Don't know if you guys were aware of the Remix Project competition... where you had to make a Vine related to the Surface and music etc. anyway yesterday I got a DM on Twitter, a winner!
(not just me mind, there was 500 to give out)
Here's the problem... although never stated during the entry stage, Microsoft now says I cannot claim it because I don't have a US address
(I'm in the UK) now obviously this is very upsetting, and I'm trying to find a way round it. I've found a company called Borderlinx that will give me a US address and then ship it out to me, albeit with the extortionate cost of about $165.
Has anyone got any other ideas to help me? I only have 4 days to respond, otherwise they give it to someone else. I was even thinking of basically putting it up for auction on here (that's a Surface 2 + Remix Cover) as tbh I'd just take the money. But I'm not sure if this would be against the forum rules?
What a load of crap though huh? They sell Surface 2 here so why can't they just send me one from the distribution centres in the UK? Very poor form Microsoft... especially using something worldwide like Twitter for this.
First some commentary about contest restrictions. This has to do with international laws that vary from country to country, including gambling and consumer protection laws, taxes, etc. Companies will always limit their global audience with these contests in the legal fine print because they don't want to deal with the exorbitant red tape (so this restriction isn't limited to U.S. companies, as non-U.S. companies do the same). From what I remember in a long debate under a different context, these contest laws get particularly messy with physical and monetary prizes. This heady legal stuff tends to get boiled down to the phrase "void where prohibited," though usually there's wording "valid only in---" as well, which makes a whole lot more sense to me.
That said, I checked out the Remix website for the fine print, because every contest has fine print--at least when run legitimately. From the main Surface Remix page, under "Remix to win" (Enter now), there is a Rules section that contains the "void where blah blah" terminology. I don't know UK laws about this, but that may directly apply despite being an umbrella statement.
Then from the "Are you the one?" page, at the very bottom, there is:
*No purchase necessary. Open to residents of the 50 US (+D.C). 13+. Promotion ends 10/24/13. See Official Rules for details.
Leading from that statement, there's a nearby PDF link to the Official Rules that was last revised October 9, 2013:
1. Eligibility: Microsoft Surface Remix Project Twitter Contest (the "Contest") is open only to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia who are at least thirteen (13) years old at the time of entry and who did not purchase any equipment for the purposes of entering this Contest. Employees of Microsoft Corporation, POP, Inc., ePrize, Inc., and any of their parent and affiliate companies as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings and children) and household members of each such employee are not eligible. The Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations and is void where prohibited.
Unfortunately, the legal rules on the actual entry page itself is not clear to the average reader at all, but it's very clear on the "Are you the one" page in two places.
As for resolution. A "proxy" service that ships overseas is certainly feasible, though I don't know of any legitimate U.S.->global ones because I've only used a middleman service from Japan->U.S. Have you asked your friends if they have relatives in the U.S.? It's a complete pain in the ass, I understand, but I expect Microsoft has an iron-clad position in this case since the restrictions were placed
somewhere on the contest pages. It looks terrible in terms of publicity, but Microsoft definitely isn't the only one to fall back on these legal terms, and law > PR. Until there's a worldwide government and legal body in place, these things won't change.
What I would have changed in MS' shoes is place the "plain English" legal restrictions, which were stuck in the PDF, on the Rules/FAQ section of the actual entry page, and the asterisk footnote on every single contest webpage. You could complain about the placement and wording on their Twitter and Facebook as a matter of PR, but you're still going to have to figure out something else to get it, I'm afraid.
Edit to add: Having used overseas proxy services before, I can tell you the combination of service and shipping fees is definitely expensive. Any smart proxy service will use a fully insured, expedited shipping method with tracking, and since we're talking air shipment overeas, that jacks things up quite a bit, on top of the necessary service fees in the first place. The Surface 2 may be only worth $450, or you could think of it as a heavily discounted purchase and resell it in the UK later.
(not just me mind, there was 500 to give out)
(I'm in the UK) now obviously this is very upsetting, and I'm trying to find a way round it. I've found a company called Borderlinx that will give me a US address and then ship it out to me, albeit with the extortionate cost of about $165.
