That's it! No more text promos for me! (Grrrrr....)

          No matter how much I think I've advanced from the common man's compulsion to make a quick buck, I still find myself lured every now and then by promos that have a billion to one chance of winning but which offer attractive prize packages.

          This false (and rather elitist) sense of self-worth has so far enabled me to prevent myself from lining up shoulder-to-shoulder with blue-collar types whenever the Lotto pot hits the P100 million mark.  Text promos, however, are harder to avoid in as much as we all are more inclined to do things against our own convictions in the privacy of our own homes.

          Yesterday, I was watching my favorite kapamilya TV show "Game Ka Na Ba".  Part of the game rules is that if any contestant answers 5 consecutive questions correctly, s/he will win the money pot.  This pot increases in amount each day that no wins it the day previously.  So it came to a point where the money pot was already P750,000 and a female contestant won.  The thing was, there is an additional rule that says the text home partner will get the same amount whenever the pot is won.

          I listened carefully to Edu Manzano's instructions on how to send a text entry.  What he said was that a person should just send a message which says "GKNB <correct answer>" and then send it to 2366.  Since I did not know if there was a limit to the number of entries I could send, I sent out 5 messages with 1 - 2 minutes space in between each of them.  Here's what happened afterwards:

          Throughout the afternoon, I got 5 separate messages which were marked as "Ringing tone", but which said upon opening "This message type is not supported".  That was the first hint that I got duped.  But I gave them the benefit of the doubt and rationalized that maybe sending an entry involves requesting a ringtone at the same time.  And besides, there were some words in fine print when I was watching the show on TV.  That might have explained why.  My mistake, but that's fine.

          Later in the evening, I got another batch of 5 messages, but this time they were all saying, "Tnx 4 dloading! P15/ dload. Sori no valid entry for ds download, reply w/ <letter of answer> Ex. B. Reply is free. Up2 3 entries ang pde mkuha 2day. My featurd 3 monotones 4d day. Watch GKNB 2know d correct answer. Cut-off 4earning entries: 11am-11:59pm. 1 unique dload=1entry. Promo fr 7/28/08-1/9/09. C flyrs & TVplugs 4details. DTI-NCR#3752S2008. Call (02) 4158766 for help." 

          I subsequently checked my load balance, and true enough, I was deducted a total of P75.  So my only mistake was in texting the actual answer instead of just the letter of the correct answer.  What irks was that even though the format was invalid, they still took my money, and it took them 8 hours to inform me of that fact.

          To put it in everyday terms, imagine yourself in a McDonalds restaurant.  You see the latest Disney toy freebie advertised in their display rack.  You decide that you want to buy a Kiddie meal just for the purpose of getting the freebie.  You then place your order with the cashier, who promptly punches it in and gives you a number (because your kiddie meal needs at least 5 minutes to prepare.)  When your order finally arrives, it doesn't contain the freebie.  When you ask for it, they then tell you that it is not available.  And when you ask for your money back, they tell you that what has been punched in and paid for can no longer be refunded.

          I did call the help number, but I was told that my P75 can no longer be refunded - even when I pointed out that show host never mentioned anything about needing to download ringtones just to send an entry, and that the words on the TV screen that might have elucidated on the rules were flashed very briefly.

          So that's it.  No more text promos for me.









P.S.  Does anyone know what the Lotto jackpot amount is these days?