You Won a Prize! But Where Is It?
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Winning a prize is a great feeling, we get so excited and tell our friends/family right away and then patiently wait for our prize to arrive! A few weeks of anticipated waiting goes by and you still haven't received your prize, or email contact or even a phone call...so what now?
The first thing I have to say, is always screen shot instant wins, or even winning notifications on social media. Also keep all emails that pertain to you winning a prize. It's important to keep that information for moments just like this, a prize not arriving.
When entering a contest or giveaway reading the rules in full is important. Canadian law dictates that a sponsor of a giveaway must provide the value of the prize as well as an approximate delivery time. Most are 4-6 weeks after the contest closing. Under Canadian law it does not give an exact time frame for prizes to be sent to the winner, it uses the term with "unduly delay"
I personally have had prizes that took up to a year to come. As long as there is consistent communication between you and the sponsor don't panic about those prizes. I won court side tickets to a Raptors game and it took a total of 8 months to get my tickets. But the marketing company kept me in the loop the entire time.
45 days have gone by...and no prize?
If 45 days have gone by with no sign of your prize or any contact explaining a delay from the sponsor, the work is in your lap now. There are a few ways that usually work well to get a sponsor to respond and speed up delivery of your prize. Always remember to stay polite until the whole effort is futile.
Email the sponsor directly and politely ask when you should be expecting your prize, and explain you are very excited to be the winner, and looking forward to it's arrival.
Tweet to their Twitter publicly or on their Brand's Facebook page asking when you should expect your fabulous prize to arrive. Private messaging on both forums is wise as well.
If you still have no luck send one last email very politely use you spell check and be professional. Explain that you have tried repeatedly to find your prize and that within 10 days of the date you send the email you will be filing a complaint with the Competition Bureau of Canada regarding their contest and lack of prizes.
Don't let one bad experience of a missing prize get your contest entering spirit down. It's rare that a sponsor doesn't send out prizes, but it does happen.
Always keep a list of contests/giveaways you enter and their end dates. Some contests have it stated in the rules they won't be contacting winners, and simply posting the winners name on social media.. Don't miss out on prizes by waiting for a call or email. Check back with the contests you enter. And you have every right to email and ask for a confirmed winners list after 3 months of the contest end date.
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