Rafflecopter - winner's name displayed or not

2013yearofthehouse

A friend of mine entered a competition for tickets to an event via a Rafflecopter on a magazine website. It ended at the weekend and she looked on Tuesday and saw her name (first name plus first letter of last name) as the winner, so checked her email in case she'd missed being contacted by them, but found nothing. There were only about 150 entries (she made 8 out of a maximum of 9 entries) and while her name isn't that common, it's certainly not unique, so of course it's plausible that someone else has the same name, even with potentially so few entries.

The event is tonight, so not wanting to miss out (in case she had won, but the email had been lost or something), she politely asked the magazine via social media who the winner was, on Tuesday evening. She didn't get a reply yesterday (although there were many posts on FB and Twitter from the magazine, so both accounts are very active), but noticed the winners name was removed from the Rafflecopter widget at some point Wednesday morning.

She was prepared for them to reply saying it was just a different person with the same/similar name, but to get no response and for the name to just disappear instead seems a bit odd. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but when she told me, I thought it was a bit suspicious!

Am I right in thinking that for the winners name to be displayed on the widget someone has to manually do it? And then to remove it (so no winner is mentioned, it just says "this contest is no longer accepting entries") would also need to be manually done? Or is it all automated by Rafflecopter and therefore just a coincidence?

mjm3346

If it's in the widget then RC has been used to select the winner - although that doesn't have to be the first name drawn, sometimes required tasks are not done so the promoter gets the RC to draw another winner until there is one they are happy with and that name can be displayed in the RC.
Maybe the promoter selected the winner themselves but forgot to do whatever is necessary to stop the RC selecting so then had to remove the name (they cannot add a name to the RC if it was not used to select the winner).

2013yearofthehouse

Ah I see, thanks for explaining

Shame she got a bit prematurely excited then

fortuna93

You have to tick for it it show on RC it doesn't do it automatically, so the promoter has manually changed that I'd say

jamielmdjs

It annoys me that rafflecopter, behind the scenes, seems to be well set up for picking and displaying winners. But it doesn't auto-email winners one they have been verified by the promoter, nor can you log in to rafflecopter to see if you have any wins through any comp using their widget.


Seems crazy this isn't available and would make rafflecopter a bit better to use.


I've won via rafflecopter twice. The latter emailed me to say I had won. The first one - nothing. And it was luck that my web searching found it.

superhez

I use rafflecopter on my blog and it does prompt you to email the winner once you have picked them (and by the way i always pick the first person but apparently not everyone does :O)

Doesn't do it automatically though.

EmilyK1983

No, you actually have to tick a box that asks if you want to display the winners on the widget...so the comp organiser's obviously done that and then changed it back! Which is fair enough...but what makes me suspicious is the lack of contact, especially when their social media accounts are so active!

2013yearofthehouse

Sorry to resurrect this as the event has obviously been and gone, so nothing can be done, but curiously my friend's name has been reinstated back on the widget, only this time there are 3 others listed with her.

http://diymag.com/2015/04/22/competition-win-tickets-to-a-special-advance-screening-of-spooks-the-greater-good-in-cinemas-8th-may

She emailed the magazine at the time and sent messages (even 1 after the event, just for curiosity's sake) to their very active FB, but never got a reply - all very odd! Has anyone here won anything from DIY Magazine before?

mjm3346

I won something last year and was e-mailed about it - I have just looked (first time) at the rafflecopter I won on but it only displays a first name and initial so I wouldn't have known from that it was me.

lovecomping

Yes I have won from DIY magazine and received an email to say I had won.

2013yearofthehouse

mjm3346 wrote: »

I won something last year and was e-mailed about it - I have just looked (first time) at the rafflecopter I won on but it only displays a first name and initial so I wouldn't have known from that it was me.

Yes, she did email politely to ask IF she was the winner (since there weren't many entries) rather than presuming it was definitely her