If you have ever won a prize instantly and the company you won it from said you weren’t actually a winner, this is why.
“All potential winners are subject to verification by administrator, whose decisions are final and binding in all matters related to the giveaway. An entrant is not a winner of any prize, even if the giveaway should so indicate, unless and until entrant’s eligibility and the potential winning play has been verified and entrant has been notified that verification is complete. Sponsors will not accept screen shots or other evidence of winning in lieu of their validation process. Any play that occurs after the system has failed for any reason is deemed a defective play, is void and will not be honored. In the event of an error neither the Sponsor, Administrator, nor its affiliates, subsidiaries nor, promotional agencies shall assume any liability. If an error occurs that results in more winning game transactions being distributed or more prize claims made than advertised, then only the intended number of prizes will be awarded in a random drawing from among all verified timely received prize claims. In no event will the Sponsor be obligated to award more than the intended number of prizes offered.”
You might see the winning screen but the sponsor’s computer doesn’t actually register the win. This is the wonders of technology. Somehow your computer is seeing something the sponsor’s computer is not and because of this clause in the official rules the sponsor does not have to honor the win.
They put this clause in the rules because they know that technology doesn’t always work the way it is supposed to work and it is often beyond their control. While you know that you won because you can clearly see it on the screen, it did not register on the sponsor’s computer.
Unfortunately, because they put this clause in the official rules there is nothing you can do to claim the prize. They will not accept screenshots as proof because their only real proof is what their computer is telling them. Anyone could fabricate a winning screen by getting it from someone else who won they might know.
While this does not seem fair it really is because the sponsor is trying to make sure their computer is actually picking the winner and it weeds out the person who figures out a way to come up with a winning screen shot and they never were a winner to begin with.
Your thoughts?
I’ve always seen that clause in the rules, but take a screen shot anyway. Who knows why, maybe it’s because I like to go back and look through them when I am in a slump? 🙂 Anyway, it seems fair because there would always be someone out there trying to cheat the system, but then again it’s never happened to me – I might feel differently if I had gotten cheated out of a prize!
Yeah, well this happened to me TWICE with the Dole promotion! I even sent them a copy of it and they never responded back either. To me, it seems rather unfair, especially in the case of some of the small prizes for these product promo sweeps. When the kinks happen, as we all understand they DO with technology, they should still honor the win anyway. The fact you are playing their game should tell them you are interested in their product and prizes and in all likelihood, are either an existing customer or an interested customer. Thus, their customer service should be on top of it! This is the only thing about the sweeping that has really annoyed me so far! I also like to print out the screen shot and I look at mine too when in a slump! Good motivator!
This happened to me with the Tums promotion last March. I did not get the gift card and movie tickets. Also it happened with Express game. I won a $50 gift card and other stuff and even wrote them, but never received. It is sad, cause it is hard to win as it is, then you don’t receive your prize.
This happened to me with IHOP NFL. Ihop was nice enough to give me the $25 gc anyway. Very nice.
This happened to me once before but there has been maybe twice since I started sweeping 2&1/2 years ago that I received an IWG prize without seeing it on the screen. Very confusing at the time but this breaks it down for me.
Thanks!