free art of shaving starter kit

[angelhodge]

hey everyone, umm first dont know if this is the right place or if anyone has posted this but just wanted to post this link to get a free art of shaving starter kit. just fill out the form for the newsletter and you'll get a coupon in your email for a free starter kit redeemable at The Art of Shaving Shop near you. Enjoy...

http://www.theartofshaving.com/taos...Daddy20090820&utm_campaign=UrbanDaddy20090820

 

[Blaine]

Link doesn't work, says they're no longer accepting subscribers.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Thanks for trying to help regardless. The AOS stuff is pretty good, especially the aftershave balm.

 

[closer]

I was at the Madison Ave store in NYC a little after 1pm, the guy said they had 30 sets, and they gave them out within the first 3 hrs. He said the Grand Central store had just received a shipment of 25 more sets, so I walked a couple of blocks over to Grand Central. One associate scanned my printout and handed me a set from a bag that had about half a dozen remaining. The second associate in the store was counting a stack of printouts they had already received for the day, and must have had over 2 dozen.

 

[dustinm]

What they did with this is b.s., straight up. Companies pull this sh*t to get traffic to their site, and hope to lure people into their stores. I just called the San Diego store and was told that they are out company wide, and that the last shipment that their store will get is already reserved for people who had called in and left their names. I just emailed AOS to let them know what I think about it, and I urge anyone who, like me, was successful in printing out a certificate do the same. Also shoot theconsumerist.com an email, they are pretty good at publicizing this stuff and getting a response from the companies.

 

[dpm802]

Thank you for your interest in The Art of Shaving.

​

We are sorry but we are not accepting new email subscribers at this time. However, that does not mean you cannot shop our site and learn more about The Art of Shaving.​

I can't imagine ANY business putting a limit on the size of their advertising audience.

I can fully understand that they might cap the number of free starter kits ... but it makes no sense to stop sending out e-Mail catalogs.

I've never bought any AoS products, and thanks to this little marketing faux-pas, I probably never will.

(However, This does not preclude me from snagging free samples and PIFs ... AoS makes some decent products, even though their business model is a little strange at times.)

 

[gone down south]

Companies pull this sh*t to get traffic to their site, and hope to lure people into their stores.

Can I have a "well duh!" What else would be the point of advertising? They're not giving you a free kit just because they like you.

Anyways, this is the 3rd or so time they've run this promotion, the only difference is that one of the 'deal' websites linked to it causing a run on the stores and the company ran out of product.

 

[DSB]

Yeah, how dare they not give me free stuff!! (SARCASM)

 

[greyalien]

I think they couldve handled it better, but you cant really complain about free stuff.

This is the real atrocity http://www.theartofshaving.com/taos6/product.php?product=67018&group=11&trk=group

 

[dustinm]

Well, the thing that frustrates me si not that I'm not getting free stuff, but more of how the company treats the customer. I'm sure there was a way to stop sending out the certificates after X amount of them went out, but that's not what they did. I would have just went on my merry way if the site would have said out of stock or whatever. Honestly, i'm new to using a DE razor and really wanted to try some of their products, but because of this, I'll just look elsewhere at the many other recommended creams and other products that guys on here talk about. Since this whole site and the idea of using an old shaving method is largely about going back to traditional ways that our society has given up, then why is it bad for me to expect that a company follows through on their word? If your local barber would have said, hey i'll let you try some different samples of products, and you gave something minimal in return, then he'd probably follow through. Same goes for small businesses who actually care about the customer, and apparently AOS doesn't fit in there at all. There's a lot of large companies that still treat their customers right, and not like a faceless number. Oh well, I have more important things to do today than be thinking about free crap I didn't get.

 

[ada8356]

I've never bought any AoS products, and thanks to this little marketing faux-pas, I probably never will.

your loss.

 

[JCee]

I also recieved my email coupon and was unable to fufil it. I went to the local AOS store where the clerk informed me that they were out. I asked if I could leave them my name and just got a simple no. So I asked if the could mail me one. No as well. So I said, I guess you are not honoring these, right, and he said yes, they would not honor them. However, what I could do is buy the travel kit, which is the EXACT same thing (in his words), for full price, and they had plenty of.

Now I'm not upset that I didn't get something for free. But I did feel they tried to pull one over on me. And really, it wasn't exactly free anyway. They asked for your email so they can send you advertising material in exchange for the samples. I upheld my part of the bargain, they did not.

It's worth noting that the mall they are in here in St. Louis was busy. But the AOS store didn't have a single customer.

 

[DSB]

So I said, I guess you are not honoring these, right, and he said yes, they would not honor them. However, what I could do is buy the travel kit, which is the EXACT same thing (in his words), for full price, and they had plenty of.

That stinks. Your experience is especially frustrating, because it appears to be a type of bait and switch. AOS really does need to work on their customer service.

I have not seen the coupon. Just out of curiosity, what does the coupon say about limited availability? Does it have any specifics about how many kits will be made available in each store? I am definitely not defending them. I'm just curious whether this screw up was premeditated, or they underestimated the number of people who would take advantage of it.

 

[ada8356]

Now I'm not upset that I didn't get something for free.

uh huh. sure sounds like you are.

I'm sure they had a designated # of freebies and they had run out.

 

[RexHavoc]

This is the real atrocity http://www.theartofshaving.com/taos6...p=11&trk=group

I agree charging $200 for something you can easily buy elsewhere a lot cheaper is fishy, but I doubt many of their sales come from informed shoppers. A lot of gift buyers think if it costs more there must be a reason and I don't want the giftee to think I am cheap. (they probably leave the price tag on too)

This (I hope) is a typo
http://www.shopwiki.com/_Merkur+Vision+Safety+Razor+Stand

 

[JCee]

That stinks. Your experience is especially frustrating, because it appears to be a type of bait and switch. AOS really does need to work on their customer service.

I have not seen the coupon. Just out of curiosity, what does the coupon say about limited availability? Does it have any specifics about how many kits will be made available in each store? I am definitely not defending them. I'm just curious whether this screw up was premeditated, or they underestimated the number of people who would take advantage of it.

The e-coupon I received does not state anything about availability. However I do understand about limited availability. I was rather surprised though at the clerks rather non caring attitude, and the fact that he pointed out I could buy what they offered for free.

 

[Evander]

I haven't had a chance to head to my nearest AoS shop yet, since printing the coupon, but I'm glad I now know to call first.

Easiest way to get to the stores near me would be to take the DC metro. That means that if they were out of stock, I would be forced to spend money just to go down there and find out. I would have been pretty upset about that.

I'd say it's not about getting free stuff, or not. It's that AoS put some pretty slim constraints (apparently) on this promotion, without telling people beforehand. Now they have my email address, and the chance of my getting anything in return is a lot slimmer than they made it appear to be.

 

[SRock]

If any of you were able to sign up and get your coupon you will have to got to an actual AoS store. It appears that most authorized distributors are not participating and are directing people to actual AoS stores.