Complaint about IM-Contest?

by Bashty
12 replies
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I have taken part in a certain contest in the IM-field and have not yet received my prices or even a notice when they might be sent out.

On monday this week I sent a mail to their customer service and gave them until the end of this week to come back to me with a definite date or answer as to when and how they are going to take further steps to get the prices to the contest winners.

I have not received an answer yet. I believe that giving them 5 days would be enough to respond to a mail.

I know for a fact that another winner hasn't received his price either, while he is living in the US, I am not, so I don't expect my price to come fast, but within the US it should be a matter of a week or two.

Before my last mail, I had sent another mail and got the answer that my request would be forwarded to the appropriate department... yeah, as if.
Haven't received an answer for another two weeks or so, that's why I sent the last mail, telling them that I would take further measures if they would not finally respond with a definitive answer when they'd finally do something.

So well, I'd now like to inform myself how I would be able to take legal steps. I believe that a friend told me about another contest holder being forced to hand out the prices to the winners by some organization, but this friend didn't know anything more specific.

Long story short: Where could I file a complaint about the way these people handle their contest winners to make sure that everyone receives their prices?

It is a big company, by far not a one-man-show, so I'm absolutely sure that they have the capacity to send out a few lousy prices and I'm sick of being handled like this.
Especially from people who claim to belong to the good guys.
I'm sure the people of the JV launch got their motorbikes and thousands of dollars within a week or two, for the rest of us it has been two months or so and still not even the message of "we'll send the prices out on xxxx".

I could go on, but I think I made my point clear.

I'd be very happy if someone could give me some hint to where I could turn to get what is rightfully mine

(best case would be without involvement of a lawyer of course )
#complaint #contest #fraud #imcontest #scam
  • Profile picture of the author Tom B
    Banned
    Cool story. Thanks for sharing!
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    • Profile picture of the author Bashty
      Originally Posted by Thomas Belknap View Post

      Cool story. Thanks for sharing!
      It actually wasn't meant to be a story :/

      I would like to know if there is a place that I can complain to, because I actively took part in making that launch a success, together with the other people who won prices in the contest and we won prices for this.

      Of course I want my prices now, I don't really see why you'd post such a comment here.
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      • Profile picture of the author PhoebeSmellyCat
        I think you mean 'prizes' and not 'prices'.

        Anyway, what did you win that makes you so upset? Was it a motorbike? Is it a digital item or a physical one?

        Depending on the prize, you may want to reconsider legal action. Are you willing to spend money on an attorney for an IM course?

        If it's a physical item, did you consider the shipping time to get it to your country?

        I once had to ship something to the UK and I sent via International Priority and it still took one month to get there.
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        • Profile picture of the author Bashty
          Originally Posted by PhoebeSmellyCat View Post

          I think you mean 'prizes' and not 'prices'.

          Anyway, what did you win that makes you so upset? Was it a motorbike? Is it a digital item or a physical one?

          Depending on the prize, you may want to reconsider legal action. Are you willing to spend money on an attorney for an IM course?

          If it's a physical item, did you consider the shipping time to get it to your country?

          I once had to ship something to the UK and I sent via International Priority and it still took one month to get there.
          Yes that's what i meant
          I'm not a native speaker so I sometimes make mistakes, although I think that my English is quite good already

          It actually were two Ipods, at the last day of the contest they added a "only one prize per person", but I don't think that this is valid.
          Anyway it would still be an Ipod.
          I am currently using my mobile phone for listening to music, which is halfway broken already, so I'd like to have it, also I never had one and don't intend to spend that amount of money for an mp3 player, but I wouldn't mind getting it for "free", apart from the time I invested into building up points for the contest, which were quite a few hours.

          I'm not really willing to go to court with it though, because I'm only making very little money from IM and an Ipod wouldn't be worth losing that much more money for a lawyer.
          Also I'm not sure whether or not they couldn't turn that whole thing around somehow, everything seems to be possible in America, and make me pay for something somehow in the end

          But as I said, a friend had told me about some other contest holder being punished after someone had reported to some institution about his behaviour.
          I am hoping for someone to know which institution might be responsible for this, so that the issue can be solved without going to court.

          I think they just need someone with a lot of power to poke them, but well, I'm just a small guy so they don't seem to respond to my poking
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      • Profile picture of the author Tom B
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        Originally Posted by Bashty View Post


        Of course I want my prices now, I don't really see why you'd post such a comment here.
        That is ok, I really don't see why you would come to this forum to ask how to get your prizes.

        Good luck though.
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        • Profile picture of the author Bashty
          Originally Posted by Thomas Belknap View Post

          That is ok, I really don't see why you would come to this forum to ask how to get your prizes.

          Good luck though.
          Because it's a matter very related to IM and I'm not asking about how to get my prizes, but where to complain so that the people who are responsible will give me my prizes.

          PS: I believe there is a multiquote button

          Edit: Okay I've done some further research and found that maybe the IC3 (http://www.ic3.gov/) or the FTC (https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/) could be responsible.
          Does anyone have experience with these?
          It seems like the IC3 might go to court in the case of finding my complaint to be valid, but I think that this would not be necessary, a simple "give them their prizes" should be enough already.

          Does anyone have any experience with filing complaints via any of those two institutions?
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    • Profile picture of the author SteveJohnson
      Originally Posted by Thomas Belknap View Post

      Cool story. Thanks for sharing!
      This is just a naked attempt to build up your post count, isn't it?

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      • Profile picture of the author Tom B
        Banned
        Originally Posted by SteveJohnson View Post

        This is just a naked attempt to build up your post count, isn't it?

        Am I that transparent?
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  • Profile picture of the author Colin Palfrey
    Do you know that you definitely won the contest?

    Was this a contest on this forum or outside it?

    Do you have an email from the contest owners stating that you were a winner?
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    • Profile picture of the author Bashty
      Originally Posted by Colin Palfrey View Post

      Do you know that you definitely won the contest?

      Was this a contest on this forum or outside it?

      Do you have an email from the contest owners stating that you were a winner?
      I know that I definitely am one of the winners of the contest. I am mentioned on the page where the winners are mentioned under the nickname under which I signed up.

      This nickname is connected to my emailadress, youtubechannel, twitter account and facebook account through the contestburner plugin.

      It was a contest outside the forum. I've taken part in one of the forums contests and am very happy with how things are handled there

      I did receive a mail,but as I had some problems with my Emailprovider I don't have them anymore.
      Another winner is just forwarding me her confirmation mail though, she still seems to have it.
      But as I mentioned, I'm clearly stated as one of the winners on the website. The respective page is still online and I also saved a copy of it on my computer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Patrick
    Where are you located ?

    In your first post you said that you are in the USA, but your profile says you are in Thailand..
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    • Profile picture of the author Bashty
      Originally Posted by schwarzes View Post

      Where are you located ?

      In your first post you said that you are in the USA, but your profile says you are in Thailand..
      I'm from Europe, but volunteering in Thailand for a year at the moment.
      In the first post I was saying that I know a winner from the USA and know that this person hasn't received any prizes either. Sorry for expressing in a confusing way
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