Competition Irritants (update 13/6)
Other
Hate it when comps don't clearly show closing date, especially when you are trying to share. Hate it when there are loads of address lines and you only need 1 each for street, town, county and postcode yet they are all mandatory: I end up putting my town twice! And don't you just love it when you have already entered a holiday comp only to find flights are not included lol.
There are loads of mini break comps and I really get fed up when I have to keep looking up on Google to find where they are. Neither the poster nor the comp itself tells you but it would be nice to know without searching so you can judge if a one night stay is worth travelling to the other end of the country.
Sorry everyone but back again with a pet peeve. A day or two ago I had two comps removed as they were local events. It was my own fault as I didn't read the reams of conditions that stated you had to live in certain postcode areas....even though it covered a huge area. I have always felt that you should be able to enter a comp when it is open to all of UK no matter how small, the prize may be worth a visit, weekend away, or suitable for friends/family who live near.
There is an advent calendar comp presently online where every prize is for Ireland residents only. I did not want to report so commented hoping the poster would notice. Still up next day so did report but it is still on. It seems one rule for some and not others.
Hello Lyn. 
After a long break, I have recently got back into comping and there is something about it that frustrates me a little. I notice that there is an increasing number of companies turning to social media to host their competitions. Whilst I do use social media, I don't trust it when it comes to competitions as social media is riddled with scammers and it is very easy to create a fake account. And don't get me started on the comment sections on social media competition posts, particularly Facebook, where people feel the need to give their life stories, usually sob ones.
RegularComper91 Hi Welcome back. Yes I agree. I totally avoid any competitions other than website these days and the occasional email ones, but they are generally not worth entering.
However, I have recently noticed two good changes to comps. The first is there seems to be more where you do not have to keep delving into the cookie hassle, more are accepting 'reject' and still allow you to proceed.
The second are the magazine comps which are so quick now. Just click enter after clicking your answer and confirm comes up immediately. I think I must have halved the time I spend on them now, though to be honest I don't do them every day anymore as I have not had a sniff of a win for so long.
Anyway, good luck, you may find a few wins as you have been off the scene for a while.
Lynibis Yes, I like those magazine comps and have had a few nice wins from them in the past, and am now getting back into the habit of entering daily like I used to. Best of luck to both of us that we will win something again very soon. 
Another irritant is that a lot of staycation holiday comps are only for the one night, though they are great if you don't live too far away I suppose. Personally I don't think it's worth traveling any longer than two hours just for the one night. I only enter staycation comps if they're two nights or more.
RegularComper91 I could have written your comment word for word as I too have always felt this. A one night break is no break at all by the time you arrive. Usually can't book in until midday and have to check out by 11am. No time to do anything. To rub salt in the wound some give lots of extras like tickets to attractions, dinner, afternoon tea etc that you would not be able to fit in. If it is somewhere I would love to go I would probably pay for an extra night but like you 2 or (maybe a bit more) hours driving is my limit.
EDIT just posted one for Dartmouth break lol.
There’s a Facebook competition with Cotton Traders win £100. Is this genuine or a scam? The comments have it look like you are the winner until you look down the comments and nearly every other person has identical message they are THE winner. Can’t make out if totally cloned website or genuine or is it just the comments that are scammers? How would they actually contact you if it was real? Also it asks for credit card details promising they won’t take any payment, its just verification. Alarm 
bells! I don’t have a credit card anyway. They wouldn’t do that would they?
JLouM it is definitely a scam as we are always told if they ask for credit card or similar they are scamming. Why would they ask if they are wanting to give you something, i.e. Comp win.
I think they have mucked up this time as they probably should have DM'd, anyone looking will think same as you....we can't all be winners.
I never enter comps on social media.
JLouM Social media is unforuntately riddled with scammers and it is so easy to create fake accounts. I avoid social media comps like the plague for that reason.
Don't you just hate how you receive an email with the subject saying something along the lines of "Winner!" or "Congratulations!" only for you to then open the email and find that it is actually congratulating someone else. I'd much rather they wouldn't email me unless I have won.
Another email one is when I am told I have 'won' a runner-up prize of something like 10% off a minimum of £500 spend.
RegularComper91 I once 'won' a comp for a voucher for an amount to spend on blinds. When I contacted them I was told the minimum spend was about 4 times the amount of the voucher!
Clever way to get a sale as I expect they just wrote off their profit on that one so in effect cost them nothing.
My latest irritant is today having a comp removed because you must say what you actually win. Well I put the title as in the comp and it was to win deliaonline reading list with a picture of several books and first line of description being we have 5 books to give away. I find this very petty as it is blatantly clear what the prize is. I can't be bothered amending as I did it 3x once and it was still not acceptable. I have seen many comps without an adequate prize description that stay put but I seem to have many at one time removed when it is nearly impossible to make the prize any clearer.
I am far more concerned with comps for mini breaks and overnighters that don't mention where the stay is located. I am not going to travel from Essex to Edinburgh for a one night stay and have to waste time googling where the place is!!!
Went shopping and bought a jar of homepride pasta bake with a comp on the jar. I have just gone online to enter my details and up popped 'our records show you have already entered 5 times'. Well, I can assure you I haven't!
The comp only started on 3/6/24 and I am sure I would remember entering 5 times in the last 10 days as my memory is pretty good. If it were one I might think oh well, but 5, no way. I haven't bought the product for months. The only one I may get muddled is Sheerluxe comps as there are so many, very similar, and I get them on email and on here. Has this happened to anyone else.
Lynibis I am sure I have had something similar in that the code on a label has already been used - when I know it hasn't. It is a big strike against using that company in the future when it happens.
tumblespots this was peculiar because no purchase was necessary and I didn't even know about the comp until I saw it on the label, so there was no code.
Lynibis If no code was need are you sure you hadn't entered from a comp someone posted online? Sad person as I am, I have an excel file in which I write all competition entries I make (sorted by closing date) so that I know what I have entered 
tumblespots absolutely sure, the website was quite bright and eye catching and I do use the product often. And as I said I would certainly remember if I had entered 5 times in the last 10 days.
Lynibis Weird, but I believe you, as I remember almost all the entry pages I open, and as you say some are unmistakable. Do you have a second email address you could enter with?
tumblespots it won't let me get that far. Immediately the page comes up it shows the message about having entered 5 times. As Toyah once sang..........It's a mystery....
If you fancy entering the website is winwithhomepride.co.uk/
Lynibis OOh, I remember that well.
If that happened with me I would clear my cookies because the laptop itself forgets what I have entered. This could work if the homepride page doesn't remember you too?
I appreciate the link but I wouldn't use those prizes so haven't entered, incidentally, it has already been posted www.latestdeals.co.uk/competitions/chance-win-1-50-days-winwithhomepride
tumblespots thanks Mrs T I will look at the one on here and see if it lets me enter. To be honest I wouldn't have bothered as all the kids in my family are late teen or adult but I thought I would enter for my neighbours who have 5 kids 12 and under.
I recently had a comp removed because is was local. Fair enough for a garden fete or local small festival but this was for a major equine event at Hickstead. Well, I ask you, how many sporting events move around? They don't remove football match tickets because they are local?? I would have thought that all sporting events are local.
tumblespots yes i know what you mean, it seems some of the rules on this site/app are not applied universally and so it ends up actually putting people off posting certain things like competitions. It does take a little but of time and effort to post things, so becomes frustrating when they are removed with no real logic.
I had a freebie removed as it was first 9000 claimed, i was told since it didn’t say how many were left to claim it was a competition rather than a freebie. Ok if that’s the rules fair enough, except i’ve seen other freebies of this type that have not been deemed competitions.
jms19 I agree, I think freebies can be the trickiest to post and to keep posted. It has taken me years to get it (almost) right, but I still post 4 each day rather than 3 in case one is bumped off 
I find it quite worrying that you were advised to post a freebie as a comp though as they rarely state how many are remaining.
Lynibis Yes. If it is a competition, then it is a competition. Entrants are free to check the Ts&Cs to make sure that they are eligible to enter. I think they stop some because they say they haven't enough 'space' (on the server?).
tumblespots I have often wondered about space but as I am not a computer buff am scared of making a fool of myself. But here goes: They could delete everyone's entered comps, delete all expired comps (the dailies could be saved by members), all out of date deals, vouchers, freebies etc, all chats that go back more than 18 months and so on.
Lynibis I am a technophobe too but I agree. The old vouchers, deals and freebies that are about 3 months old or more could easily be deleted to make way for other things. I am sure there could be a way to delete the older 'closed' comps too. And, as for chats, they too go back to when time, sorry, LD began and loads of those could be deleted.
I have just received an email from toddleabout website to enter a comp. No other news or info. What's wrong with that I hear you cry............the comp ended on May 31st!
I dont like it if they transfer you to instagram as i dont use it much - but thats just personal choice. Then its the fact that I seem to get bombarded with emails from different companies after.
suevernon1968 I hate it and immediately delete. The very first comp I entered on Instagram I got scammed but luckily didn't fall for it. I never agree to subscribe unless it is mandatory or the prize is really worth having.
Lynibis I’m quite savvy on not getting scammed - but if they are after money they would be gutted as i only receive benefits lol
Not sure if anybody else is suffering from this Competition Irritant, or if it's just me -
I'll click the link for a competition on here, a new page opens and the competition loads, except when the competition page is almost loaded the page then refreshes and go to the particular websites homepage.
I then have to close that window, re click on the competition link on LD, and this time the competition loads without any issues.
Maybe it's a problem my end with Google Chrome or some such, I would say it happens on half the links I click on.
I have a couple of moans about the magazine comps.
I am now having to click "Confirm entry" on every single comp that I enter as opposed to it going through automatically. Also, it keeps asking me to do the captcha thing. I enter around 100 of those magazine comps a day which is already time consuming as it is, let alone the added irritants which make it even more so.
RegularComper91 I think different gadgets must be different as I have had to confirm for a very long time but only a second or so between enter and confirm.
Do you mean having to wait for the ad box to count down before you confirm? Don't know what tech you use, I am on kindle fire and have found that if I hit enter and then immediately hit the ad box it goes straight to congrats. Some of the mag comps still have enter and confirm with no ads in between.
For a couple of days I had to keep logging in, when they moved to new logging in, but it was soon sorted.
RegularComper91 I sometimes have to watch a video on magazine sites before I can submit my entry. Luckily it is usually only for 5 seconds.
My big irritant is when you have the option of subscribing, and choose not to, hit enter/submit and up pops 'thanks for subscribing'. So annoying.
Lynibis Or when you don't tick the box so it won't let you enter.
In that case it's not really a tick box option!
blacklabrador exactly! When you do have the choice and choose not to subscribe and 10 minutes later receive an email saying 'thanks for subscribing'. Ooops just repeated myself but hard to delete comments!
While we're at it - Competition sites that auto play adverts with loud sound or music while you wait for the entry to go through.
I thought competitions were run to encourage people onto sites to buy/consume content - one thing is for sure, I can't get out of your loud site fast enough if you assault my eardrums.
blacklabrador lol, I never have my sound on anyway, unless watching YouTube or similar, but I feel same when I have left it on accidentally
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