I won. That should be the short version of this blahg. Okay, maybe it should be a little longer with me adding that I received my prize. Well, things don’t always work that way in my world and if they did, I wouldn’t get a full tale out of it. Sit back, this one is still developing.
About a week and a half ago, on Saturday March 14th, to be exact, my wife and I had gone shopping for a new love-seat. I should note that we actually had started the looking a week before but we hadn’t found anything we liked. We have an electric reclining lounge chair that I like to sit in and Jeanette likes to sit on the love-seat because she has quilting or knitting or crocheting material that she likes to place next to her, depending on the project. There’s also a spot for Rogue, our cat, because she likes to be up beside Jeanette. Here’s a picture of our love-seat:
It’s not as firm as it used to be and Jeanette has been complaining of a sore back after sitting there for long periods of time. We decided it was time to look for a new one. We had started out looking at a couple of furniture shops but nothing appealed to us. We even thought about another recliner but Jeanette wasn’t keen on the options we run into. This is where the story gets interesting.
We decided to go and look at The Brick in Belleville. It prides itself as being “a Canadian retailer of furniture, mattresses, appliances and home electronics. We have purchased there before and it was the last real furniture outlet in Belleville we hadn’t browsed for a new love-seat. On entering, we saw a couple of posters for “The Price Is Right” promotion that was happening in the store. The first poster was on the outer door:
The second poster was between the doors:
When we got in the store, we were greeted by a store associate named “Eric” who let us know about the Price Is Right contest and how we could spin the wheel at the back if we made a purchase or how we could scan the QR Code on the larger poster between the doors. He wasn’t high pressure so we were left alone to walk around and look at the furniture. We spent half an hour looking at various chairs and love-seats but finally settled on a new sofa because it was firm and Jeanette liked it. Here’s what it looks like:
We decided on another sofa because it was a good deal and I thought if our current sofa eventually needs replacing, we could then replace it with a love-seat. It’s a backwards sort of logic but we have room for two sofas in our living-room. After purchasing it, that should have been the end of our tale but you have to know by now that there’s always more to the story.
Remember me mentioning they were having a Price Is Right contest? You should, it wasn’t that long ago. Eric, rang us up and at the back of the store was a cardboard wheel Jeanette got to spin. The slots on the wheel either had a “1” or a “2”. She spun a “1” which meant she would get a Price Is Right scratch off card. The prizes were either $100 off your purchase or a free delivery. We won free delivery. That’s an $80 value because we live in the country, 30 minutes south of Belleville. We were happy with that. Still, that’s not the end of this narrative. Eric, reminded us of the other poster and about scanning the QR Code for chances to win other prizes. This is where it gets interesting.
Both Jeanette and I scanned the QR Code. You had to register with your email address and phone number. After that, the online contest brought up a plinko game. It was similar to one seen on The Prize Is Right gameshow:
I don’t remember what the labels were at the bottom but I remember there were several “entry” slots and in the middle was a “grand” slot. Jeanette went first and her digital ball fell into an “entry” slot. I guess that meant her name goes into a draw for a large prize. I went next and my ball dropped into the “grand” slot. Immediately a page opened up that said an email was being sent to me about the prize I had won. The directions were that I was not to open the email until I was in front of a Brick sales associate because there would be a link in the email to tell me about my prize and I must be in front of a store employee. So back we go into The Brick.
We could not find Eric when we reentered but we met a nice male associate named RJ. I explained to him what had happened. He directed me to open my email, which I did, and then to click on the link in the email to reveal my prize. A browser window opened up and told me I won a free mattress up to the value of $1500. He was very happy for us. He directed us to go to the mattress department while he went to talk to his Manager. Jeanette and I began to look at the mattresses. We wanted to find a mattress that would not put us over the $1500 value. The notification had also said we had to pay the tax but there would be free delivery for the prize. Sweet!
After about ten minutes, the Manager, a woman named Jenn, came to the mattress department to congratulate us. She also said we could go home because the digital part of the contest would be online and we would be notified about the prize and be given a prize claim code. Luckily, in the ten minutes before Jenn arrived, I had read all the details of the notification and nowhere did it say everything was online and there was definitely no mention of a prize claim code. I explained this to Jenn. I even showed her my notification. She went away and was gone for another ten minutes. When she came back, she asked us to come to her office. She asked for my phone and started to re-read all of the information in the prize notification. I don’t know what she did but she managed to click on something else and got to a different page which she believed detailed the next steps.
Jenn informed me that I had to write a 50 word essay and submit a prize claim form and answer a skill testing question. Again, I had read the notification and no where did it say anything about the essay. She was very insistent so I wrote out the essay on a notepad and put down my contact information. The theme of the essay was how The Brick was a good community partner. I don’t know what I wrote but I mentioned how I was greeted and how I was treated by RJ and Jenn. I wasn’t negative and I didn’t stress how Jenn seemed to be confused about the contest. She kept apologizing and saying they had never had a winner in that store before. She decided also to call the Kingston store; which is a larger market. They explained that there was no need for the essay and that I should make the mattress purchase today and everything could be written up and taken care of then and there.
I completed the prize claim form and answered the mathematical question. I couldn’t use any electronic devices to answer the question but it was fairly simple and I was positive that my answer was correct. RJ was brought back in to witness everything because he had seen me open the email and click on the link. Jenn decided she would scan the claim form and my essay and submit everything to Corporate. That whole ordeal took about thirty minutes. Then we were invited to go back to the mattress department with RJ and select our mattress. Seeing as RJ was already dealing with another customer, we went to look at the mattresses and wait for RJ.
When RJ finally met up with us, we showed him the mattress we had selected. Remember, we were looking at the price tags and were determined to select something that would keep us under the $1500 prize limit. RJ began to show us other mattresses. I thought maybe he was trying to upsell us, thinking that we would pay the difference between the $1500 and the price of the mattress he was promoting. Not the case. RJ was highlighting a line of mattresses that were on sale, 40% off so we could select a more expensive mattress and, with the 40% sale, we’d still come in less than $1500. He left us again for ten minutes and we started to look at the more expensive, but on sale, line and sat and reclined on a few before we made our decision. Here’s the one we selected:
This is the Beautyrest Black Hotel Cornerstone Suite Tight Top Firm Queen Mattress. The price of it was $2,249 but with the 40% off it came in at $1349.40. According to the contest, we only had to pay the tax on the $1349.40 which was $175.42. Again, delivery was free. RJ took us to the back and rang it up. I explained that we had purchased a new sofa and it was being delivered on Wednesday, March 18th. RJ assured me that the mattress would also arrive on Wednesday with the new sofa. I thanked RJ and went to thank Jenn. She said we couldn’t go yet because she needed a copy of the receipt and would I please go and find RJ and make sure he had a copy of invoice for Jenn. I found him, already helping other customers, and he assured me he had a copy of the invoice for Jenn. I went back and told Jenn everything was good with RJ. She congratulated me again and I was free to go. Nope, still not the end of the story.
By the time Jeanette and I left the store, we had been in there two hours. The first half-hour was selecting and purchasing the sofa and the remaining ninety minutes was due to winning a mattress. Let’s cut to the next part. Wednesday, March 18th came and I had received an email notification of the time window for our delivery. I was at work but Jeanette messaged me after the delivery:
Just got the couch. They had no mattress for us, he checked the order. Maybe we don’t get it until the Brick gets confirmation?
I messaged back:
Does our mattress invoice have a delivery date on it?
Jeanette replied:
No but at the top it does say that delivery date will be confirmed and scheduled upon arrival of product from suppliers…guess RJ forgot to mention that
My response:
Can you take a pic of it and send it to me. I will maybe call them.
Here’s the invoice:
I decided not to call The Brick. If it was an inventory issue then maybe I’d hear about it. I decided that if there was no update by Monday March 23rd, I would visit the store.
Let’s move on to March 23rd. I took my invoice into the Customer Service desk and asked the attendant for an update on my order. She looked at my Invoice and then checked her computer. She said they were waiting for me to pay the balance. You can’t see in the Invoice picture above but it does show that I had paid $175.42 in taxes and the balance owing was the $1,349.40. Nope, sorry, I don’t owe that. I explained to her politely that I had won the contest and that the balance was to be paid by the Brick or The Price Is Right or whoever but definitely not me. I had seen that Jenn was in her office so I directed the Customer Service attendant to talk to Jenn about it. Jenn came out shortly after that and explained I had to wait until the contest was over and the Brick was reimbursed by the Price Is Right. She apologized again that I had been told by RJ that the Mattress would be delivered with the sofa. It was at this point, I was absolutely sure that no one associated with The Brick really knew what to do with a free Mattress winner. I have been promised that someone will be in touch with me.
The last caveat to this story, besides the fact that I’m still waiting for my Mattress is that there were only three prizes of this $1500 Mattress in all of Canada. I wonder how the other two chumps are fairing?