Paid competition site not paying winnings?

beth102

I’m wondering if any of you can help, I took part in a paid competition to win £500, the next day I saw the live draw and my number came out so I won, I contacted the competition owner and he said I had won congratulations! I waited a week and asked when I could expect my money, they stated due to the owner being away on business it would be at the weekend(just past) now it’s another excuse and they are closing down. Apparently they have done this to other people. I’m just wondering if there was anything I could do? Or do I just accept the fact I won’t receive it. Thanks

Ms_Dee

You can put in a claim to ASA (The Advertising Standards Authority) many people have with free competitions and succeeded, with getting their prizes and the company being dealt with.
https://www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html

Because it is a business and paid competitions then you can contact Trading Standards. More information here: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/

I've entered a couple and not had much luck but my partner has won loads on some, so happy to share their business if you were interested in a couple of genuine sites. 

mjm3346

beth102 said:

I’m wondering if any of you can help, I took part in a paid competition to win £500, the next day I saw the live draw and my number came out so I won, I contacted the competition owner and he said I had won congratulations! I waited a week and asked when I could expect my money, they stated due to the owner being away on business it would be at the weekend(just past) now it’s another excuse and they are closing down. Apparently they have done this to other people. I’m just wondering if there was anything I could do? Or do I just accept the fact I won’t receive it. Thanks

They are really sad if they are going out of business - Must take a special effort to fail if like many of those sites cash prizes are sometimes as little as 60% of the value of ticket sales and the supposed value of non cash prizes is often far more than it would actually cost to buy the item - if they are going out of business properly then you would potentially be an unsecured creditor.