Cheated in Facebook competition

TheDriver

TheDriver wrote: »

Please tell me more, have u a link to it? I am s**t sick of them.
OP-I think fb might be best place to report it to.

Unfortunately I don't think Facebook will be of any help, they specifically state they are not responsible nor do they regulate competitions run on their platform. The only thing you can report to them are competitions against their T&Cs eg ones that require you to share or tag friends to enter.

poeticjustice

CeilingFly wrote: »

No, as per your own post you communicated with your "friends" and they have made coments and tweeted (no-one uses twitter anymore anyway) to try and damage the company in a vigilante style response.

Is it really that important in your life?

FFS, its a FB competition.

It's hilarious how defensive and bitter you are being towards the OP. Is it because he proved you wrong despite the fact you 'manage several fb pages'? Clearly he hit a nerve...

Keep fighting the good fight OP!

CeilingFly

poeticjustice wrote: »

It's hilarious how defensive and bitter you are being towards the OP. Is it because he proved you wrong despite the fact you 'manage several fb pages'? Clearly he hit a nerve...

Keep fighting the good fight OP!

No - i see this rubbish regulary of people accusing palces of not doing things, hence we do screenshots of all winners, though we don't bother with many these days as they are too much hassle for exactly the reason the OP is complaining about.

Even with screenshots some people still complain and they say they cannot see the post that the screenshot shows and then they try and shame you by gettign their friends to make comments - of course "they didn't know"


But its a FB comp. FFS, a little miminal prize.

poeticjustice

poeticjustice wrote: »

It's hilarious how defensive and bitter you are being towards the OP. Is it because he proved you wrong despite the fact you 'manage several fb pages'? Clearly he hit a nerve...

Keep fighting the good fight OP!

Thanks for your support!

I'm not bothered by people who think I'm being petty or whatever, and some of the 'winner's' friends have been saying similar things in the comments to my friends. I took part in a competition in good faith under their terms and conditions, took part in their promotional posts, and drove the 1100+ people who voted me to their page, providing them with traffic and social media engagements. That after all of that they would have the audacity to cheat and then lie about it to me afterwards is an insult not just to me but to everyone who took part, including everyone who voted for me. I'm not going to lie down and take it, and people who would have me accept such an injustice are part of the problem why companies think they can get away with this behaviour.

I think my next plan of action will be to give the PR company running the competition one last chance to respond to my evidence that they lied to me, and if they are still uncooperative I'll contact the company they're representing and see if they'll be as happy to stand by the actions of their PR company.

TheDriver

Ahhhhh its a pr company?? I would get onto the actual company because its their public image, not pr company.
Regarding a petty fb comp, it sounds like a lot more than usual like type of comp. Op sounds like she had to make something for it.

CeilingFly

CeilingFly wrote: »

No - i see this rubbish regulary of people accusing palces of not doing things, hence we do screenshots of all winners, though we don't bother with many these days as they are too much hassle for exactly the reason the OP is complaining about.

Even with screenshots some people still complain and they say they cannot see the post that the screenshot shows and then they try and shame you by gettign their friends to make comments - of course "they didn't know"


But its a FB comp. FFS, a little miminal prize.

As I've said before the prize isn't what I'm annoyed about, but it's valued at ~€600 so I'm not sure I'd call that 'minimal'.

poeticjustice

CeilingFly wrote: »

No - i see this rubbish regulary of people accusing palces of not doing things, hence we do screenshots of all winners, though we don't bother with many these days as they are too much hassle for exactly the reason the OP is complaining about.

Even with screenshots some people still complain and they say they cannot see the post that the screenshot shows and then they try and shame you by gettign their friends to make comments - of course "they didn't know"

But its a FB comp. FFS, a little miminal prize.

As honest as some places may be regarding competitions, there is just as many places likely to be dishonest and try to con people. That is why transparency is so important. The most number of likes should be clear for all to see. I'm sure fb could clear this up for you OP.

Sounds like you've been burnt before ceilingfly but don't take this so personally. And don't belittle his/her attempts at justice!

Colser

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Yep! My friends are pretty outraged so they've already commented on their posts and tweeted them!

I voted for you and you definitely had the most likes.Stick with it and don't let it go,you put huge effort into it.

Zillah

CeilingFly wrote: »

No - i see this rubbish regulary of people accusing palces of not doing things, hence we do screenshots of all winners, though we don't bother with many these days as they are too much hassle for exactly the reason the OP is complaining about.

Even with screenshots some people still complain and they say they cannot see the post that the screenshot shows and then they try and shame you by gettign their friends to make comments - of course "they didn't know"


But its a FB comp. FFS, a little miminal prize.

You really should just stop posting. You don't seem to understand Facebook, and now that you've been shown to be wrong you're resorting to belittling the OP. Just shoo. Shoo. You're of no use to anyone.

munster87

CeilingFly wrote: »

But you don't see everyone's comment / entry and therefore you cannot see every like. Your settings are nothing to do with it.

Its also a reason many places no longer opertae competitions as you get too many people accusing you of underhand tactics and its just not with the hassle.

If you can't see all comments under the post you may have 'top comments' selected. Selected 'comments unfiltered' I think and you will see them all

CeilingFly

Zillah wrote: »

You reallyyou're resorting to belittling the OP. Just shoo. Shoo. You're of no use to anyone.

No, I just despise people who try and publicly shame places without getting to the end of any resolution.

As the OP said, her "friends" have tweeted and posted their comments about her not winning - surely they'd only know if she told them and that's where the vigilante justice comes ion and that when the OP or any one esle loses the argument.

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lifeandtimes

Is there any law regarding social media and competitions? I know lottery and things with money may be governed by independent judicators but not sure about a prize by pr company on behalf of another company.

If there isn't other than writing a bad review and not using their service is all that be done.

The whole having friend hound them and say bad things doesn't really get people anywhere unless you were seriously aggrieved or put out by this company in person. I'm not saying op is having their friends do this I'm just referencing it.

Things like airlines and companies only play ball with that is when someone actually used their services and paid and were seriously screwed over. Not Sure them selecting a different winner for a competition and people getting will worry them as it will blow over within a day.

mel123

NO real advice OP, but keep at it, as you said its a point of principle now. I'm sure the company in question would be mortified to hear this is going on, I'd get on to them.

CeilingFly

CeilingFly wrote: »

No, I just despise people who try and publicly shame places without getting to the end of any resolution.

As the OP said, her "friends" have tweeted and posted their comments about her not winning - surely they'd only know if she told them and that's where the vigilante justice comes ion and that when the OP or any one esle loses the argument.

I didn't have to tell them, my friends were supporting me and watching the votes as the competition ended. They took their own screenshots, and they posted them to the page themselves to ask why I wasn't chosen as the winner. They haven't received a satisfactory response yet, so they're going to keep asking questions, and I'm not going to tell them to stop.

You can call it 'vigilante justice' all you like, but I've tried to communicate with the PR company clearly and calmly in private and they have responded to me only with lies and refusals to engage with me. If they really were in the right then they'd have more to show for it.

kathleen37

I followed the OP's link to the 5 finalists - the two highest is showing as - the chocolate cake - 1.2k likes and the meringue kiss cake 1.1k likes. The other 3 cakes are less than a couple of hundred likes.

Is that what other people are seeing??

*edit*

Ahhh, is it to do with the number of likes at the time of competition closure?

dudara

Posters - that's enough focus on this aspect. Let's see what constructive suggestions we can offer the OP

dudara

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kathleen37

kathleen37 wrote: »

I followed the OP's link to the 5 finalists - the two highest is showing as - the chocolate cake - 1.2k likes and the meringue kiss cake 1.1k likes. The other 3 cakes are less than a couple of hundred likes.

Is that what other people are seeing??

Hi, the official end to the competition was a few days ago at a specified time. At that time I was in the lead. Since the other entry was selected as the winner it has naturally accrued a few more likes than mine, but I have multiple screenshots from the time the competition ended showing I had the most votes.

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....... wrote: »

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Haha you're not the first person to suggest Joe I'll definitely be getting onto the actual company next, thanks!

kathleen37

Sorry, I edited my post - but I understand now re the timings

Surely if you have screen shot of both yours and the other cake showing the time, then that's it?

I think it would be worth speaking to the promoters to say you are looking to take legal advice. If I was sure I'd won, I'd be doing that. Especially for a KitchenAid...

I hope you get sorted

CeilingFly

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Oh my oh my - that's the type of comment that a child of 5 would be embarrassed about.

I much prefer to have two sides to a story - usually when you hear one side, its always misisng a few details especially when its on a public forum. In many (most) cases you find the real story is substantially different.

If the OP has a real issue then they should contact the company directly, provide the evidence they have and request a response.

AndrewJRenko

The folks who keep an eye on theliberal.ie have had some success in showing how competition winners just happen to be FB friends with Leo Sherlock. Might be worth digging around on the person who did win, just to see what you can find.

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Colser

CeilingFly wrote: »

Oh my oh my - that's the type of comment that a child of 5 would be embarrassed about.

I much prefer to have two sides to a story - usually when you hear one side, its always misisng a few details especially when its on a public forum. In many (most) cases you find the real story is substantially different.

If the OP has a real issue then they should contact the company directly, provide the evidence they have and request a response.

But this isn't a he said/she said situation ,the result was visible for everyone to see online.She did contact the organisers who responded with bs regarding private likes or some such crap.

What would you do in her situation ?

dudara

OK - I tried earlier to give a gentle warning, but it's obviously not being heeded

@CelilingFly, @....... et al - cut out the personal snipes. It is not welcome here.

@CeilingFly - you have made your point. No need to belabour it, as it is only serving to antagonise other posters.

dudara

FAILSAFE 00

OP, how far ahead were you in likes when the competition ended?

Did you screenshot all the top entries at the time the competition ended along with some time stamp?

FAILSAFE 00

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

OP, how far ahead were you in likes when the competition ended?

Did you screenshot all the top entries at the time the competition ended along with some time stamp?

It was a close contest but I had a margin of around 20-30 likes at the specified end time. Facebook doesn't show the exact number of likes once the number exceeds 1000, instead it rounds down to the nearest 100. I took screenshots of both my entry and the next nearest entry, mine showing I had '1.1k likes' and the other entry '1k likes'. I think that's conclusive enough!

Edit; also yes there is a time stamp from the end of the competition as I took them on my phone with the time visible. My friend also took screenshots and a friend of the winning entry posted screen shots too (not sure why) all showing the same numbers at the correct time.

magicray

I hope you get a result PirateQueen, its very frustrating when you know you were the winner

I love entering facebook competitions myself but run a mile from the "likes" ones as they always cause controversy of some sort or other - usually with people buying likes

magicray

magicray wrote: »

I hope you get a result PirateQueen, its very frustrating when you know you were the winner

I love entering facebook competitions myself but run a mile from the "likes" ones as they always cause controversy of some sort or other - usually with people buying likes

Yeah so do I, it's a real shame it turned out the way it did because up until the end it was a fun contest! I'll definitely be abstaining from any future likes based contests, I'd rather if they're going to pick their own winner that they were upfront about it!