If anyone cares, I just sent the following letter to Buzztime on our restaurant's letterhead:
Quote:
Dear Ms. Hincks:
I understand that you are responsible for the oversight of Buzztime competitions. I wanted to bring to your attention the ineptitude with which the current “Smartest Bar” Competition seems to have been handled. It is important to note that our bar has actually qualified for the finals in this contest, through the EST1 Wildcard slot, so this is not a case of sour grapes. We are delighted to be involved and we look forward to the arrival of our prize package. It it, rather, an expression of frustration from the perspectives of the players and of a bar that has actively promoted the contest.
The competition has been a confusing mess from day one. Before the detailed rules were posted on your website, I spoke with someone at Buzztime, who informed me that teams in each region would compete for first, second, third and wildcard positions by playing all nine weeks of the semi-finals in June and September. I regret that I did not write down the name of the woman with whom I spoke, but I assure you the conversation took place. I specifically asked, “So this will be unlike every other competition you’ve run, in that you are using the scores from the whole play period, without dropping the lowest?” I was actually somewhat excited by the new scoring rubric, especially inclusion of the wildcard slot.
When the official rules were posted, however, things seemed to change. “The Semi-Final Score for each Location is the total of its top 4 Location Scores during the Semi-Finals Promotion,” it says on your website. This implies that the top four scores will be taken, dropping the lowest five, over the two-month Semi-Final. This is reinforced by the prize valuation rubric. That is to say, one $500 prize and three $250 prizes for each of ten regions totals $12,500, the total prize amount listed in the rules. So we thought we understood.
Then, after the fifth week of June, we were informed that we won a spot in the Finals in November. Oddly, the E-mail also said, “See you Wednesdays in September for the next round of Buzztime’s Smartest Bar Competition.” Further confusing matters, the scores shown for the winners were the totals of all five weeks thus played. Puzzled, I contacted Buzztime by telephone. While Ed at Customer Service was quite friendly, he did not have any answers for me, so I gritted my teeth and went to your Facebook page. (I really don’t care for Facebook and resent the fact that it seems your players, and now your customers, have to go there to have any meaningful contact with you.) I was there informed that the Semi-Finals are actually two separate rounds, with forty winners from each round advancing to the finals. The total prizes are worth $25,000, not $12,500, as stated on the website.
All well and good, I supposed, if confusing. I and several other folks then asked about the scoring, as the lowest score had not been dropped. Someone acknowledged the error and posted new winners with new scores. These were also incorrect, as they simply dropped the scores from June 1, rather than the lowest scores. This error was also finally acknowledged and another set of winning scores posted.
Then we received two E-mails from you, both sent at 9:00 a.m. EST, July 10. One E-mail informed us, “While you didn’t earn a spot in November’s Finals, you’re still in luck! Stewart’s Brewing Company has another opportunity to compete in September.” The other read, “Congratulations! Stewarts Brewing ranked 7 in Buzztime's Smartest Bar Competition. You've earned your place in the November Finals where your bar will compete for the title of Buzztime's Smartest Bar.” Given all of the previous confusion and worried about our standing, I again contacted Customer Service, who researched and assured me that we were, in fact, still in the November Final, by dint of our Wildcard finish.
On the subject of E-mails, I received several E-mails throughout June as a player. Some said thanks for playing and good luck next week. Some said that you’d missed me playing and come back in next week. The odd thing was that I’d played EVERY week. I didn’t even bother bringing these to anyone’s attention until now, but I shudder to think that other players here and elsewhere must have received similarly confounding notes.
Finally, anyone wishing to check out the standings in this competition or check out how they may still qualify currently has a tough time doing so. In May and June, one simply had to go to your website, where an icon for the competition appeared right up front in a scroll with other events. Now it has disappeared. Players must click on “Happenings,” from the vertical menu on the left, then find the Smartest Bar Competition not in the current events scroll, but in the past events scroll. This seems like a silly place to hide it if you’re still trying to drive playership in September.
Please understand that I write this letter only partly out of frustration. Mostly, it’s that we truly enjoy your product here at Stewart’s and want to see it improve. That said, it is extremely frustrating, as a manager who is trying to promote your product and this competition, to have received so much conflicting and erroneous information about it. It is also embarrassing to have to explain it to all of the players here who so enthusiastically embraced our call to arms.
While a return letter from you might well restore my faith in the professionalism of Buzztime’s corporate leadership, your company’s track record on written replies does not leave me holding my breath. (Maybe this will be the one, though?) I do think that it would be in your interest to acknowledge to the general playership that there was some confusion on your part about the competition, or at least that the information you put out at various times was contradictory (or at least puzzling). You must realize that the folks who would participate in this “Smartest Bar Competition” are, by definition, not dumb. Players like me are quick to pick up on inconsistencies. The only thing we enjoy less than feeling like we are being snowed is when we hear nothing at all. Acknowledgment, apology and promises to do better, on your website, on the Scaratings site or even on Facebook, would go a long way toward reassuring your loyal base and restoring their faith in the integrity of Buzztime competitions in the future.
Thank you for your time in reading this rather long letter. Again, it is written because I care, my boss cares and our customers care. I look forward to any response.
I'll let y'all know if there is any response.
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