Some people are ruining it for others

josie301

I think I must be one of the only people who is reading this post in the spirit I hope it was intended.

EPM has several very valid points which have been raised in the past by other forum members - in fact a lot of them (so far as I can remember) are in Velvet's comping guide.

My personal thoughts are:

• Read T&C's - there are some people who openly admit to not reading these & entering several times - without knowing if it is one entry/daily/weekly etc
• Make sure you include the relevant details - as EPM says there is far more worth in 10 correctly sent entries that 100 which are going to be disqualified for being incorrect.
• If you are lucky enough to win - check the fulfilment timescale most are going to be 28days, but I've had several wins from reputable companies that have taken longer.
• If you are let down there is no need to be rude! A polite email can sometimes get you further than threats & ranting.

I have seen first hand - usually with smaller companies & especially on FB people demanding their prizes within days of winning.

As someone who has run a competition I think EPM is providing a great insight into what the promoter is thinking.

Oh and jaderebeccax

You've got to remember that people that use the MSE website more than likely are entering hundreds of competitions a day and by the time they've won a competition they can't remember what the terms and conditions of it was.

massive generalisation - not everyone enters everything and anything!
Even if you are entering huge quanities of competitions a day it is only polite to see what/where/who you have won from - this is also why important t&c's are posted here in case they disappear or are changed at a later date.

And yes soapy - there have been companies who have stopped running comps because people weren't adhering to the T&C's

Good luck everyone

soapyjoe

QUOTE FROM POST ABOVE - "And yes soapy - there have been companies who have stopped running comps because people weren't adhering to the T&C's"

NOT THE BIGGIES!

It's called cutting your nose to spite your face. I remember when compers were banned from entering a twitter comp and the whole thing raised a load of bad publicity for the promoter.

I doubt it's just MSE'rs who are making the errrors suggested by the way.

PennyRT

I just don't really understand the point of this thread.

In summary - thanks for the warning and apologies that you can quote one member out of hundreds that you deem as rude?

mjm3346

epm-84 wrote: »

As someone who has been involved with the running of some competitions, which finished up posted on here by another MSE user, I'm aware that some competition entrants are wasting their time while others are ruining it for the others.

Why do I say this?

Some people are sending multiple entrants when only one is allowed per person and this has led to all their entries being invalid, as per the T&Cs. Their loss

Others having been sending emails with their names and contact details on but haven't even answered the competition question. Again these entries are invalid. People make mistakes

Then with the people who have won some of them send a lot of communication chasing up their prize (and sometimes being rude in their communication) when they have been already told the time scale to expect it within e.g. after 7 days they send an email chasing it up when they have been told they'll receive it within 28 days. Sadly it happens, no different to people being rude at the checkout etc

The above increases the cost of running competitions and consequently it means future competitions are less likely to happen and if they do it's likely the prize will be for a lower value. If a company is so short of money that the time spent dealing with a handful of unnecessary e-mails is "life or death", I don't think they will be around long to run many competitions anyway

So read the details of the competition you're entering and if you're lucky enough to win any further communication you receive. Don't spoil it for everyone else just by being too lazy to read a few sentences. Doesn't mean people have been lazy, mistakes happen, although yes sometimes people take the p**

Competitions would usually be part of an advertising/promotion budget which will be tax deductable and a quoted "value" of a prize will usually bear no relation to the actual cost to the promoter.

Savvybunny2009

I think that's what we are struggling with, the spirit of the post. It's a post which comes across as someone who ran a competition having a rant about someone who was rude to them and they posted to tell us about it and add everything else that makes their job more complicated.

We know how to enter competitions, there is a comping guide for anyone starting out and rude people im afraid will always be rude no matter how hard you try to defluff their eyes from the layers of wool around surrounding them.

There seems to be alot of politics about people entering more than once, there are always going to be dishonest people entering more than once and this is why we want companies to enforce their own terms and conditions as that is essentially the ONLY way this problem can be addressed. Companies shouldn't shift the responsibility of this.

When it comes down to it, competitions have a marketing budget, it covers administration, it covers people making sure terms and conditions are met, it wants to get a good name for themselves, brand awareness and open up to an audience that may not have heard of them and responding to any contact in a positive manner. The cost can often be less than other methods of advertising, hence it being so popular.

I love comping, not that I have alot of time for it, but to be honest if a company stops doing competitions it wont affect me entering it just means that I wont be aware of their brand or talking about their brand with others. The only person losing out is the company so it seems odd to be telling mse compers how to comp when it's a business issue?

Please don't make assumptions based on that one person and tar us all and chuck feathers on, most of us are lovely and would show our appreciation, for some people a prize could mean more than just the value, I always email a thank you, and after I recieve the prize, I thank the person who has posted the comp on here too.

We are forgetting here the companies that ignore emails and the ones that don't send prizes, the company representatives that are rude or try to talk their way out of a prize. The ones that make a comp that no one wins. Companies make mistakes too, glitchy comps that don't run properly, webpages that don't load or sometimes contains malicious content. We could sit here and say it's a two way thing, we are all human.

Also as you say people could be misinterpreted in forums, and in emails. You say that your post has been misinterpreted, is it possible your emails are being misinterpreted and that is why people are emailing you again?

I hope everyone carries on comping and enjoys what they do

dogcat_2

I for one enjoy comping.....I do it 'cos of that and that only. Some prizes that you win you have to virtually 'beg' for. Others turn up broken or late.:(..but mostly I have no problems....and the companies are polite and the prizes arrive on time. I will carry on comping!:D

ak1065

Id say that 'some people' are ruining the nice atmosphere of this board for others

Enigmatic_Me

I too can see what the OP is getting at here.

I think nowadays we see far too much of the "greed" culture and people openly admit to entering multiple phone numbers, email addresses etc.

This was evidenced in the recent Pepsi hourly comp where people were entering for partners, sons, daughters and who knows perhaps even dogs and cats :eek: Also evidenced in the Glamour winners thread. How many people have reported 6 for me 5 for hubby?? Would men be really entering for mascaras/lipsticks etc?

Why oh why do people have to be soooo greedy and enter for all their family members? More so how do these people have the time to enter all these comps for family members?

The rudeness is a sad reflection on what we see today. I cringe and shudder at comments on FB, not only comp related but I can guarantee everyday I will see some nasty rude comment on a company's wall post which is full of nasty rude comments and expletives. The bully behind the screen.

Also, there seems to be many people these days who think they have to win and if they don't win then the comp is fixed/rigged. Again evidenced in the Pepsi thread for those of you that kept up with the masses of pages in that thread.

Whilst I realise that the majority of compers are fair, stick by the rules, don't cheat, are polite there are a handful of compers out there that are greedy, rude and very self centred with no consideration for other people except themselves. They sadly spoil it for the rest of us.

blackburn_jon

We all make mistakes.I've made my fair share.Most members seem fantastic,lets not let a few bad apples spoil the bunch.Happy Comping.

Blulu

This site would be so much better if all the finger pointing stopped. This thread contains a number of different moans and groans about what everyone else should and shouldn't do. It's jumped from the OPs moans, to the same-old, same-old inevitable gripes about people being greedy and cheating. Doesn't matter what starts it, it always ends at the same place, and TBH it drives me menthol.
We don't know people's motives for which comps they enter, how many comps, how varied, how many phone numbers, and so on. If someone knowingly breaks an actual rule (of the comp or of this site) that is cheating. Anything else is up to each person to decide on, and they should be allowed to do so without being called nasty names. You may think a particular behaviour is greedy, or cheating, but if it's not breaking a rule, then we're each allowed to decide these things for ourselves, and we should be able to do so without being called names for it. Name-calling here is definitely against the rules.
It's horrible to have a go at someone for multiple wins, whether male or female. It might well be that two people involved both enter comps - why not? And why shouldn't a man win make-up prizes? He might want to give them away, or even sell them on. Some may not like this, but that doesn't give them the right to be nasty about it.
And who is to say which side is greedy? Perhaps the greedy ones are those moaning. Perhaps what they don't like is when people make choices that reduce their chances of winning. Which side is being greedy? One could argue both ways.
I would prefer to let adults make their own choices, without being slagged off for it, and having to justify what they do. Imagine how different this forum would be if people learnt to stop moaning at each other and just get on with each other. Sadly,there's probably more chance of peace in the Middle East than of that happening here [sigh!]