Thursday, September 16, 2010

Weighing Heavy on My Heart

If you know me you know that I'm a very real person. I am honest and I am fair. However a recent "issue" at Girly Girl Giveaways (GGG) has me reeling with both sadness and anger. I will not go into great depth or specifics but I do want to say this situation has pierced my heart and had me question continuing GGG it it became a circus of greed.

I have been accused and threatened, told I am unethical when everything I do for and on this blog is as fair as fair can be. In the midst of so many fraudulent, dishonest blogs I try to present factual information and be honest about everything.

Basically someone was asked to relinquish their prize by the company as they had won from the same company on another blog. The company wanted to give everyone a fair chance to try their product instead of issuing two gifts to one winner. I chose a new winner and contacted them before I even knew this was going to become a huge issue or that the company and I would be threatened. But because of this reader's fit they got the prize and the new winner I had chosen got nothing.

This angers me beyond anything you can imagine. And I will not and cannot condone greed and selfishness at GGG. I do have to say that the new winner I had chosen, who did NOT end up with the prize, handled the news with such decorum and understanding that it made me want to cry! I felt SO badly for them!

GGG will remain open and stronger than ever before! It gives me so much joy and pleasure to choose a winner and spring my "YOU WON" message on them to brighten their day. The greed that darkened my doorway a few days ago has made me mull things over about GGG. You will see a NEW Disclosure Policy in the next post when I am able to get to it (it's almost 3:00AM right now because I am so angry about this situation I cannot sleep).

And I also want to define a few things for everyone so we're all on the same page-

I am a REVIEWER, a consumer just like you. I am not affiliated with ANY company unless otherwise notified. It is the sole discretion of the company offering a free gift to accept a winner and to ship a prize to the winner I randomly select. I write a review, post the giveaway and select a winner. That is it. That is where my responsibility ends. Once the sponsor has your information it is their responsibility to fulfill their obligation and get the prize to you. I am absolutely fine with helping you get prizes that never show up but I will not be made the spokesperson for a company I am not affiliated with, an employee of or as an unpaid representative.

I run this blog for free and spend many hours on it to find prizes for all of you. I LOVE getting to do that! But I can only be responsible for my own review and the facts contained therein. Everything else the responsibility of the company sponsoring the giveaway and if they decide you can only win one prize from them take it like a lady (or gentleman) and move on. Give someone else a chance! The sponsors have the right of refusal if they deem it necessary.

And now I urge every one of you to go and tell all of your favorite bloggers how much you appreciate their hard work and dedication in bringing you prizes. In the sea of gems there is always a bad apple or two that tries to ruin it for everyone else. So I'm sure other reviewers have had their fair share of problems. Let them know they are valued! Send them an E-Hug or a lovely thank you!

Okay my vent is over. I feel a little better.



And for the record to the one who asked. Here is the definition of a sweepstake
"...a lottery in which the stakes of the participants constitute the prize."

That means everyone adds money or something of value to a pot and if you win you get the pot. Blog-hosted giveaways are NOT sweepstakes. No one gives anything of value to gain entry to win the sum of the stakes. All prizes given by sponsors are gifts (even the US governments calls them gifts; check your tax form next year). 
 

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Joy is a stay-at-home-mom to three daughters. She is the wife of a worship leader & youth pastor. She runs her own Etsy shop selling handmade, hand-stamped sterling jewelry. Joy has taken courses in journalism, play writing, poetry, was in Honors English throughout school and has had small publications made of her work (mostly poetry).

11 comments:

  1. Hi Joy, I'm so sorry someone caused such an issue for you. I really appreciate your giveaways and have won at least one from you. I'm sure there are a ton of people who will tell you that you're doing a great job! Don't let one bad seed ruin the fun you have running the blog. Thanks for what you do!

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  2. Boo hiss on whoever caused such heartache and unrest for you.

    I too like to believe that people are honest and good and generous, but unfortunately not all of them are. It pains me to see greed as well. I hate when people don't think that rules apply to them.

    Please keep it up. You have fun doing it and winners have fun winning. I know...I've been there both via this blog and others. Nothing is more fun that getting a "you won" message and awaiting its arrival.

    Thank you for your hard work. I know how hard this whole giveaway thing is and appreciate people who do it full time.

    Hugs!

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  3. I can't believe someone would do this. Whenever I win the same prize twice I always e-mail the blogger back saying that they can re-draw the winner. Didn't even occur to me to try to claim the prize twice!
    Don't let this experience ruin your blogging fun. Like you said, hope this only makes you and your blog stronger!

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  4. Jen M- EXACTLY! I would do the exact same thing. I sometimes enter giveaways and then end up reviewing them. If I ever was selected as the winner I'd ask for a new winner to be selected. It's all about playing fair AND having fun!

    Everyone else- thank you! After getting it off my chest I feel so much better and can move on. I was incredibly unsettled by this but venting really helped me to move forward!

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  5. I appreciate your work in finding the giveaways and enjoy entering them. It seems like there is always a rotten apple in every bunch to spoil things but glad you can move beyond them! Have a great weekend.

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  6. I don't think this is your fault by any means .... or the person who won the prize twice. If she won then good for her. I had no idea that you couldn't win fair and square on two different blogs. I call that luck! (I have none btw). The company and you should keep a record of the winners so that she doesn't win again or so frequently but other than that. What is fair is fair. However if She really through a tantrum over the prize then perhaps no longer allow her to be on your blog. Perhaps the new winner that you had picked should have received the prize as well.

    If someone has enough time in the day to go around and enter a bazillion giveaway contests on a bunch of blogs than maybe they do deserve to win.

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  7. Jennifer- that is definitely true as well. It was just how the whole situation was handled and being threatened that didn't settle well with me. I would've been happy to help her without the threats or having third parties CCed in messages. Ah, well, it's over now and life moves on.

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  8. I am truly sorry you are having to deal with this. I am like you, I find true joy of telling someone they have won something because I know how happy it makes them. For this person to become so mad is beyond words. I can understood them entering numerous giveaways for the same prize if it was something they wanted very much, but once they won one time that should have been enough.... they actually should have offered for the prize to be given to another winner since they already had one *sigh*...I simply don't understand some people.

    *HUG* big hugs for you, I hope you day/night has gotten better and that you enjoy your weekend. If the weather is nice, get out and enjoy yourself and don't let anyone bother you. What you do is extremely hard work, it takes up alot of time...time that could be spent with your family and I for one appreciate everything you do.

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  9. It is definitely sad that someone decided to try to solve the matter with threats. Threats never help a situation and cause stress to all involved. I can see how she would be upset about the situation though. The company should have had you state in your giveaway rules that previous winners were unable to participate, otherwise why would one expect not to receive a prize if they entered in different places?

    If the company did not do that, then that is their own fault. So sorry you had to deal with this situation. That is not fair to you at all.

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  10. I'm sorry to hear about that. :( I can understand why it would upset you. Thank you for taking your time to host these giveaways. I really appreciate it!

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  11. I am a new reader to your blog and I am so sad to hear that has happened. THANK YOU for all of your hard work. I am trying to learn how to get into this and can only imagine all of the hard work and late nights it must take on your part.

    If you get a chance, I would love if you could check out my blog :)

    beccasperspective.blogspot.com/

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