Competitions

But you wouldn't know who won would you? You wouldn't know the person so knowing the name is irrelevant. I sometimes get emails saying sorry that I haven't won but here is a discount, or something similar. And the bkd baking site announces the name in bold colour. Apart from that, once I have entered I forget about the comp and it's a nice surprise on the rare occasions I do win. If they aren't real we won't know and nothing we could do anyway.

As lynnibis says you occasionally get emails saying you aren't a winner - sometimes they do give a first name and a town but in all honesty would you want your name spread around? l prefer my anonymity. That said - a lot of competitions do include in their terms and conditions that the winners details can be made available to you on request. Me - not that bothered, once I've pressed the entered button I've forgotten it - the only thing it's cost me is a few seconds of time.

If you check the terms & conditions of a competition it often indicates if the winner's name will appear on the site or they may provide an address (or email address) for the promoter so you can write to them to find out. But, a name in itself doesn't really mean much. If the competition is on a legitimate site the prize should be genuine. If any company frequently offered phantom prizes they should be found out fairly quickly.

Some companies do send an email with winner's name

I get emails with 'sorry you haven't won this time' but they never say who the winner was. Occasionally there is a 5 - 20% discount that I never use.

I have won. Recently won a Pigs Pantry Afternoon Tea hamper with Red and on Sunday I am off for a testing session won through Muddy Stiletoe. I have a 43 inch smart TV I won via a radio app over 10 years ago and I also won a bottle of Vodka from Chase. So yes, I can confirm that many of the competitions are real and there are real winners. The Bauer group of mags do send me an email regularly with their list of winners for that month.