Competitions Discussion Thread Part 4

SPANIEL36

yeah i had the same phone cal myself a while back as have lots ogf other people on here, its a scam and basically a rip off, if they phone you back just tell them to beggar off you'd rather keep ya pennies where ya can see em...away from them!!!

krunchieuk

This is not the sort of thing that happens, I am afraid this is just a shoddy tactic employed by many photographic studios, just always ensure you read the terms and conditions and make sure you tick or untick any boxes that refer to people contacting you, if someone phones you and says you have won something then asks for money its a con' I would suggest if you have not requested that you be contacted that you ask the caller for their name and address and tell them you will be contacting trading standards... they usually hang up when you ask for their name!.. Just play it sensible.. its a comp' have fun and just becuase some idiot has rubbish products so they have to try and con' you.. well sod'em they'll be out of business soon enough.. Keep comp'ing first time your box of choc's turns up you will feel soooo much better... :rotfl: :rotfl:

bargain_junkie

Hi all, I'm really just looking for any useful advice you can give me on some comping trouble I've been having.

Back in July 07 I won a competition with a regional newspaper worth around £700 and I was very happy! They sent through the confirmation letter, and I waited for my prize - but it never materialised. By September when I still hadn't heard I contacted the paper. They said they would look into it. They didn't get back to me. By January when I still hadn't had any proper answer I started to phone them regularly - and finally they accepted that I hadn't received my prize, this was dreadful and they said they would find a replacement.

They have offered us several laughable options all of substantially lower value - and we have rejected all of them - but this is where the real problem is - it has emerged that these replacement prizes which we were offered were in fact the prizes from currently publicised competitions - and the promotions department intended to 'pick us as the winners'.

Now, this is completely against my morals - and I wondered if anyone could point me in the direction of any competition laws which this may be in conflict with? I really am not happy with accepting a prize from a paper which runs these practices and intend to make a formal complaint to the editor - so any expert knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all x

Helpmesave

The Institute of Sales Promotion are the official body for complaints. Website is at www.isp.org.uk or their address is:

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Arena House
<U1:STREET><U1:A66/68 Pentonville Road,</U1:STREET>
<U1:STREET></U1:STREET>Islington
<U1:CITY><U1:PLACE>London</U1:PLACE></U1:CITY> N1 9HS


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MeNikki

Yup had one of those phonecalls too, way before I started comping, so was really wondering where they had my details from...

Since then I've had those kind of those 'you've won, but please pay us this much up front, purely as an admin fee of course' calls and I always say that I think It is against rules to charge a fee upfront to someone who don't want to make themselves known to me for something that is supposed to be a win... It's amazing how easily they give up after that.

If you've won something you shouldn't have to pay for it, saying you ought to pay £99 plus £49 is definitely not free.

But don't give up comoing just because of a few silly people out there, as long as we stay smart and sensible we should be just fine :-)

dean_ham

Do you put all your details in, i.e telephone no. , address.

Im going to start entering competitions starting to take the attitude "i wont win nothing unless i enter ". But i dont fancy any spam mail/phone calls etc etc.

What do you do guys?

Cheers

bargain_junkie

Thanks alot - just what I was looking for - there's some great codes of practice on there to quote at the paper

jojogirly

I do enter all my details and always watch out for the boxes that ask whether or not you want to be contacted.

I get alot of catalogue brochures and catalogues through the post and they usually go straight in the bin.

I have a seperate email address for all the spam email - I dont think you can escape this really.

Good luck comping.

compblazer

I agree.

I setup a google email account just purely for comping and use a pay-as-u-go mobile for the phone and never put my home number in. You can always pick up free pay-as-u-go sims, and if it starts ringing no stop change sim to another one.

vickidiva

I have also set up a competitions only e-mail. I avoid competitions from sites such as MyOffers and Getmeaticket. I entered 1 once, and received god knows how many phone calls and hundreds of spammy e-mails. If you stay clear of them ones you should be ok.

I enter hundered of oher comps a week, and so far, have the amount of e-mails and post hasn't been too bad. You are bound to get some though.

Good luck with the comps. I only started a bit ago, and have already started winning. Be warned - once you start, you will be addicted!!