Vodacom stops 'illegal' competition

Necuno

Necuno

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well so its ends...

Vodacom stops 'illegal' competition
February 19, 2008

The National Lotteries Board has ordered Vodacom to stop its win-a-BMW competition.

"The board are satisfied that it has done its duty in policing and stopping the illegal lottery," the board said in a statement on Tuesday.

It said Vodacom was instructed on Monday to cease the competition, and the company complied by midnight.

The board said it was not able to help consumers legally who felt they might have been prejudiced by the competition.

Vodacom maintained on Tuesday that its competition had been legal.

Managing director Shameel Joosub said: "Whilst Vodacom remains of the opinion that the '100 cars 100 days' promotional competition is legal, the company took a decision to end the '100 cars 100 days' promotion at midnight 18 February 2008."

The competition entailed an invitation by Vodacom to subscribers to enter by sending an SMS at a cost of R10, giving them a shot winning a BMW car.

This led to some people spending thousands of rands on SMS messages, without realising they were running up such huge cellphone bills.

Joosub said on Tuesday a final draw would take place Tuesday at which the remaining BMWs would be allocated to winners.

"As the promotional competition has almost reached the end of its cycle and Vodacom believes that it is in all parties' interests to draw the promotion to a close," Joosub said in a statement.

"A final draw will take place on 19 February 2008, at which all the remaining BMWs will be allocated to winners."

National Consumer Forum chairman Thami Bolani supported the closing of the competition, saying he believed it amounted to a harmful business practice.

He advised people who might feel they lost money unjustifiably, to contact their local Consumer Advice offices.

Gauteng's office had a Consumer Affairs Court which could order compensation if it found in a consumer's favour, Bolani said. - Sapa

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4262779
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...wonder if all other sms-in-and-win are now going to be stopped aswell
 
I wonder, since it was done illegally,

Will people get their money back?
&
Will the company apologise? (again)
 
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If you sms once, does it count over all the days of the competition, or just one? i.e. do you paid R10 for 1 entry per pay over 100 days?

If so I'd say you're due for a refund if the competition closed early and you only got 50% of your entries.
 
In SA you need a licence to operate a lottery. If they were giving away BMW's to people who signed up contracts it would be one thing, but since they're asking you to buy R10 tickets for each entry - its a lottery. Apparently Vodascom doesn't have a licence :).
 
Nope.. its R10 per entry... per day.

As for Skeptiks question. Did you not read the posted article, or are you stirring again? They will hold a final draw and dish up all the remaining vehicle.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Nope.. its R10 per entry... per day.

As for Skeptiks question. Did you not read the posted article, or are you stirring again? They will hold a final draw and dish up all the remaining vehicle.
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a Very expensive stunt. They'll be out of 100 BMW's which they paid for and the people can sue for their money back as it has been label'd as illegal

tsik tisk tisk :D
 
It could turn out to be an expensive stunt, but somehow I think Vodacom will have covered most of the costs, because the majority of people wouldn't bother to claim back the R30 or R40 they spent... Yes the ppl who spent thousands may try and claim back, but its no guarantee that they'll get it back.
 
1. One person could get a court order, ordering Vodacom to pay back all the people (With grounds ofc, we don't know the full story yet)

And Virgin would have received a huge amount of Publicity and their R 48k back :D Damn, don't you like "risk taking" marketing

Sir Branson is going to give the guy that made that call a huge bonus :eek:
 
great news. Those guys who had bills amounting to several thousand must be so happy. They have a firm legal reason to challenge it.
 
I don't think this will go to court per se...

It will go to the Consumer Affairs Court, which probably doesn't set precedents in that kind of way, though I do stand to be corrected on this, just that the wording on the article seems to indicate that it will be judged on a case by case basis.
 
Pitbull said:
I personally wish they would stop all the sms subscription services - 35050 as example. and all these k@k they have on tv and and and. the country would be a little better if they gone :)
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I'm with you. It has taken ages to train the kids not to sms those numbers and to understand that the tiny illegible crap on the TV ad that vaguely looks like "subscription" something before the picture changes is just a license to rape their limited cell accounts.
 
Yeah, those subscription services suck, except for the ones etv punts late at night.. They're amusing to watch :p
 
aadil said:
great news. Those guys who had bills amounting to several thousand must be so happy. They have a firm legal reason to challenge it.
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And still a chance to win a BMW :D

I don't think this will go to court per se...

It will go to the Consumer Affairs Court, which probably doesn't set precedents in that kind of way, though I do stand to be corrected on this, just that the wording on the article seems to indicate that it will be judged on a case by case basis.
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I agree, I would however be looking at capitalising on this if I was Vodacom. What marketing would they not get if they out of their own free will published that they will reund all costs ?

To beat the race. Start running ealry ;)
 
A little fact that some people might not be aware of is that what ever the service ( competition , downloads etc ) where a cellphone number is used as a billing service, the cellular provider takes 30% of the transaction irrespective.

For eg: the Nelson Mandela charity fund that was a sms service a while ago ? 30% went to the cellular providers.

Of course with the Vodacom competition this point is moot as they are a cellular provider but I thought I'd bring it up.
 
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