Won a prize but company won't/reluctant to send it

[Namechangetempissue]

I won a prize from a fairly big company in the week before Christmas. Prize is related to a hobby I have and is worth around £100. I was really happy to win and excitedly waited for the prize to turn up. The website I won through asked for my contact and delivery details and I had sent these promptly and received confirmation these had these.
I hadn't received anything by the end of January so contacted the company to check it hadn't been lost in the post...no answer. Left it a week and tried again and got an answer apologising that they had "lost my details" so I resent these. Agaij they confirmed they had them. Nothing had arrived mid February, so I messaged to check again it hadn't been lost in the post. No answer for a week and then they sent an email saying they were waiting for material to come in and would send when it did. My friend has ordered the same item from them recently and received in a week.
They just don't want to send it do they? Should I ask again or just give up and accept it isn't coming? My name was announced on their website so I definitely won!

Post on their website saying not received yet. Which company...local or national

Can you tweet them or message them on Facebook? Companies often reply when other people can see their responses.

I just feel a bit of an arsehole pushing things with them as I suppose its "free". Even when I'm emailing I feel like a twat demanding my prize!

I ran a giveaway competition on my business' Facebook page, and set out the prize once the winner have their details. Told them it had been dispatched and gave the tracking details. It went missing in the post but the winner didn't bother to check the tracking, waited just over a week and then posted on my page saying I hadn't sent the prize. I had to do some pretty fast damage control and explain that it had been sent and asked her to please check the tracking details provided (obviously I checked when I saw her post to see they had gone missing but I had to write that so others would see). I really didn't want to be seen as unreliable so, if you want to items then post on their public pages ... Usually does make people work quick, even when they aren't in the wrong and these guys are! They ran a competition, they need to send the prize.

Write and tell them you're excitedly awaiting the promised prize and so is your local newspaper who are anticipating doing a spread about it.

Chase them down. I won a years supply of Guiness from Telewest just before Virgin took them over - they refused to honour it. 12 odd years on it still pisses me off. Every time their sales people try and get me to switch to them I advise them not until I get the Guiness (plus interest). Not even sure why it pisses me off now as I don't even drink anymore - just the principle I suppose. My point is though it will eat you up inside if you don't get it.....or that may just be me

I wrote the last ever letter of the week in Select magazine before it folded and never got my prize pair or Vans trainers!

I won a prize which was a fitness outfit and tickets to the athletics in Sheffield. We got the outfits but not the tickets. Hope you get your prize.

“I’ve been chasing up this prize for 3 months now with no success – I’m afraid if I don’t receive it within the next 7 days, I’ll be filing a report with the Advertising Standards Authority. I’m terribly disappointed and this has taken the shine off a lovely prize.”

It is against the law to offer a prize in a competition and then fail to deliver.

I won a signed single from the Clannad fanclub in 1986 - never got it

Pretty sure that they have to provide the prize within 28 days or they're in breach of promotional guidelines.

Don't think it's ' the law', but you're certainly not being an arse by chasing it up.

Do it visibly and they'll want to keep you quiet by sending your prize.

Best of luck

Thanks eveyone for your advice and stories! Will email them on Monday again and then post on their facebook page if I don't hear back in a few days. They actually sounded (although difficult to tell via email!) really pissy I was chasing them so that threw me a bit and made me think I was being unreasonable.

I won a voucher on the radio and never received it, no reply to chasing it.
They ran the same competition a year later and I sent a sarky tweet about never receiving it the year before, got contacted immediately and prize sent out that week... Should have used Twitter initially! Definitely try public shaming

Have a look on the MSE comps page for some more advice....ASA complaint should be followed.

Some companies have ran Facebook competitions where to enter you have to like and share their business page. They have been suspected of doing this just to get likes and the prize never materialised.
Hopefully this isn't the case but I believe you can report them to Facebook.
I would definitely post on their page as negative publicity is the best threat.

Just read through my emails to the company and the last one on Feb 14th said that the material had arrived and the would have it sent by Friday...obviously now it is March 3rd so they haven't. No tracking number sent or anything.

You've given them enough time already, OP. Post on their Facebook page and anywhere else public NOW expressing your displeasure at the way they have behaved towards you.

You’ve just reminded me Simon Mayo never did send me the double jeopardy video I won on dead or alive on radio 1 in 2000! I got my other prizes. I might have to chase it up!

Double Jeopardy! Amazing. Chase it!

My son is still waiting for his Mr Men book set and poster won in a competition. He's now over 18 and still asking for it !

IN contrast, I won a prize on the Dorset Cereals spin game and got it within days. Never thought it was for real till it arrived. Probably 40 pounds worth of the most gorgeous goodies.

What in meaning to say is: don’t be shy, it’s a promotional tool on their part. They should carry through and if they haven’t , complain!

I have no knowledge of this area but this page looks like it’s describing a similar situation.

businessadvice.co.uk/business-development/sales-marketing/can-you-disqualify-a-prize-draw-winner/

According to the ASA "Prizewinners should usually receive their prize within 30 days (Rule 8.28.3)"

Also found this:

Under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, "unfair commercial practices" are prohibited.

Schedule 1 to the Regulations sets out a list of practices that will in all circumstances be considered unfair, and therefore unlawful. These include:

Claiming in a commercial practice to offer a competition or prize promotion without awarding the prizes described or a reasonable equivalent.

Not your situation at all - but a number of years ago I won a cash prize from a high street bank. They rang me up to ask for my bank details to pay into my account and I got really cross with them thinking it was some kind of phishing scam!! I told them to post the cheque to my local branch if they were genuine! Turns out it was and they did ! Completely forgot I had entered the competition.

Have you spoken to people in a general sales/ customer service department? You might have more luck asking to speak to the head of marketing/promotions or even the M.D.? Maybe the customer services people just don't know how to process this as it is not part of their normal day to day?

I had the prize letter in the Weekend Guardian once and had to chase that up. You’d think that given it happened every sodding week that it would be someone’s job to sort it.