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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to want the prize I won??

463 replies

Dogue · 09/12/2022 07:28

In the grand scheme of things I’m probably being petty, but this has really annoyed me -

our village had a Christmas fair last Saturday. On Monday I had a missed call from a mobile number which turned out to be the organisers of the event. I rang back and she said was ringing to tell me I’d won a prize, but that she was out at the moment so didn’t have details but would ring me back in half an hour to let me know.

I didn’t hear back from her on Monday so I called again on Wednesday (didn’t get a chance on Tuesday) and she said the same again - someone would call me back later with details of what I’d won and how to collect.

by Thursday I still hadn’t heard from them so I texted the number about it. I got the reply: “sorry, all prizes had to be collected by Wednesday. We can give you a bottle of Prosecco as a consolation”

I’m so annoyed that I wasn’t given any opportunity to collect my prize on time. From memory the only thing I think I put my phone number down for was when my 6 year old entered the ‘guess how many sweets in the jar’ so I was really excited to tell him he had won. I’m not really bothered about having a massive jar of jellies in my house, but if that’s what we’ve won then it’s what I want! When I told her this she said she would make sure there’s a consolation prize for him too, but that’s no use really as it means I don’t get the loveliness of telling him his guess was the winner.

obviously there are much bigger things to worry about in the world right now, but it’s a bit shit and terrible organisation right??

OP posts:
Emotionalsupportviper · 10/12/2022 18:49

JustCakeInDrag · 10/12/2022 18:48

I’m really, really sorry for your loss, but this is a totally unfair post. OP acknowledged in her first post that there are bigger problems in the world, the issue is now resolved, and it’s a pretty light-hearted thread.

Show quote history

Agree - Was tempted to respond but couldn't think of a nice way to put it as you have.

Winterfires · 10/12/2022 18:53

How bizarre, of course you want your prize, well done DS ☺️ Mine one this particular game when they were little and they were ecstatic!

lcl · 10/12/2022 18:55

You aren’t being unreasonable at all. My husband won the top prize in his works raffle and got it ten days later. They put it aside. This was so unacceptable.

Winterfires · 10/12/2022 18:58

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I don’t think the internet is maybe the best place for you at the moment as you are feeling so raw, sorry for your loss but your post is unfair.

Bernardo1 · 10/12/2022 19:06

I very much suspect the prize was better than a jar of sweets. If it was, then much easier for organiser to make up another, than offer prosecco as apology.

If all you want, is the sweet prize, then simply make up yourself to satisfy child, then move on.

If however, you find the prize was more desirable, then by all means kick up a fuss.

Cheshiresun · 10/12/2022 19:07

That is awful, please get to the bottom of what happened to the original jar of sweets and let us know!

I know it's 'only sweets' but it's taking people's money on deceit. Kind of puts me off raffles, because you're trusting the organisers to be honest.

rowan1981 · 10/12/2022 19:07

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Aly1977 · 10/12/2022 19:08

I too would be upset you entered it won and therefor get the prize, seems like someone wanted to keep the prize to me 🥹

Eekle · 10/12/2022 19:10

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I hear Misery Olympics is a good hobby.

Looby57 · 10/12/2022 19:12

I had one a footplate experience on a steam train at the watercress line. I won it fair n square on a raffle. It was worth £350
Due to covid they stopped doing the footplate experience and never reinstated them so I got into a dispute with them. They offered me a ticket for the light train (worth £97) as a consolation prize which I declined. Rotten to the core at that railway

Purpleauntie · 10/12/2022 19:15

Go viral. There's a good chance that you aren't the only one who got rooked in this contest. Politely inform your local newspaper, radio and TV stations about the situation. You may not retrieve your prize, but if the organizers are put on public notice, it's likely that other entrants who have gotten the same treatment will come forward. If nothing else, the organizers will be publicly embarrassed. You will have made your point.

JudgeJ · 10/12/2022 19:19

Looby57 · 10/12/2022 19:12

I had one a footplate experience on a steam train at the watercress line. I won it fair n square on a raffle. It was worth £350
Due to covid they stopped doing the footplate experience and never reinstated them so I got into a dispute with them. They offered me a ticket for the light train (worth £97) as a consolation prize which I declined. Rotten to the core at that railway

Hardly their fault that Covid struck though was it? I recall my daughter winning a helicopter flight out to an oil rig, she was so excited, we woke up on that morning to find no radio 4 on the bedroom radio, then discovered there had been an enormous storm, the Michael Fish storm in the 80s, so the trip couldn't tale place though they still got a quick flight in a helicopter. Never occured to us to get stroppy about it!

Rookiesboy · 10/12/2022 19:21

It's only a village fete and any money spent on raffles and competitions should be written off with any returns treated as a bonus. That said, it's bad form not to return calls or leave you adequate messages. Best to rise above the pettiness of beng hard done/ ripped off and tell everyone how you finally got a nice jar of sweets despite the rubbish organisation and poor communications. Hopefully you will laugh about this in years to come!

Blondeshavemorefun · 10/12/2022 19:26

Weird @Dogue and def sounds like someone ate them

But glad you got your sweets /or second jar

And omg at the tennis racket one

CriticalAlert · 10/12/2022 19:30

They've made a balls up. TBH suck it up and take the prosecco. There's so many bigger things going on in this country at the moment. I mean do you know some people are freezing and dying of hunger? If you want to complain do something about that and not whether you've won a hard if sweets or not.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 10/12/2022 19:37

They might as well just save the book and sell single tickets.

Why not avoid any ripping at all and just chuck a whole book in for £1! Green book, blue book, yellow book, pink book (often aka 'buff') - still the same chance of winning, just with even more waste of paper!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 10/12/2022 19:40

I look forward to the day when there are no more wars, no illness, no hardships in life, no struggles, no sadness, no money worries, nobody without food or heating and nobody alone at Christmas.

Once that day arrives, it seems we'll finally be allowed to have village fetes - AND complain if they're not run fairly....

SlowlySilverSighting · 10/12/2022 19:40

I was once at a craft fair, where the organisers, pulled all of their tickets and their friends first. The ones they had sold to themselves, they then included all the rest sold at the event ( so everyone else’s) I’d never heard anything like it, and they thought this was reasonable. Unsurprisingly they won all the decent prizes. Absolutely shocking.

gaf · 10/12/2022 19:40

They've made a balls up. TBH suck it up and take the prosecco. There's so many bigger things going on in this country at the moment. I mean do you know some people are freezing and dying of hunger?

Try RTFT.

Do you want to add the war in Ukraine and the starving children of Africa to your list? 🙄

SlowlySilverSighting · 10/12/2022 19:45

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 10/12/2022 19:40

I look forward to the day when there are no more wars, no illness, no hardships in life, no struggles, no sadness, no money worries, nobody without food or heating and nobody alone at Christmas.

Once that day arrives, it seems we'll finally be allowed to have village fetes - AND complain if they're not run fairly....

What garbage.
there will never be n end to wars, poverty and famine . Have you ever read a history book

Live life with integrity now, or you descend into chaos and anarchy

SlowlySilverSighting · 10/12/2022 19:45

^ an end

ExtraOnions · 10/12/2022 19:50

someone took legal action against our PTA, as the order the prizes were drawn in, was not the same as what was advertised … that mistake has not been made since

and yes we are all volunteers, but we should do the thing properly or not at all

stuntbubbles · 10/12/2022 19:54

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Do your ears hang low? Can you tie them in a knot? Can you tie them in a bow? Can you throw them over your shoulder like a regimental soldier?

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 10/12/2022 20:03

What garbage.
there will never be n end to wars, poverty and famine . Have you ever read a history book
Live life with integrity now, or you descend into chaos and anarchy

Yes, that's exactly the (I thought very obvious) point I was making....

AngelontopoftheTree · 10/12/2022 20:08

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 10/12/2022 20:03

What garbage.
there will never be n end to wars, poverty and famine . Have you ever read a history book
Live life with integrity now, or you descend into chaos and anarchy

Yes, that's exactly the (I thought very obvious) point I was making....

I got you @WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll .
If we were only allowed to talk about things such as war, poverty, death..... MN may as well shut up shop now!