A letter from the Fair Trading Commission was hand delivered to me today, dated 14th November 2007.
Including in its contents the letter stated:
‘The Commission met with Mr. John Payne, Director of Opera Interactive (Barbados) Limited to determine the relationship between Opera Interactive (Barbados) Ltd and Opera Telecom Limited of the UK’. ‘The Commission learnt that Mr Corbett of Telecom TV UK (we think this means Opera Telecom UK) developed a programme which he intended to bring to Barbados but subsequently decided not to do so. He, however, assisted with the stetting up of Opera Interactive (Barbados) Ltd and his name was cited as a director of Opera Interactive (Barbados) Ltd’. ‘The Commission has received a “Certified True Copy” of a document entitled “Notice of Director or Notice of Change of Directors” dated Nov 1, 2007 showing that Mr. Gary J. Corbett was removed as a director of Opera Interactive (Barbados) Ltd on October 17, 2007′.
‘With respect to Opera Telecom’s UK’s name being flashed on the screen during television advertisements, please note that the Commission obtained a copy of Opera Interactive (Barbados) Limited’s advertisements which were previously aired on the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation. The advertisements stated that the prizes for the competition were supplied by Opera Telecom’. The Commission was informed that the aforementioned statement was a mistake carried forward from an earlier test promotion and that Opera Telecom UK has never provided the prizes for local competitions. The Commission informed Opera Interactive (Barbados) Limited that if Opera Telecom UK is not associated with the company, then its name should be removed and replaced with Opera Interactive (Barbados) Limited. Mr Payne agreed to do accordingly’.
‘On Friday, October 5th 2007, a concerned consumer informed the Commission that the telephone numbers given by the operator of Barbados Lucky Number(s) for winners to contact the operator of the competition and claim their prizes was not operational. The Commission reviewed the advertisement for Barbados Lucky Number(s) which was displayed in the October 5, 2007 Weekend Nation and sought to contact the operators of the competition using the number stated in the newspaper. It was confirmed that the contact number was not in working order. The Commission contacted Mr. John Payne Director and Ms Joanne Nugent of Opera Interactive (Barbados) Limited with respect to the matter’.
‘The Commission requested Opera Interactive (Barbados) Limited to immediately carry out the following actions:
- Ensure that its contact number for winners of Barbados Lucky Number (s) is operational
- Be more transparency and publicize the winners of its competition in the media
- Clearly state in its advertisement that Opera Interactive (Barbados) Limited is the operator of the competition
The Commission can now confirm that the contact number for winners is operational. Additionally, Opera Interactive (Barbados) Limited has confirmed that the names of the winners of its competition will be published in the media. The said company also provided the Commission with the names, addresses and telephone numbers of its competition winners. The Commission telephoned those persons identified on the list as winners to confirm that they were authentic. Additionally, Opera Interactive (Barbados) Limited will be identified as the operator of the competition.
Our telephone enquiries revealed that the winners were bona fide winners of Opera Interactive (Barbados) Limited competition and that they had received their prizes’.
The letter ends with ‘Please be assured that we will continue to monitor businesses to ensure that they comply with the Act’.
Adrian Loveridge
16 November 2007
PS: I personally have not seen the winners names advertised, so I have asked the Fair Trading Commission to advise when and where these notices appeared. My thanks for the Fair Trading Commission for their work in helping to resolve this situation!
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