Samsung UK "Smart Thing Trial" and Tribulations

Wondering how many others are still ST hubless while they wait for Samsung’s European Word of Mouth marketeers to umm… open their mouths…

Spent months waiting and waiting for ST to give availability in the UK and right on the cusp, a couple of days after the release date was announced, having signed up to every single Samsung/ST mailing list I could find, I got an amazing email… Samsung would like to offer you the opportunity to trial a ST Hub… wow.

Clicking the link it was actually only the “opportunity” to apply to participant in a Word of Mouth campaign being run by TheInsiders for Samsung.

"…Sign up now… fill in the questionaire and we will get back to you… " with the promise of benefits over and above just going down to my local Currys and coming home with my new toy… it was a close thing but I thought what the hell and went for it.

Couple of days later another email… please invite all of your friends because we need more applicants… which was a bit odd as they still hadnt confirmed whether I had been succesful or not and here they were asking me to add to the competition :slight_smile:

So I wrote and told them how odd it seemed and had a great email dialogue with one of TheInsiders crew…

And then… silence…

The start of the trial was due 16th September though I understand that was to be delayed by a couple of days while they got the extra applicants vetted.

And here we are on the 23rd nothing…not even a reply to my last email sent after the 16th just asking when we would know one way or the other.

I mean its possible that I didnt get accepted into the trial and thats fine, I’ll just go buy a ST hub… ALL GOOD…

But I dont actually know… I mean do I go buy a hub starter kit and if I get accepted work out which friend to donate one to… or do I wait… Yes I know first world problem… but you know grrr!!

Thing is you would think Samsung would pick a marketing company that knew not to disencentivize the very people that its picked as possible new technology word spreaders, especially when one or two simple blog posts on their own marketing site would have let people know whether to wait or not…

But I do wonder how many other UK based fans of ST… postponed buying a hub and are still waiting for Samsungs marketing company to get back to them… I mean has this cost Samsung thousands of day one sales or just hundreds ?

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To be fair all i can say to that is " congratulations " on actually been " offered " something from SmartThings/Samsung UK lol

I was asked to be a UK Ambassador for SmartThings a month ago and word of a gifted UK V2 Hub and bits was mentioned to me but ive yet to hear anything of it

Saying that, I’ve also been emailing SmartThings team members with allsorts recently and not had a reply to one single email since pre september… id even managed to get two product developers to sort and agree integrations with ST and forwarded wll the info to ST to assist on with no reply…

I have got to a point where im pretty much disheartened and lacking that team spirit morale to care anymore . . . Hence my lack of contribution to the community as of recently, i think many others feel the same :frowning:

Ive learnt one thing on here from the long term wizard type users… never expect anything and then if something does happen its a nice surprise x

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I also signed up for the theinsiders - completed a HUGE questionare which took time and then …nothing ! ended up just biting the bullet and purchasing the set at full price in the end from PC world.

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Hello, thanks for bringing this to our attention! :slight_smile: We’re looking into this right now for an answer for you. Cheers.

Thanks April… That was really my intention… Worked with loads of agencies before and plenty in the past have not delivered the effect they promised… And generally I would not find out until to late, so just wanted you guys to know.

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Here in US, it’s known as “the suckers list”. You know, when they put a fancy convertible in the shopping mall and ask passer-by’s to sign up for a “chance to win”. Of course nobody gets to win it. Those who signed up just get more junk mail in their mailboxes and more telemarketing calls.

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lol Geko.

No, I’ve confirmed that they are still intending to ship. still waiting on whats going on though.

It’s coming! I don’t know if they’ve publicly announced a date, but it’s definitely soon. We’re crossing some Ts before the kits get handed over to the customers. Stay tuned for more info.

TheInsidere have a dedicated forum, etc portal for their program, but feel free to get involved in the community and post your adventures and responses to their challenges here too!

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Hey Aaron,

Thanks will keep my eyes open and fingers crossed.

They do have a portal site, not so sure about a forum… though seemingly you can send reports back on forum posts you have made elsewhere.

I don’t think they help themselves by having a blog which is only updated when they announce a new campaign

"Insiders Blog
New campaign: Samsung SmartThings 19/08/2015 17:17
New UK campaign : LG G4 29/04/2015 12:04
A new campaign is on the way! 28/04/2015 17:00
Happy New Year ! 31/12/2014 10:22
Unnamed 24/12/2014 13:45 "

While you are signing T’s you might want to mention how great an idea it is to actually communicate with the people you want to go out and communicate with others on your behalf :wink:

Something ST seems to understand but your marketing agency doesn’t… maybe you guys should offer them consultancy :wink:

Hey!

So we reached out to them, here is their response! -

We’re sorry for the delay in getting back to you. A couple of things held us up, but the good news is we’re back on track and we’re as excited as you are to get started. If you have signed up to the Insiders campaign, you will receive notification on being accepted or not by Tuesday 29th September. Those who have been selected will start to receive your kits on the 8th October. Please refer back to the Insiders forum for the latest: https://www.theinsiders.eu/campaigns/blog/14/9093/blog.htm

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Ahhh so they have been posting in their blog…just not the blog you get when you go on their site and select blog…I guess that make sense… Um…

Anyway sorry for getting impatient and jumping to conclusions… And Arron and April… Thank you

No, That would just be too logical and too easy.

and impatient? Absolutely not! I would want to know if I need to buy something, if I’m going to win it. :wink: It’s the only reason why I haven’t purchased my Maserati yet. :slight_smile:

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Yeah,

glad to have found an update on what is going on with the campaign after signing up with theinsiders :smiley:

I think perhaps part of the selection process is to find further details of what is going on from an alternative source and if that is the case " I claim my prize" :smiling_imp:

The one thing I have failed on is that I still cannot find that quote on the Campaign blog, anyway…

Really looking forward to finding out if I am to be part of the process.

Still very much worth the wait.

Fingers crossed.

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Ahhh William, that’s because you are looking at theinsiders blog… Not theinsiders smartthings campaign blog… Because you can never have enough blogs

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It was similar with the Insiders LG G4 campaign. The selection was put back by about a week a couple of days at a time. It all worked out in the end and seemed to be a good campaign (though I wasnt lucky enough to take part). They seem to get there in the end, though would just be a little better to keep participants a bit better informed.

Its worth noting the campaign is for people to trial the ST devices, give feedback and share thier experiences and then the ST stuff will have to be returned after the trial has finished (or purchased at a discounted price). With some of the Insiders campaigns a few select participants will get to keep it but its not really the norm. If you are desperate to get a hold of the ST hub I would probably just buy it anyways.

Good luck to everyone who applied.

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The quote above is from said email since I had reached out to get additional answers. Naturally, unless you had access to my inbox, you wouldn’t have seen what was quoted. :wink:

However, perhaps I should blog about my inbox and its content, so you have yet another blog to follow. <3

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I promise you don’t want access to April’s inbox. It’s full of spam and cat gifs (probably sent by me). She is required to reply to each gif submission with an appropriate meme.

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Bit of a dog person myself but absolutely love animal gifs. Currently an old one of a monkey pulling a dogs tail and leg doing the rounds again.

As for the blog of the inbox -the more the merrier I say.

Currently there are at least 5 yes Five separate active blog entries on the insiders website covering the SmartThings campaign ! and guess what the most up to date information has been posted on here.

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I like you already. <3

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(valuable posts, I know)

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