We've seen a lot of custom Xbox Series X and Series S bundles being given away by Microsoft over the past year, either via Twitter or as part of Microsoft Rewards. While many have questioned whether anyone actually wins them, it's been proved they do — although one unlucky Xbox fan happened to find this out the hard way.
Taking to Reddit recently, the person in question (we're going to keep them anonymous as they included some personal details in the attached photo) mentioned that they won the recent Far Cry 6 Xbox Series X custom bundle, which included a Far Cry branded Series X and controller, a digital copy of Far Cry 6, a Samsung NEO QLED TV and more, with an approximate value of $4288.98. Unfortunately, they never saw or replied to the emails they received:
"Thanks for entering a Microsoft Rewards sweepstakes. Pending official confirmation you've been drawn as a winner of a Custom Far Cry 6 Xbox Series X Bundle. Approximate retail value (ARV) or Prize: USD $4,288.98."
"Please confirm your full name, mailing address, phone number and age, and we will send you a potential winner package for completion. We will need you to reply by Friday, October 22, 2021, or your prize will no longer be available."
Based on the Reddit comments from other Microsoft Rewards winners, they've suggested that if you happen to get an email from the company "IC Promos" about winning a competition, you ideally need to email them back ASAP, and you may even need to email them back a few times before a Microsoft representative finally gets in touch to sort out your prizes. The whole thing has been described as a little confusing and "drawn out".
Here's what one person had to say about the process of winning an Xbox One S a few years ago:
"The email was sent by a promotions company not Microsoft directly. It looked like a basic template and honestly kind of sketchy. I did some googling to vet the promotions company and then emailed back my info.
A month passes without a word and then they email me again saying that I need to send in my info within 2 days or else my prize would be forfeited. Once again, sketchy. I emailed back saying that I already did and sent the previous email as proof. The next day, I get an email from an actual Microsoft representative (oh good, it wasn't all a scam)."
Unfortunately for the Redditer who lost out on the Far Cry 6 Series X bundle, it looks like there's no way of claiming that prize now — especially as the Microsoft Rewards website suggests "Greg E." from Oklahoma City ended up getting it.
This admittedly could have happened to any of us though (we'd probably have missed it too!), so if the person in question is reading this, try not to feel too bad... you're not the first to have done this, and you won't be the last either!
Have you won a competition via Microsoft Rewards before? How did the process work for you? Tell us below.
[source reddit.com, via reddit.com]
Comments 17
Oh no! I get so many spam and sketchy e-mails that I would likely miss anything like that as well honestly.
It’s a stupid process and look like a spam or hackers trying to get your info I would have put this email to trash for sure they need to rethink this process.
Surely if there is proof he emailed, Microsoft should sort this out and give him the same reward
@StylesT Nah, he didn't actually email anyone at all. Says in his post that he simply didn't check his emails until it was too late.
Surely there is a better way to deal with prizes and prize draws and the buzz that would follow… if month on month normal people were online showing off their prizes more and more would be entering and drawn to the brand survey! Making the claiming harder and having so few prize winners actually showing up is a bad look
I feel bad for him..
Looks like spam to me..
That's why I check my spam folder once a week. I've had important emails sent there and plenty of spam sent through to my email.
I have over 52,000 unread emails on one of my email accounts, and 5215 unread emails on my account that I use as my Xbox email address. Fat chance of me actually ever seeing something such as this. If you enter on your Xbox, surely it would be better to respond there?
@Fiendish-Beaver a message on your Xbox seems sensible to me or when you enter you share your billing address and they send prize out. All this claiming prize stuff is to hope people don’t claim.
@Fiendish-Beaver Well MS rewards doesn't require an Xbox, and you sign in with your Microsoft account via e-mail so Xbox messages wouldn't be very consistent or reliable sadly.
I feel you about having loads of unread e-mails. I recently had to do a massive purge of my Hotmail inbox as it had reached the 15Gb limit as I've had it since the mid 2000s It took me FOREVER to clear out thousands upon thousands of old marketing newsletters, etc. Since then I've been more active in unsubscribing and deleting stuff I don't want to receive so I don't miss the important ones.
I just cannot be bothered to go through them all, @PhileasFragg. I just create a new email address instead, and then just update those few companies I actually want to hear from...
@Fiendish-Beaver I used a service called CleanFox that'll analyse your inbox and allow you to delete a bunch of newsletters and such in one go. It took, literally, hours for it to go through my inbox, but it saved a bunch of time.
The kid was too lazy to check his own email. It's his own fault he missed out. A very expensive lesson learned.
So how did someone else win it if the winner never claimed it?
@Tasuki I assume they just drew another winner.
That's cool, @PhileasFragg. I'll take a look. Thank you...
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