Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday - Unique Numbers - Availability of newspaper

Shanker

Hi,

I am still a subscriber to the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, (from hereon I will term The Mail), for my sins.

After several price rises since my last post, I am now paying the thick end of £400/annum for this rag and I am trying to think beyond addiction whether I should ditch it (yet again).

Little things annoy me.  Initially it was the loss of Nectar points, (gained by entering Unique Numbers), which I have recovered from.  Now its the policy that they seem to be imposing that if you can't get hold of a newspaper in exchange for the vouchers they issue you, then you aren't entitled to enter a Unique Number and therefore precluded from prize draws.

As we subscribers know the Unique Numbers when entered enable a second spin of the famous wheel which issues points/tickets toward various draws for holidays, camper vans and god knows what else.  I wouldn't know, I've never won sod all or come close or do I know anyone who has, (so I don't know why I should really be so concerned), but it's the principle.  Getting told "NO" really raises one's hackles.

There is a facility to enter a Unique Number or be issued with points if the number is missing or unreadable - great.  But there also used to be a facility for basically the same if you couldn't get to exchange your daily voucher at a newsagent etc., for an actual newspaper, through unavailability.  Apparently that facility has been withdrawn.

So last week I was on a walking holiday in the Yorkshire Dales.  The remote village where I was holed up had a small shop which stocked a limited supply of Mails.  I went in on the first day and handed over a weeks supply of vouchers and the proprietor was quite happy to deal with me.  But the wholesaler, (Menzies), only supplied a limited number of copies per day and it was hit and miss whether he could exchange my subscriber voucher for the paper that I got one.  The consequence was that on one day at least, I had to have my voucher back as there was no paper to exchange it for.  The nearest next outlet was 6 miles away down a narrow country lane.  It just wasn't worth the trip.

On that occasion, I fiddled around with the digital version to find the information needed to fulfil the question asked for missing Unique Numbers, (as it happened that day it was "which letter appears in the centre of the word wheel").  I answered the question and Bob's your uncle I got to spin the wheel again.

I'm off to Spain for a fortnight soon and I will be in much the same position except I won't be able to get hold of any papers for 14 days.  Me being honest, I sent a message to Mail Subscriptions and asked if it was OK to enter my numbers in a similar fashion over the 2 weeks, since I was a subscriber and I was paying nearly £400 a year for the privelidge of being loyal.  The answer came back in the negative.  I could only enter numbers if I actually had the hard copy newspaper in my possession.  I consider this extremely unfair.

And its small things like this that really get my back up.

Out of interest, does anybody with any experience of the law know if there is a precedent on something like this?

WillPS

I'm not sure which law you think this kind of scheme might be violating?

As you acknowledge, it's an incentive which has yielded nothing for you even when you've been able to maximise the benefit from it.

I'd suggest if you find your subscription does not give you value for money then the onus is really on you to cancel it.

Aylesbury_Duck

What do the terms and conditions of the subscription say about the matter of unique numbers?  That's all that counts.  If they require you to have a physical copy, then you're stuck.

nomoneytoday

I'd pause the sub whilst on holiday..

sheslookinhot

If you think it’s a rag, which I agree, then just give it up.