Co-op Vent

Liquorice13

My husband got into the final of the Co-op Design a Sandwich which went to the public vote, there was a lot of suspicious voting on one of the finalists who always got about 250 votes between 7pm and 9pm every night, he queried it with Co-op who said they were looking into it. Then they put on the website that the voting was one vote per person as per t&c and a block had been put on. The voting should have ended at midnight but this person was still getting votes at 12:20. Earlier this week we were alerted to another forum where her husband and his friends had found a way round it and were clicking merrily away and voting several times each day, they had also got contacts in the USA voting for them despite it being open to UK residents only. The final post from her husband stated he had voted over 200 times. Co-op delayed the announcement until today as we copied them in on the link, but have said they have discounted the duplicate votes that were "technically possible" but she was the winner and no correspondence will be entered into. My husband feels totally cheated especially as he was less than 250 votes behind her when the competition should have ended at midnight. I personally feel she should have been disqualified, but she is now £1000 richer and will have her sandwich sold in store. He doesn't mind if he loses fair and square but not when someone advertises the fact they have cheated.
Is there anything he can do?
The link is below
http://www.scimitarweb.co.uk/sgwrs/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=11958

fluffnutter

Shenanigans indeed in the Design a Sandwich comp. Out of interest what was his design? And what was hers? How about we have a quick poll on here? If your husband's comes out the winner, we can all complain to the Co-op.

Liquorice13

His was the Cumberland Sausage, caramelised Red Onion chutney with Rocket and Mustard mayo on a white wedge, hers was Chicken with Lime & Chilli Chutney with coriander and mango chutney on Flatbread

fluffnutter

I'm with your husband on this one.

Emmzi

I never like it when people post on MSE saying "please vote for my" (relative/ baby/ school) etc in an online competition. People with a genuine interest, fine. But it feels a bit bad to skew the results by the random power of mse.

trumpton

Contact some newspapers with your evidence and see if they will run the story. I think competitions that rely on online voting are frequently rigged as it is so easy to get around the rules. Even companies like the Coop don't have the resources, time, or inclination to police the voting effectively.