The first compensatory $250 checks reached would-be winners of vans in the Kraft USA ”Ready to Roll” contest that was nullified earlier this month. Thousands of people had claimed the grand prize, a 1990 Dodge Caravan LE worth $17,000, after game pieces offered in June 11 newspaper fliers were accidentally printed backward, making each one a ”winner.”
Kraft so far has not specified how many people mailed in matching game pieces for the van and other prizes offered. Claimants were required to have mailed their pieces by midnight, June 16, to qualify for cash awards and a new prize drawing.
Kraft is sending out the checks with a letter saying, in part, that each payment ”represents our appreciation for your understanding and good will”
and that the company is ”sorry for any confusion or disappointment the flawed game may have caused.”
Jerry O`Hearn, 48, of Brookfield, got his check in the mail Monday, 10 days after he mailed in his matching van game pieces just before the deadline. He was surprised by how quickly he got the money.
”Those Kraft people just made a big flub out of the whole deal,” said O`Hearn, who doesn`t intend to participate in a class-action lawsuit that is pending against the food giant.
”I can see how a mistake could happen. It`s pretty fair what they`ve done.”
O`Hearn, who is unemployed, found out that he and his wife, a clerk for Royal Insurance Co., ”won” the van last week while making a bologna and cheese sandwich using a package that contained one of the winning pieces.
Kraft officials nullified the contest June 12 because of the mistake, then set up the new drawing for July 14.
That`s fine with O`Hearn. He is awaiting the new, compensatory drawing for four 1990 Dodge Caravans but doesn`t think he`ll win. ”Not with my luck,” he said.
Undaunted by its ”Ready to Roll” contest disaster, Kraft rolled out a new coupon contest Sunday in newspaper fliers, this time offering free Kraft groceries to a grand prize winner in each of 36 regions nationally.
The contest, titled ”Winning Entree . . . Winning Entry!” does not require matching game pieces, but utilizes a ”prize spot” to be rubbed off, revealing one of four prizes: 25 cents off an entree, $1 off an entree, a free entree or the grand prize.
Each flier offers a ”winner,” Kraft officials said. But this time, the odds are intentional.
