Octopus complaint, next steps?

bristolleedsfan

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Spoonie_Turtle

bristolleedsfan said:

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I think the screenshot probably needs the reference number to be accepted as proof.

poppellerant

Without rock solid proof, such as a screenshot or photo showing the win, you won't get anywhere.

Suck it up and move on.

Grizzlebeard

Octopus have a problem if they agree to a win on the word of a customer. When it becomes public knowledge they will be inundated with hundreds of customers who "won" but didn't, or couldn't, or even could take screen shots. A "screen shot" (just a number on a plain background) is so easy to fake: Editing boundaries are easily obfuscated by jpeg coding, and embedded meta information is easy to spoof - I doubt it could be regarded as proof. (I'm tempted to take bristolleedsfan screenshot and turn it into a £250,000 win)

The Original michele-p case is almost certainly genuine, or a genuine mistake by either LotteryCo or the customer, but it will be followed by hundreds of amateur scammers, some with a little Photoshop experience eager to make an easy 250 Squid from an Octopus.

Gregg might decide to pay out as a gesture of good will but it will potentially cause the company big problems, regardless of whether the "wheel" is an internal Octopus feature or contracted out to a third party.

HappyHarry

From Octopus "behind the wheel of fortune" on their website;

How does it work?

(Technical levels - 🌶️ Beginner  🌶️🌶️ Novice 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Developer)

Technical level: 🌶️

We assign the prizes randomly throughout the month, and we show how many prizes have been won so far when you submit a reading. When you spin the wheel, our prize randomiser checks whether your spin wins a prize, and then we show that in the wheel. 

Talk is cheap, show me the code. 

Technical level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

The interface of the wheel is built in React, and is backed by a couple of REST API endpoints. The spinning animation is controlled through CSS. The very earliest, most embryonic expression of that, was a cat that always landed on its feet. The thinking there is that the UI shouldn’t provide any direct input into the prize randomisation, as it could prove to be exploitable. All the randomness should come from the backend system. So the UI is just a fun way to display the same kind of process that would happen if you clicked on a button (which, if you take a look, is what the wheel actually is).

The interactive element for the spinning was coded from first principles using trigonometry (thank you Mrs Edwards, my secondary school maths teacher).

When you spin the wheel, it sends a POST request to fetch the prize, and we update the segment of the wheel that we know it will land on (because of the predictable animation).

michele-p

Hi all, I wanted to update, rather than just take advice and never come back!

I explained to mum that she probably won't get any money out of Octopus, but she was determined to go ahead and try, so we wrote a succinct version of events, and sent to Greg@ Octpus. We requested they look into the decision not to pay out, and also requested they revise the wording on the wheel game, to say that if you don't have means to take a screengrab, not to play.

We had a reply to say that they definitely don't believe that mum had a winning spin, and offering £50 for her inconvenience. I know a lot would say just to accept that and move on, but mum is adamant she wants to take it further! So we have sent an email to Sally @ The daily mail, and I'll start mentioning it on social media too. Mum feels that SOME older people are being discriminated against if they don't manage to keep up with today's tech. I AM NOT SAYING ALL OLDER PEOPLE HAVE THIS ISSUE!!! - But many do. 

So there we are, I still don't think we will will win for her, but she feels she's being pro-active and trying.

Mstty

Hi Micele, thanks for the update. This is a very pro Octopus forum, not surprisingly as they are coming out the best for forward thinking tariffs and beta tariffs and historically customer service.

So if you get a little push back on the above post don't take it to heart.

Let us know how your mum gets on sometimes it's best to just go along with parents on these things.

Spoonie_Turtle

michele-p said:

Hi all, I wanted to update, rather than just take advice and never come back!

… but mum is adamant she wants to take it further! So we have sent an email to Sally @ The daily mail, and I'll start mentioning it on social media too. Mum feels that SOME older people are being discriminated against if they don't manage to keep up with today's tech. I AM NOT SAYING ALL OLDER PEOPLE HAVE THIS ISSUE!!! - But many do. 

So there we are, I still don't think we will will win for her, but she feels she's being pro-active and trying.

Maybe one way around it would be to say that if you win and can't take a screenshot, make a note of the reference number, which anyone can do.  It's a shame your mum didn't think to do anything to confirm it, like writing down the reference or taking a photo of her screen.  With something this big, everyone should be taught to keep confirmation somehow.

Maybe the reference number is better anyway, because screenshots can be manipulated by more savvy people - but then in the event of a glitch like this, it's a no-win either because the reference number would show up as not winning.

Thanks for updating, I hope this doesn't end up too stressful for you.

bristolleedsfan

At least one occasion for a few seconds I thought I had won £512 due to as it turned out being in this mode before spin was actioned,

https://twitter.com/Kerrymcmanus18/status/1633123441988587521

Chrysalis

I dont really have an opinion if she likely won or not, but will post some experience of playing the game.

In my experience when you win, you are credited immediately, its a fully automated process, there is also a reference number given, and on each occasion I won, I took a photo.

I have also discovered you can keep spinning the wheel after free spins have ran out, and quite often when doing this it lands on the higher winning prizes, of course at this point its not actually playing the game, you just get the animation, but no entry on the backend systems.  Consider the possibility, this may have happened, and Octopus should fix this glitch.