Update: Deal is dead
Right on the heels of Amex gift cards being withdrawn from other portals, the cash back portal hoopla doopla seems to be offering 40% cash back for Amex gift cards. If you go for this, make sure to take screen shots and keep careful records. I think the chance of this being honored is very close to zero, but the potential payout is huge.
UPDATE: I added my referral link to Hoopla Doopla here. The person who refers you earns 20% of anything you earn.
Notes about buying Amex gift cards:
1. Do not use promo codes
2. Do not pay with a Citibank card (since they will treat the purchase as a cash advance)
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Hoopla Doopla is a SCAM! They will never give you the cashback owed to you and make up some random excuse blaming the merchant etc. I had taken screenshots of every single piece of evidence including purchase time, amount, store details etc. I went back and forth around 12 times with their customer support with all this evidence and yet they refused to pay.
Do not use Hoopla Doopla if you value your sanity and want to keep your stress levels in check!
They started with saying “This was all a huge mixup with that 40% offer, as most of the purchases we
got that day came from a blog post with misled information.”
In the end, they admit “We’re honestly not sure what a media buy is exactly, American Express just told us to list in in our terms.”
But I have not had any further responses after that.
Anyone get any traction with the customer service team?
40% was nothing. How about this http://www.extrabux.com/r/540fdc4155 (if nothing appears search for American Express Giftcards)
It states American Express Giftcards Restrictions Apply :
Cash back is not available for Gift Cards. Cash back is only available for Media Buy. This can’t be a coincidence that it says media Buy again. It’s like they’re trying to bait us to buy these and then reject cashback
I see it, but still pretty interesting. Any mileage malls with 80 miles per dollar?
They sent an email out (I ordered $500) that basically said that we’re getting nothing claiming that the terms and conditions (“Cash back is paid only on media buys”) gets them out of it. I think one could argue that this falls under the definition of media though, to be honest
That “media buy” can only mean one thing (i.e., a physical Amex gift card) in the context of that page is exactly what I said to them in my email to info@hoopladoopla.com. Still not holding my breath.
Exactly. I don’t see how they can say that it means anything else on that page. It certainly can’t mean a CD/DVD or something similar since Amex doesn’t offer those things.
Google “amex media” and the 4th hit is for amex publishing. If you want cash back, here you go: http://www.mydealsandcoupons.com/Stores/American-Express-Publishing
“We’re sorry about all this, but its at the fault of the message board poster who lead all the traffic to us that day. The information posted was not 100% accurate, and people were driven to our site on misled information not reading the terms and conditions before making the purchase. We understand your frustration, but it should be directed at the poster. Our terms and conditions were stated on our site that the 40% was for a specify order type, which the poster did not list on the message board in his post about the offer. We cannot pay out any commissions that we did not receive.”
I can’t tell you how many logical and legal fallacies are contained in that one short paragraph. 😛
Does anyone remember the last time amex did this? Seems like it was last year but may have been 2 years ago. Seems like the offer went away for a month or two then it came back.
We should wait 10 days to see if the orders post (I’m sure they won’t), then fill out their Missing Transaction Form, here: https://hoopladoopla.com/contact_transactions_payments.php
How long does it usually take for cash back to post on this site? I’m in for 5k and have my screen shot.
Deal is now dead. Amex has disappeared from the site.
i wonder if they will honor it now that it is dead. I did $1k.
i did $1k. i would do more – it’s so tempting, but who knows? aren’t they obligated to honor this even if it’s a typo?
I did $6k and would do more if I would need more for any bonus spent. Even they payout 4% its a deal.
Yeah logic would say that it’s suppose to be 4% and not 40%, if it is in fact 4% that would be great. Even if it’s a dead deal in the end it was fun taking the chance.
I don’t think it was intended to be 4% either since Amex pulled out of all of the other portals yesterday. I think that this portal messed up when trying to remove Amex from their database and it somehow got linked to a different offer.
on the hoopla site, it’s NOT showing my purchase as pending. i wonder how long it will take. i already got the email from amex telling me my gift card is on it’s way.
Yeah that makes most sense of all, it’s strange though that they have still not taken it down.
Why do you think Mr. Rebates is still offering 1%? http://www.mrrebates.com/merchants/5893.asp
I did $1K just to see what happens, but I really don’t recommend this to most people! As I said in the post, the chance of this working are extremely small and I guarantee it will require submitting a support ticket to the portal.
Tempting but too much hassle for uncertain payout. First, you say the odds of this working are “very close to zero.” And then there’s the fee for the card, then the fees for shipping….. and THEN I’d have to figured out how to buy a VGC with it, and then make the pilgrimage to WMT to load the BB. Too much for me. Good luck to those who went for this.
I just purchased $48,000. : ) What can I say, I’m a stickler for the chance at a smokin’ hot deal! : )
Yikes!
In fo $1k