 |
| A GCash account holder says she paid only about Php500 (HK$68) for this basketful of goodies originally worth HK$201 (Facebook post) |
One day, and it was gone. Well, almost.
Since Wednesday, Facebook has been abuzz with news
that GCash, the Philippines-based mobile payment system, was giving away Php1,000
vouchers as a Christmas gift to their Filipino account holders who only needed
to buy at least P1,001 worth of items from its partner shops in Hong Kong.
That meant that if they kept their spending to this
minimum level, their shopping was virtually free. But it had to be done in Hong
Kong, using the QR code for the coupon that popped after they went through the indicated
process.
 |
| Basahin ang detalye! |
The news immediately spread like wildfire, and a
number of Filipinos rushed out to stock up on chocolates and other personal
items mainly from Wellcome and ParkNShop, though some found out the promo also worked
with Japan Homes or any other shops that accept GCash.
All they needed to do was spend a total of about
$134 (Php1,001) on their shopping, and hardly anything was charged to their
GCash account.
The mechanics were simple. All that the GCash user
had to do was to click on the “Travel” icon in the “Explore the App” part of
their GCash display page, then press “travel treat.”
On the next page, they had to look for Hong Kong’s
Bauhinia logo under the “Hot Deals” section to get to the page that said they
could “save Php 1,000 instantly.”
Below was a line that said they should have a “mini spend” of Php1,001 to avail of the Php1,000 voucher. Once they clicked on the "use it" button, they
were directed to a landing page that provided the QR payment code that they
should use in making their purchase.
Despite initial apprehensions, scam-wary migrant
workers trooped to various shops to grab the windfall, and went home mostly happy.
But a number griped on Facebook that they had been “scammed”
because their GCash accounts were still charged for their purchases.
It turned out they did not meet the minimum spending requirement, which was Php1,001. One told a Filipino community leader in a Facebook live chat that she was charged for her HK$114 purchase, or Php832, which did not meet the required spending.
 |
| Blogger shows the initial offer of virtual free shopping for Php1k worth of goods |
“Minimum spend 1001 pesos kaya pag less than 1K pesos ang groceries ninyo, matik ung laman ni GCash ang kainin niya,” said a vlogger who goes by the name “Carrot in Neverland”, and showed how she managed to use the voucher by buying groceries worth a total of $135.
Some of her followers were not as lucky, though, showing notices on their GCash app that said “due to overwhelming response all the coupons have been redeemed.”
But for others the deal was not totally cut off. GCash
came up with yet another ploy to stimulate spending by their Filipinos users while benefiting their partner companies in Hong Kong.
Recent wannabe free shoppers found out that if they
accessed their GCash accounts they could still get the Php1,000 voucher, but
this time, their minimum spending must either be Php3,000, Php4,000 or
Php5,000. (HK$400 to HK663).
 |
| Now GCash will only give the Php1k voucher for those who spend between P3k-P5k |
The discounts of between 20 and 33% are not bad compared with other promotions of this nature, but compared with the initial shopping deal earlier, this was a big letdown for many, especially those who are not about to spend that much money just to redeem a Php1000 (HK$134) voucher.
