Competition Irritants (update 3/12)
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.
What gets me is when you have to enter a Captcha when entering, then they send an email that you have to click to confirm your entry, where you have to complete another Captcha!
I don't understand why with some comps, you get two separate text boxes for your house number and street name. Why not just have the house number and street name in one box?
I used to think that but then I moved to a house with a name (& no number) so I am very glad of them being separate now.
Ooohh so many! I loathe captchas. I hate it when competitions don't specify that they only want local entrants. I hate it when they specify no "professional compers" (like we're not all real people and potential consumers) I hate it when people gush on fb comps about how very desperately they want a prize (often complete with a cutesy gif) or worse use a sob story for a fairly nominal prize. (If you're going to churn out your dying relative or obscure disability save it for a an actual prize that might change your life not for a mug or a tub of body lotion) I hate it when people cheat. I hate it when people witch hunt people they think are cheats because *shock horror* they won something. I hate jealousy.
Bit of a misery today, me.... 
I agree hun. I have had a run in with a few bloggers and comapnies who have said compers are not allowed to enter.
Wow Suz, quite a list lol. But I do agree. I am no longer on fb but I too used to hate the sob stories,not least because it made me feel I had no right to win and that they assumed the best story would win.
Not sure why captchas have to be so grainy and obscure, I am sure a robot wouldn't know the difference if they used clear pics. Haven't come across the cheating scenario though. Hard to know the difference between a professional comper and one who does them regularly as a hobby!
That seems a bit mad, everyone has an equal chance to win and when do you cross the line from being a person who enters comps to a professional comper? Can you enter one a month or 100 and can you actually make a living from comps? If so then maybe you could be a professional, however I regard my day job as the professional one, crazy , crazy.
Lynibis Yes!! This is what drives me absolutely mad! Like what difference does a regular comper and professional have? They both have the same chance to win too
CAPTCHAS 
The only ones ever working for me first time around are the store fronts 
I despise the bridges, the cars, the pavements.... Well you get what I mean lol.
Yep and notice they are generally American for some reason, fire hydrants, cross walks and yellow taxis!
Just had one - start typing your address and it is supposed to appear in the drop down box - mine rarely does but they don't give you the option to manually put it in until you have typed the whole address.
Oh yes, very annoying! Don't see why address is needed if email and phone number given. How hard is it to just phone winner and ask address. So many entry forms want your life history and I really object to date of birth. Sufficient to answer yes to 'are you over 18?' If it is an alcohol comp.
I knew I did a topic years ago on this! I have just noticed that many of the instant entry mag comps have begun to load videos again before submitting your entry and letting you know if your answer was right. Now have to wait 30 seconds (some have always taken 10) but this will discourage me entering now as it takes so much longer.
On this, I always used to just go back to another browser tab and let the video play out.
But lately I've noticed the video will pause itself if it's not the tab/page you are viewing.
blacklabrador yes I have always noticed this, as if it is saying ok I will wait for you as you WILL watch this!
I am finding I waste so much time comping so am going to wean myself away as the return does not reflect the time spent on them. I have had 3 small wins in 2021 but nothing to get excited about. There are things I have put off for 3 years (house maintenance) so really must make the effort this year.
By the sounds of it, I have better luck with those daily entry magazine comps than some others do. I go to a new tab and the video (whenever there is one) plays in the background and once I go back to that tab my entry has gone through. The main comps which grate on me (at least used to as I no longer enter them) are those Winit ones.
RegularComper90 I still enter lots of the winit ones but they can be annoying with so many different captchca and various other things to get in the way. I tend to open 60 tabs all at once then page my way through them. most pages will go through quite quickly but the few that don't - well they can just drop off! The Google questionnaires are easy enough to deal with as you can just cancel out of them and usually enter straight away without filling anything else in.
Lynibis I'm going through a fairly lean spell myself at the moment, a couple of small wins but that's about it.
blacklabrador When this happens I pull the page out and let it carry on on it's own, while I continue to enter then just check it a minute later to make sure it went through.
I get really fed up with all the silly daily comps like take a break, absolute fm, graziadaily, mother and baby and so forth. Every day I go through the comps on here and mark as entered all of them as I have neither the time or inclination to enter them daily. No, it isn't obligatory but no point in entering just once for zero chance of winning.
I already have all the magazine ones in my saved posts and they take long enough.
I would prefer them not to be posted to be honest because anyone who diligently does them daily does not need each new one posted.
What gets me about those Winit comps is that there are 50+ different sites, which means that to have a minuscule chance at winning it's advisable to use every one of those sites daily. Whilst I do enter a lot of daily comps, I have no time for the Winit ones because there are so many sites providing them. The worse ones are those comps when you can enter once every hour. I think I'd have a better chance at winning the lottery. 
As for the magazine ones, I am okay with those as it only takes me about 45 mins in total to get through all the comps I wish to enter, and there's only around 21 sites. And I have won a prize from Womansweekly recently - a Morphy Richards soup maker. 
RegularComper90 I feel exactly the same. I have even whittled down the magazine ones to the instant entry rather than waiting 10 seconds. I do them while enjoying my first coffee of the day prior to work as I usually don't get picked up for first job until 10ish. Don't get me started on the hourly ones! So sad if you have time to do that.
I must be thick. I don't know how to post comps on here because every time I try it is nearly always deleted as a duplicate, even though no whoops msg comes up.
Today it says if it is running over other mediums (fb, Instagram etc) it must only be posted once. Well how do I know if it is posted on social media, I don't have any!
My comp today was from baking heaven. I posted directly from the comp entry form page and no whoops msg. It was then deleted as pipped to the post and the above msg given, but when I looked it was a totally different website but same prize.
It says on guidelines that when you post a comp it should go straight to entry form but some people post the page before so the url is different.
I would say nearly all my comps are removed and I really don't want to bother anymore.
Edit: the second of three today has now been removed.
Edit: third of four now removed but again promoted by a totally different company so who is to say it is not two separate comps. By removing one it means we can only enter the one that remains.
Lynibis Before I share a comp here, I usually use the search function. I quickly check the keywords from the comp, and from the results it's usually pretty easy to see if it's already been shared, even if it was shared from a different site than the one you want to share from. Same prize, same end date, same wording, same question, etc often means it's the same competition just on different sites that belong to the same company. I find searching is a more reliable way to avoid duplicates, as LD only give you the "whoops" message if you try to share the exact same link that someone else has already used.
angelik thanks for that it has made it a lot clearer. I have never found the search facility very good on here but I will take a minute or two longer to do as you suggest. Actually I went back to both comps and found (you were right) that they were over several sites but only one prize. The two sites seemed totally unrelated Echo and Walesonline!
I am so sick of every comp I post being either 'local event' or already posted. If the whole of Wiltshire, Thames valley and the chilterns is classed as a local event then I am a monkey's uncle!
In other words, people who live in those areas can't enter because 'it's not fair' on those who don't live there.
I did originally accept reasons given but I have had comps deleted because the prize is local (even though open to all) but what is the criteria for deciding how far people are willing to travel, even maybe stay overnight, or have friends and family there. A comp is a comp and it will always be swings and roundabouts, let people decide for themselves if they are eligible or wish to enter.
Having resurrected this post I will post another little irritant. I have seen at least 3 comps (there are probably loads more) where they quote things like 'your Christmas shopping taken care of' or one that blatantly quoted that the prize would be with you 'in time for Christmas' .
On checking closing dates and that prize would be delivered within 28 days, it was impossible to receive for Christmas!
Yes I've noticed when doing some comps thag despite being a Christmas prize it doesn't end until January. I notice this every year.
Yup, saw a comp about a month ago where the prize was one of those fancy (expensive) beauty product Advent calendars.
Now where I come from Advent Calendars are generally needed as November turns to December, so the 31st December closing date confused me more than a little.
They can easily get round the "in time for Christmas" thingummy, if they don't state "which Christmas", in fact if the closing date is after 25th December the earliest possible Christmas has to be the following year,
In relation to your previous comment. Some of the Hearst Magazine pages are currently doing an M&S Christmas hamper comp. Despite it being for Christmas, the comp doesn't end until early January. Every year, I come across Christmas comps which don't end until after the day they are supposed to be for. A bit silly.
Yes, they are among the ones I have seen, wonder if you'd get it for new year, or even Easter lol.
Lynibis I'd still eat it all the same though, should I win. Particularly if it's chocolate.
RegularComper90 here is a good one from Red online.
Family run, BlindsbyPost is offering you the chance to spruce up your home in time for Christmas with fabulous new blinds. The Β£500 voucher works across the website, giving you the opportunity to choose from a huge range of blinds.
This competition ends on 04/01/2022.
I've just been having a read through this topic. As a regular comper there are several things that I recognise and agree with. One that I had a few times - After entering a competition I'll be checking through my email inbox. I'll spot a message that starts with 'Remember that competition you entered recently CONGRATULATIONS YOU'VE WON'. I'll excitedly click to open the message which then continues with something like .....5% OFF if you place an order over Β£100. I never know whether to laugh or cry!
It'a a real downer isn't it? Even worse are the scammer ones although you don't have time to get excited because they are so obviously false.
I also hate getting emails telling me about a wonderful competition but when you open it you find you have to order loads of stuff to be put in the draw.
That is equally as bad as the subject header saying "CONGRATULATIONS!", only then for you to open the email and find that it's actually congratulating someone else. I personally couldn't care less about some random person I don't even know. If I don't win then I'd rather the promoter just don't contact me.
RegularComper90 I have always felt that as I certainly don't keep track of all I enter so they are forgotten as soon as I click send or submit.
I get that companies use competitions as a promotion and marketing device. I just find it annoying that they are claiming that you are a 'winner'. A quick Google search will often yield a better discount if you're actually wanting to place an order. I don't mind so much ones that say 'Sorry you didn't win this time but here's a discount as a thanks for entering'. It's down to the way they are worded for me personally.
It would be nice if there were more flexible holiday competitions. Almost always they are aimed at either couples or families of four.
I was disappointed yesterday when I saw a family cruise as a prize but not school holidays.
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