Coca Cola Tells $10,000 Winner He Did Not Win; Gives Him $500 Instead
A Connecticut limo driver with six kids was thrilled to discover he had won $10,000 in scholarship funds in a new Coca Cola sweepstakes. He even got a message from Coke congratulating him on his win. Turns out it wasn't The Real Thing after all: the message was an error, triggered by a promo test. He hadn't won a cent, because the "Twist and Text" contest didn't actually start for another three weeks.
He took his case to a local TV channel, who helped nudge the soft drinks behemoth into begrudgingly handing over $500. (Would that be in pennies?) And Coke refuses to pay any more because apparently it's like sooo hard to control sweepstakes, since soda shipments can arrive at stores too early.
Um, that may be true, but surely it wouldn't have been too difficult for Coke (and the contest administrators, e-Prize) to have set up an automatic response that explained the contest didn't start until May 1st? Perhaps they're new to this texting lark.
But anyway, since the label on the bottle did list the official contest start date, this is clearly one instance where it pays (literally) for the consumer to read the fine print.
Man can't swallow sweepstakes error [WTNH] (Thanks to Dave!)
(Photo: Ken Roberts Photography)
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Comments:
wow, missed opportunity for Coke. guy with six kids? honestly, they would have had customers for life and easily made back the 10k. Limo drivers sees a lot of people too, probably would have told dozens that Coke sent one of his kids to college.
What's the big deal here again? Coca-Cola anticipates that something like this may happen and writes a "begin" date for the contest. Man ignores begin date and pitches a fit to the local station. This works and gets him a $500 "sorry for the screw up".
Seems like Coca-Cola went above and beyond to me.
Have to agree about there being a start date and a end date. I can't win a marathon by starting 4 hours earlier than everyone else.
Now the question I have is this:
Can he wait until the contest starts up and do what he did, and win?
did this guy have a "winning ticket" if so he screwed up because had he waited he could have claimed it.
if he had to " do something" and got the you won response then coke should pony up the cash...
Whit in a week, Coca Cola have given this man the grand price of $10 000. I'm sure of it.
If it was a coke product he had purchased (like a 20oz) that said he was a wiener he should he should have just kept it till the date then purchased another just to have a receipt with a "right" date on it then turn it in. :P
*I'm really curious about the sign in the picture though... is that the only purpose of the sign to alert people to the danger of said sign? really?
No. Read the fine print. It mentions a bridge being out ahead.
@raleel: I understand what you mean but Coke is such a massive organization and runs so many events like this with various brands - they have to be careful not to set a legal precedent for stuff like this which amounts to user error.
@thedark1: I would really enjoy getting a cap that called me a "wiener".
Sorry, just laughing since I have dachshunds. Easy mistake to make.
@JackAshley: Psh, not even. I got to my state's flagship state school and that doesn't even cover a year of tuition, not to mention housing, books, other fees, and general living expenses.
This is why most jurisdictions have strict laws regarding contests and sweepstakes, so that people will not get rooked like this. The "test win" message was generated in error. Whose error? Coca-Cola's. Instead of owning up to their mistake, they dip into their petty cash to cover it up.
Personally I think contests and sweepstakes (and lotteries) should be banned. I have heard too many stories of people trusting companies/institutions/whatever to play fair, only to find their faith in the system in vain (the recent debacle with the Ontario Lottery Gaming Corporation, where some lottery dealers were found scamming legitimate winners out of their prizes, comes to mind).
@Charlotte Rae's Web: Of course. But that's really a tiny thing. Disassociate the money from the contest but still pass it along.
Really, 10k won't get you more than a 15 second spot on a tiny tv station. 10k sending a kid to college, even for a short time and all the good will that'll give, the potential Oprah time... see, now that's priceless.
so would that mean the winning bottle is already out of circulation?
@SnozberryLicker_GitEmSteveDave: Probably not. Others got the same message, which tells me that the program was probably accepting all "entries" as winners during that testing period.
Gotta play by the rules. This is also why sweepstakes require that you be certified a winner (same with lotteries) after meeting qualifications before you are guaranteed the prize. This guy wasn't certified as a winner because of his entry date, plain and simple. And I guarantee that he tried his number again when the promotion was live and it came back as not being a winner and THAT is when he went to the TV station.
So why couldn't he just wait until may 1st and text again? Does he only get one text?
@raleel: Well, this guy will have to hope he stops to help change a tire on another limo, and get thanked by the guy in the back, and when he comes home, finds a fruit basket with a note saying his kids are going to college and his house is paid off. Signed, The Donald.
@JollyJumjuck: Except the the Coke contest has a specific "begin" date. There was no scamming involved.
@Ronin-Democrat: But I've read that many people were getting the "win" message. The contest had not started so the winnings are no valid.
Sucks to be that guy but fair is fair. Congrats to him pressuring Coke for a free $500 however.
@dave_coder: I agree- Coca-Cola did the guy a favor. The guy got money he didn't actually win (or deserve).
Ok, everyone is thinking his code was the winning one and Coke is just being jerks... this isn't the case.
Other people also received "You've won" messages because the texts were sent during the promo's testing period. The system was probably set to a predefined "winner" mode in order to test that the appropriate texts were sent back to the sender (bad programming that allowed just anyone to text during this time, but I digress).
The codes submitted during the testing period were most likely wiped before the live period for the promotion, and the guy probably tried again after the game started, realized it really WASN'T a winner, and THEN decided to go to the TV station to try to get his free cash.
This is standard stuff. Unless you are certified a winner in a sweepstakes or lottery after meeting qualifications, you're not the winner. If a lottery says you must be a legal resident of a state and you're not, doesn't matter that you have the winning ticket, you still don't qualify.
The man did screw up but Coke REALLY screwed up and has billions. Is good PR worth $10,000? Coke probably spends that much on one executive's luncheon.
@Wombatish: Not always true. If you're planning to go to a good graduate school, the undergraduate institution you attended and the kind of education you received there can matter a great deal.
@redkamel: wait nevermind, I forgot these newfangled contests require you to text before you actually "win", so you can't read the rules in the time between winning and telling someone (unless you always read the fine print, which is unpossible, as deadspork said).
Jeez, usually when I buy a bottle of Coke or whatever and they have these contests, they're usually just small, slightly shitty prizes like an MP3 download or a free can of said soda.
@raleel:Speanding $10,000 arbitrarily for good "word of mouth" is a very dumb position to take in business.
@Slottsherre: I hope not. The rules of the contest were clearly written and I've read elsewhere that others were getting the same "win" message. They give this guy $10,000 for not reading the rules, then they end up giving everyone $10,000.
@savdavid: Interesting. So a business should throw away $10,000 just because it has "billions" more? I thought most "Consumerists" were against wasteful spending.
Don't forget that word of mouth is weaker then you might think.
10k for college? That won't even cover enough drugs for a semester!
Did I say 'drugs'? I meant to say healthy nutritious snacks!
Funny, if he had waited a few days, he'd have gotten the $10k... such a weird situation and in a way to be fair to him, Coke should have returned the winning ticket and quoted the contest regulations. That's totally not nice on Coke's part.
@dave_coder: "throw away"?@mariospants: Wait, disregard, I assumed he had been rebuffed due to being early to turn in a sweepstakes ticket. Turns out it was a "promo" site where part of the winning involves a lot more chance than just having numbers. Coke's also at fault for not being on top of this (i.e. you shouldn't notify someone they've won something when they can't).
@raleel: I think you're far too optimistic about everything and don't understand a lick of "business."
As a kid I opened a 12-pack of Pepsi we had sitting around for about 6 months. I then see I had won a Super Nintendo, but the contest was over. I called Pepsi, said I had just bought the 12-pack, so they gave me the Super Nintendo!
The lesson here: lie to big corporate as much as possible ;-)
@SnozberryLicker_GitEmSteveDave: he SHOULD have waited. Read the fine print, and wait until you're within the window. Then, you get 10k!
I collect so many Dr. Pepper caps that I enter them all at once for prizes.
I always make sure I'm within the window.
*I'm really curious about the sign in the picture though... is that the only purpose of the sign to alert people to the danger of said sign? really?"
The picture is from a fark.com photoshop contest.
Does consumerist have permission to use the picture?
As far as I'm concerned, the Coka-Cola company has lost me as a customer for life.
Instead of Coke being the man and making right on things they flim-flam around doing the right thing. And there's any wonder why American businesses are in a world of hurt? I won't buy any America car anymore and now I'll have my two friends bring me soda either from a Canadian or Swedish manufacturer.
Is it me or is America starting to stand for crap as far as big business goes?
Look on the bright side, the man can now ave more than $10,000 in long term medical bills: just never drink coke or any other sodas again.
Some people miss the small print. They figure if you see the bottle with an advertised contest, the contest has already begun. It makes logical sense for the good majority to think that as well. Coca-Cola made certain to have Twist & Text in big letters, the begin date should be the same.
well... unfortunately for him, if the bottle label listed the correct date.. they have their butts covered. sort of.
*I'm really curious about the sign in the picture though... is that the only purpose of the sign to alert people to the danger of said sign? really?