Complaint Review: PHILIP MORRIS - Nationwide

I have been turning in Marlboro miles for 20 years and I have gotten some really nice stuff. I have never been ripped off. You shouldn't write anywhere on the envelope that they are Marlboro miles. You should get some kind of certified mail or delivery confirmation and they should be in a padded envelope. I have heard stories from people who have tried to cheat and turn in miles that had expired and were not being accepted anymore. If you keep up your ordering and look at the catalogue once a year you will find out that they are only accepting a certain type of mile at that time. They have always given a lot of warning to customers that they will only be accepting a certain mile for a limited time. It is good to rubberband your miles in bundles of 100 or 200. If they are thrown into baggies loosely, it leaves room for error. All in all, I have never had a problem with Marlboro miles in 20 years. Happy Marlboro Customer.

I wanted to order from the spring catalog, but the woman at the other end told me that Marlboro Miles that are new - she said with a large "5" above the sku - will be the only ones accepted. I have been saving my miles for years. Last years' catalog had NOTHING for women, and I am one, so I was looking forward to this year's catalog. I don't know what she means by the large "5 MILES" thing, but to be honest, only about 1/4 of my packs have a LARGE 5 on them, so I'm screwed and have wasted my time - again! Why do they keep doing this to their loyal customers? And is this true, because I do have about 5500 sides of cigarette boxes without the large 5 on it. Janine

I just went to a search engine and typed in (exact phrase search) "law firm for Philip Morris" and up it came... Arnold & Porter. I'm sure it's not illegal to share that.

I have smoked morlboro brand cigarettes since I was 15, I am 46. I am not now nor have I ever been an employee or representative for Philip Morris. I have ordered every time since the catalog first came out. Some hints for a complete order are (1) make sure that you are enclosing the current miles excepted and not mixed with older styles, they can exercise the right to refuse the entire order if you get caught trying to add the older style miles to the order (2) cut them in a manor that each one shows the new syle mile logo (5 MILES). (3) Place them in groups of 100-200 miles with a rubberband and label them as such. (4) Put yourself into the shoes of the person that counts the miles you sent in, if your miles are just thrown into a bag; someone has to count them; and meybe they are having a bad day. As for any of my past orders, I have not had a single problem, save one time when supplies for a product were exhausted and excess miles returned.

I have smoked morlboro brand cigarettes since I was 15, I am 46. I am not now nor have I ever been an employee or representative for Philip Morris. I have ordered every time since the catalog first came out. Some hints for a complete order are (1) make sure that you are enclosing the current miles excepted and not mixed with older styles, they can exercise the right to refuse the entire order if you get caught trying to add the older style miles to the order (2) cut them in a manor that each one shows the new syle mile logo (5 MILES). (3) Place them in groups of 100-200 miles with a rubberband and label them as such. (4) Put yourself into the shoes of the person that counts the miles you sent in, if your miles are just thrown into a bag; someone has to count them; and meybe they are having a bad day. As for any of my past orders, I have not had a single problem, save one time when supplies for a product were exhausted and excess miles returned.

I have smoked morlboro brand cigarettes since I was 15, I am 46. I am not now nor have I ever been an employee or representative for Philip Morris. I have ordered every time since the catalog first came out. Some hints for a complete order are (1) make sure that you are enclosing the current miles excepted and not mixed with older styles, they can exercise the right to refuse the entire order if you get caught trying to add the older style miles to the order (2) cut them in a manor that each one shows the new syle mile logo (5 MILES). (3) Place them in groups of 100-200 miles with a rubberband and label them as such. (4) Put yourself into the shoes of the person that counts the miles you sent in, if your miles are just thrown into a bag; someone has to count them; and meybe they are having a bad day. As for any of my past orders, I have not had a single problem, save one time when supplies for a product were exhausted and excess miles returned.

I had never ordered a Marlboro Miles catalog, but have just done that (called 1-800-MARLBORO), and wanted to reiterate a couple of conditions that the man on the phone was very careful to point out and make clear to me: 1) A photocopy or scan of my DRIVER'S LICENSE will be required when I place my order and send in my Miles. This is for age verification. 2) ONLY those UPCs with the word "FIVE" spelled out will be accepted for the 2004 promotion, which runs through September, 2004 (I didn't catch the exact date). Miles with the numeral "5" on them have not been accepted since the 2003 promotion, so he said clearly, "Please do not send those in, as they cannot be honored." I was impressed by how thorough he was covering these conditions, so it appears others' complaints and problems have been heard, and the company is trying to prevent those problems now, before they have a chance to happen.

I had never ordered a Marlboro Miles catalog, but have just done that (called 1-800-MARLBORO), and wanted to reiterate a couple of conditions that the man on the phone was very careful to point out and make clear to me: 1) A photocopy or scan of my DRIVER'S LICENSE will be required when I place my order and send in my Miles. This is for age verification. 2) ONLY those UPCs with the word "FIVE" spelled out will be accepted for the 2004 promotion, which runs through September, 2004 (I didn't catch the exact date). Miles with the numeral "5" on them have not been accepted since the 2003 promotion, so he said clearly, "Please do not send those in, as they cannot be honored." I was impressed by how thorough he was covering these conditions, so it appears others' complaints and problems have been heard, and the company is trying to prevent those problems now, before they have a chance to happen.

I had never ordered a Marlboro Miles catalog, but have just done that (called 1-800-MARLBORO), and wanted to reiterate a couple of conditions that the man on the phone was very careful to point out and make clear to me: 1) A photocopy or scan of my DRIVER'S LICENSE will be required when I place my order and send in my Miles. This is for age verification. 2) ONLY those UPCs with the word "FIVE" spelled out will be accepted for the 2004 promotion, which runs through September, 2004 (I didn't catch the exact date). Miles with the numeral "5" on them have not been accepted since the 2003 promotion, so he said clearly, "Please do not send those in, as they cannot be honored." I was impressed by how thorough he was covering these conditions, so it appears others' complaints and problems have been heard, and the company is trying to prevent those problems now, before they have a chance to happen.

The following suggestions will help to make dealing with Philip Morris a little easier. a]Always send your miles via registered letter method. Do not write miles anywhere on the letter, box exc. Yes pastal employess have been known to rip them off. b]Check if at all possible how much time is left on a given promotion.The closer to deadline the more likely it is that you will have problems. C]If you are informed that the miles arent accepted due to the promotion being over.Ask if they will accept them towards the next promotion. A substition if you will. D]Please reconize that the customer service dept doesnt do the mile count for any promotion.They only report the count taken from the field dept. E]Please reconize that the field dept may not be able to count correctly.They may have thieves working there as well. F]DO NOT STOP COMPLAINING.Eventually your complaints will be heard.The right dept will be investigated and then either the quilty parties will either be retrained or canned[depending on why the problems began in the first place. G]Do not be afraid to complain to operations management.This is one of the most effective methods around.Please dont hesitate to use this method especially if your lack of response is accompanied with rudeness. H]Be aware that taking them to court may not be the best course of action.They employee one of the nations largest and most respected law firms. This law firm isnt intimidated by any means. Yes I know the name of the law firm .Im not at liberty to disclose it. No Im not a current or past employee. I am a family member of several past employees however. Frankly Im not sure if I can legally reveal it. So Im not going to. Hopefully you dear reader can understand this.

Last year I saved and saved Marlboro Miles and collected over 9,000....I ordered my gear and in a few weeks got a letter from Marlboro stating that I had only sent in 800 miles...disgusted...I dropped it!!! This year I saved over 6,000 miles, took them to a local CPA, he verified the number, put them in an envelope, sealed it and mailed the package for me. Today I received a letter from Marlboro stating that my order was cancelled because I had only sent in 2,755 miles. So I contacted Marlboro Customer Service and "Brad" gave me the same ole song and dance. I informed Brad about my CPA involvement and this time I had Marlboro right where I wanted them.....either send the gifts or I'm filing charges in Stoddard County Missouri court...I was transfered to Customer Relations and spoke to a very sweet lady who said "we made a mistake, you did send in all the required miles and I will reinstate your order".....Fair enough???? My question remains...where did they come up with the fact that I only sent in 2755 miles??? Did my miles magically appear on someone's desk at Marlboro?? Regardless...the lady said I'd receive my gifts in 4 weeks or less...if not, I'm holding true to my word and filing suit against Phillip Morse in Stoddard County Missouri....To me it's turned into David and Goliath.....can a multi-million dollar company win a suit in rural Missouri??? Maybe, maybe not!!!!

I thought I was common knowledge but for those who don't know this our friendly postal workers will not hesitate to steal those miles. Do not I repeat DO NOT write miles or c-notes enclosed. I can almost guarantee you your miles will never reach Marborlo. Don't believe me? Go ahead and test me. Write "miles enclosed" and make sure you fully address the envolope to them. It will never get there. Dont mail them in a regular envolope. Put as little of the adress as you can on the package. (i.e the po box and zip code is enuff) You can put a letter in with the miles or notes telling them whats up. There has been a problem with this for some time. Of course you can send it registered mail for a little more cost. I will do a little research on this and get back to you all but for now I offer the above advice.

Admitedly, I have not ordered from Marlboro since the Country Store catalog, but I'll add my comments anyway. I ordered from the Country Store. I ordered 2 reversible jackets, 2 Walkman style CD players, and 1 Poker set. I recieved all that I ordered. This catalog had stated specifically that only Country Store Miles would be accepted. Well, I was at a loss as to what to do with my Adventure Team miles, so I just counted them as Country Store and put them in with the order. 70% of the miles on that order were Adventure Team, and I still recieved all that I ordered. In all the catalogs I have recieved since that time, I have seen nothing that piqued my interest, so I have not ordered. Instead, I sold the miles I had on Ebay, and made quite a nice chunk of change. I do not doubt that people have had problems, but I'd just like to add that not ALL people have had problems.

dear ED, i am not a shill for marlboro, i dont even smoke marlboro anymore, but i have never had a problem with the miles promos before, of course, i just sent in my order, and i havent orderd in a couple of years, so i will update when i recieve the stuff or a letter from them

How typical, this shill who filed the above REBUTTAL didn't give a valid e-mail address, unlike the person who filed this Report gave their full name, address and phone number. (Just like the majority of people who file Rip-off Repeorts) ..Linda, please tell us, why are there so many complaints on the Rip-off Report. Do you think they all have a secrete ax to grind?

ED Magedson
[email protected]

I have saved Marlboro miles ever since Marlboro started their miles program.

I have always gotten what I ordered and have had no problems whatsoever.

I have received very nice quality items, such as leather jackets, CB radios, water proof dusters (coats), and clothes, just to mention a few.

I think it's a wonderful program.