I hear Cash Rewards is in trouble

Nothing concrete yet.... but.....

very informative. Will read again.

Just can't source it in public, but it doesn't take a brain surgeon to connect the dots.4

Why post then?

connect which dots?

.these dots.

I did not believe it at first, but after I read it the second time, I can clearly see that what you are saying is:

An underground east-coast style rapper from montana named "Cash Rewards" got into trouble by the local driveway patrol for mixing their concrete with too much water and it has not hardened yet?

Well, I've read it on the internet, so it has to be true.

Here's my source: http://tinyurl.com/nszq9y

Well internet geniuses, go ask your MC dealers and see if they are still offering it. Summer boat show season is right around the corner, let me know, although I am not the one that needs to be convinced.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.


http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/david-maloy-itpa-cash-rewards-c224831.html

It doesn't surprise me another pyramid scheme.
The MC dealer is going to be the heavy with this one. I'm sure it will cost them customers?

. ----- .

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/651118.html

Dare I say it? Nahhh, but I really want to.

Going to P/ off alot of people.

I am glad I don't work at Cope's anymore. I worked there when they were doing it and sold probably 10-15 boats with cash rewards. I really wouldn't want to deal with that Chit storm.

That and I do feel bad for the people that bought into it. But like anything their is a risk and they took that risk at the exact wrong time.

i hope not, the things my buddy has to do and the rules to follow to get the money is just stupid.

hell i sell appliances and offer mail in rebates all the time that work and come within 6 weeks 110% of the time.

but that cash rewards thing is just stupid, nice to get the cash if you do, but the hoops you have to jump through are silly

after reading that other thread only a complete idiot would sign up for that. Obvious scam.

I'm guessing most who fell for the scam did not read that thread.

I've posted this before somewhere on here...

I was looking at new boats this past offseason. The local MC dealer was pushing the Cash Rewards program very hard at the boat show. They even had a large display with several testimonials printed on it. It didn't take a genius to see they were doing this to avoid discounting the boats. This was a HUGE turn off to me as a buyer. It just smelled wrong. And it indicated to me an unwillingness to negotiate despite a very tough economy.

I really like MC boats and was initially tempted to splurge on one. This Cash Rewards scheme was one of the main things that influenced me to start looking at other brands.

I am really surprised that an upstanding company like MC would partner up with something as shady as Cash Rewards. As much as they try to distance themselves from it, facts are facts: they endorsed the program and allowed dealers to run with it. They had to know the risks to their own brand. Any customer who doesn't get paid is going to have a very bad taste in their mouth... and they will associate that bad taste with either their dealer or MC itself.

The fact that Cash Rewards may be shutting down should surprise nobody.

Except for those Cash Rewards folks with their heads in the sand.

The blame lies on MC. With out their backing I doubt the Cash Rewards Company would have sold anyone with their program. As ixfe said I too almost bought an X15 last Sept. The dealer was unwilling to deal instead they pushed Cash rewards. I bought a 210 with a straight forward
year end deal. MC let them ride on their reputation now they are going to have to repair the damage.

who woulda thought? that may be some law suits for mc.

(Message edited by shoulin on July 16, 2009)

(Message edited by shoulin on July 16, 2009)

What the hell, this deserves a little more attention. Cash Rewards, FTW.

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/cash-rewards-inc-c134029.html


this is crazy, huge thumbs down to MC for ever getting involved with such a shady company.

6 days ago by David Maloy -1 Votes
I am the owner of the company and would like to comment on all your speculations. The following are the facts:
1. We have paid millions in claims.
2. We have filed bankruptcy due to the fact that hun dreds of our clients could or would not pay for their certificates they issued. (Cope and McPhetres is one).
3. The impartial third party administrator (Resolve Corporation) was sold and closed our account in one week! We asked for all mail to be forwarded and it was not.
4.I can be reached at dmaloy@verizon.net. I am not hiding from anyone or anything. I am a tax paying citizen too as one of you stated.
5. I was scammed by many of your agents, businesses, etc. when they refused to pay for many of your certificates and when many of the businesses went bankrupt and could not pay us guess who they pointed the finger at??
6. I have been fighting cancer for 5 years and medically retired back in December. I have answered many of your emails and calls from my bed. I invested six figures of my savings so I could keep my business open long enough for my employees to find work elsewhere. I continue to pay their health coverage.
7. I have perfect credit, paid my taxes and did not get 50 billion dollars to help me when the economy went to heck.
8. I have to face my daughters and neighbors every day and answer some very painfull questions. This may make many of you happy.
9. I have Leukemia and Chronic Graft vs. Host Disease so if you are thinking on starting more gossip or sending in more troops to get me...don't waste your time...time is short!
10. I am a disabled veteran and left parts of my body in places most of you can't pronounce much less spell. That doesn't mean much to any of you but it does to me.
11. I signed checks for millions of dollars to people that properly claimed and their sponsor paid their bills.
12. Yes...I am terribly sorry that many of you did not receive your gift. Ask your sponsor and any of those that know me will tell you that I am an honest and honorable person...I was raised that way and have raised my children accordingly. This is my first failure and hopefully my last. My wish for you is that you can somehow move on and accept my sincere apology for the stress I have caused you.
13. Take care and pray for your troops and your country. They need your thoughts and energy much more than I do.
14. If you have any further questions I can be reached at dmaloy@verizon.net. I am not hiding out as I stated earlier. Also, in closing I would also like to clear up a couple of other statements...my daughter is not a whore as you posted(never understood what type person could make such a random statement), you called my employees horrible names as well...they were (are) all great people and devout Christians, you wished that me and my family were dead (be careful what you wish for!)...Karma is a bit-h!, ...for those of you that made those statements...please email me and we can meet somewhere and discuss further.

Respectfully,

David

Should never had started a company like that!

Wow! If the above is real (it sure looks like it) that says it all. I looked into Cash Rewards, but common sense told me it was a pyramid scheme. It was only a matter of time until it fell. I was surprised they lasted this long.

(Message edited by SHOOTER_08 on July 22, 2009)

(Message edited by SHOOTER_08 on July 22, 2009)

Well, he definitely believes in what he's doing. Can any of it be validated? Where was it posted?

the link is in my post just above, complaintsboard.com

Wow, apparently he's not getting many votes of confidence despite the pity party.

Any idea how the bankruptcy proceedings went yesterday? Sounds like there may have been a lynch mod ready for him.

No idea, id love to know though.

No matter how sincere he is trying to be, if i was in these peoples spots i wouldnt give a ratass about his health problems or how he raised his kids etc.

These people paid good money, purchased boats in goodfaith with intentions to receive this money to most likely put back towards there boat purchase.

As slimly as this company seems, im much much more upset with MC for getting involved in a company like this.

You know if it was a genuine rebate, id understand but the hoops you had to jump through just to even try to claim it, for godsakes!! they wanted your ORIGINAL!!!! birth certificate as part of the qualifications!! how absurd is that!!!!? i dont care if they have to prove its you, but sending your original birth certifcate is just silly.

i was so close to buying a boat a few years back at the boat show because of this promo, and so glad i didnt, i also know i wont be giving MC my buisness when i make my purchase either. shame on them.

Wow, Obama wouldn't qualify if you need an original Birth Certificate. Hahahahaha

Very sad for the people that got scammed, but come on, I knew this was BS when I read up on cash rewards in the beginning.

I have to wonder how much salary David and his employees were paid before the gig went down. Funny that fact was left off the list of 14.

Is not Cash Rewards insured and backed by Citi Bank?

BK won't protect him from civil claims if any attempt to defraud can be shown. I still CAN NOT BELIEVE that anyone in their right mind would mail off their original birth certificate to stranger. Greed is funny sometimes.

worst part is i read that some people did send there birth certificate off and since the company went bankrupt they havent received it back!

I love the 14 point sob story! He pulled the Jesus, cancer, and disabled vet cards all at once. Shame on MC for falling for such an obvious scam.

I wrote to the owner to let him know how people feel and this is what he just emailed me!


I know by now and really don’t give a •••••••••• can post this on your “dude” website as well.


<kevin@gonnasonboats.com> wrote:


http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/3183/716811.html?1248282919

Just so you know how people feel.

Some entertaining reading

http://mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=31302&page=14

I like the part where Admin threaten to shut down Team Talk web site if there was anymore insane and unreasonable posts

Even better part

"Bottom line – MasterCraft has fully paid their obligations to Cash Rewards so if the dealer paid their part and the customer did their part CORRECTLY, their money is safe and they will receive payout."

Sounds substantial. No one need to worry about their rewards

To Gardner "I still CAN NOT BELIEVE that anyone in their right mind would mail off their original birth certificate to stranger. Greed is funny sometimes."

Greed? I took the Rebate as part of my house purchase. there wasn't an alternative. Why are you even posting here? Do you even know that much about CRI? This post wasn't up 4 years ago when I got my Certificate.
And to Big D (bigdtx) these threads are up NOW but weren't years ago. We arent the suckers buying crap of the internet or falling for phishing scams. These were offered through reputable Real Estate companies and Dealers.

You can get "certified" copies of a birthcertificates for a few dollars. I got 6 copies each for my sons. Have used for youth sports, getting a passport, etc. Not a problem to send one for something like this.

Cash rewards sounded like its a "to good to be true" when it came out. Company takes $1500 or $2000 today and promises to pay $10,000 in 5 years. The ROI requires significant risk in any market. With the past years crash it could not happen. It was just a matter of time. Unfortunate for anyone counting on it.

I was counting on my 401K, I've made every house, car, boat, etc. payment that was ever due. Lost alot more than $10K from a cash rewards from the stock crash.

cash rewards was not just a program that Master Craft pushed..... it's the dealers.... not all dealers took part in the program. You could get Cash Rewards on a Bass Tracker as long as the dealer was a participant of Cash Rewards.

George,

The difference is your 401k will adjust with the market. The cash rewards will not. Game over for that scam.

Worth reposting...

---

quote:

http://mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=31302&page=14

---

Nice attitude, fellas. I don't think you have proper respect for the power of the Internet and special interest forums. Yet.

Trace, not sure who you are referring to. Hopefully Jason. Most vocal MC owners on TT are/were highly against it. I only knew of one who rolled the dice for fun! He doesn't really care if he gets the money or not, if he does, he's going to have a big party.

Katie,
I found information online 3 or 4 yrs ago when I was looking at purchasing a Mastercraft. Information that led me to believe that I didn't like the program that CRI would putting on. People who were having problems 4, 5, or 6 years ago getting their money from the program. I actually talked to one of the guys on the TeamTalk site who was really vocal about the problems he had been having.

Sorry you didn't find it. But I believe that MC has been losing sales because of this program for a long time because there WAS information out there about this..... certainly not this much of it, but it was there.

I'm referring to the cocky mod on Team Talk.

The mod on team talk and MC still don't get it. If you don't have a horse in this race you cant have an opinion? The reason I don't own a MC is because of the use of the CR program. Instead of negotiating a fair deal the dealers used CR as the discount. With the reward it was a great deal but without the reward they weren't even close. I think they should close THEIR forum and the team members start there own like [CorrectCraft Fan]. TT is the only forum I read with such a high degree of censorship. I don't ever post there anymore. You don't get positive posts by not addressing the negative ones. One thing for sure this attitude that MC has toward their customers insures I will never be one of them.

Katie, I'm sorry you got scammed. Even a little research would have shown that this was an impossible obligation for CRI to fulfill. You trusted people you should not have so you have no one to blame but yourself since you likely overpaid for your house because you thought you'd be getting $25k back. That's where the greed kicked in. There certainly was an alternative. You could have said 'no thanks' to your Realtor and asked for a discount or just found another house. I'm posting in hopes that when the next CRI pops up people will remember your troubles, put aside their greed, and say 'no way'.

Right or wrong, I've seen a lot bigger companies than MC bow to the influence of an Internet mob. They are kidding themselves to think that they have the reins on the situation IMO, and a few of those the TT mod dismisses as "bored people with nothing better to do" might be lawyers. There are also many good reasons that a mfr hosting an owners' forum is so uncommon.

so, the question is.. who's going to take the reins and create the new non corporate owned MC forum. the clock is ticking...

Wow...
If the Moderator on that forum has the backing of Mastercraft for his statements, what does it say about the state of the company? I guess no one should bring up legitimate concerns with them on the forum or "we will take down the site"?
Not a great way to handle it...

This will probably be removed soon and its too golden to let go: (cut and paste from MC website)

OK guys – I am going to address this and then this is it. This thread will be closed. Furthermore any future threads about Cash Rewards will be deleted because this dance is getting really old. And if you want to challenge that, we will simply take the site down indefinitely. But before I give you the official statement, let me say a few things …again:

1) Those of you wanting an apology, you can go ahead and quit reading. There will be no apology because MasterCraft did nothing wrong. We stand by our decision to promote and endorse Cash Rewards.

2) Team talk is not… I repeat… is NOT a forum where you are allowed to bait us, heckle us and demand some sort of answer from us. That was never the intent of Team Talk and if that is what you guys keep pushing, we will just to end it. We have channels in place for you guys to address your concerns and I can assure you this is not the place. It isn’t that we do not care but presenting it here does little to no good because we are NOT going to handle your issues here. Bottom line - contact a dealer or our customer service instead of hiding behind a mob that “carries” keyboards and monitors instead of a pitchforks and torches.

3) Please stop the whining about the good ol’ days when MasterCraft did not monitor, close or delete threads. Need I remind you that in the good ol’ days there were not nearly as many members as there are presently? Consequently we created rules for OUR site (yes, our site) that would ensure OUR forum did not become a place where we or others got bashed… at OUR expense. So we monitor, close and delete threads because you guys break the very simplest of rules. For example, we ask that you make no derogatory comments about MasterCraft, yet here I am posting in the “MasterCraft…Cowards??” thread. Bottom line, we have expectations of reasonable discussions by reasonable people, however, that seemingly is becoming harder and harder for you all to do. As a result, we create and enforce rules to ensure sanity and reasonability. If that doesn’t work, then we will take the site down.

4) Learn the importance of being a bit more objective. The fact that a bunch of you are so fired up about this when none of you used it (except JohnE) is simply childish. Truth is we have been working countless hours on the phone with CR and customers trying to make sure the landing is the smoothest it can be. While many of us here are doing that for the customers that actually used the program, you are on TT acting like you are best friends with the guy that died in high school when the truth is you never had anything to do with him.

With that said, here is the official statement from MasterCraft about Cash Rewards relevant to what we know at this time. And yes it is from our lawyers because one of the things you never take into consideration when you don’t hear from us is the liability of any written response. Without further adieu...

OFFICIAL STATEMENT:
“We understand that there are a lot of questions surrounding Cash Rewards, Inc. (“Cash Rewards”) and the Cash Rewards program developed and administered by Cash Rewards in light of the recent bankruptcy filing by Cash Rewards in Dallas, Texas. We at MasterCraft have questions as well. But we are not in any position to answer questions at this time because the U.S. Bankruptcy Court has not set forth a plan for us, or any other creditors, to follow. The fact remains that Cash Rewards operated a promotional program and who, like many other financial institutions, encountered an unprecedented financial crisis. Cash Rewards is not affiliated with, is not owned by, and is not under the control of MasterCraft. Instead, Cash Rewards is an independent business entity who operated a promotional program with MasterCraft (through MasterCraft’s contract with Cash Rewards) and with various other businesses in a variety of industries. In accordance with the contract, all monies paid into the Cash Rewards program were to be held in escrow pursuant to the terms of the Cash Rewards program. A Bankruptcy Trustee has been appointed to oversee the administration of future claims relating to the Cash Rewards program. It is MasterCraft’s understanding that the Trustee will appoint a new Independent Third Party Administrator to administer the claims process going forward. So while no new certificates may be issued under the Cash Rewards program, consumers who are holding Cash Rewards Certificates will be able to follow through on their claims subject to the terms of the program and subject to any future orders that may be issued by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.”

Bottom line – MasterCraft has fully paid their obligations to Cash Rewards so if the dealer paid their part and the customer did their part CORRECTLY, their money is safe and they will receive payout.

For those of you wanting a contact to address issues with Cash Rewards, we have not received the information from the courts. Once we do, we can certainly make that available.

Now go do something more productive…

Jason

That is some great company PR. I guess once you have dug yourself in a ditch that you can't escape from... you might as well keep digging.

(Message edited by lion90 on July 23, 2009)

Bottom line-Whoever wrote that bottom line is a dope.

"their money is safe"
hahahahahahahahahahaha

And it's not the first time this has happened. Several years ago there was a thread where Pendo was going thru the hoops to get his rebate. For weeks it looked like he was going to strike out. But something happened & CRI came thru. In that thread there were several people who made claims about problems with the program. There were comments made & links posted to other sites that were not flattering for CRI at all. And apparently that thread has disappeared.

The fact that this stuff happens is incriminating to MC in my eyes. It makes me think they realize what is going on & don't want us to know anything about it.

When all that went down I owned an MC & was considering another. Looking thru that program & the ridiculous requirements to make the claim made me think twice about it. In the end the MC tower design (and failures) discouraged me but the CRI program was a major strike against them. And the fact that the company owned site would HIDE it was HUGE.

(Message edited by bill_airjunky on July 23, 2009)

Ian aka Onlyinboards. We created a non-corporate MC website awhile ago. It's called the darkside, anything goes!!

Never liked MC...there was always just "something" about the boats and the dealers that struck me as wrong. That post from TT is ri-freaking-diculous. You can't express an issue with thier brand??? Seriously? WTF? Go to Tigeowners.com and see how many threads get pulled, I think I've seen 1 or 2 in a couple years.
How confident must they be with their product when they have to set rules about what you can and can't say about them...and then to condescend to the customers?? WTH is that about? I'll continue to look at every other brand when I'm shopping and MC is surely off the list with that sort of reply to current owners!

To my knowledge tigeowners.com is not hosted by Tige corporate, but was started by an individual several years ago.

yes, but you don't accept everyone into the darkside. I applied months ago, and was never accepted.

Thinking about this last night,

my question is this

Should all the money at time of purchase be put in a secure escrow account until the money is either claimed or denied?

I feel that money should have been put in a safe account for circumstances like this.. Am I wrong?

I just pulled this from their website....

How is the Cash Rewards™ Program Secured?
The Claim Fund from which cash rewards are paid is held in an escrow account in Citibank bank.
All monies in the fund are paid either to customers who follow all the program conditions or nationally recognized charitable organizations, that receive funds that are not claimed by reward-certificate holders.
Claim decisions are made by a fair and impartial Independent Third Party Administer (ITPA) who has nothing to gain from an unsuccessful claim.
Cash Rewards does not control disbursements. Cash rewards is not a signer on the Claim Fund and does not collect any overages accumulated in the Claim Fund.
Why have an independent

(Message edited by supra on July 23, 2009)

an escrow acct wouldn't have mattered much. your initial pymt wasn't going to grow into $10k or whatever amount. they needed new money to pay old claims.....SCAM

I think MC recognized it was a problem as far back as 2007 when they closed this thread...

http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=20203

Maybe...

If we don't recognize there is a problem...

it will just...

go away!

I would rather hear from the ones who have actually tried it...


not the ones who hasn't tried it and are bashing it. I can see how someone can say "it's a scam" but if you agree to the "rules".... and sign the documents.... and get all pissed cause you did something wrong... then what a lame person. But If you honestly did everything right... and they don't give you the rebate... then you have a legit legal case.

So lets try this... who has Cash Rewards worked for?

a dealer once told me....

80 percent of the people who actually do Cash Rewards.... forget about the rebate or do not follow the instructions to the T. So that puts out 20% in payouts....

I tried the rebate... but i didnt get my money because I stood on my left foot while signing the documents i needed to mail off by the 32nd of March at 11:46 am via first class mail with a michael jackson stamp.

If only I had stood on my right foot.

H2O Pro,

If only 20% of the people get the money, do you feel it is a ethical company?

TO THE T?????????????????

If they were going to pay $15000 in rewards from a $3000 up front investment. How could they have the money in escrow to secure all of the payments. Impossible "to good to be true" situation. They had to be investing the money in the market to have a chance of this working or it was purly a ponzi scheme where they had to sell more and more each year to provide returns. Either way it was doomed from the start.

I'm with George. Being a finance guy, here's how the numbers work:

$3,000 going to $15,000 in 3 years would have to have an interest rate of 71% annually.

$3,000 going to $15,000 in 5 years would have to have an interest rate of 38% annually.

Neither of the above even remotely consistently possible.

Therefore, CRI counts on some percentage of either people not following through or claims being denied by some technicalities. If everyone complied, they could not possibly meet their obligations.

To make out in this you'd have to:
1) Make absolutely sure that you follow up correctly.
2) Hope that your waiting time arrives before the whole deal blows up (as it has now).

Many can do the first. The second one involves too much luck/chance.

On the whole.... SCAM!

(Message edited by ottog1979 on July 23, 2009)

Well,I myself have not applied for CR, but my best friend has for his X2 and has so far done everything he was supposed to a T.

So i will def keep this thread posted with his results.

There are some people who got their payments. I saw where a guy actually got heckled so bad that he had to post a copy of his check to get people to shut up. I think that thread got nuked on Team Talk.

The small print said that if there were too many people who qualified, they could reduce your reward. They did do that one year, IIRC.

The money is still supposedly out there in the account, bankruptcy proceedings will dig up if it really is, and then it will be disbursed after the lawyers take their portion. I would feel sick if I were waiting on a reward.

Kevin....

cant be mad if you decided to do the program.... and did not follow through how your supposed to do it.


From what I'm told.... the only reason 20% of the people so get them back are the ones who did what they were supposed to.

As long as they are not screwing people over when people filled out the correct paper work.... then they are just running a business. They don't make anyone take part of the program and the dealers (at least one I talked to) was VERY up front about how the system worked.... they said

"either you play.... fill out the stuff correctly... and receive the pay.... or you don't fill it out correctly.... and receive no pay"


What Andy says makes since... as far as an escrow.... doesn't look like it will work.

George.... that makes since about investing it in the market. Banks do the same thing...from what i'm told....they take our money that we deposit every week.... and invest it over the weekends....


it's just hard for me to call it a scam.... when people agree to play and know the consequences

I would think differently if they were telling people that they would get their refund without having to do anything... and then when it comes down to it telling people that they didnt fill out the correct paper.... so your SOL....

i dunno....

I just want to see if there is anyone out there who it worked for....

I will attest to receiving the full ten grand for my boat, Purchased the boat and followed the requirements which were ridiculous but received the check from Portland Ski Boats?

Cash Rewards tried to jerk around with us for something like a missing receipt of like 1000 dollars but they did send the full 10K check,

Not saying it was a good thing but it did work

" I would feel sick if I were waiting on a reward."

See my #2 above.

yeah mike...

if you did not receive it due to the Dealer not doing their part.... You would be granted the 10K in court from the dealer... At least... I would hope so.

How long ago was that?

Hey Mike,

what year did you purchase your boat, when when did you get your check?

just curious if the timeline is in or around my friends purchase.

H2O, I have watched these threads for well over a year and havent seen one person who was paid. You would think that there would be few people bragging about cashing in. I think that is the biggest red flag.

"80 percent of the people who actually do Cash Rewards.... forget about the rebate or do not follow the instructions to the T"

I would say no one is forgetting about a possible 25K payout. That leave 80% tried to follow instructions, but failed. I find this hard to believe unless the instructions are written with intent for failure.

I dont feel sorry for anyone involved.

Mike, I stand corrected...congrats!

(Message edited by shooter_08 on July 23, 2009)

Lots of people made fantastic "to good to be true" returns on Bernie Madoff's program. Eventually he couldn't get enough new money into the system to cover the amount due and it all crashed. Seems like that is what happened to CR.

CR has the benefit of significant number of potential payouts not meeting the requirement. They must have over 80% to have a chance to cover others if it is a pure "escrow" situation. Seems like a big risk to me.

Shooter...

I think they just started doing the 25K this past year. Most of the ones I have seen were 10 or 15K.

I'm not saying they absolutely forget... just get caught up in life and miss it by a week... which results in no payout.

"I find this hard to believe unless the instructions are written with intent for failure."

That's exactly what they are doing.... they count on your failure to remember/fill everything out correctly. They make it hard.... or else they wouldn't have been in business.... George makes since....

I would love to see the money that went to charity..