Where’s my entry form?

THE EDITOR: Please publish the following letter to the marketing manager at Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd.

Dear Sir or Madam: I would be grateful for your kind consideration on the matter outlined below. In August, I purchased a Nokia GSM cellular phone. The purchase was based on the special promotion by TSTT that included the chance to win a cruise courtesy of TSTT and Nokia “with the purchase of any Nokia GSM cellular telephone.” At the time of purchase I was not provided with an entry form and assumed that I qualified because of the “purchase of a Nokia GSM cellular telephone.” I later read the fine print and realised that I needed to fill out an entry form. Of course I visited the TSTT authorised dealer from whom I had purchased the Nokia GSM cellular phone. There I was told that they had not been provided with entry forms and that I needed to check with TSTT. I visited TSTT and carefully explained my case.

The company’s representative told me: 1) the dealer was to provide entry forms; 2) the contest was now closed because their stock of phones for the sale had run out. I visited the dealer again and was told they had never received forms from TSTT. I made my purchase of a Nokia GSM cellular phone during the stipulated period and am entitled to an entry. I am aware that there are others who have been similarly deprived. I wish to advise TSTT that should it fail to give me the opportunity that it offered me, on conditions that I satisfied, it would be opening itself to legal action and could certainly expect to face multiple claims in court. A simple solution would be to use the customers’ purchase (as evidenced by TSTT’s records of account activations and details of purchases as submitted by dealers) as entry for the contest. Alternatively, new forms could be issued to all purchasers. I trust that good sense will prevail, that TSTT will respect its customers, and every qualified person will be given equal opportunity to participate.

CUTHBERT C JOSEPH
Port-of-Spain