This is what the CEO of Celcom said when Celcom announced the first winner of the contest that walked away with a Toyota Camry 2.0E 1AZ-FE.
"This is the biggest ever promotion Celcom has introduced thus far, and this is something that only the unbeatable can do. The main reason we have launched a campaign of this magnitude is to reward our loyal customers for their continuous support and to thank them for staying true to Celcom,” - Dato’ Sri Shazalli, CEO, Celcom
And this is was the reply:
"This contest is against Islamic rules. The contest contained elements of gambling"- Perlis Mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin.
Since late yesterday, the 100days100cars website was showing this notice:
Final decisions to be announced soon. More here.
UPDATE 1
MCMC directs Celcom to stop the 100days 100cars contest.- Read here.
17 comments:
hahaha! Then I suppose all other SMS interative competitions like those often promoted by ASTRO should also be banned?
I see this as a competition, not a gambling.
So what is Celcom going to do with 99 more cars? Dispatch them to Dr. Abidin for further decisions? ....
its not something to laugh about. Celcom should have in the 1st place discussed this matter with the right authorities before deciding to have a 'luck' game. After some research the mufti and other scholars came with a conclusion that this game has some element of gambling thus prohibiting it.
Its the right thing to do, stop the contest, stop people from wasting money and stop people from not wanting to word hard to get something.
"The main reason we have launched a campaign of this magnitude is to reward our loyal customers for their continuous support and to thank them for staying true to Celcom,” - Dato’ Sri Shazalli, CEO, Celcom
Reward our customer my ass. They should reward their customer by giving free airtimes or rebates instead of this ridiculous campaign. Reimburse back for those who've been charged ridiculously for the contest.
What about the win a car contest run by Petronas? Why Jakim is selective towards Celcom?
MCMC should clarify the rules and not be one sided in this case. Let Celcom persue in court if dissatistifed. MCMC's role should not include being religious watchdog.
What about BSN's Premium certificate contests where you win cars?
Let me clarify things for some people...
The way i see it, Jakim instructed the contest to be suspended is because of the way the contest is handled. For every sms, RM5 is charged. It's different with the Petronas contest whereby users fill their cars with petrol which they normally buy that will also qualify them automatically into the list of possible winners. In BSN's case, it is also the same, they save their money in the form of certificates that also qualifies them into the bonanza draw. In both cases, the users did not have to actually pay to enter the contest. In Celcom's case, its the RM5 sms charge that is being disputed. If you did not win, those RM5s ain't going to be reimburse back to you, its gone baby. That's the gamble factor. It should not be a problem if the cost would be the same as any normal sms charges.
I think that should clarify a lot.
Amoker,
Reason why Petronas contest is not gambling is because even if you don't get the car you still get the 1 week worth of 'minyak'.
In Celcom case, after paying hundreds, if you don't get the car you ONLY get 'asap' (plus some wallpapers, which you can't even use as toothpick).
Judi is when 'house wins all the time...' comprende amigo!
Good day to all. I guess it's really a bad timing for CELCOM. Btw, just wanted to share, a friend told me that there's a promo from CELCOM that gives FOC petrol vouchers when u reload ur prepaid at BHP station. I think it's the right timing for CELCOM to reward and contribute to their customers. They don't really do only contest I guess =)
i guess MCMC/Jakim or any other authorities are being reactive on this after they received too many complaints from the public. This implies that the framework of self-regulation that were put in place earlier, is working.
I agree on the pretext that the charges were too excessive in comparison with other SMS based competition i.e. ASTRO and on that basis it has to be reduced. I bet it would not turn sour if te charges is lower.
Anyway, i believe after this these service providers will be more caution of its new stakeholder - JAKIM.
Sport Toto,Magnum and other licensed gambling operators may see this as an opprtunity - Handphone as an ultimate gambling machine. They might want to explore this business model further...be an MVNO perhaps?
Its final, Jakim declared yesterday the contest is haram in its current form. Celcom will be changing its contest rules to accommodate Jakim.
It is really silly of Celcom to pull this stunt. Usually those in marketing handling contests are very careful not to make their contest seem like gambling. Celcom has crossed many lines with their 100 cars contest.
Some people in Celcom are going to pay for this huge embarassment....
Anonymous bro, better get your facts right. What I read from BERNAMA; the contest is non compliance with the Syariah Law NOT Haram. It is 2 different thing =)
it shouldn't be on in the first place...not very smart marketing plan by celcom... go anywhere else in the world, you won't find this kind of crazy campaign.. it's not because other operators can't afford it but it's due to scam... they pcket millions of dollars from customers but giveaway a small some... this is forbidden in other countries.. not so much about religious...
In the case of Petronas, you're eligible if you were to purchase petrol worth RM30.00 with no additional charge whilst for BSN, you'll not lose any money from your certificates and if you have more than RM1000.00 if I'm not mistaken, then you'll earn dividend.
The issue of SMS contest was raised in sometime ago and all telcos took the initiative not to have such promotion until Celcom boldly announced the 100 Cars in 100 Days.
From Jakim point of view, the "competition" became questionable when you have to pay RM5.00 per sms replied to your mobile phone. Imagine that your answer is wrong, and you're already charged RM5.00, would you stop or continue to "play"? Or, even if you answered correctly, you intend to "play" more to increase your chances of being picked as the 10 daily winners to have a chance to win the car. This is where it is wrong.
Before SMS, we used to have 600 numbers services which include contest / competitions but this service was subjected to a stringent screening by the authorities before such competition can be launched. The setback was that the approval period took too long and the contest might miss the event, in this case Euro2008.
I remembered one time there was a dispute between the grand prize winners which led to the 1st prize winner to lodge a complaint. The grand prize was a Proton Iswara whilst the first prize was a motorcycle. The thing is the 1st prize winner complaint because he had already spent close to RM20,000 and was hoping that the telco would pick him as a winner. The complaint was thrown out and he ended up as a loser because the motorcycle only worth R5,000.00.
This means that those company gotta be more carefully when rolling out similar "competition" and try not to cross the fine line.
celcom had make a blunder in this competition. and i feel like celcom is doing the maxis way, like to do this kind of competition. ohh, BTW, who sitting as their new director? Former director of maxis...
It's better save face if the entry only for those recharge RM50 and above are entitled to pick as random daily winner. Sound like same but it is diffrent in concept. The more you top up is the more chances you close to be the winner. That is truely reward indeed. You got airtime and chances to win. At least 50/50 is there. Not you have to finish all the airtime only to chase the lucky.
This is huge contest i ever heard in Malaysia. We see now is the time for 'Blue" to show off their full throttle after demerge. They ain't child undergard of parent. They are free and wild yet.
Agree with most of you.
RM5 per sms is too much. Maybe Celcom could try something else that benefits the customers and in the same time, they get to be in the running to win the car.
I am sure Celcom will not repeat this mistake again. Looks like Celcom is still reviewing the contest, hmn, so what are they going to do with the remaining cars?
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