Unfulfilled Competition Win - Prima Magazine - Simba Hybrid Mattress Topper

amsquared

On 23 July Prima advised my wife that she had won the Simba Hybrid Mattress Topper competition.  

Prima provided an email address to follow up and chase the promoter. My wife has tried unsuccessfully to get in touch with the promoter declan@theprophets.co.uk who has not acknowledged the emails.

She also emailed Prima magazine and the response from Hearst was that it was up to the promoter to fulfil the prize. Simbasleep state that they had no involvement in the Prima competition.

The competition was run across many of the Hearst magazines until they stopped at the end of July. There doesn't appear to be a telephone number for the Promoter on the theprophets  website. 

I note that a similar prize for the more expensive version of the Mattress Topper is currently on offer on the remaining magazine sites eg Woman and Woman's Own etc

Any thoughts on what we can do to get our hands on the prize? 

Thanks

AC55

Do you still have a copy of the terms and conditions for the prize? 
It may be worth looking to see whether there are any clauses in there about fulfilment of the prize and each parties responsibilities.

Have you received any bounce back/out of office emails at all for the declan email? 

On theprophets website they have a generic info email at the bottom of the page, have you tried that? Or trying to engage with them via social media instead? They seem to be on instagram

amsquared

Thanks - yes I tried the generic info email address and no reply from that either - I've also sent a message on Instagram to theprophets but no response yet. The original Ts&Cs are no longer there since Prima and the other Hearst mags stopped doing daily comps at the end of July.

I just think it is odd that Prima do not take any responsibility for ensuring prizes are fulfilled.

Fiona_T

I didn’t receive a prize from another mag daily comp.  I copied the email address and hit reply on the email then pasted it in.  No response from this email.  After a week, I started a new email directly to the person again and this time got a reply.  A few days later, the person replied to the original email and said it had gone in their junk.  Could this have happened to you? 

fayemr

Might be worth asking Hurst to contact him to get in touch with you directly.

marcia_

 This might still be relevant 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1014121/comping-guide-getting-started-other-faqs/p1

7 What happens if my prize doesn’t turn up?
This is going to be individual to each comp. Usually it will state in the T & C for each comp how long it should take for the prizes to be dispatched to winners. As a general rule though or in the absence of any particular details in the T & C, allow 28 days, (allow more if we are experiencing postal strikes or extreme weather conditions). If the prize hasn't arrived by then, get in touch with the company offering the prize. Try to contact the person whose details you have & ask politely if there is a problem with delivery. A telephone call is the best way, but failing that try emailing them. If they don't reply, look on the original website for contact details & contact them, again being as polite as you can.

If you still get no response from them, there are a few different things you can try.

The Institute of Promotional Marketing [EMAIL="complaints@theipm.org.uk"]complaints@theipm.org.uk[/EMAIL] lay down the guidelines which comp organisors must follow. MSE Compers have reported that they are very good at investigating dodgy comps & missing prizes. (The IPM was formerly known as the Institute of Sales Promotion, the name changed in May 2010.)

The Advertising Standards Authority have an online complaints form.

I had an issue with a prize not turning up & after chasing politely for 5 months, I mentioned that I had been advised to talk to the IPM about the matter. Funnily enough that resulted in a letter of apology within a few days, along with a box of ‘Apology Goodies’ & my prize turned up 2 weeks later. Just remember to keep your cool & remain polite.

EnglishWelshie

Not sure which email you used to contact prima but this is the email that is showing on their website now if it is any help to you.

claire.gribben@hearst.co.uk

amsquared

EnglishWelshie said:

Not sure which email you used to contact prima but this is the email that is showing on their website now if it is any help to you.

claire.gribben@hearst.co.uk

After trying the Hearst main contact form and getting bumped by them back to theprophets. I eventually found Claire's email that generated another response for Hearst with a link to yet another contact form which I filled in again with all the details I now have another Hearst employee stating they have passed my contact form query on to the Competitions team to see if they can resolve the issue. 

amsquared

marcia_ said:

 This might still be relevant 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1014121/comping-guide-getting-started-other-faqs/p1

7 What happens if my prize doesn’t turn up? Try to contact the person whose details you have & ask politely if there is a problem with delivery. A telephone call is the best way, but failing that try emailing them. If they don't reply, look on the original website for contact details & contact them, again being as polite as you can.

If you still get no response from them, there are a few different things you can try.

The Institute of Promotional Marketing [EMAIL="complaints@theipm.org.uk"]complaints@theipm.org.uk[/EMAIL] lay down the guidelines which comp organisors must follow. MSE Compers have reported that they are very good at investigating dodgy comps & missing prizes. (The IPM was formerly known as the Institute of Sales Promotion, the name changed in May 2010.)

The Advertising Standards Authority have an online complaints form.

I had an issue with a prize not turning up & after chasing politely for 5 months, I mentioned that I had been advised to talk to the IPM about the matter. Funnily enough that resulted in a letter of apology within a few days, along with a box of ‘Apology Goodies’ & my prize turned up 2 weeks later. Just remember to keep your cool & remain polite.

Thanks Marcia -

There is no contact telephone number on theprophets website that I can find or I would have had a go at that.

When I google Declan theprophets.co.uk the results show that he has setup another company based in South Africa so perhaps theprophets doesn't exist anymore. 

Perhaps with Hearst stopping the Mag dailies their original Comps team is not there anymore.

If it was a small prize I wouldn't chase but I think the retail value of the prize is about £300.

I will wait and see if Hearst can resolve the issue if not I will do as you suggest and chase with the IPM and ASA. 

amsquared

AC55 said:

Do you still have a copy of the terms and conditions for the prize? 
It may be worth looking to see whether there are any clauses in there about fulfilment of the prize and each parties responsibilities.

Have you received any bounce back/out of office emails at all for the declan email? 

On theprophets website they have a generic info email at the bottom of the page, have you tried that? Or trying to engage with them via social media instead? They seem to be on instagram

Thanks - When I try and find the original comp on Prima to check the Ts & Cs it states that Comps all finished on 31 July and to Contact claire.gribben@hearst.co.uk - see above from English Welshie and my response to him.

EnglishWelshie

amsquared said:

EnglishWelshie said:

Not sure which email you used to contact prima but this is the email that is showing on their website now if it is any help to you.

claire.gribben@hearst.co.uk

After trying the Hearst main contact form and getting bumped by them back to theprophets. I eventually found Claire's email that generated another response for Hearst with a link to yet another contact form which I filled in again with all the details I now have another Hearst employee stating they have passed my contact form query on to the Competitions team to see if they can resolve the issue. 

Hope you get it sorted out and get your prize.

I have found their linkdin account and they are active on there. There is a mobile number too on their account.  https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-prophets-agency/about/?viewAsMember=true

Also this is their ceo https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-o-driscoll-6a4a2812/