Won a competition and just been told prize has now gone to someone else

Watto30

Hello compers

Apologies as I dont normally post on this board but really could do with some words of wisdom and know you are all a lovely bunch


Will cut a long story short, I enter a lot of competitions but dont have the time to do so myself so am subscribed to a website who do this for me... please dont shoot me! if I had the time then I would love to do it but for me this is better than not entering any comps at all


Last week I had a few missed calls from an 0845 number, have not had a win for a few months so assumed it was someone trying to sell me junk etc well on friday I did answer and it was a delivery company trying to arrange delivery of some fitness equipment, I was sadly not on the ball and questioned it as knew I had not ordered anything and was concerned my card had been scammed as this happened to me a little while back, I did say that it was either card been scammed or have won a competiont so person I spoke to said he would look into it and get back to me, I later that day get a phone call to say yes you have won a competition with a magazine and won fitness equipment, great, I was over the moon as not had a win in ages that was until today when I get another phonecall to say because I questioned it with the delivery company they took this to mean that they could give the prize to the next person on the list, can they do this? I cant find the rules of the comp anywhere and have tried ringing the magazine company to get to the bottom of it but rather dissapointed

The_3rd_Zebu

You could take it up with the person who you paid to enter that competition for you.

JessicAhh

Wow, didn't even realise you could pay someone to enter comps on your behalf... The number of things I enter, and the amount of time I waste, maybe I should do that for others :rotfl:

I think it sounds against the rules of their competition: you have the right to question it! Do you know what magazine it was? If so, they may have a list of general Ts and Cs on their website for their competitions, which might prove helpful.

Usually there is a condition that if you haven't accepted your prize by X days after they try to notify you, they can pass it to the next person on the list. If you passed that number of days, then they may have grounds to pass it on, but if that number of days passed while you were waiting for an answer on your query, then I don't believe they have a right to do that.

Might be worth contacting https://www.theipm.org.uk to see if they are able to give you any help (I think it's Edwin that people on here recommend speaking to).

prowla

A lot of comps rules disallow entries by 3rd parties.

JessicAhh

prowla wrote: »

A lot of comps rules disallow entries by 3rd parties.

I'm guessing these subscription websites aren't very scrupulous in looking at what is 'legal' for the comps they're entering...

sidsnot

Sorry to say but you probably do not have a leg to stand on as you used a 3rd party to enter the competition for you and this is against a vast majority of companies rules though I am not sure if they will be able to prove that so it may be worth trying to chase after it but don't get your hopes up.

Just to add to that asking people not to shoot you on here is probably like asking the government not to Tax you , you are entering these competitions unfairly when people spend hour after hour entering each day, personally I have no sympathy for you the fact that you do not have time to enter does not give you the right to cheat to be honest and companies like this would not exist if people like you were not paying them.

mjm3346

I wonder if the delivery company returned the prize to the company - I have seen T&C's which broadly state any returned prizes will be awarded to someone else. (Using a "pay to enter" shouldn't be an issue unless the company are aware of it and only then if their T&C's don't allow it)

Watto30

sidsnot wrote: »

Just to add to that asking people not to shoot you on here is probably like asking the government not to Tax you , you are entering these competitions unfairly when people spend hour after hour entering each day, personally I have no sympathy for you the fact that you do not have time to enter does not give you the right to cheat to be honest and companies like this would not exist if people like you were not paying them.

Sorry but if people wish to choose hours entering competitions then that is their own personal choice and something they obviously enjoy doing otherwise they wouldnt do it, believe me I would love to be able to do it myself but work all the hours under the sun to keep a roof over my head, I am not cheating anybody, if you google there are a number of companies that offer this service.


Thanks to those to who have supplied helpful info, am taking this up with the magazine itself who I think have made a monumental balls up as just spoke to them and the woman said she would email me rather than talk on the phone, sounds a bit suspect!

mjm3346

Watto30 wrote: »

Thanks to those to who have supplied helpful info, am taking this up with the magazine itself who I think have made a monumental balls up as just spoke to them and the woman said she would email me rather than talk on the phone, sounds a bit suspect!

E-mail is better then phone as it gives you a record of what goes on that can be forwarded if necessary to the IPM etc.

Watto30

Hi

No the first I heard of it was when the delivery company called me to deliver it, I had my card scammed a little while back and knew I had not ordered anything so thought hang on a minute so just said oh hmm bit odd as have not ordered anything they then went back to the fitness company and said that I was querying it, I later got a call from the fitness company to say yes I had won a competition. Have made a few phone calls and just been sent through the competition rules, it does not say anything about 3rd party entries and that winners would be notified by phone or email...this didnt happen so would you say they have broken their own rules because no one notified me from the magazine before they then went on to choose the next person on the list!!

The_3rd_Zebu

Watto30 wrote: »

Sorry but if people wish to choose hours entering competitions then that is their own personal choice and something they obviously enjoy doing otherwise they wouldnt do it, believe me I would love to be able to do it myself but work all the hours under the sun to keep a roof over my head, I am not cheating anybody, if you google there are a number of companies that offer this service.

I would be interested to know whether your experience of subscribing to those services has been worthwhile. Has what you have won justified what you have paid in subscriptions?


Even if you win a few prizes I would think there are too many downsides to it - such as having your identity touted to every Tom !!!!!! and Harry in the world of internet scams.