I kid you not....this is totally and completely true.
Last week on Wed. Feb. 23rd I stopped by my sister's house to wish her a happy birthday.
Well, Dr Pepper has been running a contest titled, "Win a $25,000 New Look"
I had two of those Dr. Pepper caps sitting in that little well that resides just below the ashtray in my car for like 3 weeks.
As I was exiting my car, I grabbed them both and put them in my coat pocket.
I wished my sister a happy birthday and then went to the computer, checked my e-mail, went to this message board and visited a few other sites before remembering that I had those caps in my pocket.
I went to www.drpepper.com (go check it out if you like) where it instructed me to create a new account which meant giving my name, address, e-mail, password, etc...
After I entered all that in it was time to enter the 15 digit code inside the cap.
I entered the code in and clicked "SUBMIT".
A few seconds passed and then a new window popped up that read:
"CONGRATULATIONS!! YOU ARE THIS WEEK'S GRAND PRIZE WINNER!"
Believe me when I say that I literally did a double take when I first read it.
I went and got my sister who was in the living room watching TV...I had to have a witness to this.
She looked at the screen and asked, "OMG did you win!?"
I said, "I think so..."
I clicked where it said, "CONTINUE"
It then took me to a new page that read something like this, "You will be mailed an affidavit that you must read, sign and return to us to claim your prize."
I was like "Holy s**t I won!!"
She & I then went through and read the Terms & Conditions.
The screen told me I was a winner but I had to hear it from a person at Dr. Pepper to be 100% sure.
I called their corporate headquarters the next day on Thursday and gave my info to a woman there named Deb.
She told me that she would pass on my information to the Director of Promotions dept. named Dan and that he will be getting in touch with me as soon as the claim was verified.
Most of Friday came and went with no callback until the late afternoon when I missed his call...he left a message telling me to call him this morning Mon.the 28th.
So basically I was left languishing all weekend not knowing whether it was truly a 100% win.
I called him this morning and he said this to me,
"Well Jamey, I contacted the fufillment center, they're the people who actually pay out the prize, and they did indeed confirm that you were last week's Grand Prize Winner! Congratulations!"
He then proceeded to tell me about the affidavit and gave me a bit more info.
Here's how the contest works:
"For each week during the Weekly Grand Prize Period, a randomly selected date and time will be pre-selected, and the eligible participant entering the first valid code at such time (or closest thereafter) will be deemed that week's Grand Prize winner of the Grand Prize below (subject to verification and compliance with these Official Rules). "
The contest runs for 12 weeks and there will be 12 big winners...one for each week.
I entered my code in at 2:30 pm Wed. so that must've been the chosen time!
So I'll bet you're wondering what I won eh?
It's $25,000 split 3 ways.
First, I get $10,000 to spend at www.giftcertificates.com
Second, I get $10,000 to spend at Sony (Yee haa!)
And third, I get $5,000 cash
CHA-CHING!!
(http://www.softcoin.com/softcoin/consumers/includes/images/391/drp_homeTop.jpg)
I've never won anything in my life until now....damn did I hit it big!
I've already started making a list of s**t I'm gonna buy.
When I buy my cool digital camera, I'll take pics of some of the stuff I've bought and post em up here for you guys to see.
Apparently, that affidavit will explain how and when I'll receive the prizes.
Any ideas of cool stuff I should get?
Post Edited (05-27-05 14:00)
Well, there's the new batch of DVD's from Tokyo Shock coming out in March.
And there's always sexual favors. :P
Damn, man, good for you. I wish I had 25,000. Seriously, if I were you, I'd save that five grand in cash. I mean, you just got twenty grand that HAS to be spent, so save the other five for a rainy day, let it work for you and collect some interest in a bank.
I have been wondering where you were. I have not seen you post here in awhile.
One thing I'm wondering about is how to handle the tax end of it all.
Do any of you know about the I.R.S. and how they handle taxes on gifts?
The last thing I want is to have tax time roll around next year and have the I.R.S. holding out their hand and asking, "Where's our money?"
And thanks Brother R....Everyone else is also telling me to set aside that $5,000.
I think I'm gonna take $1,680 and pay the rest of my lease off on my apartment.
It'll be nice to go the rest of this year and not have to worry about rent.
Post Edited (02-28-05 15:54)
Don't they tax gifts like this pretty much as income?
I believe that they do....I've heard of people winning contests and being better off turning down the prize than to be stuck with the tax bill, though supposedly that's the case more often for big ticket prizes like cars, boats, and luxury trips. Gift certificates I'm not sure about, but I'm almost certain you will owe on the $5000.
Yeah, you'll definitely want to figure out the tax liability before you go and spend it all and then have to pay the taxes out of your paycheck. I may be wrong, but I think taxes on prize winnings are pretty high. Maybe go through the yellow pages and give some CPA firms a call and see if they can help you out.
OBTW, Congratulations!
blkrider wrote:
> certificates I'm not sure about, but I'm almost certain you
> will owe on the $5000.
Or they give the $5,000 in cash to cover the taxes on the rest.
That's awesome! Only thing I ever won was 10 Frank Zappa CDs of my choice from Rykodisc-- Still cool, but nowhere near as big as your haul. Congrats!
Congrats Ash. That's cool. Is it too early to ask for a loan? :)
Hey Ash,
You will be taxed on the entire $25,000. "Income" does not necessarily mean cash, the basic test is whether it is any benefit to you, and obviously gift certificates are a benefit to you and therefore will be income.
I suggest you take the entire $5000 and invest it in something (relatively safe) so that it earns a little $ until you have to pay it to the IRS a year from now. The $25,000 hit will likely bump you into a higher tax bracket, so you may need to pay even more than the $5000 to good old Uncle Sam. It depends on your tax situation!
If you haven't done your taxes yet this year I would go to a tax professional to have them done. You will not be taxed on the money this year, but you can probably get some free time with the tax preparer for your questions about NEXT year. They might be able to give you some ideas......
Send some of that luck west to Des Moines!
You're from Des Moines? Man, lotta Iowan b-movie lovers hangin' out 'round these here parts.
Congratulations!
Dude, that's awesome! Congrats!
Maybe now you can use that 5,000 to get internet at your apt. :)
Son-of-a...
I am quite a-fluster of jealousy right now!
Now I'm beginning to think I should start entering more soft drink promotions!!
Now don't go spend it all on cheap booze and hoochie-mamas!
Are you married? If so (and this is something I learned from Shawshank Redemption), you might be able to waiver any tax on a contest like this by doing the paper work and giving the $25,000 lot to your wife as a one time gift. I think the figures work up to $30,000. As it goes in the movie, make sure you trust her to spend it equally. Otherwise she could run to Guatemala and get a dozen plastic surgery operations and come back half woman/half horse...... or something like that.
Remember, married people get all the breaks. It's worth it for the paperwork.
Congrats ASH, spend it wisely...cough...I'm looking for a Sony Mini DV camcorder...cough...
"Remember, married people get all the breaks. It's worth it for the paperwork."
Not completely true... My wife and I are married and we have a 4 year old girl. In order to get insurance for her, I need to pay $174 per month because, being married, we make too much money. My brother in law has kids with someone who he just lives with. They make more than us combined but the state falls all over them and gives them everything they need (including better insurance for the kids) because they are single parents. When tax time rolls around, they also make out there too because they are single parents. There's other things too but this isn't the time or place to get into this. This thread is for ASH to rub it into our faces that he won 25 grand ;- )
Congrats I am glad you won some money not some 80 year old oil tycoons that seem to win just about everything involving winning money.....
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You can’t give it, you can't buy it, and you just don't get it!-Aeon Flux
I work in a bank, with finances like this every day.
You can avoid moving to the higher tax bracket by doing something as simple as puttine $2000 of the $5000 into an IRA or a Roth IRA. The money is still yours, but the govt. defers taxes on it until you start to draw.
Many contests do withholding. Ask about it.
Get professional consultation from a tax attorney -- not H & R Block.
peter johnson/denny crane
Sure, sure ASH, you could take the advice from all of these guys here that mean well, or you could take advice from me...someone who is obviously looking out for your best interest. Follow me now, I will help you avoid paying any kind of taxes...Everything that you won...simply sign it over to me. Problem solved. I'll be the stand up guy here and take the hit for you ASH.
Also...WOOHOO...I won today too! A bought a $1 scratch off ticket and won $4 on it! WHO DA MAN!?! Seriously, I did win that and that's pretty much the way my winnings go, nothing huge.
I finally got the e-mail confirmation from the fufillment center.
It said:
"We will be sending you an affidavit to be completed tomorrow by FedEx overnight delivery. You should receive it on Friday. The affidavit will need to be completed and notarized. There will be a report post paid FedEx envelope for you to return it to us in.
After we receive and confirm the affidavits information, you will receive a confirmation email. The prize will then be mailed to you registered mail within 6-8 weeks."
6-8 weeks!? Damn, that's a long time to wait. I wonder if that's for the check for $5,000.
Skaboi wrote:
> Dude, that's awesome! Congrats!
Maybe now you can use that 5,000 to get internet at your apt.
> :)
Oh yeah! I plan to hook up cable internet A.S.A.P. so you guys will definitely be seeing more of me soon!
I'm also going to tear down my crappy neglected book review site and build something new....not sure what yet.
Either way, I'll be back in the thick of things.
Scott H. wrote:
> Are you married? If so (and this is something I learned from
> Shawshank Redemption), you might be able to waiver any tax on a
> contest like this by doing the paper work and giving the
> $25,000 lot to your wife as a one time gift.
Dude, I thought of the exact same thing from that movie!
But I'm not married.
I wonder if there are any other tax loopholes like the IRA idea?
Well, it's nice to see one of the Good Guys winning for once. Congratulations!
About "Things You Absolutely Must Buy Straight Away" - the lady shoppers in my office insist that if you spot one of the above, you must wait 3 days before buying. That way, if it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, any desire to buy is gone after 72 hours. If you still burn to purchase it after 3 days, then obviously it was meant to be!
"Well, it's nice to see one of the Good Guys winning for once. Congratulations!"
Ash is one of the good guys?? :-P
And here I thought that I was justified in sending off the hitsquad to take him down before he spent his winnings on things of unspeakable horror...
The extent of my major winnings is about $600 at the casino, but then that pretty much evened me out over how much I had previously lost [perhaps, maybe a small profit], so I guess it doesn't count.
I also one a poetry competition once in which I was supposed to get this big prize pack involving lots of cool stuff [can't really remember now], and shoes, don't forget a new pair of shoes! But to this day I have yet to recieve my prize... that was about 4-5 years ago, so unless they are hand delivering it to me from Guatemala, I don't think I'll be seeing that prize anytime soon!
Congratulations ASHTHECAT. The most I've won was in the Florida lottery for $120. Though I wouldn't turn down any amount make note that only a cool 10 Million would be sufficient for anything else would be to easy to spend unless you invested it.
Post Edited (03-04-05 21:53)
A few weeks ago I was totally p**sed that the fountain drink machine was broken at my local convenience store, so I had to resort to buying a 20-oz bottled drink. I normally never pay attention to the kind of promotions that give anything other than "instant winner" messages, but I thought about it when i got back into my office, and checked the code on the drpepper.com website, and I won $100 to spend at Sony! I didn't believe it until my new dvd player came! Too cool!
forget u all I win all I drink is Dr Pepper and I got ideas
Nate dug up this topic but this is the first time I've seen it.
In the words of Tom Tucker from Family Guy: "Congratulations, you son of a b***h!"
I will be posting snapshots of some of the stuff I've already gotten soon.
I wonder how many of you thought I was making this all up.
It's totally real...I really did win.
Hell, I had a hard time convincing some of my friends here in town that I really won.
Post Edited (05-27-05 14:01)
What have you gotten? Honestly I didn't believe it. I mean, who really wins anything?