ComplaintsforJenny's Penguin Patch Holiday Shop

• Initial Complaint

  03/13/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We (our school) has worked with Penguin Patch for many years. This year we decided to resign, we were told at sign up that we would be able use the large amount of points that we had acquired over the years. I will say that we did not have the penguin patch the last 2 years due to COVID. We were told that we would be able to spend the points in March. We ran into a few issues with the company. First, we were triple charged for the order. We first reached out to them on Jan 10th when we received our December statement. For a low income school and a PTO that doesn't bring a lot of money that really hit us hard. We went back and forth and I finally received an email on Mar 3rd that our refund was going to be processed, which actually has not hit our bank account yet. Next, they use some real unethical tactics to pull you in to resign. The email said that we would receive a counter top ice maker for resigning. No where in that email did it say that there was a minimum we had to sell to get it. Finally, we were told many times in text message that we could use our points in the redemption days in March. Then, communication via text message stopped. I reached out via email and was told that we didn't sell enough for the ice maker (bummer but ok, they should really put a disclaimer on the email) then they told me we now needed 2 active years to redeem the points that we earned. I went through all the paper work, contract, read all text messages and emails, and looked on their site and no where does it say that or was I ever told that. Also, maybe I have the name wrong but they say they are BBB accredited but I can not find them or their R & K Sales, *** on here as an accredited business. People need to be aware of the shady practices, lying, lack of communication, and overall horrible experience. All we want is to use our points that we earned and then cut ties.

  Customer response

  03/13/2023

  We (our school) has worked with Penguin Patch for many years. This year we decided to resign, we were told at sign up that we would be able use the large amount of points that we had acquired over the years. I will say that we did not have the penguin patch the last 2 years due to COVID. We were told that we would be able to spend the points in March. We ran into a few issues with the company. First, we were triple charged for the order. We first reached out to them on Jan 10th when we received our December statement. For a low income school and a PTO that doesn't bring a lot of money that really hit us hard. We went back and forth and I finally received an email on Mar 3rd that our refund was going to be processed, which actually has not hit our bank account yet. Next, they use some real unethical tactics to pull you in to resign. The email said that we would receive a counter top ice maker for resigning. No where in that email did it say that there was a minimum we had to sell to get it. Finally, we were told many times in text message that we could use our points in the redemption days in March. Then, communication via text message stopped. I reached out via email and was told that we didn't sell enough for the ice maker (bummer but ok, they should really put a disclaimer on the email) then they told me we now needed 2 active years to redeem the points that we earned. I went through all the paper work, contract, read all text messages and emails, and looked on their site and no where does it say that or was I ever told that. Also, maybe I have the name wrong but they say they are BBB accredited but I can not find them or their R & K Sales, *** on here as an accredited business. People need to be aware of the shady practices, lying, lack of communication, and overall horrible experience. All we want is to use our points that we earned and then cut ties.

  

  Business response

  04/04/2023

  Due to Covid,  schools were not penalized for not running their shop. Loyalty points are redeemable as long as you are resigned for the current year. Our Loyalty Program was created to reward schools for returning to us each year for their fundraising needs. It is our policy that you must be resigned and it would not be fair to other schools to make any exceptions to this rule. 

  The school was not charged triple for their shop, instead the customer made 4 online payments via our ACH payment system. Accounting refunded the amounts as soon as it was discovered. 

  Our contract clearly states that there is a minimum sale amount in order to receive bonuses. However, we thank you for the suggestion of putting this info. in more places than our contract.

  Additionally, we take a lot of pride in working with our schools and helping them to achieve a successful sale. We would have been happy to have been given a chance to resolve the problem via a phone call. Many things can be lost in translation in this day of text messages. 

   

  We have enjoyed working with this school and would love the opportunity to come to a resolution. We want our schools to have successful shops and the students to look forward to the event each year. I personally called the customer today and a manger called yesterday and the mail box was full both times. We have also reached out via email and given our personal cell phone numbers in attempt to correct this. No response from customer as of today.

   

  Customer response

  04/05/2023

  Complaint: 19585536
  
  this is the 3rd time I have received a different response/information. I was attempting re-sign when all this started. Now, I have once again lost the opportunity to use our EARNED loyalty points.  

  Regards,
  
  ****************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩