GMTV phone scandal - but why do people even bother entering?

[emsiewill]

this article is one of many about the GMTV phone competition "scandal". Following all the other "scandals" about phone-ins that have been unearthed lately, I am not surprised at all about it.

What does make me go is the following extract:

"Norma Senior, of Hackney, east London, who spent more than £500 phoning GMTV competitions, said: "I'm very angry, I'm very upset, I feel cheated. I've entered GMTV competitions in good faith, because I trust the brand of GMTV household names.

"I feel robbed. It's as if I've just opened a window and thrown my money out. Well, my trust in the programme has gone out of the window."

Samantha Pedder, 37, from Saffron Walden, Essex, said: "I've spent near on a thousand pounds, but you think, 'Well, I'm in with a chance'. To find out that I wasn't makes me really angry and I want my money back. How dare they? It makes us look like idiots."

Yes, you do look like an idiot spending "near on a thousand pounds", but I don't think you can really blame GMTV for that...

(and why isn't my working??)

Oh, it is now, it wasn't in the preview.

its desperation really

I have no idea, ive always wondered who these things are aimed at...if these people are aware that they are spending that amount of money on their phone bill somewhere along the line it would ocur to me to put a pound in a tin instead...then id be guarenteed a holiday at the end of it.
When DP was first made redundant and was flicking throught the channels he got all excited at the phone ins...lol

what makes me is that they now keep saying that if you enter after the lines close you will still get charged....well yeah, u have to be some kind of idiot to enter a closed competetion so you deserve to be charged!!!!!

I think GMTV should repay everyones phone costs for the price of the calls. Disgusting behaviour.

Has anyone here ever rang?

I am not denying that this is not the way that GMTV (or any of the other channels / progs that have also done this) should have behaved.

I actually think this type of competition shouldn't be allowed, as some people are obviously too stupid to understand that it is not about "giving our viewers the chance to change their life" and having a chance to meet Keith Chegwin (which of course is worth £1.80 of anyone's money), but about raking in money from their "beloved" viewers.

It makes me chuckle when our local news team sometimes ask ring and vote if you think yes or no to a particular question. I mean, do we actually care? I can just imagine some couple somewhere saying to each other, go and ring and tell thm we prefer vanilla icecream to chocolate.....

well i won't use the F word as mn hq have banned me(!) but they are odd.