The reason I am starting this series is not a very positive one. In the past 3 or 4 months, there has been a noticeable increase of sponsors, both small businesses and large corporations, not coming through with the contest prizes for my readers. For one reason or another, they have failed to deliver the promised prize to the winner without any explanation after months of following up on my part.
For example, one company made an agreement to send a prize worth $150 to our winner. The contest ran for nearly the entire month of August and I have been trying to attain the prize for the winner since the beginning of September. Since then, I have emailed the sponsor 7 times and messaged the sponsor 3 times on Twitter. The sponsor did acknowledge one of the Twitter messages and one email, but still almost 4 months later, my reader still does not have her prize. Now would you as a consumer want to purchase from a business that is not upstanding and does not value your taking the time to read about their product and to visit their website? As a blogger, would you want to promote this company's product?
This is the only editorial post that will be part of this series. The reports will consist of the date the contest ended, the prize promised, the company's name, and how many attempts I made to contact that company. Also, so that these posts are not completely negative, I intend to highlight the companies that have been especially upstanding . . . ones my readers take the time to write me an email about stating how quickly they received their prize and how happy they are with the product.
I truly wish more bloggers will take a stand and post something similar on their own websites. I really do want my readers to know that I did make an true effort to get their prizes to them, I appreciate their taking the time to read my blog and enter my contests, and I hate that they have been disappointed. I am not worried about burning bridges because I am unlikely to ever want to work with a company again that is not honorable. I am not concerned about potential sponsors not wanting to work with me because my reports will only list the exceptional sponsors I have had the pleasure to work with and the sponsors whom I have been chasing for at least two months and have still not produced a prize without an explanation.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article, as it is something that I feel very strongly about.