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

[redrugroffle]

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 - 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 ) 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.

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.

I love MN...

From a scam, to polenta, the Goodies, Troll hunting, Ann Summers, cucumbers up arses finishing with £500 for a charity.

This thread is MN in a nutshell.

Well done. The charity have at least benefitted now regardless :)

And yes - well done on not naming the shop, just to satusfy some poster's curiousity. You gave them chance to respond and when they did there was no need to name and shame.

There's a reason for resurrecting this old fossil of a thread. I went out last night for a birthday get together piss up. One person there used to work for the hospice I donated the money to and the subject came up in jest. Another lady in our party the told me privately that not only did she get scammed in a similar fashion(different company- high street retailer) to me- her forfeits and tasks involved removal of clothes, taking off her bra etc and she did it!

When she went to collect her prizes/cheque for charity, the same thing happened and she was told the company and manager had been the victims of a hoax. She was very embarrassed and not as hatchet faced harridan pushy as me and she took it no further.

Another person mentioned a film based on true events which when I wiki'ed this morning made me I have added a link at the bottom of my post. It's not based on winning prizes but impersonating police officers.

I know it all seems very far fetched but I hope to raise awareness. These pranks are happening to businesses and members of the public, they are not unusual and they don't seem to be for financial gain. The link is a very extreme case unlike mine.

I hope you won't mind me posting an addendum to this thread the only reason I didn't start a new thread is because I thought it may get lost in the Sunday morning posting traffic and I remembered this got a lot of interest. I will not answer any more questions about what happened to me personally BTW and I'm not saying that to be mysterious or tease out a story. I will logout after I post this and not come back to the thread just to take the guessing and speculation away from any troll devourers.
crazy but true

Thank you Red I followed the original thread and I am grateful for the update - still shocked at what can happen

I saw that episode of svu can't believe it was based on fact!