After two nights of thrilling football action that saw both Liverpool and Tottenham progress to The Champions League Final, Zavvi created even more thrills. Customers woke up on Thursday to discover that they too would be heading to Madrid to watch the all Premier League Final. However the excitement of “we’re going to the final” turned to annoyance and disappointment when more and more winners emerged. Zavvi quickly announced that they’d made an error and the “win” was infact a “non-win”.
This Email Was Sent In Error
On their website they posted the following announcement: “You might have received an email from us this morning congratulating you on winning tickets to The UEFA Champions League Final. Unfortunately, this email was sent in error and we are very sorry. There is only one official winner who has been contacted separately. Please keep an eye on your inbox for further updates”. We’re aware that as a token of goodwill Zavvi offered all effected by the mistake a 15% discount. Usually we do sympathise with the promoter in these cases, but it’s understandable that some people are genuinely upset by the error. The thrill of seeing your side qualify for a final becomes enhanced when you discover you’ve won tickets. That thrill is then massively deflated when the win turns out to be wrong. However there has to be balance and a mistake like this is not the end of the world.
More Than A Discount?
That said, a 15% discount is just a token apology and one that ultimately benefits Zavvi more than their disappointed entrants. Zavvi aren’t the first big brand to make a screw up of a competition announcement. Back in 2012 Boots sent over 9000 emails to entrants of a holiday competition to let them know they’d won a trip to Barcelona (The Daily Mail). This mistake was also attributed to a technical error. As an apology Boots offered all entrants a £10 voucher plus a second chance to win a holiday. Technical errors will occasionally occur. It’d be lovely if Zavvi had to pay out on every winning email that they sent but that’s unrealistic. However, we do feel that they could have offered something other than just a discount.
An Option For A Second Prize Draw?
An option for a second prize draw as Boots did could have been an appropriate course of action. A Champion’s League Final ticket may be out of the question but a trip to Madrid or tickets to Spurs/Liverpool next season could have been offered? Of course not everyone would be satisfied but it may have given the story a more positive spin. The newspapers have given this mistake by Zavvi a lot of coverage and it’s attracted a lot of social media comments. Given that football this week has been all about dramatic comebacks we wonder whether Zavvi will now review their error and add to the original discount offer to make amends?