Hubby also got a letter. I checked out the website and the resources link is bogus. Nothing filed with the better business bureau, but also no ratings from them. Nothing stated about their company on any search engine that states this is legit. We're not pursuing the tickets.
I got the letter - didnt even know I entered competition that qualified for 2 tickets. So I checked their website - www.hammondreed.com. From this webpage you could almost believe that they were a company that "manages" giving out awards, but, when Googling their name, the only hit on their name was this actual webpage. This in itself is odd considering that the page had a copyright mark of 2003, so I would have expected some hits on the company.
So, from their own webpage, if you click on "Contact Us" which reveals a new menu bar with a Testimonials link to a webpage with 4 testimonials. Then I tried looking up the companies who supplied these testimonials and the only real hit was for a company called "Gold Seal Investments" (use the quote marks when you Google it). The real surprising (not) thing is the number of websites that have the heading "Testimonials" supposedly from Tyrone Walker of Gold Seal Investments and how "amazed" he is with a myriad number of companies and the services they provide - you have just got to read the entries as the appear in the Google search output for a laugh in page 2, 3, 4 etc.
Really, has someone who tried this and created these webpages got no imagination. Or, is it the case that whichever company gets their prebuilt webpages from Godaddy.com or whereever equally lacking in imagination. Or, maybe old Tyrone really is amazed at all these companies.
Back to letter... its probably just another piece of junk mail as I havnt recieved any calls that I have supposedly missed. The phone number is a Delaware area code (probably to hide the actual originator) - the envelope is postmarked in Phoenix.
Knowing its all junk - its probably worth just giving them a call just to see what it takes to get the tickets I have won for a laugh. I'll call from work which also routes all calls through Delaware on a 302 area code even though it originates from a diffent state - a feature of the agreement with AT&T.
I received the same letter offering the two airline vouchers, except I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and a local number was provided to me to claim the prize.
The number they gave me is: 682-227-6388.
The envelope was addressed by hand, with the penmanship of a neat teenager. The postmark on the letter is from Phoenix AZ. The envelope was the cheap kind you can buy from a WalMart, but the stationery was a slightly better grade of paper. The letter was signed by "Jackie Wilson, Vice President, Travel Awards Division." (Isn't there a song called "Jackie Wilson Said"?)
It doesn't take a genius to assume that the letter is some sort of scam.
THERE IS NO RETURN ADDRESS!!!
I loved the touch where they claimed they attempted to contact me several times without success. Why would they waste 42 cents on a stamp, cost of stationery, and the minimum wage they are paying someone to address the envelope so that they can give me something for nothing?
Wait! Maybe this is the result of one of those "make $100K a year working from your home addressing envelopes" scams! Written by a Nigerian Prince trying to get funds out of his country?
I trashed it, folks. Thank you, everyone, for sharing your comments.