Win A House Competitions Move Complete
Welcome to another Loquax update. Remember that we don’t have a newsletter anymore so every month (or so) we’ll give a quick update about what’s going on at Loquax and add in some fun comping stories too. Occasionally we also remember to post updates on Facebook and Instagram so do remember to follow, like, share and do all the necessary things in order to see our posts. Of course there’s also the forum too. Talking about the forum, we’ve finally moved our win a house section into it’s new home. As with all changes there’s a bit of adjustment to get used to but it does seem that everyone so far has settled in and figured out the rules. Thankfully it’s also been a busy time for property prize draws with Tramway Path, Bounty, Omaze etc all launching new giveaways. However it’s not all good news as a site we mentioned in our last update, Ruffle, has closed down. This looked like quite a decent platform and as well as an expensive house in Solihull up for grabs they also were giving away holidays and cash. Details of the closure are pretty limited but we have blogged about it and do wonder whether they were paying out more than they were bringing in. If that was the case then getting out early was probably a sensible move.
Splash! Ah-Ah!
Back in July we updated our blog post on Countdown Competitions, a pay to enter prize draw site. That site has since closed down but the owner has decided to try again with a site called Splash Competitions. We updated this information on site and received the following comment from Splash Competitions “We are no way affiliated with Countdown Competitions”. We have evidence to disprove that comment but we don’t need that. Instead you just need to look at the post from 4th August on Splash Competition’s Facebook page. Basically a link was posted that resolved to Countdown Competitions before it became it’s new destination! Oops! Drops mic! Walks away!
Now we’ve adjusted the image to fit on screen better but we still have the original screenshot and you can check for yourself until Mr Splash Competitions decides to delete the 4th August post. What does this mean? Well before you spend time or money at Splash we strongly suggest you understand how it’s predecessor operated.
Street Cleaner Wins Holiday Competition
Sometimes the terms and conditions of a competition can be specific to a selected age group or profession but recently On The Beach hosted a giveaway with very specific terms. The winner could only be someone who “Must love Elvis Presley – Must be aged between 62 – 64 – Must be loved by the local community – Must be a street cleaner in Beckenham – Must have the surname Spiers”. Why such specific terms? Well this actually wasn’t a competition for all and sundry but an absolute amazing gesture from On The Beach. Paul Spiers is a roadsweeper in Beckenham. The local community there launched a GoFundMe page to raise funds to send Paul on holiday and amazingly they raised over £3000. However, the meanies at Veolia, his employer, said he couldn’t accept the fund as staff not allowed to accept any monetary gifts or incentives beyond their regular salary. After hearing this insanity, On The Beach stepped in and held a competition that only Paul could win. It’s not clear if On The Beach paid for the holiday or it was the GoFundMe page but either way it’s a clever way to sort out a silly situation. Thankfully Veolia don’t have objections about their staff winning prizes (imagine if that was a thing) and Paul can now head off for a fabulous break in Portugal. Veolia aren’t all bad though as they’ve matched the fundraiser amount and donated to Cancer Research UK (Sky News).
Red Flag! Green Flag?
Whilst competitions being listed to Loquax aren’t checked before they go live that doesn’t mean that all and sundry gets through. Users often can spot bad apples and will report them whilst occasionally we scan through the lists and check anything that might need it. Sometimes we’re unsure and will ask for help from other comping quarters such as Di at SuperLucky. Recently a relatively new Facebook page added a Maldives Holiday to the site and that set off a few red flags. The FB page also had an associated website but that had no content and threw up more questions than answers. Very few newcomers kick off with such a high profile prize and such a poor set-up so we removed the link. Fast forward a few weeks and a winner was announced but that too added concern, especially as the winner apparently found the comp “on Loquax” (no they didn’t!). The organiser has since added more holiday prizes to their page and highlighted them to us via Messenger so we took the opportunity to ask questions. After a bit of sometimes heated to-ing and fro-ing the owner provided us with screenshots of discussions with their winner and a purchase of a Maldives holiday. That’s not something a scammer tends to do so it suggests – at least for now – things are more above board than not. There’s a lot of things that don’t make sense to us though but we’re not the ones building a few hundred FB likes for the price of some costly holidays. For now we suggest you go on your own instincts, but we are continuing to monitor things. The most positive notes from this is that you know we do check things out and occasionally different groups will share information to help the comping community.
Loquax In The News
Way back in January we were approached by a freelance journalist with respect to an article they were writing on win a house competitions. Apparently we know a thing or two about them plus we do have The UK’s largest archive of property prize draws – just one of the weird things we end up with on this site! When it comes to journalists or researchers we don’t actually do any face to face interviews. Most certainly you’re never going to see our mugs on TV or streamed online. Instead we’re happy to answer questions via email and/or point the researcher in the appropriate direction. Giving replies by email provides us with a paper trail too and it’s easier to reference anything that requires it. Anyway the article has now been completed and published in The Dial, which describes itself as The World’s Little Magazine. Can You Win Your Dream Home is the title of the piece and it mixes commentary about deception, debt and the UK’s housing crisis. The most interesting line in the article is that a win a house competitions are a “bit like a tax on hope” although you can apply that rationale to any pay to enter competition whether it’s a raffle site or purchase necessary giveaway.
Prize Categories Update
Back in the olden days our Prize Directory had something like 50+ different categories to choose from. We’ve reduced that now to streamline things for posting comps, but sometimes we know you’d like to boil down the listings to be more specific. We’re therefore going to start adding a few more sub-categories so for example under ‘Days Out’ we’ve now added links to flag up prizes for Afternoon Teas and Spa Days. Under holidays we’ve now included a Family Holiday sub-section. This not only lists family holidays but breaks and days out prizes that are aimed at families. Other sub-sections include BBQ & Pizza Ovens and Football Tickets. And that’s not all. Occasionally we get wind of a purchase necessary competition that’s not yet launched but it’s too early to post the details – or the details are limited. Those comps are tagged ‘Coming Soon‘ on the forum and are now linked from the Purchase Necessary section. This will act as a reminder for us – or a lovely user – to post the comps once they’re active. If there are any other tweaks we can do to make the site work better for you then do let us know.
Well Done Winners
If you do win a competition that you’ve found whilst using Loquax then do let us know. It’s nice to know folks are winning and posting on the forum about your success gives everyone a boost. There have been plenty of wins posted since our last update including a couple of purchase necessary wins, text entry wins and wins from the daily magazines such as Cosmo and Good Housekeeping. Remember we don’t list individual comps for those magazines but reference them under the daily entries section. Anyway a big congrats to everyone who has posted a win recently but especially to Susie who won an incredible £5000 in Asda’s recent purchase necessary Minions competition. Other prizes that have been won recently include Carabao Cup tickets, Left Handed Pencils, £500 Ticketmaster Vouchers, Books, Hampers, Afternoon Teas, Irn Bru Deckchair, Lyme Regis Holiday and 10 Litres of Dettol Laundry Sanitiser.