• expired

Free $40 Gift Card for Rebel Sport with $1 Subscription to Herald Sun (& News Ltd Newspapers)

5679
call1800262374(or1800070535)

original offer now currently only available via phone as per https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/135207?page=3#comment-1864397

Herald Sun have come to their senses and changed the T&C of the deal, stating you must remain signed up for 12 weeks to receive the $40 gift card.

Page with the deal offered: http://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/19935/21341/giftcard.jp…
Thanks to h4lcyon, full page print screen with T&C: http://i.imgur.com/2aaxCJC.jpg

Original Deal:
UPDATE - CLARIFICATION OF $40 GIFT CARD: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/competitions/subsc…
Taken from that page: "All features described below are valid for those who subscribe to any of the four Herald Sun subscription packages on offer, which start from just $1 for the first 28 days.

This offer is open to new subscribers only and ends on March 31.

The offer includes:

$40 REBEL GIFT CARD
You’ll get $40 to spend on whatever you like at Rebel, including AFL team gear, at any Australian store or online at www.rebelsport.com.au "

Deal:
I know Herald Sun has had the $1 for 28 days subscription for a while now, but until 31st March 2014 you can also get a $40 gift card to spend on whatever you like at Rebel in store or online. The gift card is sent to you within 14 days of subscription, giving you plenty of time to cancel. If you dont cancel, it then reverts to $4.00 per week.
You can also get the Sunday paper delivered in the $1 subscription too, but that reverts to $4.50 after the promotional period, which I think is pretty good value anyway

FULL Subscription features
Unlimited mobile and web access
Unlimited Taste, Body+Soul, Escape & more
Unlimited Confidential, Best Weekend & more
Unlimited Lifestyle special features
Fox Sports Match News Videos
Fox Sports News 24/7 Live Streaming
Expert opinion & video content
SuperCoach Gold - AFL
The Herald Sun Digital Print Edition
The Herald Sun iPad app

From itsmemeow's comment:
You can select any of the 4 subscriptions, which start at $1 - this includes the digital only bundle. You will receive a $40 Rebel Sports gift card

Based on the terms and conditions on the subscribe page - the rebel gift card will be sent out within 14 days, so presumably you could not cancel your subscription before then if you intend to.

You only pay $1 now via credit card or PayPal. Your subscription will renew in approx. 3 weeks. Based on registering today, my renewal is March 23rd and I would be charged $16 based on the plan I selected.

According to their FAQ's (once registered), their cancellation policy is as follows:

How much notice do I need to give to cancel my subscription?
Your digital access will be cancelled within 5 business days, but home delivery may continue for up to a further 5 business days (those of you in WA should allow up to 10 business days for deliveries to cease).
Oh, and we won’t charge you a cancellation fee.

Terms and Conditions

Renewals occur unless cancelled.
Payment in advance by credit/debit card or Paypal only.
Offer only available where regular home delivery exists for VIC residents and where no additional freight is charged.
Offer available for limited time only.
New subscribers only.
Rebel $40 Gift Card To take up the Rebel Gift Card offer you must subscribe to a News + Digital or Digital Bundle subscription.

NSW/ACT: The Daily Telegraph
SA: The Adveriser
WA: Sunday Times
QLD: The Courier Mail
VIC: Herald Sun

Related Stores

Herald Sun
Herald Sun
pressreader.com
pressreader.com

closed Comments

    • PP dispute?

      • Thanks for the quick response.. Only one of the payments was originally through PayPal..

        The other one was via CC..

        What would be a good argument to make regarding the $18.00 renewal??

        Cheers ;)

        • +1

          You didn't get the promised Gift Card as layed out in the Tees N Cees. One PP dispute and one CC chargeback :)

    • +2

      The extra charge is in advance for the next 4 weeks (starting about 5 days from now). If you cancel today you should get a full refund from Newscorp. Just log on to your account and use the 'contact us' to send your cancellation.

      • Ahh awesome, thanks for this =)

        • -3

          Next time remember you've signed up for something and don't try and make arguments against a subscription service you've agreed to pay for?

          As for the soggy newspapers, that's something you take up with the local newsagent delivering to your area. :)

  • +6

    Bad marketing.

  • +1

    paypal dispute opened

  • Has anyone got anything/a response from the Paypal dispute?

  • +14

    Text from my PayPal dispute:

    The original terms and conditions for the subscription package I signed up for said that 'The Rebel Gift card will be sent to you within 14 days of purchase of the subscription' - see http://i.imgur.com/2aaxCJC.jpg. It has now been 22 days since I signed up and I have not received the promised gift card.

    The terms and conditions also state that 'At the end of the initial 28 days, subscriptions will automatically renew…'. It has only been 22 days since the initial subscription and the renewal has already been processed - 6 days early.

    News limited has breached 2 key terms of our agreement within 22 days of it starting - not a great way to treat paying customers.

    Can you please advise how you plan to remedy this?

  • Dispute opened and payments cancelled.

  • +3

    News Limited seems to be a fitting name for them - they seem to have limited intelligence - can't even abide by their own T&Cs.

  • +2
    Just received their response after I requested cancellation online. I've already stopped payment at Paypal but not opened dispute yet.

    Thank you for contacting us for support.
    The reason there has been a delay in your voucher reaching you is due to high influx of customers requiring the voucher and we ran out of stock.It should be there very soon.

    We are sorry to hear that you wish to cancel your news+ subscription.

    Across multiple platforms, your news+ subscription provides exclusive and unlimited access to Fox Sports News,
    …..usual promotion text………..

    We would appreciate any feedback you may have as to why you wish to cancel your subscriptions, so that we can continue to improve our product. We understand if you do not wish to provide feedback and appreciate your time as a customer.
    Yours sincerely,
    Kind Regards,
    xxx

    The Online Subscription Team

    [email protected], Mar 17, 00:00:
    Customer Id: xxxxxx
    Customer Name: xxxxxx
    Phone: xxxxxxx
    Enquiry: Campaign or Promotion Query
    Offer: news+ Full Access
    Enquiry Details:

    Hi It has been 2 weeks since my subscription but I haven't yet received $40 Rebel Sport gift card. I hope it has already been posted to my mailing address as per the promotion on March 2, 2014. Please confirm whether the gift card has been posted or not yet. Thanks Regards xxxxx

    • +11

      we ran out of stock

      Funny how no one here has receive their GC.

  • I got charged $16 this morning too. Opened PP dispute stating that I did not receive the voucher and wanted to cancel. I've cancelled the reoccurring payment agreement thing in PayPal. Just gotta wait now I guess.

  • +6

    Meh, dispute opened.

    Fingers crossed their PayPal account gets suspended from all the disputes.

  • +2

    FOR THOSE WHO ARE TRYING TO GET THEIR MONEY BACK.
    I made a discussion page for this matter: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/137746

    It's easier that way.

  • +1

    Same email as Food received, and got the paper this morning :) still no GC :(

  • +19

    By the way guys, for those who want to take things further or if News Ltd are getting difficult, refer them to the 'Trade Practices Amendment (Australian Consumer Law) Act (No. 2) 2010' s32(1)(a) which states "A person must not, in trade or commerce, offer any rebate, gift, prize or other free item with the intention of not providing it, or of not providing it as offered, in connection with: the supply or possible supply of goods or services'

  • +2

    Lol knew this was gonna be disaster from the start.

  • I've been reading some of the information on consumer protection in relation to this deal and other deals on ozbargain including those deals which are price errors. There is a regulation somewhere that the retailer doesn't need to honour a price error. I am wondering whether there is a regulation somewhere which protects a retailer/business etc when they make a mistake with their "terms and conditions" which allows the customers to use the promotions etc in a way that was never intended within the spirit of the promotion. My personal view is that they should have worded the terms better.

    I agree though that there could have been a breach of the Trade Practices regulations quoted above where they haven't hounoured the gift conditions offered in the original promotion.

    Good luck getting your gift cards. I didn't actually take up the deal for various reasons but you all deserve your gift cards after the hard work you have done.

    • +4

      They really can't claim 'mistake' here though because that is usually used in a case where an advertiser has listed something for a price and then not accepted or refunded payment. That's perfectly legal, but in this case they've happily been taking everyone's money and whilst they did change the T&C's, they never invalidated the deals made before the T&C changes, which would prevent them from using mistake as an excuse for not following through.

    • pointscrazy this is exactly the same as signing up to a credit card for the bonus points, cashing in the bonus points, and then cancelling the card. These deals happen all the time, why are you even discussing the fact that there could/should be a regulation for it?

      • I don't think there should be a regulation for it.

        I was speculating just in case they tried to use this type of regulation, if it exists, to get out of giving you the gift cards.

  • Sent them a cancellation email, they said OK cancelled. Cancelled my PayPal authorisation and then got an email two days later saying my PayPal payment had been declined. Hah. Bunch of cons. No word on gift voucher.

  • I called them up and ask on when is the estimate deliver of the gift card
    - they cannot commit when but assured that it will be delivered.

    I decided to cancel my subscription as they cannot provide an estimate date when they will send out the Gift card. I don't want to waste time filing complaint or following up when they will send out the gift card.

    I ask what is the reason why they cannot tell when and cause of delay?
    - Reason was due to backlog and popular demand and not enough supply from gift card provider.

    If there is a backlog - at least someone should have atleast received the gift card.

    Was there anyone here received their gift card?
    - if no one received their gift card then that doesn't sound like a backlog or a shortage of gift card from provider.

    They will refund the $16 they charge from my paypal but will only refund 0.17cents out of my $1.00 as they told me I log in several times. I told them I log in to check and manage my account. Still they said I log in and enjoyed reading their news so I won't get the full refund.

    For those who subscribe for a higher package - you may not be able to refund the first payment when you join in full

  • Copied my comment from the new thread on this, as i thought it might help ease some minds: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/136810

    Everyone - no need to worry. Even if you have been charged, you can call them up and cancel your subscription and get your money back (except the $1 for the current period). I did this and the lady explained that they give you back your money, pro-rata basis. So if you cancel within the previous subscription period (I.e. next few days) you get the full amount for the next period refunded it just might take a couple of business days.

    Same thing was mentioned earlier:
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/136810#comment-1896771

    So there should not be any need to do a PayPal dispute but I guess that's up to you.

    • They're not fulfilling the terms of the contract so we have every right to file a paypal dispute. If they have no intention of giving us the gift card we should get our dollar back.

    • Why can't we get our one dollar back? They did not us the GC. Misleading product. We should be able to get a full refund right?

      • +1

        Probably not - you received a product in exchange for your dollar, the gift card was additional and not something you actually paid for

        • Would you like to sign up to my student newsletter? I'll throw in a car.

        • Doesn't work that way. In your example, without the car, there's no exchange and therefore isn't binding

        • I never said the newsletter was free.

  • Account cancelled and I've given up. I know this isn't about $40 anymore but about consumer rights, laws and being held accountable for contracts.

  • +1

    Been charged 18 dollars subscription…called them up and they said the Rebel Gift Card is still a few weeks away due to overwhelming demand…so what now???

  • +1

    2 months charge may cover almost the cost of the $40 Rebel GC.

    • -1

      haha…

  • +1

    Also was just charged through paypal,

    sent an email to cancel.
    Paypal dispute opened.
    then i will be working on getting my $1 back.

    they sent an email earlier when i requested where is the gift card and they replied
    with "it will be sent after 12weeks of subscription."

    • I'm assuming that you didn't cancel your Pay Pal payment in advance then? I cancelled it on Friday and on monday I got an email saying:

      Your subscription payment for your PayPal account [email protected] has been declined. To avoid any interruption to your subscription, you will need to amend your payment details.

      If you do not amend your payment details you may no longer be able to access to your news+ Full Access subscription.
      Please login in to PayPal and confirm that your funding sources are up-to-date.

      Also, to confirm/update your payment details:
      1. Login to My Account
      2. Select 'My Details'.
      3. Scroll to the 'Payment Accounts' section.
      4. Locate your PayPal account and click 'Manage Payment Account'.
      5. The Status of your PayPal payment authorisation will be retrieved from PayPal.
      6. Follow the On-screen instructions to correct your PayPal authorisation, or to Change Payment Account.

      If you require assistance, FAQs can be found in My Account or you can call us at 1300 MY NEWS (1300 696 397), Monday to Friday 7:30am to 6:00pm and Saturday 7:30am to 11:30am (AEST).

      Kind regards,
      Customer Service Team

      • +2

        Got this today too.

        I rang them stating I will amend my details within 14 business days. It's only courteous.

    • -1

      rather than opening dispute etc just call news.com and tell them to cancel your subscription and refund (i just cancelled mine before an hour)

  • +3

    Print media is dead and the average age of Fox News viewership is 70 yrs. News limited will soon become irrelevant.

    • +7

      How will LNP voters get their daily dose of "the facts" then?!

      • +2

        most will be too dead to care

        • If only we could speed up that process before too much of our country is destroyed or privatised.

  • got mine cancelled ,got refund ,they still be sending card in first week of april

    • I was told the exact same thing by a really polite female when I canceled this morning.

  • Just got this email from PayPal
    "News Limited has just sent you a partial refund of $0.18 AUD for your purchase.
    If you have any questions about this refund, please contact News Limited"

    Now waiting for GC :)

  • I really hope this ends up costing News Ltd a lot of money.
    Fairfax should take the opportunity to run a nice big beat-up article to capitalise on this clusterflap.

    I've got a News Ltd support ticket lodged which they've ignored since the 16th March. I'll keep updating it, requesting information on the whereabouts of my gift card every couple of days until someone takes notice to it.

    • Ring em up, I'll be doing that tomorrow

    • +3

      I got an interesting reply to my ticket this morning.

      Hi apat,
      Thanks for this email — we have shared this with the Campaign/ Promotions Team and indeed, you are eligible for the Rebel Sports voucher. Apparently, they received a great response to this campaign and they are waiting for more stocks from their suppliers and they apologise for the delay. They are currently working through a large backlog of orders to make sure that everyone receives the cards they are entitled to under the Terms and Conditions of this offer.
      We will be keeping this ticket open for you and will be emailing you on Mondays and Fridays just to check if you have already received the gift card as they are sending these in batches. Otherwise, we will be constantly chasing the Campaign/ Promotions Team for you.
      Kind Regards.
      The Online Support Team

      • +3

        do you honestly believe that you are ever going to receive it? I have received emails on friday and monday and today that just keep asking if i have received the card. I keep replying saying that no i havent and yet i get the same email over and over. I have lodged a complaint with fair trading and have advised them of this.
        First it was '14 days', then '14 business days', then 'it is on it's way', then 'first week of april'. then ?????

        Working on a 'backlog' my backside. That would imply that some orders were fulfilled and then they ran out. Name one person who has received a gift card.

        Fair trading can sort it out. Maybe refer it to the 'checkout' program on ABC???

        • +5

          do you honestly believe that you are ever going to receive it?

          Nope. Not at all. I think the only thing I'll receive, if I'm lucky, is an excuse and an insincere apology.

          But I'm only down $1, and I'm kinda interested at this stage to see where this all ends up.

          Best case we all get gift cards, and we can all proudly strut around in new socks and budgie smugglers from Rebel Sport.
          Worst case there are no gift cards, in which case Uncle Rupert will probably have a lot of explaining to do to the relevant authorities (as toothless as they are).

          As long as it hurts News Ltd in some way, I'm fine with either outcome.

        • +1

          Fair trading contacted them after I lodged a dispute. News limited assured her that I and the other two members of my household who alsomsigned upmthat we would hqve our gift cards by monday. Still hold little hope of getting them as others are now being told 14th april

  • I opened a PayPal dispute on Sunday for the $16 charge they put through and haven't heard anything. Anyone else received a response?

    I had signed my wife up for this too but luckily we used a visa debit card linked to an account that we normally keep at a $0.00 balance (don't ask, long story) so the $16 payment was declined on that one.

    Sent an email to them yesterday from her email address requesting to cancel and haven't got a response either.

    Wondering if I need to call them.

  • +7

    Hi nevbuster,
    Thanks for this email — we have shared this with the Campaign/ Promotions Team and everybody had a good laugh about it. Apparently, they received a great response to this campaign and have absolutely no intention of sending any Rebel Sport gift cards. They are currently working through shredding a large backlog of orders to make sure that no-one receives the cards that they are entitled to under the Terms and Conditions of this offer.
    We will be keeping this ticket open for you and will be emailing you on Mondays and Fridays just to drag you out so you can keep paying your subscriptions. Otherwise, we will be constantly chasing the Marketing Manager who posted this offer out of town.
    Kind Regards.
    The Online Support Team

  • Seems like no one else received this, so I am posting it up.

    The Online Support Team FINALLY responded back to my request to cancel my membership. In this request I highlighted that I am eligible to receive the gift card and that I do hope to expect it with dis-regard to my current account status.

    Their response advised me that I will be receiving the Gift card by no later than 07/04/2014 as there has been a backlog. Has anyone else been given this date also?

    Oh and also… Cancelled my Paypal subscription on the 22nd to be safe. No payment was requested.

    • Today I was advised to wait another 3 weeks

  • Yup, I also got told about the backlog but no ETA. Based on my experience, I suggest ringing them to resolve any issues instead of waiting on emails.

    Today I have (1) Cancelled Paypal pre-approved payments (2) Rang the hotline and cancelled my subscription successfully (3) Confirmed I will be getting refund for my $18 (4) Got connected to the Promo team handling the gift cards, who took my details including phone number and was promised my details would be forwarded onto head office to be checked off the list of gift card recipients (and also got told about the backlog).

    No faults with the phone customer service at all, quick success and to-the-point … they must have this process well streamlined by now with all us OzB's contacting them ;-)

    • How did you get the confirmation that you will be getting a refund of $18?
      Thanks

  • +1

    I was advise similarly as above, with the same 7th of April date thrown up as when people that have subscribed before the 3/3/14 would receive the GC.

    Surprise, surprise the gift card didn't come at the end of last week. I initially rang the 1800 850 516 number I'd been quoted, which isn't actual News Corp at all- it is an external promotions company, which might explain some of the issues (well other than News Corp's willingness to actually pay up). They added me to some list.

    I then spoke to a 'Josh' from marketing promotions at the Advertiser here in Adelaide, he mostly fed out the same script that everyone else has been hearing, but he commented that to all those people who signed up prior to 3/3/14 with multiple email addresses (I recall reading one poster signed up 30 or so times..) would still receive all their GC's as it was logistically impossible to sift through all the entries to find who was actually genuine.

    Quite frustrated, but thought I'd share though! I think there isn't too much hope (a little), but definitely wouldn't be too confident if you subscribed after 3/3/14..

  • +1

    How can a marketing department fail to predict that a promotion like this will be very popular & even exploited by some? Are they that naive? Are they so naive as to not realise we all talk to each other and know that they haven't sent any out even though they are saying they ran out? If only there was some consumer affairs grouped that actually supported consumers when they were exploited by marketers like this. :/

  • i got this:
    Hi
    Thank you for contacting us for support.
    Due to the great response of this campaign we are awaiting more stock from our suppliers and apologise for the delay.
    We are currently working through a large backlog of orders to make sure that everyone receives the cards they are entitled to under the terms and conditions of this offer.
    We hope this assists with your query.

    Kind Regards,
    Heather
    The Online Subscriptions Team

  • Has anyone received their Gift Card?

    Everytime i've contacted The Advertiser and Herald Sun, I got different excuses. I got given the 1800 number to the promotions department responsible for sending the cards out (eventually), but even they said there's a delay, and again i'm told "it should arrive this week" (i'm not holding my breath).

    Well, I cancelled one and they emailed me saying i'll still get the Rebel Gift Card, and they sent me an email about the other subscription that the payment failed (I used a Citibank debit card which only had $2 on it), so they can try all they like.

  • 3/4 of the customer service team are probably spending their work time answering your emails and phone calls, instead of actually organising and dispatching the gift cards.

    • +5

      Maybe they should have sent them before the 14 business days, so we didn't need to keep annoying them :p

  • +1

    error sorry

  • +9

    News Corp today announced a new national sales director, Sharb Farjami. I"d bet his email is [email protected]. Think I'll send him an email about this, any other takers ?

    • +1

      News Corp today announced a new national sales director

      Lol, I wonder why…

  • So i went and got two subscriptions - didnt receive either giftcard. Sent cancellation on 22 March. Got charged two lots of $16 on my CC NEWS LIMITED - PAID CONTENT SUBS1 $16.

    Pretty pissed!

    • You will get your refund. I only just got my $0.11 back pro-rata from the $1 subscription that I cancelled last weekend.

  • Hey guys, just letting you know that i'm 1 of few who got a reply from News Limited. they cancelled my sub after i emailed them 2 times over the past 2 weeks and are refunding my balance of $16. if anybody wants my copy of the email, reply to this

    • Hey, I'd appreciate a copy of the email.

    • ….oh i also never received no gift card. pretty dodgy that they changed the terms after we signed up and without notice though.

      • +2

        Dodgy doesn't even come close.

        They obviously didn't think the promotion through, or weren't aware of the amount of OzBargainers who would sign up just to get the gift cards.

        They're probably monitoring this thread now though LOL

        • +1

          Hundreds of OzB > 1 News Limited

  • Charged twice because the first subscription I made wasn't for the QLD newspaper so I did one for it to be safe.
    Less than 28 days later, boom, $34 outta my PayPal. No replies from them either in regards to a canceling my subscription and still no gift card.

    Phone call time tomorrow.

    • Called today, she was curious why I didn't read the online editions and when I told her I never received the delivery why that I didn't call to let them know.

      She said without me even asking about them or mentioning that I would only be getting one gift card too.

  • Got my 1 dollar back today

  • Called and cancelled the subscription today, got an almost immediate cancellation email and confirmation they'll refund my CC (except about 87c of the initial $1).
    Suggested one of the reasons I was cancelling was due to not getting the gift card, and without prompting the guy said (3 times, even after he processed my cancellation) that I could be sure they'd send the GC to me … so we'll see.

  • Just got another payment unsuccessful email, that's 2 now

    • Lol same here. I'm using the membership to allow me to do use the Herald Sun Fantasy Footy Gold features.

      • +2

        I have recently received my third payment unsucessful email (as I blocked them via PayPal) from them and the good thing (for me) is that I still have access to the Herald Sun Fantasy Footy Gold features.

        I think I'll leave my account as it is as they must still think I am a paying customer (with some payment problems) and so still get my access to the site as well as possibly getting my Gift Card as I'm in that grey area of subscribed (well, technically not UN-subscribed) in their books.

  • I got my refund back via Paypal $16 + $0.11 (Initial $1). I just send them an email to cancel. I just told them I was trying it out and It wasn't for me.

  • I called them and was meant to get the GC this week. Of course the postie came empty handed today… I will open a dispute. Imagine 500 disputes against one account…

  • +3

    Funny reading the emails about backlogs and how they are "out" of gift cards.. has a single person gotten their gift card yet? Seems a bit silly to keep lying about it. They can just say it has been delayed or something.

    • +2

      I finally called to cancel my sub….

      The guy taking the call said that anyone that signed up before 28th of Feb(absolutely no one) will be receiving their gift card by the 7th of April. Anyone who signed up after 28th of Feb(everyone) will be receiving an email with details about their non existent gift card.

      He also said that the gift cards was a Rebel's promotion not News Limited. To which I asked, "what are they set to gain from offering people a free gift card?"… he replied with, "they get a mailing list".

      More spin from News Ltd…. and more spam from Rebel :)

      • Anyone checked the T&Cs? Was address sharing mentioned?

        • Nup no stuff in t&c about a.sharing

        • So on top of 500 plus PayPal disputes there will be 500 complaints to ACMA…

        • ACCC do you mean? Aust Consumer Media Auth.

      • +1

        More Bullshit

    • I haven't got any spam from them

      • should be Department of Fair trading imo

  • I canceled my paypal subscription before it would be renewed so i am only out $1 so far. Is there anything anywhere that says you have to have an active subscription when they send the gift card?

    Surely it shouldn't matter because they said they would send it within 14 business days. I really want the gift card because otherwise it's simply a bait and switch tactic and should be illegal.

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