since Peggi offered all of this stuff to me, she's been really really slow to get back to me, we've been dealing with each other through e-mail, shes usually right on top of things and gets back to me right away, now its been a few days. They said they have around 500 complaints about this from Ashley customers.

The travel voucher is useless to me and my family.

For the credit, I'd prefer not to say an exact amount but it was nowhere near enough. The store manager was very helpful though. If I were you I would go and speak to the local store manager to see what s/he can do. I guess our circumstance is a bit more complex - given what we've had to go thru so far with the furniture and gas.

Peggy was supposed to call my wife last week already. It just shows how the buck keeps getting passed. 500 complaints is 500 too many. This could severely affect their business.

Even The Brick and Leons gives better customer service, and they don't make you jump through hoops to get something fixed/replaced.

Yeah maybe if I have from free time this week I will go in there an talk with the local manager.

I agree, 500 complaints is 500 too many, there should be no complaints, every customer should be happy that they are getting free gas. I'm wondering if anything is going to happen to the customers who haven't complained, or won't complain. Ashley's should be contacting everyone who got a certificate, not wait for them to complain before they do something.

You know the old saying, "The squeaky wheel gets the oil." Those that don't complain won't get any compensation (that I know of).

I was told repeatedly that the original promotional company had been in business for a long time without any problems or complaints. Someone higher up in the company should have done their homework before deciding to use Tidewater!

What's surprising (as a Canadian) is this is affecting customers across North America.
I have doubts I'll ever see my free gas (it's not really free - you have to spend to get.), which is unlike a true gas card, where you get x amount of money off per litre savings. I think everyone would agree, it would have better to have received a card that gave you X amount off per litre, and didn't force you to submit gas receipts each month. In a competitive market, I like to shop around for the cheapest gas prices, but I can't cuz I'm tied to one brand of gasoline.

Please keep me (and everyone else) up to date should you hear from Peggy, or have any other news to report. I'll do the same.

Duh - "The squeaky wheel gets the grease!"

I have been sending my gas receipts and vouchers in since December 2008 also. I have not even received any emails, phone calls and of course, no gas gift cards. I tried calling the 800 number and it is an invalid number. The emails I have sent are undeliverable. There is a phone number listed on the website([protected]) that is also a bad contact. This offer was through a timeshare called Wyndham Resorts.
What is the next step? We have been scammedand I'dlike to know who this can be reported to that can get all of us some satisfaction.

Had the same experience - cant even get into the site anymore. Have sent in 4 months worth of gas receipts - but have not received anything yet- What can one do?

I continue to get E-mails forwarded by "complaintsBoard.com. If you will "google"
tidewater global clark florida attorney
you will see this scam already shut down, taken over by a court-appointed administrator. Owner Crystal Clark being sued by Florida Attorney General, and is also facing criminal charges for selling drugs. I suggest you print out much of this internet information, use this as evidence for a small claims lawsuit against whatever local car, gas, furniture, et al dealer promised you the free gas.

They no longer have an operating phone. We are 6 months behind in getting our gas cards after being assured a few months back they were mailing them. The least they could have done is written and explained they were out of business and apologize.

Agree!

I'm wondering if legal action would hold in Canada against Ashley Furniture?
The coupon does say the retailer (seller) cannot be held liable, and we agreed to these terms when we registered. Still... I wonder if Ashley Furniture can be held responsible.

On a side note: My furniture keeps coming damaged everytime they come to deliver! And it was like pulling teeth to get them to "replace" the damaged items! It should be that if you deliver an item damaged you replace it, not say it's a warranty issue! Ashley Furniture would rather claim it back to the manufacturer (Ashley Furniture) as a warranty item - is cheaper - than to replace the DAMAGED item. If it was a warranty issue, fine but, it wasn't a warranty issue. From day one, nothing has gone right with any of our purchases from Ashley Furniture.