Sad Company: Mobilewalla

In December BzzAgent.com asked the question, "What was your worst experience as a BzzAgent in 2011?" on its Facebook page, and I didn't have to think long for an answer.

I am a geek and knowledge is my aphrodisiac. I love trying new things, learning about new products, and giving companies feedback. I am a quality assurance engineer by birth, an alpha tester, and an early-adopter. I am the embodiment of 411 -- the person everyone calls when they need information on any subject; functioning as "tech support" for friends, friends of friends, and colleagues. For me, "bzzing" (talking about products/services with others) is a natural extension of my being. If something exists, then I have an opinion about it (and I'll have the facts which informed the opinion). If I find a product or service I love I tell absolutely everyone, but beware, the same is true for when I find a product or service that doesn't pass muster. And what I hate more than anything is when a company has a solid product, but kills it with crappy customer support/service/relations. Any love I may have felt for your product will fly out the window! 

This is exactly what happened with Mobilewalla, an app search and ranking service, that I was introduced to via BzzAgent.com. This is my odyssey... caveat emptor!

• On 23-Sep-2011, BzzAgent.com sent out its Weekly Digest email. The entire first section of the talked about all these cool apps that BzzAgent (employees) had found using Mobilewalla and at the end of the section, there was this contest announcement below:

• On BzzAgent.com's recommendation, I went to check out the Mobilewalla site. Then I visited the Mobilewalla Facebook Fan Page, liked it, and took the poll to enter the contest. I figured, why not? 
• On 03-Oct-2011, I was contacted via Facebook by a Mobilewalla employee who stated that I was one of the four contest winners. A day or so later, I was asked for my email address, so that my $50.00 Amazon.com Gift Certificate prize could be sent right out to me. I responded with my email address... and got nothing in return. Over the next several weeks, I contacted this employee a few times to try to find out why the prize had never been sent. The first excuse was that a colleague was supposed to have sent it, but that colleague was out of the office.... eventually the employee stop responding at all, just silence, and the saga continued.
• On 07-Nov-2011, I left a message on BzzAgent.com's Facebook page giving an overview of what had happened so far and asking if they had a contact at Mobilewalla with whom they could check on the status of my prize. I realized Mobilewalla's lack of follow-through and explanation was not BzzAgent.com's fault, but Mobilewalla had been introduced to me upon BzzAgent.com's recommendation and the contest had been advertised in BzzAgent.com's e-newsletter. I figured BzzAgent.com might at least be able to suss out what was going on. BzzAgent.com followed up with Mobilewalla and responded that Mobilewalla stated I would receive my GC "shortly" but by the end of November, I still had not been sent it. And had not received any satisfactory reason as to why not. (By the way, another BzzAgent responded to my Facebook post saying she'd also been contacted by Mobilewalla as a contest winner, but had also never received the promised prize. Considering there were only four winners, it didn't seem likely any had actually received the prize.)
• It's 05-Jan-2012 and Mobilewalla has yet to come through with the $50.00 Amazon.com Gift Certificate. No real explanation given.

Without doubt, this experience was my worst of 2011 as a BzzAgent. 

But what I don't get is this, if you're a fledgling company trying to gain "bzz" and you run a contest where participants are likely to be early-adopters and folks who will tell their friends (and strangers, too) about your product, why on earth would you not honor the contest? Why contact actual winners at all, if it was merely a fake contest designed to drum up interest? Are these the sort of people who you want to be out there telling everyone they know (and strangers, too) how poorly your company behaved? You've got to be one sad company.

On top of it all, I had planned to add $29.00 to my GC prize and get a Kindle... total bummer. 

Stay tuned. In another post later on -- likely next week-- I'll answer the other half of BzzAgent.com's question, "What was my best experience as a BzzAgent in 2011?"


Disclosure: I'm a BzzAgent (a registered participant/member of BzzAgent.com, a word-of-mouth marketing company).