Postal entries not being counted.

Batfink78

There is an online competition site that sell tickets to win cars or electronics etc. They appear genuine in the fact winners can be seen collecting prizes etc.
My issue is they offer a free entry route via postcard. They also have an entry log so you can see when entries were logged. They do not seem to be processing the entries at all let alone correctly. Free entries are only processed on a Monday I have posted entries 6 days in advance and when I questioned this they say they haven’t arrived yet. They apparently arrived to late for entry that week so would be entered the following week. The following Monday I have been advised the same thing. When arguing they had received my entries to late the week before they then say they are running behind and will process them another day. The competitions don’t run for long before selling out so I really do believe they are ignoring all free entries.

Out of 20 free entry postcards sent to them all sent first class at least 4 days before Monday (entry processing day) as yet not a single one has been registered as an entry yet.

Sorry for ranting but they are so abrupt in emails and Facebook and just say tough it must be the Royal Mail.

I presume they legally have to offer a free entry route for this type of paid competition.

Should they be reported and if so who to?

mjm3346

If you really want to enter this type of thing you could complain to the ASA (although the simple answer for the company would be to stop showing details of the entries)

https://www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html

peppy40

Which competition site is it.

Batfink78

The one in question is Elite Competitions. They seem genuine with paid entries but it’s excuse after excuse when it comes to honouring the free entry route as per their terms and conditions. I know they are a business trying to make a living but not doing themselves any favours breaking there own rules time after time.

https://elitecompetitions.co.uk/

One-Eye

Batfink - your details of when you posted, when they did/didn't appear as entries and the company's responses are great evidence of malpractice. The ASA will hammer them. Go for it.

Batfink78

I've submitted a complaint this morning. I was told by them the free entries that hadn't arrived by last monday (which I don't believe) for the only competition that hadn't sold out during the week wouldn't be processed Monday (as per their T&C's) as they hadn't got around to it, so would be done on Tuesday but any entries arriving on Tuesday would still not be processed as they hadn't arrived by the time they did the processing! That competition then sold out on Monday at 11:52pm so those entries were no longer valid either. Grrrr!

mummy2threeboys

Worth a read..sorry it's from another comp site but relevant https://www.loquax.co.uk/blog/competition-news/who-are-elite-competitions-3550.htm

mummy2threeboys

Also worth a read https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/isnt-this-dragons-den-idea-illegal.18839938/

mummy2threeboys

Also looking at The owners' facebook at the 2 months of winners I looked at 1/3 of them are "friends" or Friends of friends..Is that a pre-requisite?

Batfink78

Very interesting reads. Thank you for that. I agree with the Loquax one that BOTB are a great competition company as I won my Audi RS4 from them a few years back. Elite seem to be very questionable in many ways. They just keep telling me to contact the Royal Mail as no free entries have arrived. Although someone there told me yesterday they had over 60 free entries to process that didn’t get done yesterday. Thanks again for your research.
There are many of these companies now and most I have seen seem to be very honest and trying hard to set up genuine raffle sites but Elite seem very dishonest.

mjm3346

Batfink78 wrote: »

There are many of these companies now and most I have seen seem to be very honest and trying hard to set up genuine raffle sites but Elite seem very dishonest.

They can usually afford to be honest as they often deduct 40% or more of the amount that is staked compared to the prize value - Elite should change what needs to be done to enter and then remove the "free" entry route.