Continuing Saga RCCL Biggest Fan (Long Boring Post)

As some of you know, I was chosen as one of the winners in RCCL's
Biggest Fan Contest (even though I am certainly not their biggest fan).

On August 12, I received a registered letter from someone at some
marketing firm in NY, telling me that my entry (a photo on the
Brilliance and a little story) had been chosen as an "alternate Third
Prize Winner" (whatever the f--k that is) in RCCL's Biggest Fan Contest.
The letter then stated that since one of the other prize winner had
turned down their prize, my prize was to be a Krups (didn't they produce
crematoria ovens in Nazi Germany?) programmable coffee maker/grinder and
years worth (two 12 oz bags per month) of Seattle's Best coffee. The
letter included a bunch of release forms that I had to fedex back along
with a picture of myself. I sent all of this back immediately and
called two days later to verify that it was received.

About 3 weeks later, I got a call from someone (only God knows who) at
RCCL, confirming that I had won this prize and telling me that it would
be shipped to me within two weeks. During these two weeks, RCCL listed
my name on their web site as a winner of some ****ty luggage. In the
beginning of October, I started making calls to RCCL to find out why I
had not received any prize. Nobody that I talked with knew anything
about the contest.

I called the Crown & Anchor Society (which is not a society at all),
which sponsored the contest. They knew nothing about it but said they
would get back to me. They never did.

I called corporate marketing on my own dime (no toll free number here).
They knew nothing about this, but said they would get back to me.
They never did.

Last Monday, I called the woman who sent me the letter telling me that I
had won the prize. She said she had received one other complaint and
thus, she would look into the matter and get back to me. I asked her
who at RCCL had hired her firm to administer the contest. She said that
her firm was hired by another firm that RCCL had hired. She would check
with that other firm and get back to me that day. It has been four days
and she has not gotten back to me.

On Tuesday, I called Crown and Anchor and got a very nice dude named
Christopher on the line. He knew nothing about the contest but he did
look in my file and see that there was a note that someone at RCCL had
contacted me in the very beginning of October. I responded "yes, please
give me that persons name and phone number!" He replied that the
persons name was not listed in the note. I responded, "please tell me
what department they work for." He replied that this was also not
listed in the note. He took my phone number and promised to get back to
me by 5 PM on Tuesday. IT's now 7:20PM on Wednesday and Christopher has
never gotten back to me

Curious and Curiouser

When I got back home today at 4:00 PM, there was a package at my door
containing 3, 12 oz bags of Seattle's Best coffee. The package was
addressed to me; however, the invoice inside the package was addressed
to some dude in Boise, Idaho and billed to some woman at a different
address in Idaho (I live in Delaware).

So as it now stands, I've received three bags of coffee (although I was
supposed to receive 2/month for a year) and no coffee maker. No one at
RCCL knows who I am or anything about the contest. No one at RCCL or
any firms they contract with has returned a single call to me.

I think I should recommend to RCCL that they run a new contest to pick a
person who has received the biggest run-around from their company. Who
knows, I might win the grand prize that I will never receive.

Howard - who doesn't give a **** about the prize but also doesn't seem
capable of letting this matter rest.

Howard, you left out the fact that you were told you were picked as an
alternate 3rd prize winner but that the prize mentioned in the letter
was the prize for 2nd place.

So somebody (everybody?) was confused right from the start.

Still, one must never look a gift horse (gift cruiseline) in the mouth.

I, for one, will enjoy the coffe.

Eileen

Howard Garland wrote:

As some of you know, I was chosen as one of the winners in RCCL's
Biggest Fan Contest (even though I am certainly not their biggest fan).

On August 12, I received a registered letter from someone at some
marketing firm in NY, telling me that my entry (a photo on the
Brilliance and a little story) had been chosen as an "alternate Third
Prize Winner" (whatever the f--k that is) in RCCL's Biggest Fan Contest.
The letter then stated that since one of the other prize winner had
turned down their prize, my prize was to be a Krups (didn't they produce
crematoria ovens in Nazi Germany?) programmable coffee maker/grinder and
years worth (two 12 oz bags per month) of Seattle's Best coffee. The
letter included a bunch of release forms that I had to fedex back along
with a picture of myself. I sent all of this back immediately and
called two days later to verify that it was received.

About 3 weeks later, I got a call from someone (only God knows who) at
RCCL, confirming that I had won this prize and telling me that it would
be shipped to me within two weeks. During these two weeks, RCCL listed
my name on their web site as a winner of some ****ty luggage. In the
beginning of October, I started making calls to RCCL to find out why I
had not received any prize. Nobody that I talked with knew anything
about the contest.

I called the Crown & Anchor Society (which is not a society at all),
which sponsored the contest. They knew nothing about it but said they
would get back to me. They never did.

I called corporate marketing on my own dime (no toll free number here).
They knew nothing about this, but said they would get back to me. They
never did.

Last Monday, I called the woman who sent me the letter telling me that I
had won the prize. She said she had received one other complaint and
thus, she would look into the matter and get back to me. I asked her
who at RCCL had hired her firm to administer the contest. She said that
her firm was hired by another firm that RCCL had hired. She would check
with that other firm and get back to me that day. It has been four days
and she has not gotten back to me.

On Tuesday, I called Crown and Anchor and got a very nice dude named
Christopher on the line. He knew nothing about the contest but he did
look in my file and see that there was a note that someone at RCCL had
contacted me in the very beginning of October. I responded "yes, please
give me that persons name and phone number!" He replied that the
persons name was not listed in the note. I responded, "please tell me
what department they work for." He replied that this was also not
listed in the note. He took my phone number and promised to get back to
me by 5 PM on Tuesday. IT's now 7:20PM on Wednesday and Christopher has
never gotten back to me

Curious and Curiouser

When I got back home today at 4:00 PM, there was a package at my door
containing 3, 12 oz bags of Seattle's Best coffee. The package was
addressed to me; however, the invoice inside the package was addressed
to some dude in Boise, Idaho and billed to some woman at a different
address in Idaho (I live in Delaware).

So as it now stands, I've received three bags of coffee (although I was
supposed to receive 2/month for a year) and no coffee maker. No one at
RCCL knows who I am or anything about the contest. No one at RCCL or
any firms they contract with has returned a single call to me.

I think I should recommend to RCCL that they run a new contest to pick a
person who has received the biggest run-around from their company. Who
knows, I might win the grand prize that I will never receive.

Howard - who doesn't give a **** about the prize but also doesn't seem
capable of letting this matter rest.