Spalding Planting & Bulb Co. - Possible Win?

marinaj

I think the secret lies in the small print. Most of these things are worded along the lines of 'YOU HAVE DEFINITELY WON A . . . ' followed by a barely noticeable 'if you have the winning number'. Common sense you would think, in a draw you must have the winning number, but it is designed for people to miss the point.
The other dead give-away is, have you noticed how you are always in line for the top prize? Nobody is told 'Sorry, not the tv set but you could win an electric kettle!'

MNrhubarb

I ordered plants from these people and as with every company I order from, I make sure I tick (or untick) all the boxes so they are aware I do not wish to be contacted. I have just received my second prize draw mailing with a "cash card".

I emailed them and wrote on their facebook wall. They deleted my comment from their wall. I went back and linked to this thread which they will no doubt delete too.

Perhaps if everyone linked to this thread from their facebook wall, a few customers at least would be alerted and they might - just might - rethink their mailing policies.

mjm3346

MNrhubarb wrote: »

I ordered plants from these people and as with every company I order from, I make sure I tick (or untick) all the boxes so they are aware I do not wish to be contacted. I have just received my second prize draw mailing with a "cash card".

I emailed them and wrote on their facebook wall. They deleted my comment from their wall. I went back and linked to this thread which they will no doubt delete too.

Perhaps if everyone linked to this thread from their facebook wall, a few customers at least would be alerted and they might - just might - rethink their mailing policies.

The simpler solution is to just not order from them

MNrhubarb

Well yes, that is the simplest solution but what if you order without knowing you are then going to get spammed in this way? People don't order from this company knowing that they send this stuff out you know...

I often order bulbs and plants online if I can't find them in high street shops. I always make sure I tick or untick the boxes so they cannot use my details. They chose to ignore that.

Many retired people use garden companies such as this and doing some digging, I can see that these are the exact people who are conned out of quite considerable amounts of money thanks to such "prize draws". One or two wiser people who simply withdraw their custom won't mean much to Spakker Balding, but negative publicity will.

I have asked them for proof that I consented to them contacting me. If that proof is not available then I will report them.

I also want to make sure that others who unwittingly order through them, are made aware that this company will contact them without their permission and will send them bogus prize draws and other competition letters.

mjm3346

MNrhubarb wrote: »

Well yes, that is the simplest solution but what if you order without knowing you are then going to get spammed in this way? People don't order from this company knowing that they send this stuff out you know...

I often order bulbs and plants online if I can't find them in high street shops. I always make sure I tick or untick the boxes so they cannot use my details. They chose to ignore that.

Many retired people use garden companies such as this and doing some digging, I can see that these are the exact people who are conned out of quite considerable amounts of money thanks to such "prize draws". One or two wiser people who simply withdraw their custom won't mean much to Spakker Balding, but negative publicity will.

I have asked them for proof that I consented to them contacting me. If that proof is not available then I will report them.

I also want to make sure that others who unwittingly order through them, are made aware that this company will contact them without their permission and will send them bogus prize draws and other competition letters.

You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink -

There has already been lots of publicity about them - The ASA has found against them at least twice and I think they have been featured on a consumer tv show as well as there being numerous newspaper articles over the years, none of which stops people choosing to use them.


ASA Ruling from March this year

https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2016/3/Plantiflor-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_310728.aspx#.VwJli6QrKUk

and Oct 2013

https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2013/10/Plantiflor-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_239270.aspx#.VwJljKQrKUk

One of the newspaper articles from this year

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-3382005/TONY-HETHERINGTON-Expect-peonies-not-70k-garden-prize.html

A thread from 2010 on here with another one of their marketing gimmicks

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2816940

MNrhubarb

Well thank you for that.

Perhaps I am wrong in feeling patronised here? Are you saying that shoppers should read every article and watch every consumer programme to avoid being a victim of fraud? That's simply not realistic.

Yes these avenues do a lot to expose such cases, however if you google spakker balding you get none of this. It would seem to be a reputable company. I had to be a lot more specific with my google search to even bring up this thread.

Elderly people can be vulnerable to this kind of scam, as the earlier posts and others I've since found on this website, testify to.

I ordered once from this company and did everything right to prevent them from contacting me. They did anyway. Now I'm told I should have known better?

Of course I have contacted them directly and they have lost a customer, but I would like to try and alert other customers to this and not just leave it at that. And should someone else complain, I won't tell them the adage about leading a horse to water because I know that it's easy to get caught out.

Thanks for your helpful comments though. They serve to keep this thread active at least.

mjm3346

MNrhubarb wrote: »

Well thank you for that.

Perhaps I am wrong in feeling patronised here? Are you saying that shoppers should read every article and watch every consumer programme to avoid being a victim of fraud? That's simply not realistic.

Yes these avenues do a lot to expose such cases, however if you google spakker balding you get none of this. It would seem to be a reputable company. I had to be a lot more specific with my google search to even bring up this thread.

Elderly people can be vulnerable to this kind of scam, as the earlier posts and others I've since found on this website, testify to.

I ordered once from this company and did everything right to prevent them from contacting me. They did anyway. Now I'm told I should have known better?

Of course I have contacted them directly and they have lost a customer, but I would like to try and alert other customers to this and not just leave it at that. And should someone else complain, I won't tell them the adage about leading a horse to water because I know that it's easy to get caught out.

Thanks for your helpful comments though. They serve to keep this thread active at least.

My point is although there is an abundance of information out there for all sorts of things most people don't bother to look first, instead if they look it is after when they already have concerns and it is probably too late.

With this lot if ASA findings and newspaper articles have not made a difference to their potential customers then it is extremely unlikely that a FB post will either, particularly given that their main customer base (and your area of concern the elderly) is at the low end for internet usage (only 15% of the 65+ age group use social media -ONS Aug 2015).

If the plants were good enough they should sell themselves and not need all these gimmicks but obviously their type of selling tactics work with enough people to make it profitable.