Taco Bell Apologizes For PS Vita Contest Mistakes

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Taco Bell Apologizes For PS Vita Contest Mistakes


Taco Bell has apologized to customers who were mistakenly told they'd won draws for a PlayStation Vita, but that may not be enough to keep the company out a legal hassle.

If you're a Taco Bell connoisseur, you've probably noticed the Taco Bell website [http://unlock.tacobell.com/], then sit back and cross your fingers. There's a winner every 15 minutes! But some of those "winners," Taco Bell now says, weren't actually winners at all.

The trouble first came to light a couple of weeks ago, when a number of customers began complaining that they'd received winning notifications but were subsequently ignored, even after making contact with the company. Several were told it could take a few days to verify their entries, but little headway was made until Taco Bell sent a statement to Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5884142/this-taco-bell-playstation-vita-contest-seems-a-little-weird] suggesting that shenanigans were afoot. "The Unlock the Box promotion has been tremendously popular with consumers who want to get their hands on a Sony Vita but unfortunately a small group of people have tried to game the system," it said.

A later statement clarified that position slightly, claiming that nearly all complaints were "from people who had the URL for the winner's page but who did NOT have winning entries." The company said it was continuing to work to ensure that all legitimate winners received Vitas, and several members of a "Taco Bell Vita" Facebook group [https://www.facebook.com/groups/299009933482352/] have stated that they have in fact received their systems.

And now the bad news: Taco Bell has confirmed that the errant winner messages were in fact triggered by someone dicking around with the system. "We have learned that during a short period of time on January 30th, some people entering our 'Unlock the Box' promotion erroneously received a message suggesting they had won a PlayStation Vita, pending verification," the company said. "It was confirmed these entrants viewed these messages as a result of others who attempted to gain illegal entry and defraud the system. Unfortunately, during this time period some saw a confirmation screen but were not valid winners."

To make up for it, everyone who received a false positive winner's message will be entered into a separate draw for a second shot at a PS Vita. That probably won't be enough to keep the aggrieved customers happy, though; talk in the Facebook group has taken an entirely unsurprising turn toward lawsuits and attorney Eric Ratinoff said that regardless of the circumstances that led to the false notifications, Taco Bell has an obligation to deliver the goods.

"If Taco Bell had a problem with the way they ran their own sweepstakes, that should be their own problem," he said.

The "Unlock the Box" contest is ongoing and runs until March 11.

Source: chronobreak [http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/taco-bell-apologises-for-rejected-vita-winners] for the tip.




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Whytewulf

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Dec 20, 2009
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If fraud was involved, they could void the whole thing.. I don't think Eric, I want to get my name in the paper, Ratinoff would agree, that if he ran a contest that was manipulated by outside influences, he is liable?
 

Yopaz

Sarcastic overlord
Jun 3, 2009
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I can't imagine how pissed the "winners" who didn't actually win must be now. I know I would fly off the handle if this happened to me.
 

Bloodtrozorx

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Jan 23, 2012
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Andy Chalk said:
That probably won't be enough to keep the aggrieved customers happy, though; talk in the Facebook group has taken an entirely unsurprising turn toward lawsuits and attorney Eric Ratinoff said that regardless of the circumstances that led to the false notifications, Taco Bell has an obligation to deliver the goods.
Why does everything have to come down to lawsuits? They didn't have a Vita then have it taken away, they are out nothing but a roll of the dice and some money spent on questionable food. Seems petty to sue over.
 

DigitalSushi

a gallardo? fine, I'll take it.
Dec 24, 2008
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Whytewulf said:
If fraud was involved, they could void the whole thing.. I don't think Eric, I want to get my name in the paper, Ratinoff would agree, that if he ran a contest that was manipulated by outside influences, he is liable?
Damn straight Whytewulf, if Taco Bell can prove hacking dicking about with the system caused the false positives then surely they don't have to fulfil the erroneous winning tickets, no matter how loud an attorney's roar is

Willy Wonka would not stand for this!

edit: Just realised, not only are Taco Bell food products made from additives and false produce such as emulsifiers, but so are their competitions! CHORTLE CHORTLE! I MAKE FUNNY!
 

chronobreak

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Sep 6, 2008
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We are not letting the big guys get one over on the little guys. There is only around 300 people who were affected by this. Now, they open up a contest to give away an extra 100- why not hust give the 300 people the Vita, no contest, no shenanigans, and be done with it? If not, they will have to eat the court costs and bad publicity. It's their choice, seems simpler to do the right thing, we are just trying to push them in that direction.
 

Shannon Goodman

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Feb 24, 2012
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I am one of the Jan. 30th winners and a member of the facebook group. Taco Bell has NOT apologized for anything, the mass email that was sent contained NO apology what so ever! We have been ignored, called cheaters and now they have denounced us as winners, this is not going to be swept the table!
 

Wolfram23

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Mar 23, 2004
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If it said "you won, pending verification" there is no lawsuit. It was checked, and determined invalid. Done.

At the same time, PR wise, they should probably just give those people a Vita.
 

Hungry Donner

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Mar 19, 2009
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Wolfram01 said:
If it said "you won, pending verification" there is no lawsuit. It was checked, and determined invalid. Done.
I'm no lawyer, but usually these things are legalese up the wazoo to cover them.

However given that they initially accused these people of cheating I think at the very least they should send out some coups for a few free big boxes - and make sure they arrive while the contest is still going (assuming it still is).
 

Hitchmeister

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Nov 24, 2009
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Instead of unleashing their legal and PR departments on fending off unhappy victims of this fraud, Taco Bell and it's parent company should simply pony up for Vitas for all the bogus winners and devote themselves to tracking down and suing the perpetrators for their expenses. They'll most likely never collect. But the enormous PR boon from doing the right thing, even though it wasn't their fault would be worth more than that amount of money spent on advertising ever could ever buy them.
 

RaikuFA

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Jun 12, 2009
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You guys are forgetting the worst part.

They had to eat at Taco Bell. That in itself is bad.
 

antipunt

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Jan 3, 2009
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RaikuFA said:
You guys are forgetting the worst part.

They had to eat at Taco Bell. That in itself is bad.
Aaannndd this thread was officially worth going into.
 

Epona

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Bloodtrozorx said:
Andy Chalk said:
That probably won't be enough to keep the aggrieved customers happy, though; talk in the Facebook group has taken an entirely unsurprising turn toward lawsuits and attorney Eric Ratinoff said that regardless of the circumstances that led to the false notifications, Taco Bell has an obligation to deliver the goods.
Why does everything have to come down to lawsuits? They didn't have a Vita then have it taken away, they are out nothing but a roll of the dice and some money spent on questionable food. Seems petty to sue over.
I never eat at Taco Bell but I was thinking of going to get that $5 box for a chance to win a $250 handheld. I would have been upset wasting my money there for a bogus contest.

Anyone remember the scandal involving the Monopoly game at McDonalds years ago.
 

orangeapples

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Aug 1, 2009
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RaikuFA said:
You guys are forgetting the worst part.

They had to eat at Taco Bell. That in itself is bad.
I paid 5 dollars and just asked them for the box. They said I had to get the food too...
 

harvz

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Jun 20, 2010
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first of all, the way they are handling this is completely wrong, either honor the incorrect winners or dont.
second, how many people were told they would get vita's? i mean, if its like 10 people, it would be easier to just give them vitas and an apology for ignoring them. but if it was 1000's, it would not be reasonable to honor that.
 

SinisterDeath

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Nov 6, 2006
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Free is free, its alot like the lottery really. Even if you win, sometimes you have to share it with 5000 other people.
 

Coles_Law

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Jul 13, 2009
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I've got to side with Taco Bell on this one. Suppose you were holding a charity raffle, giving away a Hawaii vacation to the winner, and I start selling fake tickets and pocketing the money. As a result, when the winnong ticket is called, five people step forward with it. Should you have to give away five vacations?

It's a lousy situation, but I can't blame Taco Bell.
 

darksakul

Old Man? I am not that old .....
Jun 14, 2008
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I just read the contest rules on http://unlock.tacobell.com/official-rules/

Section 2, second to last sentience.

Taco bell said:
If you are the first player to enter a Code on or after the predetermined time and date for any prize and receive a game message that says ?Congratulations, you?re a winner?, you win the prize indicated, subject to verification.
"subject to verification" is the last part of that quote

That means under Taco Bell's own rules, despite the fact that contest players wrongly saw the "you are a Winner" page even if not by their own actions are not winners.

Taco Bell did nothing wrong, they are sticking to there own rules of the contest

Sadly I can not stick up for the little guy for this one, Taco Bell has the right to refuse those PS Vita units.