Prize changed after competition - who is BU?

[Carravaggio]

I entered a competition that was on Facebook and other social media platforms. The page was for an online magazine. The post stated that the prize was 2BB1D plus a round of golf in a 4 star hotel. We won and a voucher was received from the hotel.

However the hotel voucher is for 2 nights B&B only. I called to book and explained then emailed with a copy of the FB post and voucher. They replied saying they look forward to welcoming us for 2 nights including breakfast

It seems clear that dinner and golf are no longer a part of the prize.
I am grateful but is there any point in trying to get dinner included?!

If that's what the online mag published as the prize, I would think they have to honor it even if its at their cost?

It's nothing to do with the hotel, though.

You need to write to the magazine. They advertised the voucher, they need to honour it.

I agree, you will make things awkward if you e-mail to the hotel to clarify then take it up with the magazine (and then go back to the hotel a second time to tell them they are wrong!). Just contact the magazine.

Write to the magazine on their social media page, let us know which one and then get all MN’s to comment how we will never buy their stupid scam magazine again.

Stop emailing the hotel. This is not their problem. Email the online magazine and tell them that the voucher that was sent does not match that of what was offered as the prize and you want them to either confirm that they've changed the prize or to rectify it with the hotel before your arrival.

If that's what they advertised, they legally have to stump up.

There was a little local radio station in Derbyshire that ran a competition offering a brand new Renault Clio as the prize. The winner was given a little Dinky toy Renault Clio. They claimed it was always clearly a joke, considering their tiny size and the fact that the previous week's prize had been a bag of chips, but they lost the ruling and had to close down to raise the funds for a new car for the winner.

I've just looked it up and it was actually 20 years ago! I feel very old now.... Even so, if anything, consumer law will probably have been tightened since then.

Don't let them get away with trying to suggest you're greedy or ungrateful as it's a freebie anyway. It's not a freebie, it's the cost they need to pay for the advertising/publicity that they've already enjoyed as a direct result of it.

Companies do do this. I won a facebook competition in the autumn and the prize was 2 tickets - 1 year validity- for the london eye. Fabulous but when the tickets arrived they had been issued months before and only had a couple of months to go. I almost wondered if that was why the competition had been set up - to get rid of near date tickets! i didnt complain but you should! But as pps have said to the promoter.

If the magazine has a twitter account tweet them - probably quickest way to get there attention.

the OP is going to contact the magazine, she’s just getting clarification first that the items promised in the competition are definitely not being honoured by the hotel as part of the voucher she’s been awarded.

Stop contacting the hotel. They can only do what the promoter has told them. You need to find the promoter and take it up with them. The T&Cs have to state who the promoter is.

Also they cannot reserve the right to change the prize to one of lower value. They have to give a reasonable equivalent. See www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/promotional-marketing-competitions.html

You entered the competition run by the magazine.
The magazine told you that you'd won
The magazine have issued the prize.
The hotel are not responsible for this. The magazine are.

Contact whoever ran the competition.

They offered XYZ and not the hotel.

Why are you reluctant To go to the magazine who actually offered the prize? This has nothing to do with the hotel

Presumably the hotel aren't footing the bill for the prize, so there is no point asking them for clarification. You need to contact whoever offered the prize. I believe there are fairly strict laws around running competitions, specifically to prevent this sort of thing. And if they are no longer offering dinner and golf, then they would need to offer something else of equivalent value.

If you are determined to deal with the hotel (although it doesn't make much sense to me) what about emailing both them and the company who ran the competition, by email, copying each other in (blind CC if they are 'personal' email addresses, that you have obtained from somewhere other than their own website) and asking them to clarify the situation with each other.

It's possible that it is just a miscommunication, but if you don't contact the competition provider, they won't have the chance to put it right, and the hotel are under no obligation to foot the bill for something that someone else has promised.

And whatever you do, don't give them a crap review on facebook because you were promised XYZ and only got XY, because it's not their fault, even if they do sponsor the magazine.

What exactly is an online magazine? I'd be very doubtful that you'll get anything more out of them.

Is the competition page still up, could you like to it?

Why aren't you following up with the magazine that actually ran the competition?

Fill your pockets and doggy bags at breakfast op, bacon, naice bread, whatever. Take a microwave and paper plates etc with you. Warm up brekkie for dinner, eat it while you're wrapped in their lovely bed-linen.
Job's a good'n.

As above, this is between you and the magazine not the hotel, how can you not get this.

I would advise great caution even if they do change the offer to dinner bed and breakfast as promised. we once got dinner bed and breakfast at a posh hotel which was free with Tesco clubcard vouchers. the dinner was literally 3 mouthfuls each. we had to go out and find a chip shop. never again.

this sounds like a scam to me. like those scratch cards where you "win" a holiday and it turns out you have to fork out at least £400 in various top-ups to get this "prize"

@onalongsabbatical I do love a buffet breakfast where you can grab a scone or muffin for lunch! We are delighted with the prize and it will be used to the fullest regardless. I do love DH idea of walking through the fancy hotel with a take away though

@PlumsGalore the hotel have sent a voucher that does not have a full prize on it and have not referred to it in my email booking. I think asking for clarification BEFORE going to the magazine is not that big a deal & makes sense it could have been an error...

@waterSpider You're very confident that Wayne Warren will get £23k. More confident that I am. I suspect he will receive nothing.

@PlumsGalore the hotel have sent a voucher that does not have a full prize on it and have not referred to it in my email booking. I think asking for clarification BEFORE going to the magazine is not that big a deal & makes sense hmm it could have been an error

but I thought you said they were very firm that it was 2 nights B&B only.

Contact the promoter. Everyone is correct who is telling you this. The promoter is responsible for the end to end admin of the competition.

The only thing I'm wondering is, could there have been more than one prize? And you have a lesser one?

But yes, contact the magazine.

I won a prize online with a magazine and then the company who supplied the prize offered me one of less value. I got in touch with the magazine who said that it was down to the prize supplier but that they would get in touch and see if they could help. The end result was that we did get a prize of the full value so worth contacting the magazine. Hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction!