Are competitions Legitimate

bennetski100

Trying to work out how you can tell if competitions are legitimate.
Do the prizes actually get won or can the companies running the companies just say that Joe Blogs from somerset has won etc.
I'm just wondering how many of the prizes on offer actually exist. Is it just a great marketing ploy to get your details.

AC55

The majority of competitions are legitimate. We wouldn't all be here entering if they weren't. Some of us have won really lovely prizes to which we're grateful for (I've won breaks, new TVs, beauty things, tickets, amongst other things)

Comps are treated as marketing/advertising and as such as subject to rules set by the advertising standards authority and sometimes gambling laws too. 

Yes as a compromise you do have to give some personal details away and as such get spammed with newsletters etc. 

The things you have to be wary of with comps:
- Fake accounts (for social media comps)
- There are a couple of comps where people have been been told they've won a stay somewhere but are being told to pay for elements of it (such as breakfast etc)
- Some comps give way to incredible spammy marketing techniques. Its not AS bad now GDPR is in place however you do have to watch T&Cs etc.

After a while you get an eye for what is dodgy vs not (you know what to look out for), but if you're ever unsure there is usually someone on here who would help.

JamboDP

I have won some fantastic prizes over the years so I would say yes they do exist. Probably illegal to hold a comp and not have a prize. all the comps I enter are free so if they are dodgy I do not lose anything, I also use a separate email address just for comping.

pate-ci0

Have a look at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/i-won-i-won-i-won to see some of the winners from this site

Blulu

To add to what others have said, I would suggest you start by entering competitions here (or from another reputable comping site) rather than one's you stumble on yourself. If you're wary, perhaps don't enter those just posted, if they're posted by someone who hasn't made many posts. It tell you under their name how many posts they've made. That will give our 'comping police' time to vet any dodgy ones - which doesn't happen often.

Blu XXX

tompain100

I do have my doubts at times, even on some of the more legitimate ones. I remember my mum telling me that in a place where she previously worked, someone started who left their previous job at a radio station when they were asked to pretend to be the winner of a phone-in competition.

Not going to lie, my suspicions were furthered when, out of curosity, I searched the winner of the Cash Register £250k to find they managed to give it to someone without a single social media presence   

mjm3346

tompain100 said:

I do have my doubts at times, even on some of the more legitimate ones. I remember my mum telling me that in a place where she previously worked, someone started who left their previous job at a radio station when they were asked to pretend to be the winner of a phone-in competition.

Not going to lie, my suspicions were furthered when, out of curosity, I searched the winner of the Cash Register £250k to find they managed to give it to someone without a single social media presence   

It was many years ago that the BBC and others were involved in fake callers. 

Social Media is not required for the competition you mention and you do not have to allow your social media to be searchable even if you are on there. Compliance records have to be kept anyway and it is simply not worth the risk of fiddling it based on the profits to be made from the competition (also a third party makes the selection).

As their FAQs state


We use industry verified software to ensure that all winners are selected at random from all valid entries we have received.

We do not know anything about the winner - such as geographical location, name, gender or the method of entry - until the individual is randomly selected. At which point, their mobile number appears on screen and they are called and taken to air.

pate-ci0

The details I send in for the Radio comps, or any other comp that does not require social media, have no appreciable link to any of my social media accounts and they would probably not show up if you searched based on the entry details. (Which is a good thing since I only ever use social media for competitions and that would be a bit of a giveaway if indeed winners were filtered, though I truly believe that the majority of comps do not do that. Not worth the time, effort and penalties if caught.)

tompain100

....I know they don't require it. That wasn't my point. Just that that they found a winner who doesn't have any online presence other than the radio page saying they won.

mjm3346

tompain100 said:

....I know they don't require it. That wasn't my point. Just that that they found a winner who doesn't have any online presence other than the radio page saying they won.

As already said they may not use social media or are simply not searchable ( I know more people who enter and do not use social media than those that do)

pate-ci0

Regarding the main topic, MSE members (and other comping sites are available) have been entering competitions for many, many years, with some of us doing thousand(s) of competitions per month. We continue to do this because we are rewarded on a regular (or at least irregular) basis with Winning EMails (or letters) (or just surprises turning up in the post) informing us of prizes, some small, some incredible, some life-changing. A small proportion of competitions may be irregular or fake, but the vast majority are not. Enter competitions as a chance to win something and then forget about that competition unless you hear that you have won, then celebrate. 
SM use or not is a bit of a red herring. I would suspect that a large proportion of MSE members who enter competitions are of a more elderly persuasion than in their 20's. To that social grouping social media can be unnecessary/irrelevant, difficult, dangerous or just plain annoying and despite the prevalence of its use with many living the greater part of their lives through that medium, there is a huge part of the population who never use it at all. Doesn't mean they don't enter and win comps, though many get frustrated that a big part of comping is now on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (see comments on this forum). BTW I personally get very annoyed when a comp requires a mobile number to enter. I always use a landline number and hate the assumption that everyone has a mobile. (Okay, I do have a mobile but ONLY use it for comps. If I'm not by a landline don't even think of bothering me....)