World Wide Corals Raffle Prize - A Cautionary Tale

[marcsupial]

I'm posting this both to get advice and to warn others about how World Wide Corals handled their Black Friday raffle. I'm frustrated and hoping someone here has dealt with something similar or has suggestions.

The Situation​

I won the grand prize in WWC's Black Friday raffle - announced as a $1,500 coral credit to use at their store. Winners were announced via Instagram Live on November 29th. Great news, right? Here's where it went sideways.

First Visit - December 5th (One Week Later)​

I visited the Winter Park store excited to start shopping. That's when I learned:

• The prize would be awarded as points on my account
• I could only redeem $250 per day toward coral purchases
• This was never mentioned during raffle entry, the announcement, or any prior communication
• The points weren't even on my account yet, but I was told they'd be added "soon"

Already frustrating, but I figured I could work with it over several visits.

The Email - December 12th​

Two days ago, I received a two-sentence email with a discount code. The message explained this was a one-time use code and I had to redeem the entire $1,500 in a single online purchase.

This completely blindsided me. Now I'm being told:

• Can't use it in-store
• Must buy everything online sight-unseen
• Can't split it across multiple purchases; so must add $1,500 worth of coral to my tank at once

Second Visit - December 14th (Today)​

I went back to speak with the manager (who ran the raffle). He agreed the situation "isn't ideal" but offered no alternative solution. I sent an email reply asking for clarification on whether there's any flexibility. No response.

Why This Is a Problem​

I run a 90-gallon system. Adding $1,500 worth of coral in one shot is asking for disaster:

• Bioload concerns - my filtration isn't designed to handle that much new livestock at once
• Risk of losses - if anything doesn't make it through shipping/acclimation, that's a huge chunk of the prize gone
• No QT capacity - I can't quarantine that volume simultaneously
• Can't inspect before purchase - I have a store 15 minutes away where I can see exactly what I'm getting, but I'm forced to buy online instead

For context, $1,500 at WWC prices could easily be 20-30+ frags depending on what you're buying. That's an insane amount to add to any system at once, let alone a 90 gallon.

​

The Core Issues​

1. Moving goalposts - Prize went from "store credit" → "points with daily limits" → "one-time online code"
2. Zero communication - No written rules, no heads up about restrictions, no response to my follow-up
3. Impractical fulfillment - The final option makes it nearly impossible to use responsibly
4. No flexibility - Manager acknowledged the problem but offered nothing

My Questions​

• Has anyone else dealt with something like this from WWC or other vendors?
• Any suggestions for how to approach this differently?
• Am I being unreasonable in thinking a "$1,500 store credit" should be usable... in the store?

I get that businesses can set terms for prizes, but changing them multiple times after the fact with no prior disclosure feels wrong. I'm genuinely stuck here - either make a poor husbandry decision to use my prize, or let it go to waste.


TL;DR: Won $1500 WWC raffle prize. Told it was points with daily limits. Then told it's a one-time online code only. Can't use in-store, can't split purchases, forced to add $1500 of coral to 90g tank at once. Manager sympathetic but unhelpful. Zero written rules existed. Proceed with caution on their raffles.


Anyways if you’ve come this far, thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

[WWC Verified Sponsor]

Hello Marcus,

We want to address this from the beginning. The reward was never to be given as points as that would limit every purchase you wanted to make so we wanted to give the customer a chance to obtain a high-end piece, or a few great frags that might otherwise be outside their usual budget. We saw you had made a really nice order using that amount and got some gorgeous pieces for the system Now, our web team doesn't work weekends, so a response wouldn't have occurred until the week. Upon investigation, we noticed the email was mistakenly sent to our auto-response spam filter, and we apologize that we didn't see it during the week that is our fault. We spoke with Chris, our Winter Park manager, and he described what happened during your visit to the store. He noticed you were upset and approached you to understand what was going on. After he did and went over the code with you to make sure it was good and that the code worked in store, at no point did anyone say it couldn't be used in-store. That wording was never used from Chris, he even offered to shop with you around the store. If there was some misunderstanding regarding that, we understand, but Chris did everything he could to go above and beyond for you, as you've been a long-time customer. Always remember Marcus do not think twice about calling in to the team so Keith from customer service can help you any way he can, The hours he will be able to help is Monday-Friday 11pm-7pm

 

[marcsupial]

There are multiple points in your response that are either factually incorrect or, if true, expose serious dysfunction in your organization. Let me address each one.

“The reward was never to be given as points”

This contradicts what actually happened at your store.

On December 5th, when I visited your Winter Park store, Chris explicitly told me the prize would be awarded as points on my account with a $250 per day limit. On my next visit one week later, I mentioned the discount code I received, and Chris had no idea what I was talking about. He had to contact Keith and/or Josh. I stood around for half an hour while he figured it out.

So which is it?

- Chris was never informed how the prizes work?
- Chris was informed but set incorrect expectations?
- Chris made it up because he was uninformed?

Every scenario reflects poorly on your operation. You can’t claim “the reward was never to be given as points” when your own store manager told me exactly that.

“We wanted to give a chance to obtain a high-end piece”

Then why was the discount code restricted to WYSIWYG and standard issue corals only?

I tried to checkout with a Vic’s Pick - DENIED. I tried again with a cynarina colony - DENIED. Your system rejected both. If it wasn’t for one Hollywood Nights goni frag buried in the WYSIWYG section, I would have been stuck with mid-tier frags.

Your claim about wanting to provide access to “high-end pieces” is directly contradicted by your own code restrictions.

“At no point did anyone say it couldn’t be used in-store”

This is completely inaccurate. Chris is literally the person who explained the code limitations when I showed him the shopping cart errors with the Vic’s Pick. He stood next to me while I attempted to checkout with the cynarina colony and watched it get rejected.

His “solution”? Offering to let me use $250 of the reward toward a $400 colony in the store - presented like he was doing me a special favor. This reinforced his own belief that the reward worked like points with daily limits.

Either Chris has misrepresented what happened to you, or you’re misrepresenting it to this forum.

“You should have called customer service Monday-Friday 11pm-7pm”

Let’s review what actually happened:

- I entered the raffle at your physical Winter Park store
- Chris was shown on Instagram Live picking the winners
- The only other communication was a two-sentence email
- I replied to that email asking for clarification (which you admit went to spam - your mistake, not mine)
- I drove to your physical store to speak with the manager who ran the raffle

And your response is “you should have called an online customer service number during business hours”? That ignores the entire context of the situation.

The Bottom Line

Your organization changed the terms three times, provided zero written communication, your staff gave contradictory information, and now you’re attempting to reframe what actually happened.

You mention I made “a really nice order” with the code - yes, I used it. Because I had no other option. It was either use it under your impossible conditions or lose $1,500. That’s not customer service, that’s being backed into a corner.

I thought this section of the forum was the work together towards a mutually satisfactory resolution in a negative transaction. I don’t see any effort of that on your part. But I suppose that is on brand for World Wide Corals these days. SMH

 

[marcsupial]

In the interest of transparency here is the email with sensitive information removed: