East West Sounds Online Fail

So today I get a mail from East West support staff telling me that the delivery note I sent in with my rebate form is not acceptable as a proof of purchase, and that I have to send them an actual invoice. Let's be clear, this means posting something ELSE to the Netherlands...not Germany as previously stated, but you get the idea.

For those of you who don't know what I'm on about, I'm talking about this 2-for-1 promotion from East West, which as far as I can tell is pretty much globally popular. Some of their products are basically essential purchases if you're in the business of making music, so saving about £350 on a 2-for-1 is great value.

Digital Village only send out delivery notes, not invoices, and (I believe) there's no easy way of printing one off. What this bright spark from East West failed to notice is that a printed delivery note with an order number on it, is precisely as difficult to forge as an invoice. It shows all the same details - name, address and order...Also, the TnC's on DV247 state that you should include "your original Digital Village / DV247 purchase receipt" but, again, the only "original" thing you receive is the delivery note.

If you're offering your customers something for free, don't be a dick about it. I'm not certain this system of needing to post stuff has been set up to discourage a percentage of people from taking the offer, but that certainly would seem to be the effect. But stupidly blocking people when they do take it up? That's just ridiculous.

It seems that East West have customer loyalty way down the list - I replied telling them that I'd bought several large-scale products from them in the past and that they should deal with DV247 direct about my order because I don't want to do any more work to get my freebie. We will see if they can overcome their idiocy.