NEW Britain’s Competition & Prize Draw Magazine LOOK CompersCompers NewsNewswww.CompersNews.com • April 2016 FLORIDA FANTASY Your favourite comping magazine has a new look this month, but some things haven’t changed – like the non-stop flood of entries in our exclusive Golden Ticket Bingo game! Never mind Mrs Brown’s Boys, here are Ms Brown’s Girls – Angie Reynolds and her daughter Katie, in fact! Last year, Angie was lucky enough to win a trip to Florida to meet Ms Brown with M&M’s – a prize draw that we featured in Compers News and on Chatterbox. “We took Katie for her 13th Birthday Our Latest Wins... last October and didn’t tell her until she Compers News members have reported blew the candles out on her cake,” Angie these BIG prizes since our last issue! told us. “She couldn’t believe it when we ✓✓State-of-the-art heating put her in the car and drove straight to system worth £10,000 the airport, it was a wonderful surprise!” ✓✓£8,000 worth of Angie wins a Spot Prize of a £10 photographic equipment shopping voucher – plus a Bonus Prize ✓✓Once-in-a-lifetime trip to for including Compers News in her the Great Wall of China winning photo – and her entry will also ✓✓Luxury sofa worth £2,500 go into the main category draw for one ✓✓£1,000 worth of garden furniture of our top prizes – remember, we’ve And here’s just a small selection of the other got very special Golden Tickets to be prizes you’ve told us about during the past month! won for an exclusive Comping Day in London! One-week VIP ski-ing Luxury Lake District break Perfume-making With so many Golden Ticket Bingo and music festival VIP Lords cricket day workshop holiday in France Night at the BRITS Luxury Fortnum entries still flooding in, we’re once again Luxury London break iPad Air & Mason hamper printing a bumper selection of lucky worth £2,000 Michelin-starred dining Plus LOTS of £100 Dinner cooked by a experience in London Asda gift vouchers winning entries inside this month’s professional chef in Romantic glamping UEFA Champions League issue. And if all that wasn’t enough, we your own home break in Somerset merchandise from Walkers announce our next lucky Golden Ticket TWELVE Samsung £500 Virgin Experience Petrol refunds from Galaxy tablets Days gift voucher Lucozade winner too. Is it you? Family holiday to Nice £100 High Street And lots Turn to page 7 to find out! £500 gift card bundle shopping voucher more… Est. McDonald’s Monopoly is back! Full details on page 30 Editor’s Comment SI N C E 1913 Write to Steve at Compers News, PO Box 8763, Nottingham NG2 9BS or via [email protected] Compers News is the UK’s only magazine dedicated to competitions and prize draws. With classic comping titles including Competitors’ Journal, Competitor’s Welcome to your new Companion and Prize Draw Winner having joined us along the way, we can trace our comping heritage back to 1913. It’s an unrivalled history of which look Compers News we’re justifiably proud. Subscriptions irst of all this month, I’d like Although we’ve made most of the Payment and delivery queries, to wish everyone a Happy planned size and style changes this change of address etc: Easter. It only seems like month, we’ll be introducing our new- www.compersnews.com/subscribe [email protected] yesterday that I was busy look content rather more gradually 01795 592 835 Fputting the Christmas issue together, over the next few issues as current Compers News, 800 Guillat Avenue, Kent Science Park, Sittingbourne ME9 8GU but spring has now well and truly series and features reach their sprung and the (slightly!) warmer conclusions. Editorial weather and lighter evenings mean I do appreciate, of course, that not Reader stories, photos and contributions: www.compersnews.com/editorial that the thoughts of many people all of the changes will be welcomed [email protected] turn to DIY, gardening and days out. by everyone. Favourite formats and Compers News, PO Box 8763, Nottingham NG2 9BS Which is great for us compers, as it features may alter or could even Or you can send a Private Message means that entry numbers start to disappear completely. But please give via Chatterbox to: SteveCompersNews go down over the spring and summer my message in the last issue another Publisher months. So make sure that you take read for a more detailed explanation. Press, advertising and business queries: full advantage, and keep your own At the end of the day, it’s a VERY [email protected] entries up. challenging environment for Accolade Publishing Ltd., Ground Floor, 64 Clarendon Road, Watford WD17 1DA. As promised in the last issue, newspapers and magazines generally this month’s Compers News has at the moment – best illustrated Important information a new look. We’ve adjusted our by our last remaining competitor Compers News Vol. XVI No. IV April 2016 content to give priority to those magazine ceasing publication at the Editor: Steve Middleton features that scored best in our end of last year. Compers News will This publication is registered with the British Library recent reader survey – which told hopefully be here for a good while ISSN 2046-195X (Print) us loud and clear that the listings longer yet, but it’s important that we ISSN 2046-1968 (Online) and in-house puzzles are by far the take steps now to secure the printed ©2016 Accolade Publishing Limited. main priority for the vast majority magazine’s future. All rights reserved. No part of this of you as compers in 2016. We have Every single one of the changes publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. also tweaked our font colours, styles we’ve made – even the potentially We may monitor or record calls to and sizes to ensure that everything unpopular ones – have been informed maintain or improve our service. Printed in the United Kingdom. is clearer and easier to read. But by your survey replies, because Registered company no. 5228102. the most obvious change is the size the views of our readers are very of the magazine. Our new compact important to us. I’ve set up a special format will make it easier to carry thread on Chatterbox to explain the your Compers News around with changes in more detail, and to give you but, most importantly, costs you the opportunity to comment less for us to post out each month – on them. You can find the thread at ...it’s important especially with yet another increase www.tinyurl.com/NewLookCN - but in the price of stamps due very soon. please remember that this link will that we take steps This, in turn, makes the future of our only work if you’re a registered to secure the printed magazine even more secure Chatterbox user. – which was, overwhelmingly, your Good luck with your April entries, printed magazine’s biggest concern in our survey. and see you again next month. future. 2 Compers News • April 2016 • www.compersnews.com Comping Crusader Write to Comping Crusader at Compers News, PO Box 8763, Nottingham NG2 9BS or via [email protected] Not So Super... bit of a mixed bag of problems this month, so let’s start off with the biggest. Supermalt Ais a Caribbean soft drink sold in major supermarkets. They recently ran a big on-pack promotion, Supermalt Superwin, with lots of lovely prizes. Two Chatterbox members contacted me at almost the same time. They had both made several purchases and had accumulated Thomas Cook voucher wins of many hundreds of pounds. However, when the vouchers had arrived they were not real gift vouchers, but discount vouchers with lots of restrictions. This was not set out that they were for discounts and prize, with a total value of about in the terms and conditions and significant terms and conditions half their original win. They both members were obviously applied, such as a maximum of both asked my opinion and I very upset and disappointed. £100 off per holiday. contacted Mr Mutton, formerly of They both went on to refer the We think you have a valid point the IPM. His advice was to accept case to the Advertising Standards and, with a view to acting quickly, their offer, as they were under Authority. we’ll instruct the advertiser to no obligation to offer anything This was the ASA response: change their ad. We’ll ask them to at all. So, both winners came “I understand that you won make clear on the prizes page that out with something eventually, Thomas Cook vouchers, but when terms and conditions apply to the but it wasn’t a pleasant you received the vouchers, vouchers, and to provide a link to experience. This competition you learned the terms and conditions. We was administered by one of the will then get an assurance major handling houses, and from them that they will you have to question why they make those changes.” wrote such shoddy terms and After the ruling, the conditions? Surely they had terms and conditions enough experience to know that were indeed updated they were misleading people and Supermalt and could have anticipated the contacted both eventual outcome. I would like complainants to offer to commend both winners for a goodwill gesture. sticking with this and going to They were offered the ASA. I am very pleased that “real” Thomas Cook they both got something for vouchers and an additional all their trouble.