This is NOT good!!!

[MelindaKiah]

We won a Universal trip from an online vacation. The family is thrilled. Kids so excited. Me and hubby so grateful because we couldn't afford this trip for our kids. I call and make my reservations in mid-August...everything is great. Person I spoke with tells me to send in my winning certificate to her by regular mail. Well, I send it by express post to ensure it'll get there quickly and I have a number to check on. Since then, I lost my wallet and that number for confirmation was in it. So....I call today to ensure my certificate was received. NOPE!!! It was sent on August 15, supposed to be received within one week. I can't believe this!! She's telling me don't worry about it, but I don't know if I can really believe that. What if the person I'm dealing with quits, or something and it gets handed to someone else who wants this certificate in hand??

I don't know what to do!!!

 

[Flyfly_Eclipse]

Oh no!!!!! I certainly hope things work out!! Please keep us updated!

 

[MelindaKiah]

I will. Thanks. I've emailed the Universal Studios vacation place, the post office here to find out if there is any way to get the confirmation number now...I don't know what else to do. I do not want to have to tell these kids that they can't have the vacation they're dreaming about.

 

[Flyfly_Eclipse]

I know what you mean!! Hopefully you can get some confirmation number or something...I'd be devestated if one of my Universal trips were cancelled...and I go so often! Who held the contest, BTW? Can you get a hold of them and see if there is anything they recommend??

 

[h20jag]

Sorry to hear this.
You'll have to keep calling Universal AND the on-line vacation people, if you can at least get that conf. # again you'll be sportin'.
Good Luck & good things WILL happen!

 

[SpideyHulk24]

Good vibes coming your way!!!! Hope it all works out!!! Let us know what happens!

 

[Selina]

I think this may be a case for the Dark Marauder!! All I can say is keep trying the competition line.....and ask to speak to someone who was involved with the prize.

A similar thing happened when I worked at the Observer Newspaper in London. We ran a promotion and a woman won a car, she rang in and we confirmed her prize after she read out to us the coupon number. Unfortunately, we never received it, but the newspaper honoured her coupon and she won the car. I wasn't directly involved but a friend of mine was working in "promotions" at the time, so that's how I knew about it.

 

[MelindaKiah]

YAY!!!! It all has worked out okay!!! I won the contest from ConAgra foods...they had an online contest. I was trying to win tickets to take my kids to see the Hulk movie. I ended up winning one of the 50 grand prizes. I tried to contact ConAgra who told me to contact Eprize (they issued the certificate on their behalf). Eprize said they couldn't do much but Universal Vacations actually issued the actual certificates. I thankfully had written down my certificate number and the reference number so I had that in my favor.

I suppose I've been a bit of a pain in the butt the past couple of days. I ended up emailing Universal Vacations to see if they could do anything. My husband ended up calling there to confirm everything would be okay. I went to the post office to see if I might get lucky and they'd have a listing of the express envelopes mailed that day. No such luck. I was pretty upset by this time...I know the girl said don't worry about it, but you just never know...she could change jobs, move to another dept., etc. So, I came home and decided to call Universal vacations once again, but to get the number for the mailroom. The man who answered was really, really nice. He also assured me that this type of thing has happened before and not to worry about it. I felt better, but still a little doubtful. The vacation is worth $2800 and we just couldn't afford to make it up if things fell through.

Anyways....about 20 mins. after I hung with the man, he called and said the certificate just came across his desk. Now, maybe I'm just cynical, but I find it very "ironic" that it showed up just today, 2 months after I mailed it. Either way, I don't care. I'm just happy our trip is safe and still on!!! Hubby thinks they probably went in search of it because I was pretty adamant that this thing be found!!LOL I know I can be pushy, but sometimes it's a GOOD trait!!LOL

Thanks for the good wishes everyone!!!

 

[MelindaKiah]

YAY!!!! It all has worked out okay!!! I won the contest from ConAgra foods...they had an online contest. I was trying to win tickets to take my kids to see the Hulk movie. I ended up winning one of the 50 grand prizes. I tried to contact ConAgra who told me to contact Eprize (they issued the certificate on their behalf). Eprize said they couldn't do much but Universal Vacations actually issued the actual certificates. I thankfully had written down my certificate number and the reference number so I had that in my favor.

I suppose I've been a bit of a pain in the butt the past couple of days. I ended up emailing Universal Vacations to see if they could do anything. My husband ended up calling there to confirm everything would be okay. I went to the post office to see if I might get lucky and they'd have a listing of the express envelopes mailed that day. No such luck. I was pretty upset by this time...I know the girl said don't worry about it, but you just never know...she could change jobs, move to another dept., etc. So, I came home and decided to call Universal vacations once again, but to get the number for the mailroom. The man who answered was really, really nice. He also assured me that this type of thing has happened before and not to worry about it. I felt better, but still a little doubtful. The vacation is worth $2800 and we just couldn't afford to make it up if things fell through.

Anyways....about 20 mins. after I hung with the man, he called and said the certificate just came across his desk. Now, maybe I'm just cynical, but I find it very "ironic" that it showed up just today, 2 months after I mailed it. Either way, I don't care. I'm just happy our trip is safe and still on!!! Hubby thinks they probably went in search of it because I was pretty adamant that this thing be found!!LOL I know I can be pushy, but sometimes it's a GOOD trait!!LOL

Thanks for the good wishes everyone!!!

 

[the Dark Marauder]

I knew that things would work out. I just knew. Now this little bit can make your trip extra enjoyable.

 

[MelindaKiah]

Thanks!!!

Sorry for the double post everyone....for some reason, my posts weren't going through last night...or so I thought. I tried to delete one, but can't.

 

[Flyfly_Eclipse]

No problem about the multipost...but I ended up getting like 10 "e-mail notifications" for your reply! lol. Each minute another would show up in my inbox...and you didn't even post 10 times. Whatever... It happened on another thread too.

Glad things worked out!!

 

[TheSecondCook]

MelindaKiah- I'm also happy to hear everything worked out ok, though you definitely could have done without the stress. Paper pushers/bereaucrats are notorious for misplacing important papers. MY wife and I were married back in January; the completed marriage license was mailed back to the county by the church two days later, but the clerk or courts office it was sent to, less than three blocks away, "never received it." After numerous phone calls and visits with the marriage license person (and threats of having me arrested because I was overreacting and threatening), I talked to another staffer within the office. They looked in a pile on that fore-mentioned lisence official's desk (and not the file cabinets that had been scouraged previously) and found it. When I confronted the lady about it, she said, "Oh, it just came today!" Yeah, a whole month later.

IT happens to everybody, I'm just glad you had a positive outcome.

 

[MelindaKiah]

So glad it worked out for you too!!!

I was just worried that the certificate was the only proof that we actually won the vacation and we'd be charged when we checked in or something. Now THAT would be shock!LOL Especially since I convinced them to give me an extra room in place of the airfare we won, as we're driving and visiting relatives along the way. 2 rooms at Royal Pacific is BIG money, not to mention the 6 three day, two park passes and our dinner at Nascar cafe. Definitely not something I would have been able to afford!!

It always seems that the silliest things arrive places with no problem, but the most important stuff always gets lost along the way. And nobody ever takes responsibility for it.

Oh well...it worked out and that's all that matters!!

 

[nicolep91]

I'm glad it worked out for you, Melinda!!

Hey, I remember entering that contest too. I'm a contest entering fanatic but so far have only won small prizes. It's nice to hear that people really do win the vacation trips though! Have fun!!!

 

[MelindaKiah]

Thanks NIcole!! I'm also a contest entering nut. I don't normally win much....like you, just the odd little thing. But I always enter anyways because even something small is something!!LOL

You could have knocked me over with a feather the day I won this trip. All it said was "congratulations, you are a winner"...well, I had already won one set of tickets so expected this would be the same thing....in fact, that's what I was after. When I clicked to the next screen when it tells you what you won, I about died when I read that I had won a family trip for 4 to Universal!LOL I still have a hard time believing it and probably will until we're actually there.

We have a family of 6 so knew that I couldn't even afford the extra airfare, so decided to drive and stop along the way at friends' and relatives' houses (saves money on hotels too!LOL). I called to ask if I could have an extra room in place of the 4 return airline tickets. At first I was told no, that it couldn't be replaced. Well, I knew that if they gave me the room, they'd still save themselves about $1000 off the cost of the airfare. They were just trying to save even more, and who can blame them?LOL So, I said okay, send me the plane tickets anyways. She was shocked and wanted to know why I wanted them if I wasn't going to use them. I told her that the value of the package was $2800 and I was going to get the full value whether I used everything in the package or not because I have to pay taxes on this win. I was put on hold, and a couple minutes later she came back on the phone and said they re-considered and we could have the extra room!LOL To add my other 2 kids to our package, I am having to pay about $300, but that includes their 3 day two park passes and their meal at the Nascar cafe. I don't think I can complain too much about paying $300 for 6 people to stay 3 nights at the Royal Pacific (in 2 rooms!), 6 people having dinner at Nascar cafe, and 6 people getting 3 day two park passes.

Well, thanks again for your good wishes and keep entering those contests. I'm living proof that people actually do win! Trust me...I never thought anyone won those things either!LOL

 

[nicolep91]

That is so exciting, Melinda!! I wouldn't have believed it at 1st either. And kudos to you for pushing for that extra room - it never hurts to ask!

The biggest thing I've won so far was a 1st place prize from Enterprise Rent-A-Car which was for a family reuinion sweepstakes. The grand prize was an awesome vacation for 50 members of your family worth about $20,000, but my prize was valued at $1,000. It was a bunch of t-shirts, disposable cameras, golf balls, a cooler, etc. I still wonder how it was all valued at $1,000 but I accepted the prize anyway since I was just so excited to win something! lol!

Recently my daughter won a Gameboy Advance & a game from Kids Cuisine and my son just won a Gamecube game from Fox Box in the last couple of weeks that I had entered for them. So I agree, it pays to keep entering since you never know when you'll get somethng good!

$300 for your trip is a deal of a lifetime! I bet you're family was going nuts when you told them. My husband laughs at me when I enter my sweepstakes every day, but he's always excited when I win something! Make sure you post a trip report for us when you get back. I'm anxious to see how everything works out for you.

 

[MelindaKiah]

Oh, I will definitely post a trip report!LOL

You have some great wins there!! Are you on the YDF board? I love it there...it's where I enter all the contests and get all the great freebies!!

 

[damo]

Freebies???? Care to share the website?

 

[MelindaKiah]

Sure!!! They're a great bunch of people!!!

Your Daily Freebies