Contests

[Other]

Contest Discussion(s)

  • Last Updated:
  • Mar 27th, 2024 4:32 pm
Tags:
Jr. Member
User avatar
Feb 24, 2011
107 posts
99 upvotes
Newmarket
I'm wondering if anybody here uses the internet company Electronic Box? My boyfriend just set us up on this one at the start of the summer, unlimited GB, seems stable. All except for the fact its hurting my contesting!! =D The company is based in Quebec so I've found at least a dozen contests so far that block me as seeing my IP from Quebec even though we live in Newmarket. Has anybody encountered this before, and is there a workaround to it that isn't convoluted? It's very annoying!
2013 Wins approx $4950 2014 Wins approx $23,000 Top Win: 2014 Grand Prize Winner of Chill Magazine Legend Boat contest value $16,000
Deal Addict
Aug 4, 2008
1068 posts
4238 upvotes
Ontario
Jerricala wrote: I'm wondering if anybody here uses the internet company Electronic Box? My boyfriend just set us up on this one at the start of the summer, unlimited GB, seems stable. All except for the fact its hurting my contesting!! =D The company is based in Quebec so I've found at least a dozen contests so far that block me as seeing my IP from Quebec even though we live in Newmarket. Has anybody encountered this before, and is there a workaround to it that isn't convoluted? It's very annoying!
I use a browser add-on that can change your location. I normally have it disabled but when I need it I go into my extensions and enable it https://hola.org/
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 26, 2012
3524 posts
15859 upvotes
Halifax
I just got the voice recorded message, definitely a call centre ploy. Must be from a recently posted contest.

Agree with all above, a real win over the phone will only come from a live person.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Jan 11, 2013
15578 posts
5092 upvotes
Toronto
A photo contest recently ended for a major prize. The winner was to be selected at random from all the valid entries. I entered 10 times per day (maximum allowed in the rules), adding up to about 700 entries. That represented between 20% and 25% of the valid entries (I could verify by looking at tagboard).

Didn't win. Like last year, they went with a photogenic young woman who entered a couple of times.

I don't have anything against the winners, I'm happy for them in fact, but it's hard to shake the feeling that the selection may have been less than entirely random.

Part of this hobby seems to be dealing with the disappointment when you haven't won for a while, and the little paranoid thoughts that follow: "It's fixed!", "They don't even give the prizes away!", "They give them to their friends", etc. I know that most of that is nonsense, but whenever something suspicious happens, or when there's straight-up evidence that a contest broke its own rules (not the case here, but I've seen it before more than once), I get pretty discouraged.

Sorry for my little rant. I know I'm not entitled to prizes or anything, and that it's supposed to be a fun hobby where prizes are just a bonus, but I worked pretty hard on that one.

Ah well.
Wishing everyone a lucky 2023!
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 26, 2012
3524 posts
15859 upvotes
Halifax
No worries, I think that your rant possibly be justified on some of the smaller contests, blogs, little known organizations, facebook contests, etc. I mean really, who is overseeing them? No one.

But for the more well known sponsors, or ones who actually hire a company to run their contests, I would doubt it's anything but random chance. Chance just really sucks sometimes! ;)
Deal Addict
Nov 16, 2006
1559 posts
1672 upvotes
Toronto
Tracydeanne wrote: No worries, I think that your rant possibly be justified on some of the smaller contests, blogs, little known organizations, facebook contests, etc. I mean really, who is overseeing them? No one.

But for the more well known sponsors, or ones who actually hire a company to run their contests, I would doubt it's anything but random chance. Chance just really sucks sometimes! ;)
I had an experience with an incredible cheat on a contest that was sponsored by two HUGE corporations. They had a small promotions company handle it, and I fully believe that it was the promotions people who arranged for the most "suitable" person to win. My guess is that they can use that person's photo, and the win from a company who "matches" that person's demographic, to then get new business from other large companies who see that this promotions company can advertise and attract the clientele that "fits". The "right" winner, in a promotions company's portfolio is very good for their business.
Deal Addict
Nov 16, 2006
1559 posts
1672 upvotes
Toronto
Tracydeanne wrote: How did you know they cheated?
The contest had 5 winners who were each given a key that could open the door of a new car. The contest involved those winners attending an event where they could try the keys that were given to them there. There were actually 10 keys and each person could pick one from the promotion company rep's hand for the first round. Each key had a different coloured ribbon attached, and none fit on the first round. On the second round, we were told that we were not allowed to pick our own though, because they wanted us to have the same colour as we did on the first round (do you think that maybe they saw who picked which ribbon and then decided to ltt their favourite win?). The winners were made up of one extremely cool dude and four middle-aged women. The contest sponsors were very cool, more youth-oriented businesses, so they would clearly prefer the photos that were to be displayed in all of their stores have a winner more suited to their product. One could argue that this was just co-incidence, and that they just wanted the same people to have the same coloured keys to "make things easier" as they claimed, but the icing on this cake was the fact that the event was running late, and the photographer had another gig afterward. Because of this, they took tons of pictures of the "future winner" with the car and with the promotions reps BEFORE the contest had even started! They never asked me, or the other women for photos at all. As mentioned above, they had two rounds and the winner had the 10th and final key. And even though he had gone 2nd in the first round, he went dead last in the 2nd round, allowing the suspense to build in the audience until the very last minute. Oh, and did I mention that this event took place in two other cities in Canada too? And that because of the amazing nature of the internet we found out that in one of those cities the same things happened? The only cool contest finalist won, they were forced to take the same coloured key in the 2nd round, and it was the 10th key that fit the car? Gee, wasn't that amazing. Their photographer wasn't running late though, so perhaps until they read our account, they may have believed that it was just dumb (un) luck. We didn't have any contact with winners in the third city, but I suspect that things went down just like they did on the other two.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Jan 11, 2013
15578 posts
5092 upvotes
Toronto
pickmepickme wrote: The contest had 5 winners who were each given a key that could open the door of a new car. The contest involved those winners attending an event where they could try the keys that were given to them there. There were actually 10 keys and each person could pick one from the promotion company rep's hand for the first round. Each key had a different coloured ribbon attached, and none fit on the first round. On the second round, we were told that we were not allowed to pick our own though, because they wanted us to have the same colour as we did on the first round (do you think that maybe they saw who picked which ribbon and then decided to ltt their favourite win?). The winners were made up of one extremely cool dude and four middle-aged women. The contest sponsors were very cool, more youth-oriented businesses, so they would clearly prefer the photos that were to be displayed in all of their stores have a winner more suited to their product. One could argue that this was just co-incidence, and that they just wanted the same people to have the same coloured keys to "make things easier" as they claimed, but the icing on this cake was the fact that the event was running late, and the photographer had another gig afterward. Because of this, they took tons of pictures of the "future winner" with the car and with the promotions reps BEFORE the contest had even started! They never asked me, or the other women for photos at all. As mentioned above, they had two rounds and the winner had the 10th and final key. And even though he had gone 2nd in the first round, he went dead last in the 2nd round, allowing the suspense to build in the audience until the very last minute. Oh, and did I mention that this event took place in two other cities in Canada too? And that because of the amazing nature of the internet we found out that in one of those cities the same things happened? The only cool contest finalist won, they were forced to take the same coloured key in the 2nd round, and it was the 10th key that fit the car? Gee, wasn't that amazing. Their photographer wasn't running late though, so perhaps until they read our account, they may have believed that it was just dumb (un) luck. We didn't have any contact with winners in the third city, but I suspect that things went down just like they did on the other two.
I'm glad that I wasn't involved with that contest. I'm not sure how I would have reacted to that kind of skullduggery.
Wishing everyone a lucky 2023!
Deal Expert
User avatar
Jun 27, 2008
19809 posts
378567 upvotes
Ottawa
on the key story, Im not saying it was cheating or not. but I have seen instances where the prize is picked before the actual announcement or video taping. its still random they just draw the winner in advance of taping so in this instance maybe (again just another opinion) they might have randomly picked the winner before hand via random draw and then proceeded to do the key thing for suspense leaving the key that starts the car to last on purpose to build the excitement and knowing the winner in advance by random draw they would be able to take pics etc etc. just a thought.

a good example of this is muchmusic calling you a day ahead of contest win presentation they want to make sure you answer phone while they are live on air. (happened to a friend won a contest from much and they called day before the actual live draw to "remind" them to nearbe a phone the next day at noon just incase they called.) Imagine if they call live and no one answers.
bring back colour
Deal Addict
Nov 16, 2006
1559 posts
1672 upvotes
Toronto
vilmark wrote: on the key story, Im not saying it was cheating or not. but I have seen instances where the prize is picked before the actual announcement or video taping. its still random they just draw the winner in advance of taping so in this instance maybe (again just another opinion) they might have randomly picked the winner before hand via random draw and then proceeded to do the key thing for suspense leaving the key that starts the car to last on purpose to build the excitement and knowing the winner in advance by random draw they would be able to take pics etc etc. just a thought.

a good example of this is muchmusic calling you a day ahead of contest win presentation they want to make sure you answer phone while they are live on air. (happened to a friend won a contest from much and they called day before the actual live draw to "remind" them to near a phone the next day at noon just incase they called. Imagine if they call live and no one answers.
Well, the paperwork we received (and the rules on the contest page) indicated that we had to attend the event, and then had a one in five chance of winning the car. I do get what you're saying though, but in my case, it seems that the winner was not to have been selected ahead of time.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Jun 23, 2005
26013 posts
211310 upvotes
GTA
sherlockmandango wrote: A photo contest recently ended for a major prize. The winner was to be selected at random from all the valid entries. I entered 10 times per day (maximum allowed in the rules), adding up to about 700 entries. That represented between 20% and 25% of the valid entries (I could verify by looking at tagboard).

Didn't win. Like last year, they went with a photogenic young woman who entered a couple of times.

I don't have anything against the winners, I'm happy for them in fact, but it's hard to shake the feeling that the selection may have been less than entirely random.

Part of this hobby seems to be dealing with the disappointment when you haven't won for a while, and the little paranoid thoughts that follow: "It's fixed!", "They don't even give the prizes away!", "They give them to their friends", etc. I know that most of that is nonsense, but whenever something suspicious happens, or when there's straight-up evidence that a contest broke its own rules (not the case here, but I've seen it before more than once), I get pretty discouraged.

Sorry for my little rant. I know I'm not entitled to prizes or anything, and that it's supposed to be a fun hobby where prizes are just a bonus, but I worked pretty hard on that one.

Ah well.
With respect to contests that are run on social media platforms, I also wonder sometimes if there is any bias/favoritism going on in relation to Facebook/Twitter profiles. So for example, does using a FB/TW account that seems to be devoid of 'non-contesting related' posts hurt one's chances of winning? As you allude to above, what about if you don't appear to be (from profile photos) in the target demographic for that contest/campaign? Facebook 'likes' that they don't like? The list can go on...
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 26, 2012
3524 posts
15859 upvotes
Halifax
pickmepickme wrote: Well, the paperwork we received (and the rules on the contest page) indicated that we had to attend the event, and then had a one in five chance of winning the car. I do get what you're saying though, but in my case, it seems that the winner was not to have been selected ahead of time.
If the winner was selected in advance, it's pretty crappy they made everyone else go though that process.

But I can see why an early draw might happen.
Newbie
User avatar
Dec 1, 2013
4 posts
71 upvotes
Ontario
toguy wrote: With respect to contests that are run on social media platforms, I also wonder sometimes if there is any bias/favoritism going on in relation to Facebook/Twitter profiles. So for example, does using a FB/TW account that seems to be devoid of 'non-contesting related' posts hurt one's chances of winning? As you allude to above, what about if you don't appear to be (from profile photos) in the target demographic for that contest/campaign? Facebook 'likes' that they don't like? The list can go on...
I'm convinced that many contest winners are chosen in a bias fashion. As a result, I tend to delete, when contests end, contest related posts from my Facebook and Twitter accounts. I feel like if they see too many contest posts, they may feel that I am just a "contester" and not an actual customer or fan. When there is a contest that I really want to win, I will slightly change my social media info to meet their demographics. I swear it has worked in the past, although that is just a theory. I think some companies look at our info and choose a winner based on what they see more than we realize. But, I definitely think that choosing winners that way is wrong and done in a very limited amount of contests.
2014 Contest Wins Total = $8,200. Biggest Win, Trip to Calgary / Banff.
Sr. Member
May 11, 2005
522 posts
58 upvotes
Vancouver
pickmepickme wrote: The contest had 5 winners who were each given a key that could open the door of a new car. The contest involved those winners attending an event where they could try the keys that were given to them there. There were actually 10 keys and each person could pick one from the promotion company rep's hand for the first round. Each key had a different coloured ribbon attached, and none fit on the first round. On the second round, we were told that we were not allowed to pick our own though, because they wanted us to have the same colour as we did on the first round (do you think that maybe they saw who picked which ribbon and then decided to ltt their favourite win?). The winners were made up of one extremely cool dude and four middle-aged women. The contest sponsors were very cool, more youth-oriented businesses, so they would clearly prefer the photos that were to be displayed in all of their stores have a winner more suited to their product. One could argue that this was just co-incidence, and that they just wanted the same people to have the same coloured keys to "make things easier" as they claimed, but the icing on this cake was the fact that the event was running late, and the photographer had another gig afterward. Because of this, they took tons of pictures of the "future winner" with the car and with the promotions reps BEFORE the contest had even started! They never asked me, or the other women for photos at all. As mentioned above, they had two rounds and the winner had the 10th and final key. And even though he had gone 2nd in the first round, he went dead last in the 2nd round, allowing the suspense to build in the audience until the very last minute. Oh, and did I mention that this event took place in two other cities in Canada too? And that because of the amazing nature of the internet we found out that in one of those cities the same things happened? The only cool contest finalist won, they were forced to take the same coloured key in the 2nd round, and it was the 10th key that fit the car? Gee, wasn't that amazing. Their photographer wasn't running late though, so perhaps until they read our account, they may have believed that it was just dumb (un) luck. We didn't have any contact with winners in the third city, but I suspect that things went down just like they did on the other two.
Interesting! Same experience I had with a contest through Metro Newspapers and I think it was Redtag travel at HMV on Robson Street 6 years ago promoting the movie Fool's Gold. Prize was a $5000 travel certificate.
When we walked in as qualifiers we all received a key to try and open a treasure chest. Each key had a little coloured ribbon on it. Lo and behold, we all tried our first key and that key didn't work so we all had to get a second key. Nobody wanted to go first the second time around, and believing the contest to be fair I volunteered to go first. The lady giving out the keys pulled out the keys to give us and dropped one, somebody behind me said that one is probably the winner! She would not give that key to me, and carefully picked out for each one of us yet another key with a different coloured ribbon on it! I tried mine and of course it didn't open the chest.
Of course, the one she dropped opened the chest! It was totally fixed and not random in the least. What a waste of time.
Sr. Member
May 11, 2005
522 posts
58 upvotes
Vancouver
Deal Addict
Nov 16, 2006
1559 posts
1672 upvotes
Toronto
Triever wrote: Interesting! Same experience I had with a contest through Metro Newspapers and I think it was Redtag travel at HMV on Robson Street 6 years ago promoting the movie Fool's Gold. Prize was a $5000 travel certificate.
When we walked in as qualifiers we all received a key to try and open a treasure chest. Each key had a little coloured ribbon on it. Lo and behold, we all tried our first key and that key didn't work so we all had to get a second key. Nobody wanted to go first the second time around, and believing the contest to be fair I volunteered to go first. The lady giving out the keys pulled out the keys to give us and dropped one, somebody behind me said that one is probably the winner! She would not give that key to me, and carefully picked out for each one of us yet another key with a different coloured ribbon on it! I tried mine and of course it didn't open the chest.
Of course, the one she dropped opened the chest! It was totally fixed and not random in the least. What a waste of time.
Probably run by the same promotions company. GRRRRRRRR!
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 26, 2012
3524 posts
15859 upvotes
Halifax
And... 10 years later, you get a form letter saying thanks we will look into your complaint. ;)
Deal Expert
User avatar
Jan 11, 2013
15578 posts
5092 upvotes
Toronto
After it all, I'm still planning to do a lot of entries for the next Instagram contest. I will retain my faith that random means random.
Wishing everyone a lucky 2023!

Top

Thread Information

There is currently 1 user viewing this thread. (0 members and 1 guest)