MTN SMS competition under fire

Last year Vodacom received a great deal of negative press because of its "100 cars in 100 days" competition where entrants could win 100 new BMW 320i cars. Many consumers racked up cellphone bills totaling thousands and even tens of thousands of rands, sparking an outcry from some quarters.
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If you send the messages you are responsible for your own bill. You can't blame them. That being said R7.50 per SMS is a bit steep for celebrating your birthday. I won't be entering...
 
Any competition where you have to pay to enter is a lottery. I REFUSE to enter these.
 
R7.5 is a crazy price for an SMS, but then again if you are stupid enough to fall for this the you deserve to pay that ridiculous SMS charges. Don't send those SMS's people... Rather work for your money - nothing is free
 
I feel like an old fogey longing for the days when you could enter a competition by mailing off a postcard. Sometimes the company hosting the competition would even pay for the potage.

As if MTN and Vodacom don't make billions enough they have to hold their customers by the ankles and shake out the last bit of change from their pockets.
 
I got the notification & ignored as another spammer masquerading as MTN.
MTN have really gone low this time.
 
If you don't like it don't play it...???

No-one forces you to enter. It's like complaining that the R10 price of parking at monte is too expensive when you want to go and gamble.

It's not a necessity for all MTN subscribers to compete. The problem actually is that people are suckers for a 'free lunch'
 
I sent 1 SMS and that was the end of it. When you send the first SMS they then bombard you with another 4 to 5 SMS's trying hard sell tactics of "reply NOW or you will not stand a chance"

Then your 1 SMS is useless b'coz you can only win the big prize if you have the most "points" for the day. SO they keep sending you SMS's to "force" you to send more SMS's so that you can have the most points for the day.

I am a MTN subber and this tactic makes me sick. Vak U MTN
 
My biggest problem with this competition is that MTN send you a promo SMS advertising the competition, saying it is R7.50 to enter. Then only when they reply do they tell you that, well , actually we lied and you have to SMS again just to enter. Oh and also, we lied and you have to accumulate the most points to win.

Thanks to myBB for exposing these frauds. I hope something more than bad press comes their way.

It's so easy to say "oh just don't enter if you think it is expensive." The biggest problem is that MTN entice you to enter with their marketing, without properly explaining the terms of the competition. So i would guess that most people will spend R7.50 and then realise that they were suckered and give up. Think of 1 million people x R7.50. If you understand the competition and keep SMSing, then I have no problem - you are just wasting your money.
 
They do state he price of the sms and you stupid enough to sms 100 times or more, it's your own stupidity then
 
Tns said:
They do state he price of the sms and you stupid enough to sms 100 times or more, it's your own stupidity then
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Please read the other posts...it's not just a simple matter of sms and win.

Don't really care anyway.

/off to send a R2 sms for a million a week competition...after my 2 free entries.
 
R7.50 - what a swindle! They will make more than R1M so how is it a competition - they are 'giving' away anything!!!

Bunch of thieves!!! :mad:
 
I don't enter any SMS competition cos I don't want to pay. This is low down dirt from MTN. playing on desperate peoples hope. If it was up to me lotto would be stopped.
 
Its a competition. That's the nature of a competition. You see the prize and you decide to pay your money or not...

MTN's giving away millions of Rands in prizes. So the SMS cost is not unsuprising. Also the website and mobisite they have also means everyone can check out the competition, how it works, the terms etc.

Everytime someone replied to a question, they know they are paying R7.50. They can't turn around after 100 questions and say, "This is unfair." They chose to do it.
 
From my understanding this sounds like a lottery because the prizes are fully funded by the SMS's. Whatever prizes are awarded clearly seem to be paid for by the entrants as the more entries, the better chance of winning.

It does seem to show how little integrity companies do have sometimes, and how they blatantly to the "non desperate" think up these ideas to manipulate desperate people.

Personally I am not desperate to win any of these prizes and do not fall for all the glitz and glamor and really believe -- IF IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS.
 
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