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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to push for more from this high street company that lied and humiliated me?

555 replies

redrugroffle · 30/05/2012 10:20

Sorry, name changing old timer to protect my RL identity on here (yawn, yes I know- please feel free to quiz me on MN howlers past and present)

I was shopping on a busy saturday in a chain. A lady approached me she was the manager.

She introduced herself and said she wondering if I would help her as she'd had no luck for the last hour and needed a candidate to take part in a radio phone in show- prizes/money going to charity and their staff and the chance to win an electrical appliance for myself???

I asked how long it would take and agreed as long as it would be swift as I felt a bit sorry for her Blush- I also asked what charity it would be for and whether it would be filmed? She was vague and said she wasn't fully briefed on the details. She then laughed and said that this was very much the "style" of their company. That they were very up on motivation for the staff, crazy competitions, incentives etc. I took this on trust and they are a very big company.

We went to her office and the phone rang on speaker phone- radio guy with jingles in background etc- asks me where I'm from, age, name etc.

It was then put on handset and I had to answer a few qs and agree whether or not to perform some silly tasks (think Chris Evans old style larking) some I did some I refused (every refusal got money for the charity)

Anyway- fast forward 20 mins and I cut ot off (as I wanted to go and was stretched for time. I'd won ££ for charity, 2 prizes for the staff and a prize for myself to be collected from the store on the following Tuesday and £3000 worth of stuff.

I was really pleased and as I fundraise for a local charity I asked if my prize could be donated to my chosen charity as well as thiers (I've got no need for another toaster of cake mixer Grin) I was told we will see on Tuesday.

I arrive on Tuesday (this place is a 55 mile round trip for me)

The manager looks solemn. She takes me to the office and tells me she's been stupid, it was a hoax, nobody was coming in.

She gave me a £20 voucher for my girl (it was her birthday) and asked me to leave. Sad

I've since called their customer services to demand an inquiry into her behaviour and to get some token for being humiliated, out of pocket and time.

They've not called me back.

They've said they're sorry but these things happen????

I've nobody except my close friend to asked and he advised me that he'd be going for the complete amount of things I was promised and to not compromise.

So your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

OP posts:
Original poster
redrugroffle · 30/05/2012 23:28

Housemum you are just lazy- you could have baked that ready mixed stuff in your oven for a few hours,then put it into your dehumidifier, then blitzed it in the blender. Heston would have.

OP posts:
MyDogShitsMoney · 30/05/2012 23:31

(yep, he's definitely back. Has posted a truly bizarre waffle thread about para Olympics in chat.)

Not saying I don't believe you by the way op. Just don't understand any part of it at all.

Not what happened, not how, not why, not their reaction and not your reaction. Non of it makes one ounce of sense to me at all.

MyDogShitsMoney · 30/05/2012 23:34

Oops, told you my head hurt. Really am going to bed now. Clearly my very small brain has taken as much as it can Blush

bibbitybobbitybunny · 30/05/2012 23:34

I don't think that is Gabby. He only ever posted in aibu, for a start. He also didn't use spaces after commas or full stops iirc.

MyDogShitsMoney · 30/05/2012 23:36

True. Maybe it's just a fan attempting an homage!

Either that or he's got a new phone!

bibbitybobbitybunny · 30/05/2012 23:45

Love your username btw MyDog Smile.

Housemum · 30/05/2012 23:50

I am now in some surreal universe and in need of sleep - this thread was head-hurting, I've had a glass (or 2...) of port and The Goodies are Funky Gibboning on TOTP2....

Hope there is a resolution soon (if only so we can find out some more details - hopeful!)

MyDogShitsMoney · 30/05/2012 23:53

Why thank you!

Sadly T'is all true. It's ok though, I sellotaped it back together and used it to pay for a taxi Blush

Sorry for the hijack op. To get back to the point, polenta chips are fricking delicious. Fact

ThatVikRinA22 · 31/05/2012 00:09

Smile blimey....if im shocking folks in a good way then i probably need to have a rethink...

Grin

and i have NO idea what polenta is.

let us know how you go on OP! im interested now....

ThatVikRinA22 · 31/05/2012 00:12

oh and i watched TOTP yeserday and today, its most interesting!....i went to see the goodies at the knavesmire in York doing the funky gibbon back in the 70's ...i was about 4.
i had a huge crush on Bill Oddie.

yes. sadly that is true.
i went for very odd men from an early age.

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 31/05/2012 00:12

How many dinners will you get from that chicken, Housemum?

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 31/05/2012 00:35

Vicar, when I was 4 I loved Sandy Gall, and wanted Kirk Douglas (as he appears in The Vikings) to be my dad.

carernotasaint · 31/05/2012 00:53

Vicar i wanted to cuddle Tim Brooke Taylor when i was a little girl. You are not alone.

limitedperiodonly · 31/05/2012 07:54

viva if you don't tell us the outcome of the CPR at once I'm going to think you made it all up.

vicar an old friend had sex with Bill Oddie in a cupboard at the recording of the Goodies.

storminabuttercup · 31/05/2012 07:59

Baked polenta chips??

Tell me more...

I don't think ive ever had polenta

FartBlossom · 31/05/2012 08:00

So if OP has suffered a loss as a consequence of these actions then the company has to put it right
Which the OP didnt suffer any loss, maybe a bit of time wasted and costs to return to the shop which the company offered to give, but no apparently its not enough Hmm

I believe the OP more than not, I just think theres a MASSIVE over-reaction here. I think thats why I dont exactly get whats gone on and why it warrants police or even naming and shaming the shop. Im curious as to which shop it is, but if I knew it wouldn't make me think any different of them as I dont think the shop is at fault.

For anyone (like me) who didnt know what Polenta is, its a substitute to rice, pasta and potatos according to what I could tell from googling it. I didnt even know you could substitute them, just thought all the people on low/no carbs diets just didnt have anything. You learn something new everyday.

MardyBratannia · 31/05/2012 08:15

If you've got to mix polenta with strong cheese to make it taste o something, it must be tasteless. I rest my case.

crunchbag · 31/05/2012 08:41

Exactly FartBlossom, it is not about not believing the OP (the story is just too strange to be made up) it is about both the OP and the shop being victims of a prank, yet the OP seems to be directing all her anger at the shop and seems to be demanding all the money/prizes she was promised by a bogus radio station from this shop. Some skewed sense of entitlement.

In reply to the title of the OP, YABU

curiousgeorgie · 31/05/2012 08:48

Housemum - her DC was given a voucher and £50 pledged to her charity I think?

What else are you hoping for?

To be honest they didn't even have to give you that. They were duped as much as you.

GreenEyesAndHam · 31/05/2012 08:49

An 'old friend' eh limited.....?

DonkeyTeapot · 31/05/2012 08:49

I've only ever seen polenta sold in a block, I wondered how you were supposed to put it in cakes etc. I take it you can buy it as a powder / grainy stuff or something then?

LuvileeJubilee · 31/05/2012 09:10

I have come to the conclusion that you are blackmailing the company. You've emailed them this thread along with everyone begging to know which shop it is, and threatened to Name Them on Mumsnet and damage their brand unless they cough up the dough. Not cool IMO.

OracleInAMonarchale · 31/05/2012 09:12

she hasnt emailed them this thread.

Clytaemnestra · 31/05/2012 09:12

"Cly im sorry but i think Laurie Fairy Cake has a point. It could be a revenge thing because of workfare.
Sooner or later someone on workfare IS going to want to get their own back (even if thats not what has happened in this case) and you are deluded if you think that something like this wont happen because of this."

It could be. Except we have no evidence that the shop has used workfare, no evidence that it is actually a disgruntled ex-employee of any form, or really any other details. Hence the fact it is a massive unsubstatiated leap.

If "workfare" is your pet hobby horse then you will see it's dastardly influence everywhere. Doesn't make it true.

discophile · 31/05/2012 09:19

I've just had an Ercule Poirot moment. (Which may of course be BS. And someone else may have suggested it). What if, the whole thing was a scam by some criminal types. They pretend to be a radio station and pretend to be offering competition and prizes and shit. The store manager falls for it. Then he/she walks around the store looking for a punter. Unbeknownst to the store manager the crims have one of their gang in the store. This person is meant to be the one going in to the managers office and winning loads of stuff. Then if the store doesn't cough up the goods, the criminals put pressure on the store for goods and money. I think that's the only thing that makes any sense. It turns out that by some wierd quirk of fate redrug is actually behaving in a similar way to how the criminal gang would behave, after the radio station scam competition thing. If this is the case, then the rozzers should be involved, although I think it would be down to the store to do that, rather than redrug. Or, cold shiver down spine, perhaps redrug is part of the criminal gang....