Visitors to ParadePerks.com are being redirected to http://www.parade.com/perks where this message is posted:
“Dear ParadePerks User,
We have discontinued ParadePerks.
For those of you who have earned points sufficient to qualify you to redeem rewards, please return to this site starting April 10, and Parade.com will provide information about how to redeem your accumulated points.
Thank you for participating in ParadePerks.
-The Parade.com Team”
Looks serious and not an April Fool’s Day joke (if it IS a joke, it’s in really bad taste). Assuming it’s true, I’d have to say I’m not surprised. They didn’t appear to put much thought into it — how to value points, how much discount would interest a member in cashing out for a points-plus-cash prize, the different levels of membership (why that was even necessary in the first place), quizzes that could be retaken, potential cheaters, etc.
I’m surprised and sorry to see such an inept effort from a big company like Parade, Inc. A little planning, a little market research, would have made all the difference, and would have left them with GOOD P.R. instead of, now, thousands of p.o.’d members who are not going to have a positive thing to say about Parade.
Parade guys, if you’re reading this, please email me. I’d love to hear your side of the story.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Seems more than a little odd to me, considering they just ran a big, color, full-sized promo ad in last Sunday’s Parade magazine. Also, I wrote about a week ago, asking them how they determine when to end their drawings. They emailed back, saying they were going to run the drawing for the GPS (this was the BIG drawing) until April 14th. In other words, every indication is this was a spur-of-the-moment decision (to discontinue ParadePerks). Wonder how they’ll determine points, etc., on whatever they offer their loyal participants – of which I’ve been one! – on April 10th?
Luckily I was online as soon as Gold status was being given out, and I figured I might as well grab the coffeemaker…
However, it is clear that this program was a mess