Ianbu, shitty raffle prizes

[sailorcherries]

I went along to a wedding fayre tonight, aimed mainly at brides and female relatives.
The 'fayre' if it can be called that, consisted of two bridal wear shops, 2 florists, 1 venue dressing company and then lots of mlm-ers.

One jewellery company I didn't mind, as the woman let you browse and just passed on a catalogue. No pushy sales and some of the bits were nice.

One candle company were oh so pushy, and were awful to go anywhere near.

Then the bloody raffle came. Lots of lovely prizes (afternoon tea, spa days, jewellery etc) and I won a 'vip party'. I thought it sounded great until I opened it and realised it was for the aforementioned candle woman. So my prize was her coming to my house to hard-sell my friends.

Ianbu in thinking this is a shit prize am I? It's not a bloody prize, it's candle woman generating business. Why not donate a candle? Jewellery woman offered up earrings, a necklace etc - tangible gifts.

I'd rather no prizes than that. The organisers knew fine well it was a mlm scheme. I know I sound ungrateful but she is now going to phone me until we can arrange a date for the 'party'.

Cancel the cheque prize!

And a great big NO!!

So I agree with you as far as MLMers go, but particularly if it was for a newer bridal show or in a rural area, the venue prob didn't give enough traction to atttact people who the brides might want to meet? An MLM donating a raffle prize and paying £10 for a stand better than an empty stand? Can understand your disappointment but just don't use your raffle prize unless as a present for your worst enemy and be choosier about events in future?

You don't have to use the prize if it doesn't interest you.

That’s a crap prize! Tell them to keep it.

I won a similar prize in a school raffle, for a 'body shop vip party' I think. Needless to say I didn't bother making a date for the hard sell (which no doubt would have cost me overheads in snacks and drinks, plus the bother of finding enough friends willing to be mlm'd)

To be fair the PTA chair was quite apologetic when I explained why I hadn't claimed the prize (she asked, i didn't bring it up). Going forward they have been much more careful about the donations of prizes.

If she does phone I would be quite forthright in explaining why you don't want the 'non' prize. The mlm bots generally have pretty tough hides, the direct approach may be the only way of staving off constant hassle!

kitkatsky the venue is a long established wedding venue and it was affiliating with a national wedding supplier! It had 4 mlms, 2 florists, 2 bridal shops, 1 venue decor and a palm reader - a far cry from the girls night with canapes, cocktails, hair and makeup trials and exciting suppliers promised

bookmum we put contact details on the back of the ticket the rafflers (I have no other name) kept. She'll be in touch, apparently.

Arrange the part, just don't invite anyone.

Party*

2nd prize = candle woman comes round to your house
1st prize = candle woman leaves you in peace!
I would refuse it too.

I won a prize of a free family studio photo session with me and my kids. With the option to buy the v expensive framed pics at the end. Just......nope.

Tell them to do the draw again. I bet everyone "wins". This was in the 90's but my friend "won" an at home pampering session before her wedding (via a fair and a £5 book of tickets) and was allowed to invite friends. The woman arrives and sets out a mini market stall with lots of products. She applied a face mask to my friend and then tried to force her into buying the £10 bottle of specially formulated lotion to remove it. When my friend refused she tried getting us to each make a purchase of something or she wouldn't leave. She ended up taking the mask off with baby oil in tears. Her skin was bright red for days. Her mum was furious and contacted the organisers of the fair. They apologised and sent flowers and bubbly. Apparently they discontinued their association with her due to other complaints.

Bloody awful.

I won a voucher for an advanced hiphop class at a gym which I didn't do because 1) I am not fit or young enough 2) the gym is an hour away 3) they give you a free trial lesson anyway

That’s definitely not a prize and very disappointing!

She wants business, then it would have been better to have a collection of different products, or at least have a candle as prize. If you used it and liked the scent and it had a good burn rate, she may have gotten a sale.

Does anyone really have parties anymore for scented wax/jewelry/food storage?

Had similar happen, it was supposed to be for charity. The bath item choice was on display and looked okay, in a wrapped basket and looked like there was a large amount of items. I won the that one and had to go to the woman’s house to pick it up, not sure why they couldn’t give it at the end of the function. It ended up being a pretty stingy basket of a few small samples, the bottom was just filled with a bunch of stuffing; but she made sure each had her name and phone number.

What is MLM?

Donate the prize. To someone you can't stand.

About 10 years ago, I saw an advert for a facial and make over. The ad made out she was a beautician and make up artist wanting to be build her portfolio, but to be honest it was quite vague and she was even vaguer on the phone so I tried to back down, but the woman made out I was mad for turning down such a big freebie and said she would extend this offer to a friend I could invite. So I invited my mum and within the first 5 minutes it became clear this woman was not a beautician/make up artist at all but a bloody MLM pita.

We had this in the school raffle. Dh ‘won’ a voucher for 20% off anything he ordered if we agreed to host a Younique party. Funnily enough we decided not to claim

One of the school grandparents won a round of golf at a local country hotel in the same raffle. Unfortunately they wouldn’t allow him to claim it because he wasn’t a member! Of course, they gave him the option to join up so he could claim

Some companies have no shame

Lalliella it's Multi-Level Marketing. Pyramid selling type of schemes. Basically huge cons where no-one gets rich not selling crap products to people who don't want to buy them.