How Graca Cheated me out of a R3000 voucher

adelestrydom85

Active Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2013
Messages
82
this is my 1st post, so I'm not sure if this is the correct category. If not, can someone point me in the right direction as to where I should post this? I really need my story to be heard....

My husband and I both entered Graca SA’s competition on Facebook where you had to guess the prices of specific menu items 30 years ago. If you guess correctly, your name goes on a leaderboard that is published on the application, and the person with the highest score at the end of the week gets rewarded with a R3000 John Dory’s voucher. This was done on an application developed by “The Village Bicycle”. This application can be viewed at : https://www.facebook.com/graca.wine/app_1382843918626503

Each week for the past 3 weeks, this week being the 4th week of the competition, entrants have had to guess how much it cost, and winners were announced after every week. We played from week 2 and eventually cracked it on week 3, my husband, Martain Strydom, was 1st on the leaderboard (Week 3) and I was 2nd, with a lady called Jessica Frew in 3rd place. All of us had 99.99%, but my husband’s name was 1st on the list, so it was safe to assume by some denomination his score was the highest between the 3.

Yesterday, 11 December 2013, they announced the winner for week 3, and to our surprise, it was not my husband, but the lady in 3rd place (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...a.125973117444161.9155.124245517616921&type=1). I immediately questioned this on their post and via Facebook inbox. I was told that she won, because she got the 99.99% first. I replied to them, pointing out that that was not the stipulated terms & conditions they set forth in this competition. I also made a screenshot of these specific terms and quoted these terms to them in the inbox. Within minutes, the terms & conditions were amended to benefit them as well as the lady they announced as the winner. I again queried this via inbox and on their Facebook Wall. My posts were deleted from the wall and they did not respond to my inbox message. Eventually they responded, after many hours, telling me that they have escalated the matter to the relevant department and would get back to me.

Today, 12 December 2013, a lady by the name of Jackie Olivier phones me. She is the Global Marketing Manager for Premium Wines ( A representative of Distell).
She apologises for the inconvenience and wants to know what is troubling me. I asked her to explain the following points to me :
1. if indeed my husband’s score was 2nd, as they stated, why did his name appear on top on the Leaderboard?
2. why did they change the terms & conditions AFTER I pointed out to them that they were in violation of their own terms & conditions when they announced the winner?
3. why, in week 1 & 2 were the persons with the highest scores’ names first, and now in week 3, the person with the highest score was apparently the one in 3rd place?

Her answers to me were like this :
1. she has spoken to the developers of the application, and for “some reason”, if someone scores the same as a previous player, their name goes above the 1st persons name
2. they do say in their rules that they can change the terms & conditions if needed
3. her answer was just that the lady in 3rd place got the 99.99% score first. No explanation as to why her name is not 1st on the leaderboard then.

My thoughts on the abovementioned is :
1. if indeed there is “some reason” that the 2nd,3rd etc person who scores the same amount’s score goes to the top, why didn’t my name go to 1st AFTER I entered my score proceeding my husband entering his? Also, a problem with the development of the app, is not my fault, neither is it my husband’s, and why should he not be the winner then if his name is 1st on the Leaderboard?
2. the terms & conditions were only amended after I pointed out that there was a mistake, and that a winner was wrongfully announced (in violation of their terms&conditions)
3. the 1st week, the person in 1st place was announced as the winner, with the highest score. In week 2 the same. So in week 3, the highest score should be the one in 1st place, am I not right in assuming this? Why would the highest score be in 3rd place?

Back to the phone conversation. Jackie Olivier proceeded to tell me they do not want to tarnish the brand’s name, and would like to do the right thing, and award both my husband and I with the prize of a John Dory’s voucher, as well as a few bottles of Graca wine. They wanted to do this to apologise for the inconvenience caused. Now by her telling me they want to award us with the John Dory’s voucher prizes, one would assume it was the R3000 voucher we had lost out on in the competition because they announced the wrong winner.

She asked me for my email address so she could send the confirmation email and get my address to deliver our prizes. My email address contains the numbers “85”. She asked me if that was my birth year. When I answered yes, she asked how could I have know the menu prices 30 years ago if I am not even 30? Then she proceeded to tell me how she also tried playing the application online (what? An employee of the company running a competition also entering? ) ANOTHER violation of their terms & conditions.

I received the email from her, and to my shock and awe, the voucher she wants to send us is to the value of R500. That does not even make sense, because we were supposed to win a R3000 voucher, and had they stuck to their terms & conditions, we would have won that. A R500 voucher is nowhere near that.

I immediately emailed her back, and explained that in our conversation on the phone, she said she was awarding us both with the “prize” voucher. That is not a R500 voucher. (working out to R250 each). I am yet to receive a reply from her on that.

does anyone maybe have a suggestion for me as to what i can do or what steps i can take? please.
 
Last edited:

latro

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2010
Messages
850
Jessica Frew. The same name as the 'woman' who won so many times in the Cell C big bucks competition (The first round). Many people were upset about that. Perhaps you should investigate that.
 

venom

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2005
Messages
724
You go to a casino, win Jackpot of R100 000 and they give you R10 000 only.. it's false advertising and fraud

Do you play for free at this casino? Because only then is that situation similar.
 

skimread

Honorary Master
Joined
Oct 18, 2010
Messages
12,849
Unaudited Competitions aren't fair. They can be cancelled, manipulated or be biased. There is nothing you can do. It's not like it cost you anything but your time to participate.

Also the clause judges decision is final nailed you. Even if they made a mistake they can't change the winner.
 

venom

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2005
Messages
724
no, it's cause your paying and legally you won but they decide not to give you the full prize.

Paying? No where is there any indication of the OP paying. If you're paying to play I would say you have every right to demand your prize. But playing a free game and scoffing at a R500 voucher is a bit much in my opinion.
 

koeksGHT

Dealer
Joined
Aug 5, 2011
Messages
11,858
Paying? No where is there any indication of the OP paying. If you're paying to play I would say you have every right to demand your prize. But playing a free game and scoffing at a R500 voucher is a bit much in my opinion.

I'm talking about gambling
 

kdub

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2010
Messages
248
Gez what a long moan about nothing. The other competitor got there first. Get over it! Be happy that they're sending you something for bitching.
 

rrh

Expert Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2005
Messages
4,037
Take the free stuff and move on.

+10

The position of a name on a screen need not necessarily bear any relationship to the order in which the entries were opened.

The judges have decided: their decision is final. So cut the whinging, accept the voucher and move on.

And thank the supplier for the voucher. If it had been me you can rest assured that it is highly unlikely that I would have entertained your complaints ...

PS: You weren't cheated
 
Last edited:

azbob

Honorary Master
Joined
Nov 18, 2008
Messages
36,559
Jessica strikes again.

Stop giving the newbies a hard time.
 

Zewp

Banned
Joined
Sep 3, 2009
Messages
10,655
I agree. The whining in this case is unnecessary. The judges decision is final is a clause that invalidates whatever argument you can make here.

On the other hand;

Jessica Frew. The same name as the 'woman' who won so many times in the Cell C big bucks competition (The first round). Many people were upset about that. Perhaps you should investigate that.

This is very curious, although it might just be coincidence.
 
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