Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Jason Sandford
Asheville’s Wick & Greene Jewelers held a unique scavenger hunt in downtown Asheville on Sunday, but some participants aren’t happy with the results.
The company asked couples to try and find a $20,000 diamond ring hidden downtown. Couples had to submit their love stories as a sort of application, and they were hand-picked to participate. The contest delivered riddles, tips and hints to couples’ cell phones.
If you were anywhere downtown on Sunday, you saw dozens of couples in purplish shirts sprinting around looking for clues. They carried binoculars, street maps and their cell phones. Some were on bikes. (I saw one dude riding the wrong way down a busy city street, reading a text message on his cell phone. I’m surprised nobody got hurt.) They swarmed the Kress building, the Jackson buildings, the St. Lawrence Basilica and more.
A winner was declared Sunday evening, and there was a marriage proposal on the spot. The end of the contest left a bad taste in the mouth of at least a couple of participants, who have commented on my original post here.
Here’s a sample:
I couldn’t agree with the above poster more. Could they have made it any more obvious that the winners were hand-picked? We busted our butts all day getting “points” and then they didn’t even say how many points the prize winners had compared to others?! Glad to know that we spent a whole Sunday of time and energy involved in a marketing gimmick.
I will say this, 200-250 people left the contest a bit peeved…not sore losers at all…just a bit annoyed that there were no scores or leader board to see how you fared against others; that, and the fact that the winners weren’t even surprised when they were called up as winners. Speeches, poses for the camera, a ready-made proposal….it was all very staged.
We were planning on buying wedding bands with Wick and Greene (since the engagement ring I bought came from there) but now we feel a bit tricked and will be looking elsewhere.
I don’t know if the event was staged or not. It looked like a fun event. Too bad some people left with a bad feeling about it.
No one is rationalizing a loss. No one is being a sore loser. But, as with any competition based on POINTS, it’s helpful to know how much you lost by. Sure, min-golf is fun and all, but if when you’re group is finished playing you realize that no one kept score, aren’t you a bit like WTF?! This game wasn’t played for a free game of putt putt either, it was for a $20k ring! Which they made sure to tell you about 14 times upon registration. This was a poor exercise in meeting expectations.
The competition was based on points. Can anyone answer why points weren’t disclosed for supposed winners? None of them. A scoreboard would have been nice.
A LOT of people left feeling that if their story wasn’t proposal ready, they got excluded from the start and weren’t even considered, despite their scores being higher than some of those who had sympathetic stories (this was only discovered through asking a few of them).
By the way…the small rules guide given to each couple contains the word "points" 8 times. It also says "other great prizes for top scorers, best-costume and best story." NONE of this occurred. It seemed as if prizes were awarded randomly. If that wasn’t the case, then why not just show the scoreboard? False pretenses indeed.
And these "aw..come on…have fun" people need to cut it out. This was a marketing event that took advantage of people’s time and energy. Sure, it was fun, but people really busted their asses based on the lure of this ring and they deserved to see how they stacked up with those who supposedly did "win".
The non-disclosure of points is shady at best. It seems likely that Wick and Greene excluded the point totals of couples who may have had different intentions for the ring (like selling it) and instead considered couples like the mom and her small child (seen leisurely walking around town texting)….no way they got more points than some of these teams (including mine).
I actually know for a fact that the competition was NOT rigged, but maybe some of the participants might rationalize their loss by saying so. The winner (a friend) called me this morning to tell me the whole story. He had previously decided that if they won he would propose. So no, it was not staged or rigged. They are just a lucky couple.
If you’re looking for a new jeweler, I can highly recommend Van Dyke Goldsmith. Chris is really cool and helpful and helped me make the band myself for him to set the gems in. I’ve heard that most jewelers are kinda condescending and annoying, but I couldn’t be happier with Van Dyke.
The contest was super fun and I’m suprised there was free food and booze at all considering it was a free event. I think the consolation prizes went to legitimate teams but pretty sure the diamond winners were fixed. That really seems shady and disappointing. But if it was fixed, why did they pick such bland people?
Oh lord. Yes…it was fun. But scoring was the whole point. Text…earn points. Scoring for a $20k ring! This wasn’t a pee-wee soccer match where we didn’t keep score for the sake of our precious snowflakes. A game is a game. Keep score. Share those scores.
yep. there come the blog police.
yes….we had a good time. not worth that one free beer and teeny finger food, though.
all most folks wanted was full disclosure of points.
sorry if i don’t take your word for it about who had how many points.
pretty odd that they didn’t disclose points. left a lot of people feeling a bit jilted.
we had 329 points. no way did a 8 year old kid and his mother without bikes have more points than that.
seems as though if you didn’t have a proposal ready story, you were excluded from the beginning.
just poorly handled. i LOVE being part of a marketing circle-jerk.
Brian, you beat me to it. Except I didn’t speak with anybody about their points. I swore I heard somebody mention 400 something but if that is true then I guess there was something fishy going on.
All in all, what a great afternoon of free festivities! Thank you Wick & Greene!
ok so one small complaint. I sat in two lines for food just to get denied both times "we just ran out, sorry!" But then again… it was free. you get what you pay for.
Come on people… did you have to pay to participate; NO!!! I spoke to the guys that came in second and they had 370 points and I also spoke to the winners and they had 387 points. Shouldn’t you be grateful for a funfilled day and some free booze and food!!!