Help please, missing prize

A question about : Help please, missing prize

Can anyone offer some advice please?

In November I won a Ј250 voucher through a magazine on Facebook, the voucher was for a well known department store.

I haven't received my prize, so about a month ago I started to chase it, sending very polite emails requesting confirmation that it had been send as I was worried it may have got lost in post over Christmas period.

I was assured the magazine were chasing the prize with the PR dept of the store, and it would be with me asap.

Last Friday I had an email saying it had been sent in the post that afternoon, then today an envelope arrives, with a compliment slip apologising for the delay and saying please find enclosed your voucher - but the voucher is missing, the only thing in the envelope is the compliments slip.

I rang the number of the lady that send me the email last Friday, and she says she put the voucher in the envelope herself, and there's nothing she can do!

What do I do now? I'm so upset at the thought that I wont recieve my prize, it was my biggest win last year

Also, the envelope was one of those padded ones that need to be cut open, and it was definitely still sealed, so I don't think its gone missing in the post - and if it had been removed in post system would they really send me an empty envelope?

I suppose it could have been, especially since theres a sticker on the pack of the envelope saying contents prize, vouchers!! How daft is that!!

I'm really upset right now so if anybody can offer any help/advice I'd be very grateful.

Best answers:

• Was it sent recorded? They'll have to put a claim in to royal mail
  Surely the vouchers are numbered sequentially so i'm presuming they can void them.
• tell them how disappointed you are on Facebook
  going public sometime helps
• I've just had an email from the lady I spoke to earlier, stating that her post room have confirmed the voucher was sent and tracked via royal mail, which is odd since it arrived with normal post, no sign of any signed for or tracked stickers on it!
  Anyway, she has asked me to confirm in writing that the voucher was not received, then she will contact the store involved and find out whether its possible to cancel and reissue the voucher.
  So I've emailed back confirming the voucher has not been received and telling her how upset I am (doesn't help I'm nearly 8 months pregnant and hormonal! lol) Ј250 is a huge amount of money to me at the moment, and I'm really upset at the thought of not receiving it - literally feel like crying
  Going to wait a few days and see what response I get, but if nothing happens I will try the facebook post and see if that helps.
  Do you think it would be worth posting on the facebook page of the store involved and asking if they can help? Or should I just wait and give this lady chance to sortt things first?
• I would give it time for this woman to resolve it first - any reply you send in writing you should send recorded so they cant duck out of acknowledgement. An email they can say they never received or got blocked by their servers
• Hadn't thought of that, thanks!
  I'll give it 24 hours and if I don't have any reply to my email confirming that the voucher is being cancelled, then I will sent a letter via recorded delivery stating I haven't received the vouchers and asking her to confirm that the original voucher has been cancelled.
• Hope they sort it out for you x
• and if it had been removed in post system would they really send me an empty envelope?
  I'm afraid the answer to that is yes, whenever there is a legible address and postage paid it will most likely be delivered; I had just such a thing delivered to me minus it's contents. Fortunately the company sent me out another packaged more securely.
• If this doesn't pan out in your favour post back here and there are other avenues such as the IPM that can help resolve this.
  Try not to stress as that wont achieve anything but upsetting yourself.
  x
• Thanks everyone, its just so frustrating that after waiting 3 months for it to be sent, that this has happened
  Going to wait a few days now and see what happens, hopefully it'll get sorted, its just that it almost felt like she didn't believe me about the voucher being missing, the way she said she checked it herself and it was on bright orange card so I couldn't miss it! But why would I lie? Surely they can check whether its been used and where!
  Hopefully they will be able to reissue it, I'll post again once I get a reply to my email and let you all know what they say.
• I hope you get it sorted I know I would be upset too if it was me.
• I hope you get sorted,ive been comping a longtime on and off anyhow i decided to google my name the other day and found a couple of prizes i never received from a few years ago.
• Thanks everyone, I'm pleased to say I now have my voucher
  Had an email yesterday morning stating that they were going to cancel the original voucher and reissue asap, and today a new voucher arrived via special delivery.
  Can't believe how quick it has arrived - I waited 3 months for the original voucher to be sent, so thought it would take ages to get a replacement, but it was sorted in under 24 hours!
  Really pleased to have my voucher, I shall have fun spending it this weekend
• So glad it was all sorted for you
• Great news that it was sorted so quickly for you in the end!