Boomertowne is NOT sending out cards, has cut off phone service.

[mollyp]

:getyou I hate to be the one to tell folks but Boomertowne has not redeemed rewards in weeks, does not answer emails and has pulled the plug on their phone. I personally had spoken to Boomertowne early last spring and thus had their phone number. Wondering where my reward cards were, I called the number just two days ago. Imagine my surprise when I was told by the young woman who answered that BT was no longer a customer of theirs. They had apparently pulled their phone contact with the company and even the company had no idea where they were. When I pondered my next step I was told to "spread the word" and contact the better business bureau.
I have done both.
I also would like to urge any and all who have been "cheated" by BT to continue to send emails to them telling them to "do the right thing" and also spread the word about what has happened.
Don't be like me...out hundreds of dollars I was counting on for Christmas for my kids. I'm redfaced and angry with myself because I trusted them....don't be burnt too. Spread the word.

[webjunkie]

I'm owed $375 which I doubt I'll ever see. I honestly thought this one was a winner.

[galeane29]

Oh, that's just great. I'm owed $200 and have been waiting on the cards for more than 6 weeks.

[vicky122]

I don't have enough points to cash out and was only going there every now and then. I never count on reward programs to pay for things like Christmas. Just because you never know what a site will do.

[lilcee]

I'm owed $100 in Target GC's I was planning on using for Christmas gifts. That stinks. I really thought they were a good one. Guess I was wrong - again

[PrincessArky]

I am out a bit as well but I know going in that these programs dont ever last forever and can fold owing me

just found an interesting read

http://wisconsin.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=28&bbb=0694&firm=44161478

[webjunkie]

update at CompareRewards (http://www.comparerewards.com/archives/004699.html)

Despite an Unsatisfactory BBB Rating, BoomerTowne Brags of Success, Plans for the Future

September 18, 2008 8:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Update: Minutes after posting this, I received the following email from Paul Brienza:

Becky:

Thank you for your e-mail.

While Laughlin/Constable was hired by the owner to develop and maintain certain aspects of the site, Laughlin/Constable does not own the site; was never responsible for any aspect of the points program; and no longer is working with the owner or manager of the site.

The owner has not returned our calls and has not left us with forwarding information.

Regards,

Paul

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Like many of you, I've been waiting patiently on gift cards redeemed from BoomerTowne.com from as far back as May 9th, gift cards that were promised in 6 to 8 weeks. Last month, I predicted that the end of BoomerTowne points was near, as the site's weekly newsletter had neglected to mention points at all. I haven't received any newsletters from the site in a while now. The silence is deafening.

What I'm hearing around the 'net is that some of the vocal complainers are having their accounts deleted. I'm owed $750 in outstanding gift cards from BoomerTowne and I realize I run the risk of losing it by posting further about BT, but since many of those points were earned on the backs of my referrals, who also are not getting paid, it was ill-earned gains anyway, and this is the least I can do on their behalf. So here goes:

I was really surprised when I stumbled across a September 5th article by a senior VP of BoomerTowne.com's PR firm, Laughlin Constable, on eMarketer.com. In "Social Networking for Baby Boomers," Paul Brienza discussed BoomerTowne and how it has succeeded in generating rich user content, as well as how health-care related advertising has "done very well." He also hints at upcoming changes in how the site will generate income (a switch from CPM, which is basically a flat fee they earn based on the number of page views, to specific advertiser-sponsored pages).

Of course, I was incredulous that BoomerTowne's PR firm was taking the time to discuss the site's success and its plans for the future at the same time that no one seems to be able to get a response from the company on when, if ever, members can expect their gift cards -- their rewards for generating that "rich content" of which Brienza bragged. In fact, BoomerTowne.com has an Unsatisfactory rating with the Better Business Bureau probably for that very reason. So, on Monday I sent Mr. Brienza an email and told him that I would be posting about this on Wednesday, and I asked for a response for the record. He didn't reply. I even held off until today to make this post, but I still (as of this writing) have not received a response.

Below is the text of the email I sent Mr. Brienza, whose full title is Senior VP of Interactive Marketing for Laughlin Constable. If anyone at Laughlin Constable reads this and would like the opportunity to respond, you can do so in a comment or feel free to email me.

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Dear Mr. Brienza,

I run a website (CompareRewards.com) that provides news and reviews of
rewards programs including one of your clients, BoomerTowne. No doubt
you're aware of the problems plaguing this website, in my opinion the
greatest of which is a complete lack of communication between site
administration and members, many of whom have been waiting for months for
their redeemed gift cards.

I read with great interest your September 5th interview with
eMarketer.com. There were several quotes in particular that I found
interesting and that I intend to post about on my website:

"We built an informational site, and found that people didn't necessarily
want to come back frequently to the site. They'd use it, learn
information from it and then move on. So we developed BoomerTowne to be
more of a social networking site that's rich in content."

Mr. Brienza, wasn't it the points system that motivated members to provide
the "rich content" you refer to here? The members are not being paid for
the content they contributed in good faith with the understanding that
they would be compensated for it. Isn't this a serious breach of ethics
at the very least, or perhaps even outright illegal?

Also, regarding CPMs, "We've done very well with the healthcare-supported
side...it works well when you have a drug company that can go to the
health section and put ads in context..." My question, as you can
imagine, is, if BoomerTowne has done so well with any aspect of its
monetization strategy, what is the reason, then, that no points
redemptions have been honored since May 8th? Were you overstating the
website's success to impress the eMarketer reading audience, or has the
website actually been far more of a disappointment, plagued by fraudulent
duplicate accounts, robotic clicks, and submission of inane content simply
to receive points?

And lastly, "[Advertisers will] be able to target these people, and maybe
not so much in the CPM or traditional banner standpoint, but more on a
sponsorship standpoint, where they sponsor various sections of a site, and
not just hit them with a 300 by 250." Can I take away from this statement
that BoomerTowne is retooling its advertiser strategy with the intent to
stay in business despite its debt to members? If that is the case, can
you give BoomerTowne members some insight into what they can expect in
terms of wait time for gift card fulfillment, changes to the points
system, and any future incentives planned for contributing the rich
content you intend to monetize?

Mr. Brienza, in case you haven't visited BoomerTowne's message board or
Googled your client's website name recently, you need to understand that
you have a full-blown PR nightmare on your hands. The sooner these issues
are addressed, the better your client's chances of salvaging at least a
shred of respect and good will from the population it intends to serve.

I will be posting my comments about your interview and the situation at
BoomerTowne on Wednesday. If you have any response for the record about
my concerns or if there is any other information you'd like disseminated
to BoomerTowne's membership, I would be glad to include that in my post.

Thank you for your time.


Sincerely,
Becky Ford
CompareRewards.com