Scam/Dishonest Competitions Including Royal Melbourne Lottery / Choosi / Toyrs 'R' Us and More

Lhell0 on 01/11/2016 - 13:20
Last edited 01/11/2016 - 13:21

Hello0, OK so I enter about 2 competitions a week and have had a few cool small prizes including 2 Sherrin personalised footballs but am becoming increasingly aware that a lot of competitions, even from big names are scams or downright dishonest…

RMH Lottery: Won a $80 digital radio but stock 'ran out' so was given a $20 analog radio instead… I imagine the first-prize winner might have also received a analog radio instead of the home.

Choosi: Runs competitions with clear finish & draw dates along with information about when they will be announced publicly but the winners are never announced.

Toys 'R' Us advertises a competition so off I go buying $35 in toys which were just given away as I had no use only to have the competition just vanish from their site and the response was that they decided to end it 'indefinitely'.

GoPro karma advertised 100 Karma drones to be given away and then just up and finish the comp.

My thinking would be that smaller places might do dodgy deals but these are all big brands, even McDonalds for 6 years had given ordinary people no chance of winning at big monopoly prizes whilst their Chief of security gave away $20 million worth of big prizes to friends and family.

So OZbargainers, care to share your stories, both good and bad?

Also, I will draw a caricature of the poster with the highest positive-rated comment. Drawn in 7 days.

General Discussion

Comments

  • spackbace on 01/11/2016 - 13:37
    +1

    Provided they're proper competitions (not just spam websites trying to get your details), they will all have to abide by the laws etc governing competitions.

    As such, there are people you can contact to get these companies in the shit.

    Or, only click through to competitions you know are 100% legit.

  • unco on 01/11/2016 - 13:40
    +7

    You bought $35 worth of toys you didn't need just so you could enter a competition?

    • hell0 on 01/11/2016 - 13:43

      Yes. I look for comps that seem a little out of the way where possible as I know fewer people enter so bigger chance. I don't do this often but was worth the chance.

      • roddy84 on 01/11/2016 - 14:21
        +1

        But I'm assuming the prize would have been more toys….

        • hell0 on 01/11/2016 - 14:24

          It was a trip to Dreamworld for 4 people. The toys were Trolls movie-related so really weren't that good.

        • spackbace on 01/11/2016 - 14:24
          +1

          @hell0:

          Yeah it's been posted here and link is dead :/

          That's not good

        • spackbace on 01/11/2016 - 14:43
          +2

          @hell0:

          On further thought, it might have been because it was Dreamworld related…? Bad thing to try to promote lately!

        • hell0 on 01/11/2016 - 14:47

          @Spackbace:
          Yes, they did say it was Dreamworld related… but then I thought… neither business has closed down for good & Trolls products were still being sold so it didn't seem like a real good reason nor did the Terms & Conditions meet any criteria for cancellation.

        • spackbace on 01/11/2016 - 14:51
          +1

          @hell0:

          Completely agree :)

        • [Deactivated] on 02/11/2016 - 16:54
          +1

          @Spackbace: Dreamworld is closed until further notice.

  • battler on 01/11/2016 - 13:45
    +2

    A niggle from me to Groupon about failing to publish that there was a winner of their comp (they stated they would in their T&C):
    noting it took them 5 weeks to reply, with nothing!

    Dec 10, 09:42
    Hi Battler,
    In relation to your WISH eGift Card deal, we have already contacted the winner to advise them, and due to privacy reasons, we are unable to disclose their details.
    Kind regards,
    Groupon Customer Care

    Nov 5, 22:39
    Hi Battler,
    Thank you for contacting Groupon Australia.
    We're sorry to hear you have encountered trouble with your purchase of the Woolworths Online.
    It is always our intention that our Groupies receive their goods hassle-free therefore I will escalate this matter to our Resolutions Team for further investigation.
    Please allow 7 business days for us to investigate.
    Thanks for your patience as we look to get to the bottom of this problem.
    Regards,
    Groupon Customer Care

    Nov 5, 12:23
    Customer Contact Reason Drop-down1: General questions and feedback
    Customer Contact Reason Drop-down2: I have feedback about Groupon
    Name: : Battler
    Please provide a detailed description of your issue/question : Regarding WISH eGift card competition, drawn 2 Nov, per terms and conditions you were going to publish the results:
    "2. The winner will have their details published on http://host.groupon.com.au/competition/cairns-holiday/ on Monday 2 November 2015."
    Seems you have failed to abide by your own T&Cs.

  • itajac on 01/11/2016 - 13:46
    +1

    Is this comp legit? When will the winner be announced? ;)

    • hell0 on 01/11/2016 - 13:47
      +12

      At 2pm next Tuesday the person with most positive votes for a single post within this thread will get a caricature which I will draw within another week and post for everyone to see.

      • djkelly69 on 01/11/2016 - 13:56
        +2

        I would you to draw a caricature of yourself, so am upvoting your comment.

  • ItsMeAgro on 01/11/2016 - 14:09

    No point swapping stories, OP.

    There are laws against this sort of thing. Find out how to take legal action against them.

    Or even just a letter to the legal department of any of these companies.

    (The Toys'r'us one will surely just give you the prize, much cheaper than going to court over it…)

  • ozhunter on 01/11/2016 - 14:47
    +1

    GoPro karma advertised 100 Karma drones to be given away and then just up and finish the comp.

    Sounds dodgy. After a quick google search I can't seem to find anything about it.

    • hell0 on 01/11/2016 - 14:49

      Here is the google cache from the Gopro.com site itself, which was promptly deleted…
      https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:pffJ2f…

      • [Deactivated] on 02/11/2016 - 17:01
        -1

        This is a competition for US citizens only. The date for publication of winners has not yet been reached, (31-12-16), but the competition end-date (31-3-16) has passed, which is maybe why it is not there anymore?. They have an option to notify winners individually.

        • hell0 on 02/11/2016 - 18:19
          -1

          No, it is a competition for most countries across the world though… In any case, it was a fake comp.

  • tassieeagle on 01/11/2016 - 15:46
    +9

    I bet this caricature competition guy just wants to get my details and then will say the competition has been suspended indefinitely. Meanwhile I'm gonna get spam emails for 10-50% off all custom caricatures for the next year and when I go to unsubscribe the link goes nowhere, or worse, to some dodgy rhino horn selling charlatan's website which implants some kinda horrific randsomware on my pc.

  • hell0 on 03/11/2016 - 21:26
    +1

    OK so another fake comp from a big company today. I think I am going to start informing…

    In the mean time, I seem to have the highest-rated comment so have started a caricature that I will upload and let you all know when it's up. I think you will all appreciate it as its of someone we all love…

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