Looking a gift horse in the Mouth

There was a 'too good to be true' readers offer in this months Inside Poker - advertised by Everest Poker was the offer of simply create a new account and make a $5 deposit, and you would (using a bonus code provided by the magazine) gain a free WSOP $1050 Satellite Seat with the offer of a $13K WSOP package for every 13 entries.
Admittedly a fantastically generous offer by the company - the question of there being a 'catch' to the offer was raised in one of the threads on Punterslounge , but the editor of the magazine came onto the thread and reassured everyone with the following statement

Hello All
Yes it is a really amazing promotion, and [Big Thanks]to Everest for putting it on.Ed you really are a cynical man aren't you? (Referring to the question of the authenticity of the offer)We did ask all those same questions to Everest, and there was no catch as far as we could see.
Just a fantastic offer for anyone setting up a new account.
Bear in mind this is Everest's flagship satellite tournament for the WSOP. And as the table sponsors I'm sure they want to send as many players as possible who have qualified through the site.
Also note the promotion only runs for a week, is only for new account holders (and not existing account holders opening a new account) and the tournament is capped at 2,000 runners and there will be a good chunk of those taken up by players qualifying through the normal routes on the site. It's not a special tournament just for IP readers. So think about that before any thoughts of sharing the bonus code enter anyone's head. Let's hope we have a lot of IP readers playing in the main event this year due to Everest's generosity. I've got my fingers crossed.

Some eager beavers regged within minutes of the opening date and were duly entered into the WSOP Satellite, others (like myself) waited - the entry of the tournament was still showing just 297 when I registered on the 2nd day of the offer. But wait ..... when I entered my bonus code I get a message saying this offer is no longer available ? WTF ?
So I load up the original thread and find that the company has now reneged on their advertised offer. They have published a message on the Inside Poker website stating the fault lay with an oversight on their part and that the magazine was in no way to blame. I had an email to much the same effect when I queried the non-existence of the Bonus Code.
They have now after promising to honor those that got entered begun to remove the entrants from the competition - the whole thing is a PR Shambles - lets hope they don't have the same oversight when they sponsor the WSOP Tables !!

My thoughts turned back to the Hoover Free Flights offer and the outcome of that, which was for a similar value 'prize' -
Are Everest duty bound to honour the advertisement ?
Is the Magazine anyway culpable ?

One things for certain the whole schmozzle can have done no favours to either of the parties involved