Math Test for Canadians
Over Thanksgiving, we flew to Minneapolis to spend the holiday my in-laws. We flew on Northwest Airlines. Northwest, formerly known to me as 'Northworst,' did an excellent job with pretty much everything. We arrived 5 minutes early on Tuesday night prior to Thanksgiving - not super impressive as that wasn't the 'rush' day, but on Sunday, we arrived back in Washington 30 minutes early, which to me is amazing considering the Sunday after Thanksgiving is one of the biggest travel days of the year.
A few minutes ago I recieved an invitation from Northwest to take a survey about my experience with them. The survey was advertised to take 2 minutes, so I took it. I finished in under 2 minutes and even wrote them a nice note. They did a great job. Taking the survey automatically qualified me for their quarterly drawing for 100,000 miles on their World-Perks frequent flier miles program.
So what does this have to do with testing the math skills of Canadians?
Well, after completing the survey, I clicked on the rules and regulations link of the survey's thank you message (I was curious when they were planning to draw the winner - not that I expect to win, but curious nevertheless).
In the Prizes section of the rules, one line seemed very strange to me (in blue below):
PRIZES: One Grand Prize of 100,000 WorldPerks Bonus Miles will be awarded each quarter for a total of five (5) Grand Prizes over the length of promotion. Approximate retail value of each Grand Prize is $1,000. You must be a WorldPerks member to win. There is no fee to join. Prize may not be transferred, substituted orredeemed for cash except at the sole discretion of the Sponsor. Winner will be required to complete/sign/return an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability Release and except where prohibited, a Publicity Release within 14 days of receipt or prize will beforfeited and awarded to an alternate winner. Canadian winner must successfully answer a mathematical skill-testing question to receive prize. Should prize not beavailable for any reason, Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value.
What is that all about? Is Northwest worried about Canadians' math skills? Are they planning to hand out a really hard Calculus problem that is impossible to answer in order to not award a prize to a Canadian?
I suppose there's a law or something in Canada that prizes cannot be awarded without someone correctly answering a question... hopefully it's something like: what is the sum of 2+2 ... sheesh.
For fair disclosure, I put the full rules below. Strange...
NORTHWEST AIRLINES
OFFICIAL SWEEPSTAKES RULES
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR RECEIVE PRIZE. COMPLETION OF
SURVEY WILL NOT IMPROVE CHANCES OF WINNING.
ENTRY: You are automatically entered in to the Customer Experience Sweepstakes
when you complete the online survey. You may enter without completing the survey
or without flying on a Northwest Airlines flight within the last 60 days by handprinting
your name, address, phone number and the words “ Customer Experience
Sweepstakes” on a 3”x5” paper and mailing it to Northwest Customer Experience
Sweepstakes P.O. Box 8600 Westport, CT 06888. Limit one entry per completed
survey. You may enter at any time; however, winners will be selected based on
entries received in the quarterly entry periods outlined in the section titled
“DRAWINGS”. This Sweepstakes is sponsored by Northwest Airlines, Inc. which is
not responsible for phone, electronic, network, computer, hardware or software
malfunctions, failures or difficulties. Sweepstakes ends 12/31/08 at 11:59PM CST.
Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received.
ELIGIBILITY: Open only to legal residents of the United States and Canada (except
void in Quebec) who are 21years of age or older at the time of entry. Promotion is
void where prohibited or restricted. Employees of Northwest Airlines ("Sponsor"),
Maritz, Inc., Promotion Management Corporation, ("PMC”) and all other
organizations affiliated with the sponsorship, fulfillment, administration, prize
support, advertising or promotion of the Sweepstakes, and/or their respective
parent, subsidiary, affiliate and successor companies (“Sweepstakes Entities”) and
immediate family members or members of the same households (parents, stepparents,
legal guardians, children, step-children, siblings, step-siblings, or spouses,
whether related or not) of such persons at any time during this sweepstakes are not
eligible.
PRIZES: One Grand Prize of 100,000 WorldPerks Bonus Miles will be awarded
each quarter for a total of five (5) Grand Prizes over the length of promotion.
Approximate retail value of each Grand Prize is $1,000. You must be a WorldPerks
member to win. There is no fee to join. Prize may not be transferred, substituted or
redeemed for cash except at the sole discretion of the Sponsor. Winner will be
required to complete/sign/return an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability Release and
except where prohibited, a Publicity Release within 14 days of receipt or prize will be
forfeited and awarded to an alternate winner. Canadian winner must successfully
answer a mathematical skill-testing question to receive prize. Should prize not be
available for any reason, Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or
greater value.
DRAWINGS: Winners will be determined by random drawing, from all eligible
entries received during the entry period, on or about 15 business days from the end
of each of the following five entry periods: 10/1/07 – 12/31/07, 1/1/08- 3/31/08,
4/1/08 – 6/30/08, 7/1/08 – 9/30/08 and 10/1/08 – 12/31/08. Drawings will be
conducted by PMC, an independent judging agency. Winners will be notified by email.
Should notification be returned for any reason, an alternate winner will be
randomly selected. Bonus Miles will be awarded approximately two weeks after
notification.
GENERAL: By entering this sweepstakes, you accept and agree; a) to be bound by
these rules and all decisions of the judges, which are final and b) that Northwest
Airlines and it’s respective parent, subsidiary and affiliated companies, advertising
and promotion agencies, and all of their respective officers, directors, employees,
representatives and agents, will have no liability whatsoever for, and shall be held
harmless by participants against any liability for any injuries, losses or damages of
any kind to persons, including death, or property resulting in or in part, directly or
indirectly, from acceptance, possession, misuse or use of any prize or participation
in this sweepstakes or any sweepstakes related activity; or for any typographical or
other error in the printing, offering or announcement of any prize; and c) except
where legally prohibited, winners grant (and agree to confirm they grant in writing)
permission for Sponsor and those acting under its authority to use his/her name,
photograph, voice and/or likeness, for advertising, trade and/or publicity purposes
without additional compensation. Northwest Airlines reserves the right, in its sole
discretion, to cancel, terminate or suspend this sweepstakes should virus bugs,
unauthorized human intervention or other causes beyond its control corrupt or affect
the administration, security, fairness or proper conduct of the sweepstakes. In the
event of cancellation or termination, prizes will be awarded in a random drawing
from eligible entries legitimately received prior to the event causing such
cancellation or termination. In the event of a dispute regarding prize claims or
entries received from multiple users having the same e-mail account, the authorized
subscriber of the e-mail account at the time of entry used to enter will be deemed to
be the entrant and must comply with these Official Rules. Authorized account
subscriber is the natural person who is assigned the e-mail address by the Internet
Service Provider (ISP), on-line service provider, or other organization responsible for
assigning e-mail addresses.
WINNERS LIST: To obtain the names of the winners, send a self-addressed,
stamped envelope to NWA Winners P.O. Box 8500 Westport, CT 06888. VT
residents may omit return stamp.
SPONSOR: Northwest Airlines, Inc., 2700 Lone Oak Parkway, Eagan, MN 55121-
1534
A few minutes ago I recieved an invitation from Northwest to take a survey about my experience with them. The survey was advertised to take 2 minutes, so I took it. I finished in under 2 minutes and even wrote them a nice note. They did a great job. Taking the survey automatically qualified me for their quarterly drawing for 100,000 miles on their World-Perks frequent flier miles program.
So what does this have to do with testing the math skills of Canadians?
Well, after completing the survey, I clicked on the rules and regulations link of the survey's thank you message (I was curious when they were planning to draw the winner - not that I expect to win, but curious nevertheless).
In the Prizes section of the rules, one line seemed very strange to me (in blue below):
PRIZES: One Grand Prize of 100,000 WorldPerks Bonus Miles will be awarded each quarter for a total of five (5) Grand Prizes over the length of promotion. Approximate retail value of each Grand Prize is $1,000. You must be a WorldPerks member to win. There is no fee to join. Prize may not be transferred, substituted orredeemed for cash except at the sole discretion of the Sponsor. Winner will be required to complete/sign/return an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability Release and except where prohibited, a Publicity Release within 14 days of receipt or prize will beforfeited and awarded to an alternate winner. Canadian winner must successfully answer a mathematical skill-testing question to receive prize. Should prize not beavailable for any reason, Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value.
What is that all about? Is Northwest worried about Canadians' math skills? Are they planning to hand out a really hard Calculus problem that is impossible to answer in order to not award a prize to a Canadian?
I suppose there's a law or something in Canada that prizes cannot be awarded without someone correctly answering a question... hopefully it's something like: what is the sum of 2+2 ... sheesh.
For fair disclosure, I put the full rules below. Strange...
NORTHWEST AIRLINES
OFFICIAL SWEEPSTAKES RULES
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR RECEIVE PRIZE. COMPLETION OF
SURVEY WILL NOT IMPROVE CHANCES OF WINNING.
ENTRY: You are automatically entered in to the Customer Experience Sweepstakes
when you complete the online survey. You may enter without completing the survey
or without flying on a Northwest Airlines flight within the last 60 days by handprinting
your name, address, phone number and the words “ Customer Experience
Sweepstakes” on a 3”x5” paper and mailing it to Northwest Customer Experience
Sweepstakes P.O. Box 8600 Westport, CT 06888. Limit one entry per completed
survey. You may enter at any time; however, winners will be selected based on
entries received in the quarterly entry periods outlined in the section titled
“DRAWINGS”. This Sweepstakes is sponsored by Northwest Airlines, Inc. which is
not responsible for phone, electronic, network, computer, hardware or software
malfunctions, failures or difficulties. Sweepstakes ends 12/31/08 at 11:59PM CST.
Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received.
ELIGIBILITY: Open only to legal residents of the United States and Canada (except
void in Quebec) who are 21years of age or older at the time of entry. Promotion is
void where prohibited or restricted. Employees of Northwest Airlines ("Sponsor"),
Maritz, Inc., Promotion Management Corporation, ("PMC”) and all other
organizations affiliated with the sponsorship, fulfillment, administration, prize
support, advertising or promotion of the Sweepstakes, and/or their respective
parent, subsidiary, affiliate and successor companies (“Sweepstakes Entities”) and
immediate family members or members of the same households (parents, stepparents,
legal guardians, children, step-children, siblings, step-siblings, or spouses,
whether related or not) of such persons at any time during this sweepstakes are not
eligible.
PRIZES: One Grand Prize of 100,000 WorldPerks Bonus Miles will be awarded
each quarter for a total of five (5) Grand Prizes over the length of promotion.
Approximate retail value of each Grand Prize is $1,000. You must be a WorldPerks
member to win. There is no fee to join. Prize may not be transferred, substituted or
redeemed for cash except at the sole discretion of the Sponsor. Winner will be
required to complete/sign/return an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability Release and
except where prohibited, a Publicity Release within 14 days of receipt or prize will be
forfeited and awarded to an alternate winner. Canadian winner must successfully
answer a mathematical skill-testing question to receive prize. Should prize not be
available for any reason, Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or
greater value.
DRAWINGS: Winners will be determined by random drawing, from all eligible
entries received during the entry period, on or about 15 business days from the end
of each of the following five entry periods: 10/1/07 – 12/31/07, 1/1/08- 3/31/08,
4/1/08 – 6/30/08, 7/1/08 – 9/30/08 and 10/1/08 – 12/31/08. Drawings will be
conducted by PMC, an independent judging agency. Winners will be notified by email.
Should notification be returned for any reason, an alternate winner will be
randomly selected. Bonus Miles will be awarded approximately two weeks after
notification.
GENERAL: By entering this sweepstakes, you accept and agree; a) to be bound by
these rules and all decisions of the judges, which are final and b) that Northwest
Airlines and it’s respective parent, subsidiary and affiliated companies, advertising
and promotion agencies, and all of their respective officers, directors, employees,
representatives and agents, will have no liability whatsoever for, and shall be held
harmless by participants against any liability for any injuries, losses or damages of
any kind to persons, including death, or property resulting in or in part, directly or
indirectly, from acceptance, possession, misuse or use of any prize or participation
in this sweepstakes or any sweepstakes related activity; or for any typographical or
other error in the printing, offering or announcement of any prize; and c) except
where legally prohibited, winners grant (and agree to confirm they grant in writing)
permission for Sponsor and those acting under its authority to use his/her name,
photograph, voice and/or likeness, for advertising, trade and/or publicity purposes
without additional compensation. Northwest Airlines reserves the right, in its sole
discretion, to cancel, terminate or suspend this sweepstakes should virus bugs,
unauthorized human intervention or other causes beyond its control corrupt or affect
the administration, security, fairness or proper conduct of the sweepstakes. In the
event of cancellation or termination, prizes will be awarded in a random drawing
from eligible entries legitimately received prior to the event causing such
cancellation or termination. In the event of a dispute regarding prize claims or
entries received from multiple users having the same e-mail account, the authorized
subscriber of the e-mail account at the time of entry used to enter will be deemed to
be the entrant and must comply with these Official Rules. Authorized account
subscriber is the natural person who is assigned the e-mail address by the Internet
Service Provider (ISP), on-line service provider, or other organization responsible for
assigning e-mail addresses.
WINNERS LIST: To obtain the names of the winners, send a self-addressed,
stamped envelope to NWA Winners P.O. Box 8500 Westport, CT 06888. VT
residents may omit return stamp.
SPONSOR: Northwest Airlines, Inc., 2700 Lone Oak Parkway, Eagan, MN 55121-
1534
posted by Matt Donahue at
4:14 PM
2 Comments:
That's weird, eh.
By
Katie, at 4:45 PM
some weird canadian law about giveaways and sweepstakes i bet... maybe you can't give away a prize at random in canada but they can give away the chance to "win" it?
By
joe, at 9:25 AM
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