Thinkgeek Tauntaun inflation

[MaxDepth]

Does anyone keep their Thinkgeek spam emails? (If you don't know what Thinkgeek is, why are you on this forum?)

I was looking at one of their emails today and was thinking my geek points are accumulating nicely and I thought I should be at the 10,000 level before the points start expiring. For 10K, you could get one of those sleeping bags.

Or so I thought. I look now and I see the level has gone to 30K in geek points. When in the hell did that happen? And if that, then what else has been inflated?

I usually throw these emails away so the last email I have showing the sleeping bag to be at 10K was dated Jan 18, 2011. Even though it has been two and half years that's still a 300% inflation.

Does anyone have those emails from 2011, 2012 and this year? I want to see where this point system began to suck.

 

[Boogieturtle]

I'm a little shocked there isn't more of rant about this. Now to start, I understand that the points are just a bonus for being loyal to Thinkgeek and I should count my lucky stars they offer anything at all. But, that being said, most items on Thinkgeek can be found elsewhere for less. So the points are part of the incentive. Thinkgeek also cultivates a nice culture of fans.

I'm not going to get into all the shipping errors and DOA products. That changes with each person's experience I'm sure. But now let's look at what they did using the sleeping bag listed above. The Tauntaun sleeping bag one month ago was 10K. Now it's 30k. You earn 1 point per $10. So 30k x $10 = Anyone? And don't forget, you still have to spend $75 to use the points. Yes it's less than it was. And yes spending $75 at Thinkgeek is easy and often a given. But for 300k I think I might be able to start manufacturing my own version of the bag. Not to mention, points expire after 3 years. Who is going to spend that much in three years? Well I suppose anyone that bought the actual size Game of Thrones throne might be able to get a $75 sleeping bag. Thinkgeek has basically told us to go peel a banana.

To sum up, I was loyal. But my time with the monkey has ended.

 

[MaxDepth]

I think this falls under the category of Frankie's Fun Times or Dave & Buster's $50 Giant Plastic Comb (you know where you spend $50 on amusements to get enough tickets/points to redeem for a Giant Plastic Comb.)

ThinkGeek Support Chat transcript:

Please wait for a Customer Service Monkey to respond.

You are chatting with 'Linda V'

Linda V: Thank you for contacting ThinkGeek! How can I help you today?

Max: I have a question about the inflation of Geek Point products. Specifically I have seen the Tauntaun sleeping bag go from 10,000 GP to now 30,000. This was not a steady increase but now a 300% jump.

Max: I could review previous emails to see if other items have been jacked up but this one immediately caught my eye.

Linda V: We had recently made changes to the program and now you earn 10 points for every dollar spent on every item rather than specific ones.

Max: Okay, so the sleeping bag was originally offered at $100 two years ago and now sells for $150. So does this mean that any product has doubled the geek point value?

Max: I just wanted to understand the inflation and if there was any email I may have missed that explained the sudden and markedly increased exchange rate?

Linda V: We have adjusted the point value to ensure the on-going strength of the program.

Max: Okay...I'm just a little disappointed with the realization that I will have points expire before I get to something "big" in the program.

Max: Thank you for your time.

Linda V: I do apologize for any inconvenience. Is there anything else I can assist you with today Max?

Max: No, thank you.

Linda V: Have a great day!!!

 

[BoberFett]

You earn 1 point per $10.

you earn 10 points for every dollar spent

It looks like one of you is off by a factor of 100.

 

[dennilfloss]

Had to google what a Tauntaun is. It's not like I remember every critter from movies I saw nearly 25 years ago.

 

[zinfamous]

Had to google what a Tauntaun is. It's not like I remember every critter from movies I saw nearly 25 years ago.

well, that's just sad.

 

[Fritzo]

What's the internal temperature of a tauntaun?

Luke warm.

 

[zinfamous]

What's the internal temperature of a tauntaun?

Luke warm.