Cheated in Facebook competition

neonsofa

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'll definitely warn them that if I have to escalate it that far I will! I'll give them another chance to play fair before going nuclear on them lol.

Reddit could be good but you're right it's hard to get visibility there and I don't have an account already so might be even more difficult to get noticed...

They have an amazing baking subreddit! Not necessarily helpful for this, but just fyi generally!

lifeandtimes

JaMarcusHustle wrote: »

Word of advice - your best chance is to create as big a fuss on social media as possible.

Some daily news websites love this type of stuff - it gets lots of comments (and be warned, a fair few of them will be telling you to jog on or that you're sad for pursuing it) but all those sites want are comments, and these types of stories bring them. I'm thinking the likes of DublinLive, the Daily Edge etc. Sites I personally don't have much time for, but would help you in your quest.

I wouldn't know which subreddit to pick, but Reddit loves injustices like this. Plenty of people have had very similar issues resolved thanks to Reddit campaigns. Plenty of tools on Reddit (no different to any other website really), but majority are sound so when they see someone has gone to a lot of effort on something - like you did with your cake - people generally get behind your quest for justice. If anything, someone will at least be able to verify the pages "private likes" explanation for you. Just getting some visibility though is tough on that website.

Not taking away from ops injustice but what does she hope to achieve? An apology won't do anything. Even if she and her friends cause a stink online it wont di much other than bad pr for 24 hours until the next thing takes over peoples screen(north Korea etc)

Op I feel for you I do but I feel this is a fruitless endever as the company won't apologies and will just hide behind ts and cs,You can't take them to court and the momentum of your campaign will stop after 24 hours,trust me this IS what will happen and everyone will forget and move on. The injustice to you is they picked someone else over you in a competition where as people are homeless,getting cancer or whatever the hot button topic is at this point that people will prefer to talk about until the next one comes along

neonsofa

lifeandtimes wrote: »

Op I feel for you I do but I feel this is a fruitless endever as the company won't apologies and will just hide behind ts and cs,You can't take them to court and the momentum of your campaign will stop after 24 hours,trust me this IS what will happen and everyone will forget and move on. The injustice to you is they picked someone else over you in a competition where as people are homeless,getting cancer or whatever the hot button topic is at this point that people will prefer to talk about until the next one comes along

The competition was that the amount of likes decides the winner. It wasn't their place to choose someone else over op. It's not like she's being a sore loser here. I get what you're saying overall and agree, but the way you phrase it makes it sounds like op is giving out about not winning a competition. She was chosen as the winner by the voters, as per the rules of the competition and then the company decided to give the prize to someone else.

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Just because other bad things happen in the world doesnt mean that the OP shouldnt follow up on this.

TBH I hate the attitude of "Oh just leave it". The OP won. She is entitled to follow up on that.

The worst that can happen is that she makes a lot of noise and gives them bad publicity but they never row back on it.

The best that can happen is that agree to give her a prize and admit they were in the wrong.

Either situation is a worthwhile outcome for the OP IMO.

Thanks, that's my view of the situation too. The more they keep repeating their lies and deflecting my questions the angrier I get, and the more motivated I am to keep fighting it!

my3cents

I think the asai.ie has been mentioned, its worth a search of their site for facebook as it will give you plenty of examples were the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland has made judgments on similar cases. I don't think they will get you a €600 prize but they may make an adjudication saying that there was a problem with the way the promotion was run.

L1011

my3cents wrote: »

I think the asai.ie has been mentioned, its worth a search of their site for facebook as it will give you plenty of examples were the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland has made judgments on similar cases. I don't think they will get you a €600 prize but they may make an adjudication saying that there was a problem with the way the promotion was run.

The adjudication is completely toothless. They have no power to do anything.

muggles

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Wonder is the winner a friend of the family...

I would wonder this too. Or maybe known through work for instance? Just a thought. You say it was a promoter than ran the competition?

L1011

L1011 wrote: »

The adjudication is completely toothless. They have no power to do anything.

my3cents wrote: »

I think the asai.ie has been mentioned, its worth a search of their site for facebook as it will give you plenty of examples were the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland has made judgments on similar cases. I don't think they will get you a €600 prize but they may make an adjudication saying that there was a problem with the way the promotion was run.

I've had a look through the ASAI's previous rulings on social media competitions and it does seem all they can do is give the promoters a slap on the wrist, but honestly I don't care if I get a prize anymore I just want them to admit they did something wrong and apologise.

muggles wrote: »

I would wonder this too. Or maybe known through work for instance? Just a thought. You say it was a promoter than ran the competition?

Yes a PR company based in Dublin who runs the brand's social media pages ran the competition. Their T&Cs say '<brand>'s employees, their agents, families or anyone professionally connected with the promotion are excluded from the competition.' I'm not saying that's what happened, I've honestly no idea why the company would choose the other entrant as the winner over me, other than they just preferred him for some reason!

c6ysaphjvqw41k

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Aubrie White Badminton

Aubrie White Badminton wrote: »

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Thanks for your reply. I also had a friend who manages a Facebook page to show me their page insights.

Two things: the estimates shown by Facebook (1.1k vs 1k) are what we took screenshots of as it was the clearest, but we could actually work out the exact numbers by 'hovering' over the estimate of likes where it would display a list of names and ...+(number) others at the bottom. You'd have to count the number of names on the hover list, add the +others number and add the number of 'loves' as these were also supposed to count in the vote. It was an annoying bit of extra arithmetic to do but we did work out I had a margin of 20-30 votes at the end of the competition that pushed my total likes/loves above 1100, giving the correct rounded down estimates by Facebook.

While it may be possible the company's page insights showed the other entry had more clicks or likes on their shares or numerous other metrics, the only one that should matter is the number of likes/loves on the actual entries. They're trying to tell me that their page insights showed them an aggregate that includes 'likes from people whose privacy settings hide their activity on public posts', which isn't possible. As my friend showed me on their page insights, the number of likes/reactions displayed on the page insights tab always exactly matched that visible on the post itself.

So, it's my opinion that either they judged the competition at a different time than they said, or they based it on a metric other than the number of likes/loves on the post, both scenarios are a breach of their terms.

goodlad

Its painfully obvious that the company made a balls of the competition.
Its wrecking my head that they wont just cop on and admit it so i can only imagine how frustrated you are about it

lifeandtimes

What will you do if they offer no apology and continue to ignore you?

irishmoss

muggles wrote: »

I would wonder this too. Or maybe known through work for instance? Just a thought. You say it was a promoter than ran the competition?

The winner works in advertising for the Tuam Herald. Just clicked on his profile

lifeandtimes

lifeandtimes wrote: »

What will you do if they offer no apology and continue to ignore you?

Take it to Joe...and every click-bait social media 'news' site there is :P

irishmoss

[QUOTE=lifeandtimes;104338612The injustice to you is they picked someone else over you in a competition where as people are homeless,getting cancer or whatever the hot button topic is at this point that people will prefer to talk about until the next one comes along[/QUOTE]

There was a lot of work involved in this competition and money spent, the Op is quite right to challenge them if they can't be bothered to pick a genuine winner

Edgarfrndly

Your cake is lovely btw OP. I hope they recognise the negative impact this will have on their company.

guil

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. I also had a friend who manages a Facebook page to show me their page insights.

Two things: the estimates shown by Facebook (1.1k vs 1k) are what we took screenshots of as it was the clearest, but we could actually work out the exact numbers by 'hovering' over the estimate of likes where it would display a list of names and ...+(number) others at the bottom. You'd have to count the number of names on the hover list, add the +others number and add the number of 'loves' as these were also supposed to count in the vote. It was an annoying bit of extra arithmetic to do but we did work out I had a margin of 20-30 votes at the end of the competition that pushed my total likes/loves above 1100, giving the correct rounded down estimates by Facebook.

While it may be possible the company's page insights showed the other entry had more clicks or likes on their shares or numerous other metrics, the only one that should matter is the number of likes/loves on the actual entries. They're trying to tell me that their page insights showed them an aggregate that includes 'likes from people whose privacy settings hide their activity on public posts', which isn't possible. As my friend showed me on their page insights, the number of likes/reactions displayed on the page insights tab always exactly matched that visible on the post itself.

So, it's my opinion that either they judged the competition at a different time than they said, or they based it on a metric other than the number of likes/loves on the post, both scenarios are a breach of their terms.

I feel you were hard done by but is there any chance that the competition was solely on actual likes and not the emoticons? It's just from the start you said likes and since insights have been mentioned you say likes and loves.

sham58107

To the OP, why are you bothered getting yourself upset ? and others who have found out who winner is ! FFS it is a competition, just get over it, 7000 people homeless, nearing WWW3, oh by the way as well as Joe. why not get your local politician evolved.

Ok maybe you feel hard done by, but someone else won, move on and enter another one.

Seriously don't be wrecking your head, just enjoy your lovely cake.

guil

guil wrote: »

I feel you were hard done by but is there any chance that the competition was solely on actual likes and not the emoticons? It's just from the start you said likes and since insights have been mentioned you say likes and loves.

Sorry, I should have been more specific but I was paraphrasing for simplicity's sake. The competition was to be judged on the basis of who had the highest number of votes, and both likes and loves were to be counted as votes. My combined number of likes and loves was higher than the other entry, but so was my total number of likes alone.

sham58107 wrote: »

To the OP, why are you bothered getting yourself upset ? and others who have found out who winner is ! FFS it is a competition, just get over it, 7000 people homeless, nearing WWW3, oh by the way as well as Joe. why not get your local politician evolved.

Ok maybe you feel hard done by, but someone else won, move on and enter another one.

Seriously don't be wrecking your head, just enjoy your lovely cake.

:rolleyes: thanks for your valued contribution and perfect example of the 'don't cause a fuss, get over it' Irish attitude that underlies all corruption in this country imo. I'm sick of hearing it. If everyone called out injustices and malpractices when they witnessed them the world would be a better place.

cfarrell

Have you considered taking a clase to the small claims court?

It costs only €25 to make the claim. It's an informal proceedure, so you don't need a solicitor. You represent yourself.

Likewise the company don't need a solicitor, but they can use one if they wish.

The beauty of this proceedure is that if you fail in your claim, it costs you nothing more than the €25 claim form. You are not responsible for their costs, even if they decide to spend a fortune on legal representation.

If they genuinely believe that they are correct, they will defend themselves and probably pay for a solicitor to do so on their behalf. If will cost them more than it will to give you your prize.

But if they believe they are wrong, it would be cheaper for them to simply put things right than try and defend themselves with a solicitor.

It's unclear to me if the small claims court will take your claim. But it's worth calling them to see if you can use their proceedure.
http://www.courts.ie/courts.ie/library3.nsf/PageCurrentWebLookUpTopNav/SMALL%20CLAIMS%20PROCEDURE?opendocument&l=en

For those who think it should be just ignored, that's how corruption takes hold. Those who are wronged just ignore it, and then everyone suffers as a result. If PQ stands up for herself, they company will be less inclined to do the same in the future.

cfarrell

cfarrell wrote: »

Have you considered taking a clase to the small claims court?

It costs only €25 to make the claim. It's an informal proceedure, so you don't need a solicitor. You represent yourself.

Likewise the company don't need a solicitor, but they can use one if they wish.

The beauty of this proceedure is that if you fail in your claim, it costs you nothing more than the €25 claim form. You are not responsible for their costs, even if they decide to spend a fortune on legal representation.

If they genuinely believe that they are correct, they will defend themselves and probably pay for a solicitor to do so on their behalf. If will cost them more than it will to give you your prize.

But if they believe they are wrong, it would be cheaper for them to simply put things right than try and defend themselves with a solicitor.

It's unclear to me if the small claims court will take your claim. But it's worth calling them to see if you can use their proceedure.
http://www.courts.ie/courts.ie/library3.nsf/PageCurrentWebLookUpTopNav/SMALL%20CLAIMS%20PROCEDURE?opendocument&l=en

For those who think it should be just ignored, that's how corruption takes hold. Those who are wronged just ignore it, and then everyone suffers as a result. If PQ stands up for herself, they company will be less inclined to do the same in the future.

Thanks, I had a look into this but I was unsure whether the small claims court would take my case. I'm not sure what contract, if any, I have with the company, and I suspect if my case was heard by the SCC I may only be able to claim for expenses I incurred during the competition rather than for the prize itself.

If anyone with legal knowledge knows more about whether the SCC is an option open to me I'd value their insight (won't ask for legal advice though, promise :P)

sham58107

Deleted User wrote: »

Sorry, I should have been more specific but I was paraphrasing for simplicity's sake. The competition was to be judged on the basis of who had the highest number of votes, and both likes and loves were to be counted as votes. My combined number of likes and loves was higher than the other entry, but so was my total number of likes alone.



:rolleyes: thanks for your valued contribution and perfect example of the 'don't cause a fuss, get over it' Irish attitude that underlies all corruption in this country imo. I'm sick of hearing it. If everyone called out injustices and malpractices when they witnessed them the world would be a better place.

Corruption!! you lost a friggin Facebook competition, kop on and find something to really complain about.

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sham58107

sham58107 wrote: »

Corruption!! you lost a friggin Facebook competition, kop on and find something to really complain about.

I'm not really sure how this affects you enough to be as offended as you are, unless you were somehow also connected to the competition?

miece16

OP, build a bridge

cactusgal

The company cheated and lied. Why should they get to win?

Genuinely don't understand this mentality.

Op, I've no advice but I hope you don't give up!

Thanks again for everyone's wishes of support. I feel genuinely sorry for people who seem to go through their lives never standing up for themselves.

lifeandtimes

The small claims court will only take on your case if you have been at a lose based on a contract you had with the company.

They organised a contest and no one forced you to enter and all costs incurred are done so at the entrants expense.

There is no real legal avenue based on a contest organised by a company who then choose a winner.

I'm sure their terms stated their decision is final and these must be agreed to to enter the contest and based on this you must accept their decision whether its right or wrong

It's crap but happens all the time,look a referees in football games costing teams games by making awful calls.

Again im sorry you were screwed but this world is a crap place at times

fed_u

OP - I thought your cake was fantastic and definitely deserved to win. For those saying the OP should cop on I think it's more the principle that the competition seems to have not followed their own rules... if the roles were reversed and you were in OPs shoes and won a prize for something you were interested in, only for the "rules" to change and you came second I'm sure you'd feel the same!!