A Contest

[Audrey]

I enter contests. I find them here on this board and in other places. Well on September 18th, I received an email that I won one contest. I was asked to email the person with my email address. Hmm she emailed me the winning email. Ok...I emailed her my email address and my postal address. NOTHING.

So, I went to her blog and posted. I finally heard back. I was to contact the parties who donated prizes to her. NOT ONE OF THEM responded.

On September 29th, I emailed her again. I had not received any of the six prizes in the prize package. She did write me back and bascially said "try again"

A week later on October 6th, I emailed her to say she could forget all the prizes except the ipod. That one I want and I won it. I asked how I get it.

She has not responded to my email. I did check her blog and she's posted every day this week so I'm certain she got my email. Here's some of my options:

1. I can email her for a 4th time
2. I can post daily comments until I get my ipod (my guess is she'll delete them)
3. I can email her advertisers and let them know she cheated me
4. I can walk away from the whole thing

I'm really bothered that she advertised and advertised how wonderful she is to have offered these prizes but as the winner I got nothing.

Opinions?

[emsplace]

I would send her advertizers copies of her emails to you and let them know that you didn't receive your prizes and likely no one else will either.
It is a concern. I mean, it's CHEATING/LYING/MISREPRESENTING! And frankly she should not do it, IMHO!

Good luck.
I'm sorry it happened.
emily

[Happy Momma]

Who was supposed to mail the prize to you?  The advertiser or the blogger?  I know when I do my giveaways I always have the advertiser send the prizes out.  Of course, if someone told me they never received their prize I would contact the advertiser and answer the person emailing me.  But, unless the blogger actually had the prize to mail out there probably isn't much she can do.  Although it's very rude of her not to answer your emails.

[Audrey]

Melanie,

So if someone said to her "sure I'll give a prize" and then they don't, you believe all she needs to do is email me and say "oh well sorry?"

She did email me back and one of her partners did come through. The others did not.

[emsplace]

Well, if the advertisers are to send it, that is a bit different - though it is her blog, her reputation.
The advertisers obviously sign something that says they will do what THEY say they will do.
That makes the situation a little stickier...

I think she could communicate with you that she is sorry and that she is trying to get them to comply. And maybe ask you if another prize would fill the void or something...

I don't know.
Keep us posted on how it turns out!~

[FickleMinded]

I will post about her so-called contest and it's gonna be a sticky post on top of my blog about her scam with a complete link to her blog with big bold letters and if you found her contest here,maybe you can give her a warning or ban her completely.

[Happy Momma]

Melanie,

So if someone said to her "sure I'll give a prize" and then they don't, you believe all she needs to do is email me and say "oh well sorry?"

She did email me back and one of her partners did come through. The others did not.

I guess what I was trying to say was that she was being incredibly rude not to answer your emails.  That being said, if the advertiser said they would send you a prize and then didn't- I don't think there is much the blogger can do.  Yes, she should answer your emails, but other than apologizing to you- certainly something more sincere than "oh well sorry" I don't know what else she could do. 

Since I host a weekly giveaway I know that most of the stuff is done based on trust.  When an advertiser tells me they will send out the prize the winner I trust that they will.  If I was giving away something like an iPod and the advertiser didn't send it to the winner, there isn't anything I could do other than apologize, to make it up to the person.  I certainly can't afford to go out and buy one to mail to the winner because the advertiser didn't follow through.

So, while I am not trying to stick up for this blogger (because she did not handle the situation very well) and I was definitley not trying to start a problem with you, I was just trying to say there may not be much she can do.  If she had the product to mail out to you- that is a completely different situation.  And either way, her lack of communication is certailny an issue.

[Happy Momma]

Well, if the advertisers are to send it, that is a bit different - though it is her blog, her reputation.
The advertisers obviously sign something that says they will do what THEY say they will do.
That makes the situation a little stickier...

When I host my giveaways I alwways have the advertisers send prizes out to the winners, rather than doing it myself.  It's too expensive to pay for shipping every week for my giveaways.  But I have never had an advertiser sign something saying they would do what they were telling me they would do.  Typically everything is done through email and based on trust.  The advertiser trusts me that I will actually review the product they send me for free.  And I trust the advertiser that they will actually send out the prize to the winner.  So far I've been fortunate and haven't had any problems.  But, I'm sure my day will come when an advertiser doesn't follow through with what was promised.  That was the only reason I was trying to make that point, there might not be much the blogger can do.  Of course, she can communicate and answer emails, but she may not have any power over whether or not Audrey gets her prize.

Anyways- let us know what happens Audrey.

[Audrey]

Melanie,

Thank you for posting. It's a really awkward situation.

I'll be giving away a cookbook later this month. The cookbook was donated by someone. It was shipped to me. I have it. So once the winner is selected, it will be me who sends it out. I know it's double postage but I just couldn't advertise a contest without the prize in hand.

Now, some of the prizes I won were consultations. One thing that could've been done was to email the donor with a copy to me so that I knew she was really trying.

[michellesamom]

I'll be giving away a cookbook later this month. The cookbook was donated by someone. It was shipped to me. I have it. So once the winner is selected, it will be me who sends it out. I know it's double postage but I just couldn't advertise a contest without the prize in hand.

Now, some of the prizes I won were consultations. One thing that could've been done was to email the donor with a copy to me so that I knew she was really trying.

I agree with you. How awful!
I don't have much sympathy for someone with her work ethic. If you promise something, you should deliver. If the company sends you an item to review and you promise to give the same item away and the company doesn't send it out, you can ask the winner if she wants to receive your copy. That's what I would do. I'd pretty much do anything to make sure that my reader wasn't disappointed (I mean, I couldn't buy another ipod, but if I had reviewed one I could give it away and then hassle the company myself instead of making my contest winner do so).
I'm sorry Audrey, that's really frustrating and rude.

[Keesh]

just walk away as long as u didn't put money into it. it's bad 4 people not  2 stick 2 there words, but it probably was a gimmick anyways just 2 get ur email to send advertisings

[Happy Momma]

Wouldn't you know it... after I just talked about this the other day... I just had someone contact me about a giveaway she won back in August and she told me she still hasn't received her prize.  She has been awfully patient to wait so long before contacting me.

I wrote her back right away and apologized.  I let her know that I am contacting the company as well.  And I did.  I sent them an email to let them know what is going on and to try to find out what happened with the prize.  And if I don't hear back from them tomorrow I will call the contact number that I have.  And, I will be sure to keep the person who was supposed to win updated with what is going on.

Of course, the best way to make sure this doesn't happen is to do like Audrey does and have the product in hand before hosting the giveaway.  But, since I host a weekly giveaway the shipping would get way too expensive for me to do that.  I just can't afford to do that.  Considering that I have been doing this for a while I am thankful that this is the first time it has happened. 

Since this just happened to you Audrey- I'm wondering what you think I should do.  If the company doesn't come through and send the prize, how can I make it up to the winner?  What would you have wanted the person you were dealing with to have done differently?   

[Audrey]

You know, I told the woman I was happy to walk away from all the prizes except the iPod. If she didn't have it to give away, she never should've offered it. She said she'd let me know when it was shipped. No word yet.

What was the prize that the gal said she did not get?

[Happy Momma]

It was a package of school supplies from EZ School Supplies.  The value was $45 including shipping.  The company hasn't answered my email yet and I'll give them until the end of the day before I call.

I have entered a lot of giveaways and have won a lot as well.  Every contest I have won except for one I received the prize from the company I won from, not the blogger.  I think that bloggers who do giveaways a lot typically have the prize sent out by the advertiser.  And I guess this is just something that happens when you run your giveaways this way.  Of course I do not want the winner to be upset but I'm not sure what I'll be able to offer her to make her happy.

[Happy Momma]

Well, I heard back from the company and they apologized for the "mix up" whatever that might have been.  But they did ship the prize out and even gave me a tracking number.  So, it's a happy ending this time.  I'm just worried about if/when it may happen again.