Told I have won £1000 but then told I have won a book instead?

blackrainbow86

I entered a competition and I received a phone call saying that I have won £1000 in vouchers. I received a phone call today to be told that I had not won £1000, but won a book instead (oh cheers).

I am looking to write a letter of complaint because I think it was disgusting that I was misinformed and the woman was not even apologetic. I actually had a few missed calls from them prior to receiving the good news so they had the chance to get their facts straight beforehand.

What sort of compensation would be suitable in your opinion?

s_b

.....2 books

Forwandert

blackrainbow86 wrote: »

What sort of compensation would be suitable in your opinion?

I would ask for a book.

wealdroam

blackrainbow86 wrote: »

I entered a competition and I received a phone call saying that I have won £1000 in vouchers. I received a phone call today to be told that I had not won £1000, but won a book instead (oh cheers).

I am looking to write a letter of complaint because I think it was disgusting that I was misinformed and the woman was not even apologetic. I actually had a few missed calls from them prior to receiving the good news so they had the chance to get their facts straight beforehand.

What sort of compensation would be suitable in your opinion?

Well, in my opinion the maximum compensation you could possibly get would be £1000.

Just gather together all your proof that they promised you £1000 and send copies (not originals) of it with your letter, together with proof of your losses.

You do have the necessary evidence, don't you?

bargainsneeded

i think its damn annoying but too be honest until its in my hand i never take it for granted. i won a holiday once to hollywood through a local store i got that sick of them ringing me cos i thought they were conmen that i put the phone down on them. 3 days later confirmation came through the door lol. not sure its a compensation thing really, just bloomin annoyin.

bcl999

Forwandert wrote: »

I would ask for a book.

A book of vouchers, surely?

blackrainbow86

Only proof I have is the phone number that rang and the time the calls were made to me

I just think it is wrong to phone somebody telling them they have won a large amount of money only to be told "Oh sorry, you didn't win this after all".

DreamerV

blackrainbow86 wrote: »

Only proof I have is the phone number that rang and the time the calls were made to me

I just think it is wrong to phone somebody telling them they have won a large amount of money only to be told "Oh sorry, you didn't win this after all".

It may be wrong, but it doesn't sound like it was done intentionally with malice. It sounds like a genuine error. Of course it is gutting, and of course you would ask if there is anything that can be done. I'm not sure if anything can be done, as they are unlikely to admit their mistake (I'd have thought). You could find out if they record their outgoing calls to people telling them they've won, and then pay for a copy of the information held on you (the tape, or a transcript of it). I would think that would form a verbal contract, if you have proof they are telling you that you have won £1000 worth of vouchers. However, it may not hold if a genuine mistake, I don't know. I'd be more worried that they may have told 2 people they won £1000 worth of vouchers by mistake, and then randomly picked one of them to turn down (it's possible).

paddyrg

What was the competition? I am very cynical about these things - did claiming the prize involve calling a premium-rate number, for instance?

£1000 of vouchers is often a total lemon of a prize - sounds great, but a stack of "£500 off your next Holiday in ratmarsh holiday village when booked through totalcon travel agents, regular price £950, to you £450, but you can find the same dump on teletext holidays for £300 and by the way you have to book flights via the same travel agent and eat every meal at the ratmarsh village canteen at only £45/cold chip butty. Evening entertainment in the form of timeshare heavy sales pitches compulsary every night. You are protected by our noisy room guarantee, and the prize is only available one week when you're not available. You'd hate it anyway, it snows on the beaches that week, and they close all the amenities to dredge the plasters from the swimming pools. ", etc are really worth less than the paper they're printed on. Or the electrons to email them to you.

"A book" could be anything, but pretty much certainly not a book you wanted. Either a marketing promo booklet, or something like Dianetics (look that one up if you want a rabbit-hole of unlikeliness)

You may have dodged a bullet.

hcb42

Last year I won a prize of five nights in a new York hotel via a website which I contribute to.

Next day they apologised and said I didn't qual as had to be resident in the USA. C'est la vie I think, unless you specifically entered a competition with £1k prize I expect it is some kind of holiday con.

If indeed you did enter something, then let us know as I imagine a different set of rules might apply.

barbiedoll

I had a very convincing phone call last year, from what I thought was a woman, with a foreign accent, telling me that I was the millionth person to top up an Oyster card and that I had won £500.
Needless to say, I spent the whole journey to work mentally spending the money.

It turned out to be my son, who was doing a "challenge" set by his drama teacher. He had to convince a member of his family, on the phone, that he was someone else. I had to write a note to the teacher, telling him about the call and whether or not I was fooled.
His teacher told me later that he roared with laughter when he read my very indignant note.

My kid got the drama class end-of-year prize for that one!