An Angus online competitions firm has been criticised by the advertising watchdog after a £5,000 dream garden and £2,000 in cash was won by the brother of the garden makeover supplier.
Royalux Competition, which is based in Brechin, offered the prize in an online draw last year.
The firm was launched in 2021 by local woman Samantha Nichol.
It has a huge online following for its daily giveaways offering cash and other prizes.
But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has hit out at the company over the way the August garden makeover competition was run.
Terms and conditions, which appeared on a separate webpage, stated it was not open to “employees or suppliers of the promoter who are professionally connected with the competition” or members of their immediate families.
However when the winner was announced, it emerged it was the brother of the makeover supplier.
And the ASA said Royalux altered the rules after the draw so the winner could hold on to the prize.
The watchdog said it wasn’t a “fair or honourable” way to treat participants in the draw.
Complaint to ASA over Royalux draw
One person complained to the ASA.
The firm defended the draw, saying the winner was chosen at random.
But the watchdog has now ruled the competition was administered unfairly after finding Royalux Competitions had retrospectively amended their terms and conditions.
They banned the competition, which participants paid £10 to enter, from being advertised again in the form complained of.
Ms Nichol, 33, told the ASA the draw was made by a randomised number generator live on Facebook. They provided a screenshot showing the winning number and the identity of the person with that number.
And the firm said their rules stated they “reserved the right to amend their terms and conditions as and when required”.
Their “decision was final and no correspondence or discussion would be entered into”, Royalux added.
The company acknowledged their terms and conditions had changed several times.
But because they reserved the right to do so, they believed it was within their discretion who they allowed or considered eligible to participate and win.
They also said they had already purchased the £5,000 garden makeover from the third-party supplier before the promotion and Royalux therefore owned that prize.
Not a ‘fair or honourable’ draw
In its ruling the ASA said: “The ASA understood that the original terms and conditions of the promotion stated that, in addition to employees of Royalux, employees of agents or suppliers of the Promoter who were professionally connected with the competition or its administration and members of their immediate families and households were prohibited from entering the draw.
“We considered that exclusion would prevent a brother of the provider of the prize from taking part.
“We further understood that, after the promotion ended and a winner was selected (who was the brother of the prize provider), Royalux retrospectively changed the terms and conditions of the promotion such that the exclusion of immediate family members of the prize provider was removed, therefore allowing him to retain the prize.
“Although Royalux maintained that their terms and conditions gave them the right to change the terms and conditions of the promotion as and when needed, we considered that retrospectively removing an exclusion to allow someone to win who would have otherwise been excluded from taking part under the original terms was not a fair or honourable way to treat participants.
“Further, it was likely to result in disappointment and gave consumers justifiable grounds for complaint.
“We therefore concluded that the promotion had not been administered fairly. The promotion must not be run again in the form complained of.”
“We told Royalux Competitions Ltd not to administer their promotions unfairly, cause unnecessary disappointment or give consumers grounds for complaint in future – for example, by retrospectively amending terms and conditions to remove exclusions on who could participate.”
Royalux Competitions did not respond to an approach for comment.
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