4WD Touring Australia Competition Winner Sues Claiming Prizes Worth $30,000 Less than Advertised ($150,000 Vs. $120,000)

Saw this in the Daily Telegraph (sorry only Twitter link works) and reminded me of this thread where winners were promised a $1000 shopping spree of toys but actual value of toys were 10-30% less.

In short to the 4WD story, the winner thought they were winning $150,000 worth of prizes but instead the value was more like $120,000. It went to tribunal and they found in the winners favour.

“Mr Lawler was induced to purchase his two-year magazine subscription partly on the representation made by the respondent in its Ultimate Escape promotions. Mr Lawler was entitled to hold reasonable expectations that if he was the winner of the promotion he would receive goods to the value of $150,000,” Mr Gibson said.

On appeal, 4WD Touring made the case that the winner suffered no losses, thus compensation is not warranted (not even the cost of the magazine).

It's an interesting case. So, yes, the winner probably shouldn't be looking a gift horse in the mouth fighting over $150,000 vs $120,000. However, a 2 year subscription cost $170. For arguments sake, let's say the prize is supposed to be worth $200 but you find you only get $100 of prizes, would they still claim no loss?

Similar example with this deal where you subscribe to a magazine for $199, and receive gifts worth $629.

Update:

Read actual decision via CaseLaw
Original Comp Page

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4wdtouringaustralia.com.au
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Comments

  • +2

    Reminds me of that girl who thought she won a New Toyota

    • Toyota changed its name for the English language, the real name of the founder and current chairman is Toyoda, so the waitress could’ve argued that point.

  • +3

    I won a decked out Toyota Kluger from a work raffle last year.

    Had to give it to my brother because I bought a new car recently and I hate SUVs. It was the most depressing win ever.

    • Give it or sell it

    • Toyota Kluger

      most depressing car ever.

    • just sell it then.. I've seen these kind of ads on carsales before. You could have gotten a decent amount from it.

      • No. My brother liked it

  • See the diehard compers whinge all the time, because a comp will advertise 'return flights up to XX value', when in the real world they're never worth that price.

    Pick your battles sometimes

  • +1
    • Gold. He was an early adopter of the pc master race too going by the video.

  • See on the one hand, I kind of think first world problems, but then considering that the company in question is getting revenue (concievably) from the advertising of the promo and they could just as easily say upfront what the actual value of the real world prize, so I dunno maybe it serves em right? At least a judge agreed I suppose.

    Isn’t that sort of odd though? Why not just be upfront about the value of the prize to begin with?

  • A mate of mine works at News Corp in Sydney. He said what they left out of the article was that the only reason the car was apparently worth less was that the guy who won it argued that he couldn't get retail value if he sold it on Carsales with all the gear.
    I mean…I don't think any of us expect to sell a prize for retail value unless we're a dealer and it is new.

    • +2

      Interesting. So looks like the car was a 2002 100 Series LandCruiser valued at $55,000. It's a 15 year old worth $21,989, or roughly the $30k difference. So it appears they were valuing the car on the original new sticker price instead of the value after 15 years.

      Also, here is the decision in the appeal from Case Law NSW. Explains it quite well with cited cases.

      • So it appears they were valuing the car on the original new sticker price instead of the value after 15 years.

        Nope, brand new they're $90-130k

        Thats shit though, giving someone a 15yo car as a prize :/
        Would be ok if it's a full restore (like a muscle car etc) but not a cruiser!

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