Hello Compers... (britishcompetitions.com)

Member Name: BestMum

Product:	britishcompetitions.com
Date:	10/08/02 (91 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A one-stop shop for competitions, Easy to navigate, Answers are provided!

Disadvantages: Doesn't seem to be updated with new competitions very often, Old competitions aren't removed quickly enough

I'm not usually one for entering competitions, I just can't find the time, but I know of people who win lots of prizes from online competition sites. I was drawn to this website from reading a review for a similar one, and I clicked on the link to be pleasantly surprised.

www.britishcompetitions.com is basically a website that lists competitions from all over the world, giving you the answers, the link to the company taking part and the closing date of each competition. So, you don't even have to use your noggin either, marvellous!

***REGISTRATION***

No registration is required as such with this website. The only need for registration comes when you click the link to certain competitions, and in order to enter you must first register with them.

***HOW DO I ENTER THE COMPETITIONS***

The home page is very neat and tidy which is a bit of a relief. Everything is easy to understand, clearly labelled and self-explanatory. On the left hand side of the page is a column from where you can choose the category(s) with the prizes that most interest you.

The categories are:

Art
Health and Beauty
Books
Cars & Motors
Computing
Electrical
Fashion
Food & Drink
Garden & Home
Holidays
Kids
Miscellaneous
Money
Music
Shopping
Sport
Tiebreakers
TV & Film
Weekend Breaks
Worldwide Comps

Click on the category of your choice and you will be directed to another very tidy and easy to read page, where you'll find a list of shaded boxes containing information, including:

*The prize on offer (and quantity)

*What you need to do to enter the competition (i.e. answer a question, or register)

*The answer (if applicable - not necessary if it just requires registration)

*The closing date

*The rating (how good they rate the prize to be)

*The link to the website, to enter the compet
ition

Once you click on the link to enter a competition you're interested in, you'll be taken to that company's website.

***SAMPLE OF PRIZES ON OFFER***

These include:

*A break at a top health spa, courtesy of Sypradyn Recharge

*A one-year supply of Sainsburys Performer Nappies, courtesy of Sainsburys.co.uk

*A Peugeot 106 car from Peoples Choice

*£1000 for submitting a winning story to Real Parents

*Two week holiday to the Seychelles and £500, with Columbia Tristar

You may already have seen or indeed entered some of the competitions listed whether via the internet, magazines or even newspapers - they aren't exclusive to BritishCompetitions, they're just pointing us in the right direction.

***GENERAL INFORMATION***

You'll also find a section named New (Latest) Prizes, and one named Best Prizes. This is self-explanatory I think!

There is a winners page too, but only one name is listed. Here you are asked to notify them if you're a lucky winner, so chances are people haven't because they haven't read this part of the site. Or, of course, there may just be a lack of winners!

You can also choose to enter daily, weekly or monthly recurring draws, including BananaLotto (£1m jackpot), The Daily Draw (£1m jackpot), and smaller draws such as Virgin Money (£1000 top prize) and Bells Stores (PG Tips mugs!).

***MY THOUGHTS***

Expect to see your inbox becoming a bit of a haven for junk email, if it's not already. The companies running the competitions usually collect your email and/or home address details to be able to send you junk, sorry, offers that may interest you on a regular basis. It's easy enough to block the sender depending on what email program you use though, if you so wish.

With regards to the data protection act you should be asked whether it's okay for that company to u
se your details for passing on to third party companies, etc. There is usually a box for you to check if you do not wish for them to do this.

Check the closing date. If there's one thing that's deterred me from revisiting this site on a regular basis it's that it doesn't seem to be updated very often. In fact I first visited it at least two months ago and there doesn't seem to be any new competitions listed, but I could be wrong.

Also, the categories are in need of a good tidy-up. Many of the competitions listed have a closing date of beginning to mid July, so some sifting through the lists is required to find the current ones.

If you have a competition fetish chances are you've found this site already, but it's worth having a look anyway. A lot of the entries require you to add your home address details, which can be quite tiresome after the fifteenth entry, and in the category headed 'Comping Tools', you'll find links to programs that actually fill in this information for you. These include:

*Gator: this program instantly fills in any online form with one click. NOT RECOMMENDED, as kindly pointed out by people more clued up than I am! (Thanks to Jill & wampyrii for the info!)

*Roboform: one-click web form filler and password manager.

Information is available on the Internet for both of these. In fact you may be able to find one or two opinions on DooYoo!

Most of the links to the competition sites work; I've only ever found one that didn't. You can also sign up to the weekly newsletter; they claim to operate a strict anti-spam policy where your details will not be passed to a third party - the choice is yours. I haven't done this so can't comment. All you need to do to register for the newsletter is to supply your email address.

So all in all, it's an okay site to visit every now and again. Some of the competitions run for a
few months, others finish in the next week or two. You'll find links for contacting BritishCompetitions directly, as well as being able to provide feedback and look through the list of Comping FAQ's. Plus, advertising is limited to the web pages so no nasty pop-ups every ten seconds. An easy to navigate sight, but it won't have me eager to return every week. I've given it only three stars because the lack of updating lets them down.

Happy Comping, and thanks for reading :o)

Summary: