to want the prize I won??

[Dogue]

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??

I wouldn’t be happy, especially since it was their fault you couldn’t collect the prize… also only giving someone a few days to collect a prize is totally unreasonable!! Sounds to me like they gave the prize to the next person when you didn’t answer phone and are now back tracking

I agree with you - seems like a huge drama over a jar of sweeties. It’s a Christmas fayre fundraiser for local good - seems a bit disproportionate to slap them with threats of licensing laws etc. Maybe they didn’t phone you back because they’re tied up in the hectic business of life before Christmas. Send me your address and I’ll have a whip around and post you a jar myself?!

Honestly you lot saying it's unprofessional

Yes! It is! Its not somebody's paid job is it! Its a village fete. For charity. Run by a few old dears

I've never let her enter the guess the name of the giant Teddy competition for fear of winning.

We won this one year and I'm not sure how. The teddy is the size of five 9 year olds strapped together and has haunted us through 4 house moves. He is now squished on top of a (large) wardrobe. I feel he will haunt me into my dying days. I'll be sat in a corner somewhere on a wine drip and they'll bring me Giant Teddy for company.

The winning name was "Big Nose" - why the feck they picked that rubbish name I have no idea. My son said he wrote it for a laugh.

How do you know how old they are?

🤣😂🤣

Run by a few old dears

WTF?

That's so weird that I had to read it twice to make sure I'd understood. Really not on, & so obvious to everyone!

Bit of a tangent, but I was talking to a craftswoman about her opening night party & she said that during it, several small things had been nicked from her exhibition. When I was shocked by that, she said it often happened at preview parties at that craft centre. Bear in mind that invitees would be family, friends, previous customers, other craftspeople & gallery staff & official 'Friends of [the gallery]' - people who should be supporting the gallery & the artist.

You don't say what the donations were for nor how this was organised. A licence might not have been applied for if it was a small event but you should have received a phone call almost immediately and been told when and where your prize was available. The suggestions that someone took it is possible but there may also have been an accident with them. Either way, you should receive your prize or a replacement because you entered into a contract with the organisation who arranged it.

Something similar happened to my daughter a couple of weeks ago. They told her to collect the prize in the next twenty minutes or they would give it to someone else. Absolutely crazy!

I mean, if that's the only thing you entered, you CAN tell your son he guessed it right & he won?. I'd be throwing some sweets in a jar myself, telling him that he won but there was a mix up, so he gets this jar instead. I imagine it's a bit of miscommunication between the school & a member of the PTA who probably organised it. Not ideal but it happens, I haven't read all the posts but I think quoting lottery laws at them is a bit OTT.

☝️yeah this. I would definitely be quietly grumpy about this situation because it sounds very annoying but chaos reigns, people make mistakes and you don’t want to become known as the person who makes a massive fuss over a charity raffle mix up.

I wouldn't personally have gone in all guns blazing and quoting the law, but I really can't understand people dismissing this as an honest mistake. OP was told she had won a prize and was suddenly given a very short arbitrary time in which it had to be collected (however easily contactable or not the organisers were) before simply forfeiting it. This was not a mistake - it was a deliberately underhand way to seriously jeopardise OP being able to take possession of what had been confirmed as her rightful property.

It doesn't matter that it was only a jar of sweets; any competition open to the public has to be run on a basic principle of honesty and good faith. Notice how OP had supposedly 'just' lost her prize, but there was never any mention of returning her entrance fee - it was all one way and very clearly deliberate.

As PPs have said, some charity raffles/competitions offer quite valuable prizes - mainly because they know they will attract much more interest (and thus take far more money) for the chance to win a laptop than for a bag of Maltesers. Volunteer or not, you can't just take people's money on false pretences and then tell them 'tough luck', when, in fact, their luck means they've actually won!

Whatever the cause, it's a surefire way to make nobody who was there this year bother to turn up or support raffles in future years. It also seriously makes them wonder: if prizes suddenly just 'go missing', might the same have happened to ALL of the takings supposedly for the charity/good cause?

This is the kind of thing I would usually be happy to let slide, being a local thing run by volunteers etc. If it were a prize for me. However, if it were for my child, yes, I would have a problem with it and no, yanbu.

Mental. What a strange PTA set up...I'd go the head and tell them the story...with a nice smile on my face......that PTA ring has to be smashed!

Sorry I've re read the post to see it's not a school thing....anyway its poor form of them. But since you say it's a village you should be able to get to the bottom of it eventually!

I have every right to get stroppy actually as other railways are still running them. They are the only railway not doing them. I requested 4 adult dining train tickets instead which was still cheaper than the footplate experience but they refused. I used to spend a fair bit of money at their railway probably around £200 a year on various days out and gala weekends but that’ll be no more from me so they’ll lose out in the long term

It's annoying and bad organisation but it sounds like someone's made a mistake. Perhaps some over zealous person got mixed up and it wasn't you who won the prize after all, particularly as they weren't able to tell you what you'd won or what it was for.

If it was a village fair, presumably they're not professionals at running comps - possibly volunteers from the village giving up their own time for free and there was a confusion. They're probably gutted too, and a bit embarrassed.

Let it go, don't let it eat away at you and enjoy your Christmas with your son! 😊

Calm down! It's likely a flipping jar off sweets for Heavens sake!

No point in quoting the law unless you're threatening to use it. Would you really take a bunch of volunteers from the village who were putting on a fun event for their fellow villagers and who made a mistake to court over a jar of sweets? You'd be laughed out of court!

'Tis the season to be jolly - go and get yourself a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie!

Oops, sorry! I misread your post. I thought you wrote you would go in all guns blazing, quoting the law. My bad. I'm off to go and hide under a duvet. Merry Christmas!

No point in referencing the law unless you're threatening to use it and in this case you'd be laughed out of court.

Are these people you know from the village? Never a good idea to fall out with your neighbours over something that, in the grand scheme of things, is pretty trivial.

It's a jar of sweets from a village fete organised by local volunteers who have messed up,not a million pounds in the lottery. Yes, they have got it wrong and crossed wires, poor communication etc but honestly, if you want to attend future fetes either organise them yourself or cut people a bit of slack so they don't all decide to step down because people like you kick up a massive fuss if they get some things wrong. Quoting gambling laws at them? Seriously get a grip. Tell your son he won and get him a jar of sweets.

I honestly despair about the world we live in sometimes. An error at a village fete means you don't get the "loveliness" of telling your son he won a prize. Seriously? Presumably the hard work of all the volunteers you are now hassling with threatening messages about breaking the law meant you got the "loveliness" of attending the fete with your son in the first place? Do you live in this village? Sounds like a sure fire way to make no friends if so.

Actually cringing at the mention of lottery laws and God knows what. It's a village fete game!
YABU and incredibly petty.