So as many of you know, I won a contest on this forum over a month ago. BongoSTL announced he was graduating college shortly and wanted to give away some sticks he had around, including an ISOM or two. What was interesting about the contest to me was that it was one I thought I could actually win. Guess his major and concentration in college. I had a sense from reading other posts what it was and while I didn't exactly name the specific concentration (not sure anyone could, it was rather arcane), I came closer than anybody and was declared the winner on a Monday. Bongo told me he was packing up and would send the sticks out that week.
That week passed and I didn't receive anything. Another week went by and nothing. I sent Bongo an Instant Message and he said that he had "completely forgot" about sending the package but would do so the next day. That was on May 23. But, no package came.
A week later, May 30, I started to wonder if Bongo might have sent the package to the wrong address. He was so insistent that he was sending the next day that I figured maybe I didn't give him my apartment number or something. I sent an email and asked for a tracking number, if he had sent by USPS priority mail. No response from Bongo, though.
A little over a week ago, I posted a thread on this forum where I asked for advice about what one does in a contest situation like this one. I was really pleased that people took the time to respond and the consensus was that I should keep on the contest provider and/or reveal who said person was. One responder noted that I shouldn't "call out" someone who is giving free sticks. I took that point very seriously and hesitated in mentioning the person's name until I was sure that they weren't going to send and weren't taking the contest they started seriously.
On June 5 I sent an email actually explaining to Bongo that I was disappointed he hadn't sent the sticks and asking for an explanation as to why this might have happened. No response. This past Wednesday, I said that if I didn't get some kind of reasonable explanation that I was going to bring this up to the board. No response until Friday afternoon.
Now, you may be saying to yourself, "it's just a contest, why not let it go?" And I was going to probably not bring it up until Bongo ultimately resurfaced on the board. At that point I might have said, "whatever happened to the sticks you promised to send?"
But my mind was made up today when he finally said that the package has not gone out yet, this is a zero priority and because of unnamed "personal matters," he might send out "a package," he might not. That's pretty much it. Nice to know that "completely forgot" morphed into "the next day" to "I don't know when I will have time." However, as Bongo assured me, "As you know from the board, my reputation is a good one." But it's not good with me. Actions speak louder than words.
After a month of not receiving this, it's the principle at this point. The cigars aren't important (though I've come to agree that a contest is binding like a trade), but what is important is that if mailing a simple box is that much of a burden, then much earlier on I should have been made aware of that, instead of wasting time sending emails, starting threads and so forth. I would have understood if there was some communication.
Not sure I'll enter any more contests on this board and while I've made some great friends here, not sure about trusting new people either. This "I have personal matters and just ignore what I've said in the past" thing isn't too convincing. It isn't the end of the world, and I realize this is the Internet and it can be a sketchy mode of communication, but I think this should be brought to people's attentions.
