No prize until Royal Mail investigate

mjm3346

fzz33 wrote: »

Yeah I tried that initially, I got a curt (and what I thought was a rather smug!) reply saying, 'If you wish to contact the ASA then that is your right...' blah blah and we're gonna do what we want anyway essentially!

Which is mostly correct, many companies do respond to the ASA but they cannot be made to reply to them or provide a prize if they choose not to.

sleepyjones

I was gonna say "I doubt the ASA will do anything until Royal Mail finish their investigation".

I don't necessarily think the promoter is being a d*&k about it ... if they have in fact already sent it, for the moment they've done their part. If the Royal Mail concludes that they've lost it then they'll have to send another prize whether they get compensation or not.
I don't know who the promoter is but their perspective they could be thinking "We sent the prize, he received it and is just trying to get us to send another one" ... could have happened before to them. Who knows.

fzz33

So even though I haven't received my prize no action will be taken by the ASA

"Thank you for your email, I’m sorry to hear that you have still not received your prize. As I mentioned in my first email, our main sanction, as non-statutory regulator of advertising in the UK, lies in ensuring that material deemed to breach the Advertising Codes is either removed or amended. Our aim is to ensure that current and future advertising complies with the Advertising Codes: as non-statutory regulator we cannot go further than commenting on advertising material and promotions and would not be able to demand that a prize is sent out again. In this case, we are satisfied that the promoter is aware of their responsibilities when running promotions in future, and I’m afraid I have to tell you that there is no further action it would be useful or justifiable for the ASA to take.

I should explain that, if we were to formally investigate this issue and uphold the complaint (therefore deeming there to have been a breach of the CAP Code) we would seek the assurance of the advertiser that any future, similar promotions would be run in accordance with the Rules of the Code – we would not be able to force the promoter to provide the prizes.

In this instance, therefore, the ASA will not be taking further action or undertaking formal investigation. I realise this will disappoint and I’m sorry we can’t help you further. Thank you nonetheless for taking the time to contact us.

Kind regards,"

Biker*Chick

fzz33 wrote: »

So even though I haven't received my prize no action will be taken by the ASA

Sorry to hear that fzz33 Maybe one to just chalk up to experience unfortunately :cool:

If you honestly feel that this is the end of the road in terms of chasing the company then maybe you can now 'name and shame' so that others in the MSE comping community are aware - plus if people have liked/followed them on social media it gives them the option to take away their support?!

Wishing you lots of luck, and hope you win something brilliant to make up for this disappointment :j x

serenity2012

Not sure what the problem is at the moment. The company seem to be doing exactly the right thing by investigating which is normal procedure. I'm sure you haven't but it makes sense to investigate and ensure you haven't recieved the parcel before sending a second one to you. They can't just take peoples word for it because sadly there are people who pretend to not have received but in fact have.

You haven't recieved it you say so just be patient and let the red tape happen. You'll be sent another one out as soon as it is shown you did not receive the first.

ikkle87

serenity2012 wrote: »

Not sure what the problem is at the moment. The company seem to be doing exactly the right thing by investigating which is normal procedure. I'm sure you haven't but it makes sense to investigate and ensure you haven't recieved the parcel before sending a second one to you. They can't just take peoples word for it because sadly there are people who pretend to not have received but in fact have.

You haven't recieved it you say so just be patient and let the red tape happen. You'll be sent another one out as soon as it is shown you did not receive the first.

is been 4 months, i think thats plenty of time to wait personally

chrissie57

serenity2012 wrote: »

Not sure what the problem is at the moment. The company seem to be doing exactly the right thing by investigating which is normal procedure. I'm sure you haven't but it makes sense to investigate and ensure you haven't recieved the parcel before sending a second one to you. They can't just take peoples word for it because sadly there are people who pretend to not have received but in fact have.

You haven't recieved it you say so just be patient and let the red tape happen. You'll be sent another one out as soon as it is shown you did not receive the first.

The voice of sweet reason is fine - except the prize was awarded in January and OP was at beginning of April, when they were asked to wait 28 days for 'investigation' which I rather think has been exceeded :cool:

Against my usual feeling, I think name-and-shame on social media (politely, if possible) is the only option left. Companies don't run comps out of the goodness of their hearts they do it for more sales/increased publicity and thinking they can brush you off once it is all over is not acceptable.

I would point out that I might hesitate to buy from if they treat a comp winner badly, because of the risk they treat their customers in the same way

fzz33

chrissie57 wrote: »

The voice of sweet reason is fine - except the prize was awarded in January and OP was at beginning of April, when they were asked to wait 28 days for 'investigation' which I rather think has been exceeded :cool:

Against my usual feeling, I think name-and-shame on social media (politely, if possible) is the only option left. Companies don't run comps out of the goodness of their hearts they do it for more sales/increased publicity and thinking they can brush you off once it is all over is not acceptable.

I would point out that I might hesitate to buy from if they treat a comp winner badly, because of the risk they treat their customers in the same way

yeah it's been six months now. they told the ASA that they sent my prize out 3 times (!) and it was unclear whether they had been signed for. you get a tracking code when you send recorded delivery and it takes a minute to check so this is clearly rubbish.

Awkwardly it's taken me until now to actually properly look up the company. I won the prize from Cara Sutra's blog and the company supplying the prize (or not as it's turned out) are Thinking of Passion. Really difficult to find anything on them though?? The emails from the company came from woodmilltrading.co.uk which leads nowhere, but Stephen Mills who I was speaking to is a director of the Ltd company.

Sent an email today threatening them with court action if I don't receive it in 7 days. The prize is a high enough value to make it worthwhile, as well as the principle of the whole mess!

mjm3346

Unless the company run the blog that featured the competition it is usually down to the blogger to deal with the company and to sort out the prize.

fzz33

mjm3346 wrote: »

Unless the company run the blog that featured the competition it is almost certainly down to the blogger to deal with the company and to sort out the prize.

Oh, I didn't know that. I wrote to her initially and she just forwarded it to them and said it was out of her hands??