Stephen's Peanut Butter Cup Hot Cocoa

So it appears Stephen's now makes a Peanut Butter Cup hot cocoa. I need to try this. Like, immediately.

Ode to Subway

Dear Subway,

Thank you for being bold enough to lower the price of your Footlongs to $5 for a time, and for offering a $2.99 Daily Special. Even though I don't care for the Footlongs that you decided to keep on your $5 list permanently, your actions have brought sub prices down all around town. Hogi Yogi, Blimpie, and Quiznos are all offering $5 subs now as well in an effort to keep up with the competition. And that makes me feel good inside. I love sandwiches, but for a very long time, the prices were too outrageous for me to feel comfortable splurging on one. But Subway, you did the right thing. You've kept things in check and allowed those of us who couldn't fathom paying $8 for a sub to once again regain a long lost love.

Let it be known, Subway, that despite the fact that I am giddy inside and out that the blessed sandwich prices around town are dropping in an economy where everything else seems to be increasing in price, I will still do my best to support you. I will continue to ask for Subway giftcards for my birthday and Christmas in an effort to continue ordering my sandwiches from you. Because I have tried all the rest, but your subs really are the best. I love that I can order whatever I want on my sub instead of having to pick the sub that most closely represents what I like on a sandwich. The anticipation of creating my own sub just about kills me. Where else can I get a turkey sub with provolone cheese, lettuce, pickles, cucumbers, ranch dressing, mustard, salt, pepper, oil, and vinegar on it? You guessed it. Nowhere. No other sub shop allows me this amount of customization. And for that, you will always hold a special place in my heart.

Sincerely,
Carlee

(Cassi, wow, that was rejuvinating. I love being able to sing praises directly to the things I love. Thank you for introducing me to "the letter" style.)

No worries, Omaha Steaks just lies!

I checked my inbox this morning to find the following e-mail from Omaha Steaks:

The email you recently received from us indicating 12 FREE burgers are on the way was sent to you in error. When placing your Omaha Steaks order, a special offer for a free item was combined with a Geico $25 reward gift card. As stated in all Omaha Steaks’ promotions for free items, offers cannot be combined. As you know from the email you received from Omaha Steaks earlier in the week, your order was shipped without the free burgers.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Ok, I don't care how much I like my burgers, I will never order from Omaha Steaks again. I am honestly appalled at how poor their business seems to be run. I mean, telling me I'm not going to receive the 12 free burgers that were clearly listed on my final invoice is one thing. But then to tell me that they've shipped when they clearly hadn't is another. Does Omaha Steaks just send out bogus e-mails to people telling them their orders have shipped when they really haven't? Do they make a point to lie to their customers? It certainly appears that way to me. It seems to me that if they messed up and lied about sending a shipment of burgers that they actually hadn't, they should have an obligation to send those out, regardless of whether they intended to or not. It's just good business sense. Also, it sounds like Omaha Steaks needs to re-consider the promotions they decide to offer and make sure their online order system is prepared for those promotions. Because as it stands, this seems to be a promotion gone completely wrong and consequently turned many future customers away.

Apparently I am getting 12 free burgers from Omaha Steaks!!!

I received this e-mail today:

Thank you for your order from Omaha Steaks. Your 12 FREE burgers are on the way!

I'm a little confused since I received the previous e-mail telling me I wasn't going to get them. However, they say they've shipped, so I'll believe them!

Apparently not so smokin' Omaha Steaks deal

Yesterday I received the following e-mail in regard to my Omaha Steaks order:

Dear CARLEE

Thank you for shopping at Omaha Steaks! We appreciate your business and are confident you will be delighted with your order. We do show when placing this order, a special offer for a free item was combined with the $25 reward card. As stated in all promotions for free items, offers cannot be combined. Your order will ship without the free item. If you have any questions regarding your order, please contact us at 1-800-329-6500. We would be happy to assist you.

Sincerely,
Jamie Toledo
Omaha Steaks Customer Care Manager

I find it interesting that I clearly put the gift card code into the Omaha Steaks order form and it still accepted it. I even have the invoice that clearly states that I will get 12-4 oz. patties and 8-5 oz. patties for a total of $1.98. I wonder if this is good business practice or not. Seems to me that if the company website doesn't pick it up and I am given a final invoice, it should be final. Oh well. I guess the deal is still good, just not nearly as good. I mean, 2.5 lbs. of ground steak patties for $1.98 is still cheaper than I could find it on sale anywhere, but I still think it's lame.

Smokin' Omaha Steaks Deal

I just ordered 5.5 lbs. (20 burgers) of ground steak from Omaha Steaks for $1.98 (including shipping!). And the best part about it is that it will be delivered right to my door!

Click here for instructions. It was so easy. It seriously took me less than 10 minutes.

I have seen advertisements from Omaha Steaks in the past and have always wanted to give them a try. The idea of having my meat shipped directly to my door intrigues me, but the slightly higher cost of the meat and the shipping expenses have always kept me from trying it out. Perhaps the meat is just really good! And with a good deal like this, I finally get to see how much I like it without having to pay the shipping expenses that have always kept me from even considering it in the past.

UPDATE (10/22/08): My sister tried this today and got a completely different gift card from Geico. Hers was for something like $20 off any purchase of $100. I'm assuming Geico was inundated with people trying to get this deal so they changed their offer. Dang. Anyway, try it out and if you get different results, let me know.

An ode to birthday clubs

Oh how I love birthday clubs. I seriously look forward to the week before my birthday almost more than my actual birthday because that's when all my birthday club freebies begin to populate my inbox. Most freebies are sent out a week before your birthday and expire a week after, so you've got a two week birthday celebration to look forward to. It's like the gift that keeps on giving. Here's what I've used so far:

• Free burger or sandwich at Red Robin - We used this last Friday. I ordered the Crispy Chicken Burger because it's my favorite, and after the coupon we only had to pay for Kory's Guacamole Bacon Burger. Score! I must say that I've also become quite obsessed with their bottomless steak fries and BBQ-based fry sauce. So good!
• Free entree at Noodles & Co. - We used this tonight. You get a buy one get one free (BOGOF) coupon just for signing up, so I recommend doing what we did and have your spouse sign up the week of your birthday so you can use that along with your birthday coupon (since it's one coupon per person) and you'll end up getting 3 meals for the price of one! I ordered the Pennè Rosa with Parmesan-crusted chicken (the free meal includes an add-on!), Kory ordered a huge bowl of chicken noodle soup, and we ordered some awesome Wisconsin mac 'n' cheese for Maggie (well, and us). We got all this for under $6 and we even have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
• Free Like-it Create Your Own creation at Coldstone - We used this tonight as well. I ordered up some chocolate cake batter ice cream with Reese's Pieces mixed in. YUM! This is without a doubt my new favorite flavor combination! We were so full from dinner that we all just shared this, which means our entire night cost us less than $6. :)
  

And here's what I have to look forward to this coming week:

• Free dessert at Biaggi's
  
• Free meal at Rubio's
• Free cream slush at Sonic
• Free ice cream cone at Baskin-Robbins
• BOGOF Orange Julius
• BOGOF DQ Blizzard

Kory and I both love to go out to eat, but we usually only go if we have a coupon because it can add up fast. These are some great coupons that you don't usually see during any other time of the year. If you want to sign up for some of these and/or other birthday freebies, click here for a very comprehensive list. Nothing makes me more happy than eating great food and getting a great deal on it. It's like the best birthday present ever!