Following are blogs sent to the HGTV Dream home site explaining my case:
I am seeking details and clarification concerning the matter we have communicated about since April 2. I am referring to the $100,000 contest run by you and entered by me.in my mind I am still not clear why my call was disregarded. I stand by my assertion that someone picked up the phone, did not respond and then hung up.
I have been a faithful view of HGTV for years. I find your programming informative, thought provoking and entertaining. On various occasions I have entered contests you have sponsored. Each time I was confident of the integrity of HGTV. But my experience with this particular contest outcome has left me nonplussed.
I dialed the number listed, received busy signals which indicated the contest was still in progress and a winner had not been declared. I was operating under the criterion set forth by HGTV: continue to call until a winner is announced. Imagine my glee when my call was accepted. I had been resolute. I had outlasted the other HGTV viewers. My call had been answered.
An HGTV employee picked up but did not respond. I could hear voices but no one said anything. My call had been acknowledged but not responded to.
I am simply beside myself. I have blogged, emailed and called HGTVs President, the President of HGTVs parent company Scripps, and other high level executives regarding my predicament. It seems as though my quest is falling on deaf ears. I did receive an email from the manager of customer service (a sort of rebuttal) which read: Dear Ms.: This is in response to your April 2 e-mail to Ken Lowe regarding the HGTV Dream Home Giveaway. When the telephone lines for the $100,000 cash giveaway were opened on the night of March 18 only 2 calls were answered by HGTV during this live televised event. The first call taken was the ultimate winner from Virginia, and the second call taken was from an individual in Minnesota who was put on hold in the event the first caller did not qualify per the rules of the contest. After these two calls were accepted, no further phone calls were answered on the line during the live broadcast - in fact, while the phone continued to ring, it was not answered. I trust this explanation restores your confidence in the integrity of this giveaway and hope that you will continue watching Home & Garden Television in the future. Sincerely, Julia Rogoski. After I received that message, I made a valiant attempt to prove the validity of my claim by sending an unadulterated PDF copy of my Sprint telephone bill to HGTVs President. On the phone bill I highlighted the call that I made during the $100,000 giveaway, detailing the call date, time, and telephone number. The telephone invoice is legitimate, as is my claim. I called during the contest, someone answered, I heard men talking and then they hung up on me. I have not, heard anything further from HGTV. As a matter of fact, previous times that I contacted HGTV with the facts, they acknowledged my communication with adding something to the website regarding Mr. Reed. (1) After my first attempt, HGTV changed their website to include a link to the name of Robert Reed (which, if you can remember, his name was first on the Dream House webpage stating his winning without a link. (2) The second time that I tried to explain my position, shortly thereafter; HGTV posted a link to the rules of the game. During this time, I did talk with one of the executive assistants in TN, and if I remember correctly, she wanted to refer me to their lawyer. The present rule posting excludes HGTV from any liability for anything that happened during the contest. HGTV does not take responsibility for any technical or human error, which in essence infers that they can do whatever they want, however they want, so if I or anyone else called in and got hung up on, it was just to bad. My assertion is by hanging up on me I was denied the opportunity to exert my knowledge of the contest, and answer the question. (3) The third attempt that I made resulted in a blog page of how Mr. Reed felt about winning and (4 my final attempt to prove my case, resulted in a much more detailed blog page about how Mr. Reed felt about winning. I still love HGTV, I will always be a fan, but I am disappointed in how they have handled this. HGTVs assertion is that they did not receive but two calls, the facts however, prove otherwise. I was on the other end of that line, I know what happened. Plus, there was a person on the HGTV end, and they know what happened too! That person should speak up and be honest. Regardless what is said, everyone elses opinion is only a conjecture.
On September 27th I received a response from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding my complaint concerning the $100,000 give away. The Deputy Chief wrote verbatim the following: This letter responds to your complaint in which you allege that on March 18, Scripps Networks, LLC d/b/a / Home & Garden Television (HGTV), Knoxville, Tennessee violated the Commission's contest rules. Specifically, you allege that during a call-in type contest HGTV answered your call and hung up on you rather than give you an opportunity to play the game, as it was announced over the air and that you believe HGTV may have unfairly manipulated the call. While the Federal Communications Commission is authorized under Section 508 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended and 47 C.F.R. & 73.1216, to investigate allegations of contest irregularities broadcast over the air and to take action where appropriate, such authority is strictly limited to broadcast media. Congress has granted no comparable authority to the Commission to regulate any contest transmitted by satellite or cable.in view of the forgoing, because we have no legal basis to take action against HGTV, we deny your complaint. OK so that means BBB cannot do anything, FCC cannot do anything, my next stop is the FTC. I am not going to give up (Please see my earlier messages in this blog) Is there anyone on my side. Can anyone confirm the telephone number that was used on the East Coast, or does anyone have the video shown on the East Coast? I do not mind losing, and I know this is a contest. But wake up and smell the coffee. I called into the show. Was connected, and then hung up on. Will there be ever be justice in this case, will HGTV take responsibility for an error? No, I am sure there will not - but my voice will be heard.
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