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.