I was originally going to blog about Halloween Adventure and my excitement at winning a $80 gift card from their online “Jack’s Quest” contest. But the excitement and optimism I felt about Halloween Adventure quickly dwindled after my disappointing experience with them.
On Monday, October 26th, 2009, I awoke to an email letting me know I had won an $80 gift card. I went to halloweenadventure.com and confirmed that there was indeed an $80 balance available on the gift card. I excitedly called my husband, and we made plans to go e-surfing for costumes as soon as he got home from work that evening. And as soon as he got home, he pulled up Halloween Adventure’s website and proceeded to check out costumes. And around 9:00pm EST, an order was placed for the high seas pirate costume. We added 2-day express shipping to make sure that the costume would arrive on Thursday afternoon, just in time for Dan to wear it to work on Friday and Saturday.
Thursday came and went, and by 6:30pm that evening no costume had shown up. No shipping information had ever been sent to my email account, nothing beyond a general order status. When I pulled up the order status page, the status code was Ship Return-Agent
So I did what any customer would do — I called the support number to find out where the costume was at. The number bounced me straight to voicemail, and I left a message that was never returned. So I went back to the website and submitted a query via their contact information. I received a “confirmation” email with blank placeholders in place of the information I submitted on the website, so I don’t even know if my query went through.
Come Friday morning, a second call to the support number sent me to voicemail again. Meanwhile, my husband left extra early to pick up his paycheck, run to the party supply store and buy a costume. Amazingly, he was able to find the same costume, for the same price, as well as hair supplements in the form of an awesome, long dreadlock-style wig that looks just like Jack Sparrow’s hair. Unfortunately, the time spent buying the costume that should have been shipped to our house on Thursday made him a half an hour late for work.
In case you’re wondering, the costume never did arrive. In fact, when I checked the order status on Friday afternoon, it was updated to reflect Canceled. Reason Canceled: System Error
I honestly don’t know what happened. I am annoyed and disappointed that the costume never arrived for my husband. And I can’t help but wonder if this was some sort of scam, a fake contest designed to generate plenty of exposure and organic links for Halloween Adventure, without them following through with the prizes. Who knows — maybe the supposed gift cards are fakes, and the orders are held and subsequently discarded by the order system on HalloweenAdventure.com?
In any case, the money spent on the costume and 2-day shipping was credited back to the card, so we once again have a balance of $80 to spend. If we can even spend it, that is.
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Hello, and welcome to In My Bag! My name is Jenn, and this is my product review blog. In My Bag is where I showcase my reviews of many of the products and services I buy and use, as well as the occasional trials, coupons and freebies that come my way. Interested in learning more? 
That is so lame!
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