What rights do I have regarding competitions?

[Deleted User]

Hello - I wonder if anyone could help me?

What laws or rules govern competitions? Is there a single law, or none at all?

Recently, I entered a very prestigious national competition backed by one of the world's largest multinational brands. It's not really a 'competition' in the sense that it's not based on luck or chance, but instead it's an award given to the best young business in the UK. To apply, you have to fill in a very lengthy application form, go through interviews and be assessed in a 'dragons den' style format.

I was very lucky to find that out of thousands of applicants, I had made it down to the final few and my shortlisting was announced to the press by the organisers.

Unfortunately, I didn't make it through to the final 8.

However, upon announcing the finalists (all of this had been behind-closed-doors up until this point), I noticed that at least 5 of them were ineligible to enter the competition in the first place, as they did not satisfy the entry criteria. This wasn't a case of my subjective opinion, but it was VERY clear and obvious that they didn't qualify.

I wrote a letter of complaint to the organisers, providing them with all the factual information needed to prove that the relevant finalists were ineligible, but at the same time many of the other shortlisted candidates also found out about the discrepancies and a bit of a fuss kicked off, very publically, online.

The organisers got very angry and viewed our complaints as a direct criticism of them, so they promised to 'look into it' in detail. In fact, they didn't - they completely ignored all of our complaints and just said that they were satisfied the finalists were all eligible. Our concerns were dismissed very flippantly, even in the face of incontrovertible evidence (I suspect, it's because it was one of the world's largest brands and they had already announced the finalists to the press, so they didn't want to look stupid by having to backtrack).

As part of this, they also changed the rules to accommodate one of the ineligible finalists, AFTER they had announced who they were.

I am very angry by this as it's the biggest competition of its kind in the UK with several tens of thousands of pounds on offer as a prize, not to mention huge publicity for my business.

I intend to pursue this further, but first I wanted to know whether there were any laws or regulations governing this sort of competition?

If a business publicises rules and entry criteria, but then doesn't apply those and instead shortlists finalists who are clearly ineligible, are they breaking any law?

pinkshoes

As it's a private company, I can't see there being any rules they are breaking, as they are able to make up their own T&Cs.

Has this "final" actually happened yet?

Personally I would go down the route of bad publicity, as if 5 of the 8 finalists are ineligable, then surely the whole event may be fixed?

Care to name and shame?

cleo1299

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hello - I wonder if anyone could help me?

What laws or rules govern competitions? Is there a single law, or none at all?

.....

If a business publicises rules and entry criteria, but then doesn't apply those and instead shortlists finalists who are clearly ineligible, are they breaking any law?

Yes. There's a useful article at http://www.out-law.com/page-6780 which explains the rules about how to run a competition. But I'm not sure who you should complain to. Consumer Direct should be able to tell you, or you could try the Office of the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman as they oversee a lot of different things.

[Deleted User]

The final hasn't happened yet so no-one has been named as a winner - and as much as I would like to name and shame I am still taking legal advice on this and so can't reveal who the company is. Obviously it's quite sensitive and I want to make sure I am protected, but let's just say it's one of the world's largest brands and their legal team is bigger than mine!

The situation is this:

Company X organise an annual award celebrating the best young entrepreneurial talent in the UK. It's a huge competition: the winner gets several tens of thousands of pounds worth of investment in their business, plus significant PR and press coverage. For an upcoming business it could propel them into the big league and previous winners are now very famous in the public eye.

To apply, you have to fill in quite a long application form discussing your business in detail, but the entry criteria are quite clear:

The business must have been trading for more than 6 and less than 18 months
The applicant must be between 18 and 30 years old
Any active business partners involved with the company must also be between 18 - 30

When they announced the final 8 I spent some time looking at their websites because I wanted to see why they had been selected (naturally), and I became a bit suspicious because a few of them appeared to be very well established companies. Of course, the very nature of the award means that the people running them are going to be superb at what they do, but I was a little cynical that some had achieved so much in such a short space of time, so I decided to do a little bit of research.

Even the most basic research threw up many questions. I looked at:

Companies House data (registrations, accounts)
Details of website registrations, domains, hosting
Local council information (business rates, leases on premises)
Patent applications for their products

Together with other shortlisted entrants (who also 'missed out'), I discovered:

One business has been trading since 2006
Two have been trading since 2007
Another isn't a LTD, but their founder is claiming on his own facebook page to have been trading since 2007
One is a family business that has been operating for three generations, but has happened to have launched a new product and this product is managed by the finalist
Another company - who is perhaps the favourite to win - is based on a product that has been in development for four years. The 'inventor' is not only the finalist, but also his dad! Many of the elements of the company (website, patent application) are registered in his father's name - and I'm assuming that he's over 30.

I told the organisers this, but I received a rather threatening phone call telling me to stop being nosy and to drop my enquiries. I didn't back down and instead got other finalists to support me, resulting in a very public discussion and many complaints.

In the end, the organisers ignored all of our evidence and just said that they were satisfied the finalists were eligible - and saying that the competition is 'based on trust' and that they won't do anything further to check the final 8 are eligible.

This competition doesn't seem to fall within the Gambling Act, but neither does the CAP code apply. It may be a simple contract issue, however, as the company has invited applicants under one set of criteria but awarded finalists under another.

All those who didn't get through to the final round are now very angry. We realise we're not going to win in now that we've kicked up a stink, but as a matter of principle I think it's right that the company involved are held to account.

Surely they cannot get away with this?

Proc

They've probably got something in the T&Cs that says they can basically enter and decline who they want at their discretion.

Even if they don't, they can pretty much do what they want in terms of entrants. They'll just be treating the T&Cs as a guideline but if someone comes along that really captivates them, they'll award it.

Freddie_Snowbits

My company sponsor a competition in a trade magazine. Guess what, we win!

I also sponser a portrait competition in a local paper. Guess what, I win!

pinkshoes

It's not a company with a short name consisting of one letter and one digit is it?

Sounds very unfair to me if 5 of the 8 candidates are ineligible to enter in the first place, as Company X are no doubt using this as a publicity stunt to raise the profile of their own company due to the advertising. I believe advertising has to be honest and truthful... Worth contacting OFCOM?

4743hudsonj

pinkshoes wrote: »

It's not a company with a short name consisting of one letter and one digit is it?

Sounds very unfair to me if 5 of the 8 candidates are ineligible to enter in the first place, as Company X are no doubt using this as a publicity stunt to raise the profile of their own company due to the advertising. I believe advertising has to be honest and truthful... Worth contacting OFCOM?

the ones who who run the X Awards

X not in any way reating to that actual name of the awards, merely as a substitue;) (wink wink, nudge nudge)

RadoJo

To be honest, if you're already taking legal advice, I can't imagine anyone here will be able to give you more specific advice than whoever you have spoken to that has the full facts of the case. I think you probably either need to wait and see what they say, or at least post full details on here before anyone will be able to give you a definitive answer.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for your replies. My lawyr advised that it doesn't fall within the scope of the Gambling Act or the CAP code, but that there may be a simple contractual claim.

Clearly it's not worth pursuing, but how can I gain maximum negative press for this company? I was thinking of protesting outside the awards and flyering guests as they entered, but -'m worried that even though I'm clearly in the right they will accuse me of libel and take legal action.

Very frustrating, but the principle is key here and I want to stand up for it.

hartcjhart

I told the organisers this, but I received a rather threatening phone call telling me to stop being nosy and to drop my enquiries. I didn't back down and instead got other finalists to support me, resulting in a very public discussion and many complaints

then if it has been subject to public discussion,name and shame