93 replies to this topic

[missyjane]

I sent an email and copied it to everyone at the station who's email address I could get. Maybe that will get someone's attention. Atleast he'll know that everyone knows he screwed up. I just can't believe how poor of a job he did as a reporter. I hope that they issue a retraction and apology at the least.

[ShawnainKY02]

How the Hell are they gonna say that they copied it word for word but it's not right?

Sorry if the language offends anyone. But that just pisses me off this is a wonderful site and all of the ads that have come out on the retailers sites have been accurate. Except for a few things changed at Wal-Mart since the leak was over a month ago.

My thoughts exactly!
Plus, what is wrong with copy the ads word for word? Isn't that what we are here for?
Stories like this are the reason that I don't believe more than 10% of what I hear on the news.
Did these geeks even look at this website? Even if these ads are wrong, they are upfront that these are rumored sales. At no time have I ever made all of my shopping plans based soley on the ads on this site. Even though I have found nothing but accuracy.
Heck, I think this site is great! I have told all of my friends and relatives about it.

[piccoloprincess]

We back you Brad 100%!!!!

[cami_reardon]

Brad, Please consider legal action. If the people that have been wronged over the years by this journalist - I am using this term liberally in this case - (if I remember correctly, one of the posts states that they have made fun of him for years) had all spoken up, journalists everywhere would benefit. Not only would the media outlets realize that they will be watched and will have to be prepared to answer for their own wrongdoings, but they will also have to be prepared to answer for their employees verbally, financially and legally. These employees have a great amount of power. They can slander someone, even by association, without a second thought. This could lead to better editing procedures and tougher choices of who may or may not be able to provide information to the public on more important matters (such as the war or 9/11 or what have you). Don't get me wrong, there are a great number of journalists that do an exceptional job of checking their information and supporting their conclusions, but in the end that is all it becomes. Their own conclusion. If a reporter could make a good case that the sky is green and support it with unsubstantiated facts, you would be surprised at what happened in the subsequent weeks. *S* I do not have my degree as of yet, but I am a senior print journalism major. I served as the editor of my high school paper for four year, my college paper for two years and served on the county paper here for four years. I still do part time work for a local paper. If I had put together an article like this one, not only would I need to have the proof available for the editor, I would have needed to meet with Legal prior to printing the story and my full name would have appeared. Someday, I will find the time to finish my degree but that's not the point here. The point is that this journalist, the editor, the publisher/production manager, and the station dropped the ball on their verification process and the site has suffered from Libelous Remarks that are TOTALLY not true. He has accused you of breaking the Truth In Advertising clause and this in itself could lead to legal action. Not by any of us that know you and your site, but by some flybynight that decides to jump the bandwagon. That is punishable by law and compensation could be a result, at the least it deserves a written retraction as well as an on-air retraction. Please do not let them get away with this as it will only lead to them doing the same to someone else in the future. Okay, off my soapbox now. *L*

[alimfp]

I just watched it. Yep. I am ticked. I won't even email anyone at this moment because it wouldn't be pretty and I want to be nice. It's one thing to say it's innacurate (though if you just use forum search, you'll find there's tons of different Walmart ads depending on your location, etc).. it's another to say GottaDeal is lying. Some people..

[Gporter34]

My email to them wasn't written so well but here's what I sent...

I just saw your news repot on Gottadeal.com. Your investigation into Gottadeal is so off base.
Not only did GottaDeal.com HAVE the print ad for Walmart listed on their website back in October but it is the same ad that Walmart distributed to their customers within the last few days. Some of the prices on the website may be Walmarts everyday low price but they were the items and prices listed in the ad that Gottadeal posted a month ago. It clearly shows in the ad that these everyday low price items you are referring to were never listed in the website nor in the ad as a blitz item, so naturally they would be available now.

In my personal opinion, you or whoever you have do your investigating do a better job next time. Your report was full of lies and inaccuracies. I can't believe you call yourself a reporter. You should be calling yourself a liar instead.

So if you want to "get Wise", do some better investigating and reporting.

You will probably get the same retarded reply from him that I did and it was hateful. He is not a very nice person. You should read the e-mail that I got. Anyway, I hope the local viewers know exactly what he is like because if he reported the news around here I sure wouldn't watch that channel's news at all.

[zillygal]

You know what I found amusing about his reply to your email? If he double checked Target he would have found that this one was released last week? or the week before,(I can't remember but I do remember I was totally excited) and it is the same one posted on their website today. I think writing him is useless - the station is the one that needs to be written to. (and maybe their legal department)

[Mike]

Wow, if the station knew anything about Black Friday and the retail world they would know that not everything in a BF ad is on sale. Also, what douchbag at Walley World told "Andy" that a $388 laptop is an "everyday price". What is with the chick that says that the site is "mean"? bwahahahahaha. What a bunch of idiots.

[Mike]

wow, just noticed they are a CBS affiliate...that is just said. I would expect this kind of incompetence from Fox.

[VaderGCP]

I think legal action might just entangle the site in more crap it doesnt need to be in but what I REALLY think you should seek is an ON-AIR PERSONAL APOLOGY from Mr. Wise, and I'm being way too nice by calling him "Mr.", and your chance to say your piece. If it takes a lawyer to force them to, I know it would suck, but it would be well worth it. Regular people who don't know about the site will believe this jerks report and think "Oh, I better tell everyone to ignore those sites." when you're really helping people. That's my opinion. ON-AIR PERSONAL APOLOGY. Or at least your chance to rebutt his claims.

[medicineman]

You know what I found amusing about his reply to your email? If he double checked Target he would have found that this one was released last week? or the week before,(I can't remember but I do remember I was totally excited) and it is the same one posted on their website today.

I think writing him is useless - the station is the one that needs to be written to. (and maybe their legal department)

My Target.com ad has 2 items different! I have to give it to this site, the ads are VERY accurate and those 2 Target items are the only differences I have found.

[TheLegend]

This guy just sent me an e-mail saying that he stands behind his story and that all of the stores except WalMart agree with him. He is ridiculous and I hope he gets his just rewards. But I will not waste any more time on him as I have to get through Thanksgiving and BF this week and I need all of my energy!!!LOL

If he's got agreements from the companies then email mail him back and tell him to post scans of them on the station's website and prove it. Otherwise he's just blowing a lot of air like his story was.

[Novac]

I'm surprised that these news reporters didn't also accept fake memos that appeared to have Brad talking about being evil and such.

[venerdinero]

wow, just noticed they are a CBS affiliate...that is just said. I would expect this kind of incompetence from Fox.

Amusing thought - the WI story was also by a CBS affiliate. Ah, Rathergate?

2nd amusing thought - WREG is seemingly owned by hmmm, the NY Times Co.

[mee081224]

OMG i am so outraged..........PLEASE EVERYONE write a letter to them and I mean everyone, please dont be lazy, everyone knows this site helped them so much in finding true deals. and remember we all knew it was rumored so we knew we had to double check thanksgiving day, which i found almost no inaccuracies. The stores lied to him, because they didnt want to look like retards for having their crap all over the internet....this is the day when retailers will never be able to hide anything from us anymore. we now have the power to control what is and what isnt good consumer practices. So please everyone please write a letter asking for an apology from the reatrd announcer his producer and the mgmt staff at their site. If anyone would like to write a nice formal letter that we can copy and paste into emails and then completely flood their inboxes so badly that they cant decipher a real news story from us.

here are the email addresses: first add is the moron who reported, next is THE EMAIL ADDRESS for news questions & comments, the 3rd is the station manager, and the last is for all other questions.
andy.wise@wreg.com
michele.gors@wreg.com;tom.moo@wreg.com;leslie.isbell@wreg.com;cathy.coggin@wreg.com
maureen.oconnor@wreg.com
news@wreg.com

So I urge you all please take the time to write a letter to everyone above, you can use the same email if need be, IF ANYONE WANTS TO WRITE A NICE TEMPLATE THAT WE CAN ALL COPY AND PASTE THAT WOULD BE AWESOME. THIS WAY WE CAN FLOOD THEM

[kronus]

Here's the reply I got...

Are you finished? Got your point across? Good...

Now hear this...I stand by my story...lock, stock and barrel. I checked,
double-checked and triple-checked the Black Friday ads with each of the
retailers named in my story. Only Wal-Mart's matched. Sorry, but I have
to call it as I see it. Based on what I found, I could not in good
conscience recommend gottadeal.com to anyone.

Now...I managed to respond to you without getting personal. Too bad you
couldn't do the same.

Andy Wise
News Channel 3 On Your Side

What an asshat!

[Lulujay]

I'll definitely write! Gotta deal ad site rocks. I must say, though, that the message boards are riddled with inaccuracies. Like the CC laptop is available online only, etc. I swear some the of the readers are purposely trying to misinform others. But Brad cannot be held responsible for that!

[alimfp]

I'll definitely write! Gotta deal ad site rocks. I must say, though, that the message boards are riddled with inaccuracies. Like the CC laptop is available online only, etc. I swear some the of the readers are purposely trying to misinform others. But Brad cannot be held responsible for that!

Admin/mods work quite a bit to make sure that the inaccuracies on the forums are pointed out as incorrect/misleading. But I do agree, quite a few are misinformed. I don't think many are trying to mislead though, it's just not knowing the full facts quite yet.

That said, I think the reply that all2tired rec'd from this guy needs to be fwd'd to the bigger bosses of that news station as well as CBS, etc. I also think they need emailed by a few people pointing out each and every inaccuracy in his report, the slander, etc.

[mugs]

So I urge you all please take the time to write a letter to everyone above, you can use the same email if need be, IF ANYONE WANTS TO WRITE A NICE TEMPLATE THAT WE CAN ALL COPY AND PASTE THAT WOULD BE AWESOME. THIS WAY WE CAN FLOOD THEM

I would not use a form letter, it would be ignored. But thanks for the e-mail addresses, I re-sent my e-mail directly to Andy Wise.

Judging from his response to all2tired got though, I don't think they care too much about the truth.

[missyjane]

Are you finished? Got your point across? Good...

Now hear this...I stand by my story...lock, stock and barrel. I checked,
double-checked and triple-checked the Black Friday ads with each of the
retailers named in my story. Only Wal-Mart's matched. Sorry, but I have
to call it as I see it. Based on what I found, I could not in good
conscience recommend gottadeal.com to anyone.

Now...I managed to respond to you without getting personal. Too bad you
couldn't do the same.

Andy Wise
News Channel 3 On Your Side

I received the exact same response.

[Gporter34]

I would not use a form letter, it would be ignored. But thanks for the e-mail addresses, I re-sent my e-mail directly to Andy Wise.

Judging from his response to all2tired got though, I don't think they care too much about the truth.

He definitely copied his response "word for word" because he sent me the exact e-mail that he sent all2tired. LMFAO!!! I sent my e-mail directly to him. He claims that all of the other stores confirmed his report and that WM was the only one who confirmed that this site had their ad before it was released, basically. I think he's about the biggest ASS I've ever seen. I also believe that he should have to answer for being what I feel is an incompetent ASS!

[eve]

I gues he "just copied it word for word" LOL I'm telling ya, he's a male appendage

lmas i do hope he takes his and gets off his high horse and says he was wrong.

[TheLegend]

He definitely copied his response "word for word" because he sent me the exact e-mail that he sent all2tired. LMFAO!!! I sent my e-mail directly to him. He claims that all of the other stores confirmed his report and that WM was the only one who confirmed that this site had their ad before it was released, basically. I think he's about the biggest ASS I've ever seen. I also believe that he should have to answer for being what I feel is an incompetent ASS!

All the reason why I said to send your complaints to the other media outlets in the area. Forward his canned replies as well.

But if you want you opinion to matter.... KEEP THE EMOTIONS OUT OF IT. Otherwise it'll be viewed as the comments of a raging lunatic.

And ask the question if he claims all the other stores confirmed his position then why did he state in his story that he only checked three of the ads??

This guy obviously does not have a clue as to the power of the internet.

[~Hannah~]

The reporter claims that this website only had one ad right? That's crazy. Everything I've read on this board about BF deals seems accurate for my area, except for a post or two by "unofficial" people. (Editing now to clarify: by "right" I mean "correct." The reporter is claiming that out of all the ads he researched that were leaked here prior to BF, he is claiming that only one (the WalMart ad) was correct? I find it hard to believe his claim, there. The ads were very accurate for my area.

[alimfp]

I don't think he claimed GD only had one ad, because he took the Target, Game Stop and Walmart ads, printed them and then took them into the stores. Most people need to realize that any retailer is going to act surprised and ashamed at the ads coming out early. Most don't want to say, "Yeah, someone leaked it, have fun!" LOL. But he took the lying part of this and how innacurate this is WAY too far. If he had *researched* he would have seen there are different ads for some stores for various parts of the country, so yes some will be different. He himself said GD admitted they were rumors and not a for sure thing, then he says GD is lying? Ugh...

[cthulhu]

What a tool. He is an asshat.