Everyone’s a winner, baby. ‘cept for me.
I got a call this evening to tell me that I’d won a competition. What? Me? I’ve won something? Seriously?
Yes. I was told that I’d “won 4 corporate passes worth over £400 to the SFX Weekender at Pontin’s Holiday Camp at Camber Sands”. I was incredibly happy, I’m not the sort of person who ever wins stuff. All the great stuff was explained to me by a guy who sounded genuinely happy to be delivering the good news to me. Just imagine, being told just before Christmas that you have 3 spare passes to an event that you’re sure some of your friends would enjoy attending, and having friends there would make the event even better.
That’s when the bad news came. I was told that Pontin’s, due to not having an available chalet, would have to charge me £60 per person for accommodation. Oh, that doesn’t quite follow on from being told that I’d won 4 FREE passes. The guy agreed to call me back next Tuesday to get the names of the other 3 people, who I’ll probably not be able to find by then – especially since I myself have absolutely no spare cash for the foreseeable future.
I decided that it would be easier to find possible attendees if I got a note of all the exact details emailed to me, so I sent the following email to info@sfxweekender.com
Can you please send me the info on the “corporate passes” I have won to your event so I can pass it on to the people who would be interested in accompanying me.
I put the quotations round ‘corporate passes’ because the website made no mention of them, though did feature VIP Passes which are sold out.
I got a reply quite quickly, here it is…
Hi
Corporate passes? I’m not sure where you have heard this term from. Can you shed a bit more light on it for me?
Here’s my reply…
The term “corporate passes” was used when I was called about being a competition winner, perhaps they meant “VIP passes”. I was called this evening from 0203******* and told that I’d won 4 free tickets, then told that I’d have to pay £60 per person because Pontins didn’t have a chalet for us despite the weekend not being sold out. Given the time of year I don’t know anyone with a disposable £60, so I’m doubting that I’ll be able to afford to accept the free tickets.
I hope you’ll understand my disappointment, I was initially informed that I’d won 4 free weekend passes.
You have won 4 free passes. They give you access to the event and all the entertainment that it involves. It does not include accommodation, but you are under no obligation to purchase this from us. You can simply visit the event for the weekend if you prefer. The tickets you have won are worth 96 pound each.
We find that people generally enjoy the weekend more when they stay on site, which is why we pass on a limited amount of accommodation at cost price to competition winners if they wish it.
Hope that clears things up
I suppose that clears thing up somewhat, unless I think back to the initial wording of the phone call. I remember being taught that 4 x 96 = 384, I don’t remember 384 being more than 400. So, since I’d been told that the prize was worth “over £400″ I decided to check out their website to see all the details. I suppose that’s part of the problem, the guy didn’t really go into detail. I haven’t been sent anything to confirm the details, so they could easily change the deal and I’d be none the wiser.
Here are the £400+ deals they offer for parties of 4.
- Thursday, Friday and Saturday Day Pass – £480
- Gold (1 bedroom) – £520
- Gold (2 bedroom) – £620
- Gold Plus (1 bedroom) – £560
- Gold Plus (2 bedroom) – £630
- VIP – £640
So, since the accommodation is being offered to me “at cost price,” that would bring the total value to £624 when you combine my £384 “prize” and the £240 I was told would go to Pontin’s. Does that mean they’d give us Gold Plus (2 bedroom)? Does that give me the option to downgrade to the £396 Silver (1 bedroom) package and only need to pay the £12 difference?
The simple fact is that SFX will have booked all the chalets, so they have the ability to offer them for free. You can’t book this weekend through the Pontin’s site, it isn’t mentioned in their Themed Breaks section, you can’t even book any accommodation there before February 18th. That means the excuse about the £240 being for Pontin’s was very misleading, Pontin’s will still get paid for empty rooms if the event doesn’t sell out.
Here are the Terms & Conditions for the competition…
Prizes are strictly on a first come first serve basis. The first 100 people to supply the correct answer will be given a free pass for Friday and Saturday valid for up to four people. You must include your telephone number in your entry. Guests appear subject to work commitments. Check the website for up-to-date details of guests. Prize is event passes only – winners must make their own travel arrangements. No responsibility can be accepted for delayed, damaged or illegible entries or for web entries that are prevented from reaching our server. The winners will be drawn at random from the pool of correct entries after the closing date. The closing date for entries is midnight on 20th December 2010. Multiple entries will be deleted. Open to UK residents only. This competition is not open to the employees or their families of the Titan Entertainment Group, Forbidden Planet or Future Publishing. The judges’ decision is final; no correspondence will be entered into. Winner must agree to future publicity.
No mention of, or mention of lack of, accommodation there. That seems pretty misleading to me. I think I’d like to take them up on the offer of publicity, but I’m not sure I’d give their competition the sort of publicity they want. I reckon it’s more likely that ticket sales are slow, so they offer to give away 100 sets of tickets, knowing full well that their £60 per person chalet offer is the cheapest option. That’ll bring them in £24000 from competition winners alone. It’s probably not illegal, but I think it’s certainly immoral. Especially when you check the Pontin’s site and see that in February the accommodation costs £164 for a family of 5. Cost price eh? Perhaps SFX should ask Pontin’s why the “cost price” they’re paying is £76 more expensive than it is for members of the public.
I’ve been told that I’ve won a prize, but it doesn’t exactly feel that way.
