Life is like a sandcastle something beautiful here for awhile & then gone, but the impression it makes on others can last forever.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Prizes, contests, giveaways in general

I just wanted to take a minute to speak to my readers and followers about contest winning and prize shipment. (Maybe your new to this?) First thing everyone here has been great on waiting and responding in a timely fashion if something is not shipped to you in a certain amount of time. I appreciate the patience and y'all are wonderful. I decided to post this because I've seen a little excitement on public sites about shipment and non shipment of prizes.

Usually there is a four to six week shipping period ( I have even seen up to 10 weeks) for sponsors we allow them that time, unless a predetermined time is communicated. Then if a product has not made it to your home. Let me know or any other blog owner. I work very hard to make sure my readers receive their prize and most all other blog owners do this too. I have a few winners that have had to contacted in the past and we tracked down what had happen to their shipment and prizes. I'm here to help and my blog is nothing without the support of you my readers.

That being said, my sponsors ship the prizes unless I note different in my giveaways.
I do not tolerate Prize Non-Fulfillment & I do not ship prizes. Companies will be responsible for shipment of prizes. Please note if a giveaway is offered and the prize is not shipped, I will post the Names, Communications, Etc. Consider yourself warned.

I honestly have had the opportunity to work with great companies & people. They respect themselves and other and show good business ethics. There have been very few cases when a sponsor becomes unresponsive to emails, direct message, calls, etc. and I remind them of my policy and things are resolved quickly.
Recently, I have seen a tweet about winners contacting the company instead of contacting the blog owner first. Don't do this unless the blogger will not communicate or the blog owner tells you to contact the company. Talk to your blogger. I hate to say this but, sometimes it is out of the bloggers hands. If they are communicating back and forth and trying their hardest to get you your shipment, try not to be mad if it goes to crap and the sponsor #fails. Sometimes too a Blogger can #Fail too.

I have had this happen twice to me from contests I'd entered. Both bloggers really tried communicating back and forth, I could tell. It was very small prizes so I did not persist it. I did take it as a learning experience of how my blog would operate. Most bloggers will not know if you did not get your prize, if you do not tell them!! Speak Up!!

Advise: Talk to your Blogger.

8 comments:

Cory said...

thanks! i've had this happen before where it had been few months and i hadn't received my winnings. so i contacted the blog owner, she contacted the sponsor and it turns out the person had left the company that was handling my winnings. everything got fixed really quickly and i received my winnings later that week.

I didn't realize it could take up to ten weeks to receive a prize though so thanks for sharing that. i will wait a bit longer next time to contact the blog owner just in case. thanks again!!

Life Is A SandCastle said...

Usually it is the big prizes that take the longest.:)

Michele said...

Thank you for the post! There have been a contest or two I've won and didn't get, but didn't know when to contact the blogger or even if I should bother them about it.

Texas Type A Mom said...

I still have one prize I have received that was won in December (from a big company that sponsors giveaways quite often). I did contact the blog owner and she said she was having issues with getting the company to respond to her inquiries. Not cool - I was really excited about this prize. And as a blog owner myself, it makes me wary to work with this company.

Life Is A SandCastle said...

Michele, it should never be a bother to anyone. Speak up:)

Texas Type A Mom, yes you are so right. whether companies realize it or not, to fall through on their commitments comprise their credibility. Also, this holds true for bloggers too. The communications lines through networking are always turning and believe me word does get around.

Life Is A SandCastle said...

Also, like Cory mentioned employees do change from companies and communication is broken. Usually it can be fixed. I have had this happen to me also.

The prize I won did not come, the blogger was nice and said she would check, never emailed me back. 15 weeks had passed and I already had a connection with another employee there, so I asked. Turned out, that was what had happened.

SweetShenanigans said...

Thanks for the post :)
I've had this happen to me.. five times. I did contact the blog owners and they said they will be on their way.. so far I've gotten one. I'm keeping a list of the one's I've still not gotten, and one is from august!

Grace said...

I always try to send an e-mail message to the blogger I won from and tell them I received the prize so they know.
PS. Congrats on being mentioned in Sam@HaveSippyWillTravel Fab Bloggers.