ASA rulings?

kandy91

Hi my friend recently won a prize but the company has messed them around and is now refusing to give it to her without good reason. She Then filed a claim with the asa and it looks like it will go in her favour. But we are a bit confused at what happens next,if they are found at fault do they actually have to give her the prize? Or will they just not be allowed to run more competitions in the future?

Any advice would be appreciated,

Thanks

mjm3346

No they cannot be forced to give the prize although the company may choose to do so, the most common "punishment" is being advised not to run the same competition in the same format again.

mjm3346

Here's a couple of upheld ones from May

ensure that future promotions were administered fairly and avoided causing unnecessary disappointment to participants.

The complainant, who was announced as the winner, but did not receive his prize, challenged whether the promotion was administered fairly.
The ad must not appear in its current form. We told ***** to ensure that prizes were awarded as described in marketing communications and promotions were fairly administered.

You can browse them on their site

http://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications.aspx

kandy91

Thanks for your quick reply! The prize was worth a lot of money, what do you think her chances would be in a small claims court ( if it's possible to do so with a competition)? She is thinking if she went to court with an upheld ASA ruling then it would go in her favour.

mjm3346

kandy91 wrote: »

Thanks for your quick reply! The prize was worth a lot of money, what do you think her chances would be in a small claims court ( if it's possible to do so with a competition)? She is thinking if she went to court with an upheld ASA ruling then it would go in her favour.

Someone was considering it in this thread but I don't know if they did or not.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4794935

sleepyjones

We get a few people asking questions like this in regards to competition wins, but really It's impossible for us to offer any worthwhile advice without knowing more about the actual competition, what the terms of the competition were or what your communications your friend has had with the promoter.

I would wait and see what the ASA says, and if the company in question has any reply to that ... then take it from there.
I wouldn't start fretting over court things until was absolutely necessary to do so.

It's worth noting that the company can "legally" withhold the prize if they feel that the entrant didn't meet the qualifying criteria, ie plagiarized, took an image from google, lied about their age etc etc ... I know you said they have withheld without reason, but the ASA will get to the bottom of that and find out why exactly they are withholding. It could just be that your friend won with an invalid entry but isn't telling you and just wants to see where they can go from here.

The long and short of it is to just wait and see what the ASA says then come back.