A few months ago my partner and I entered a contest at the mall to win a Chevy Blazer. It was just a matter of filling out your name, address, & phone number on a piece of paper and putting it in a box for a drawing.
Last night we get a call, they picked my partner’s name for the next round in the contest. The catch? She has to tour this newly built resort 70 miles away. :rolleyes:
I don’t recall when we filled out the entry forms there being anything stating that you have to jump through hoops and listen to some stupid sales pitch to win anything. I’m always skeptical of contests that don’t make that clear up front.
When she spoke to the lady last night, the woman told her that she had 3 different dates to choose from to go to the resort. After touring she then gets a key to try to see if it starts the car. If so, she gets it. If not, well there’s a chance she could win a PT Cruiser or some other prizes.
My partner was so flustered that she didn’t exactly grill the woman on the machinations of the contest but the woman did give her a number to call her back.
So far they did not ask for a credit card number and they said there was no obligation to book a vacation at the resort but I am a very skeptical person and am a little leery of the whole deal. I forgot the name of the contest and the resort or else I’d check with the BBB right now.
Chances are that the contest is legit, but your chances to win will not be anything like what you expect.
My parents gave one of these things a try. From what I can remember from their story, here is my advice:
Read every word of every line of every document that they send you. If they tell you something that includes qualifications, ask for that in writing. Assume that they are dangling the car as bait, and will keep dangling for quite a long time.
I think that there is a high probability that you have been chosen to attend the event (i.e they pulled your card out of the bag, along with 99 others). But I doubt that you have been chosen to win the car. I also imagine that the company has more than one group of people coming in to see their product. I would also bet dollars to donuts that there is some sort of catch like you must stay for the entire sales pitch to be eleigible.
IOW, if you want to give up your afternoon to sit and listen to their sales pitch, feel free. But understand that your chances to win still are not great.
They guarantee that you’ve won something, but not what you’ve won. Most of the time, one of the alternate prizes is a stay at their resort. That’s the prize that 99% of the people who put their card in will win. 1 person gets the SUV, and 10 the color TV or whatever crap it is.
Yes, it’s a time share or, as my husband and I were offered, “Not a time share, but a vacation package program” or something like that. They emphasized over and over again how it wasn’t a time share, but it essentially works much the same way.
And we won a weekend at one of their resorts. The actual odds are on the back of a stratch off ticket we got after sitting through their pitch, and I’m not kidding that the odds of winning the weekend were nigh-on close to 1:1, where the SUV was close to 1:1,000,000.
Yeah, see the whole thing reeks of bullshit to me. First off, the woman told my partner that IT WAS NOT A TIMESHARE. I finally remembered the name of the place and looked it up. Then I went to the BBB website. The resort is a member with a satisfactory record but the company as listed as A TIME SHARE RESORT.
See that’s the thing, I don’t trust a contest that says "enter to win (grand prize) then tells you there are conditions to win after the drawing.
I assume she is one of many people who received the phone call and if we go to this stupid sales pitch we still won’t get shit.
I think the only truly legit contest would give you odds up front and also not have ANY conditions to winning the prize unless clearly stating so prior to entry.
"We’re adding a little something to this month’s sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired. "
Virtually all of those contest entry boxes you see in malls are nothing but mailing list generators for these time-share outfits. If you look at the fine print on the entry blank you see things like giving them permission to contact you and waiving your rights from the Do Not Call list and other such things.
Yes, the contests are legit, and I’m sure somebody gets the car, but mostly what you win is the chance to hear a sales presentation.
Almost all of them around here are by Trendsetter West and are just timeshare pitches. It’s too bad, I love to enter contests but now I usually think it’s a scam. Same goes for “Drop In Business Card, Win Lunch” bowls; these tend to be for financial planning companies that want to pitch to you and your friends.
Thanks to all for the responses. After presenting my partner with the info from you folks and the BBB she agreed with me that it’s not worth wasting her one day off to go listen to a high-pressure sales pitch for something we have absolutely no interest in.
We’re just going to chalk this up as another lesson learned about lame contests.
I don’t know what we were thinking anyway. I won’t even play the lottery.
Speaking as someone who works in the timeshare industry, you did the right thing. I work in the back office, and a HUGE amount of the complaints that we get start with the phrase, “But the salesperson said …!” Denying that a timeshare is a timeshare is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s like they’re not proud of their product or something.
Yep, I’ve signed up for a chance to win four or five vehicles. You wouldn’t believe the luck I’ve had with that; every single time, I’m one of the rare few selected to go to the next level of the sweepstakes! What are the odds!
I also went to one of the high-pressure timeshare sale things; the final prize I won was a 3-day cruise from San Diego to Ensenada and back. No expenses paid; all I won was space on the boat.
I lived in Berkeley at the time, which is about an 8-hour drive from San Diego…
