Tongue In Cheek Emails
They don’t work, even if you include friendly smilies. So don’t do it! – I learned the hard way today and ended up offending a merchant 
It’s in relation to the Mothercare discount code saga as my discount codes website was still promoting Mothercare 
Sadly, for one reason or another, I wasn’t aware of the ongoing saga on the Affiliate4U forums, nor do I have any recollection of receiving any email relating to this and as such continued advertising the merchant.
I was contacted today and asked to remove the links as my website is a voucher code website… with a domain name like DiscountCodes.co.uk there is no denying it I guess, and confirmed the link would be killed sometime today. However I also asked a number of questions about how Buy.At discussed this with Mothercare and in the email said if I was aware of the forum thread or received them emails;
I would have laughed in the face of Mothercare and their crazy rules and posted away on the forums
Sadly this email was forwarded on to Mothercare who phoned me up saying they were offended by the attitude I’d taken. I apologised and said it was a tongue in cheek comment and not meant to offend them, and we continued to discuss the merchant, why they came to the decision, how discount codes affected them etc etc. All in all, a pleasant conversation.
However, there was still one sticking point in the wording, whether it be Mothercare or Buy.At, of their decision and the way it’s being communicated;
We are happy for affiliates who have shopping portals and other sites to remain on the programme its only exclusive voucher sites that have been removed – this is the last resort for us and Mothercare – we really don’t want to remove affiliates.
My question was “What constitutes a shopping portal and what consitutes a voucher website”. The simple answer is ANY website that has a discount page, discount section or mentions any discount codes or voucher codes in any way shape or form on their website or in forums, is a website they do not wish to be associated with. From the communication from Buy.At I certainly didn’t read it this way, I understood it that websites who’s MAIN AREA is discount or voucher code related!
So tongue in cheek emails? Well, I guess every now and then you need to learn by your mistakes and I won’t be sending any tongue in cheek emails in the future. Just so I don’t get another phonecall from Mothercare, in the same email I jokingly said;
maybe I should set up a new import business when in Tokyo and create MotherDoesCare.com and have it launched on Buy.at
It was a joke… I won’t be… honest!
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