Astoria Buffet Raffle Winner???

Last Tuesday, Jan 9 2018, I received a call saying I won from a raffle I filled up at Avilon Zoo last January 2.

My thoughts exactly : Okay, so I really did fill up a raffle coupon, this may be legit.

I am actually lucky with raffle draws--may it be Major or Minor prize, a small raffle like in schools, etc, or a really Grand one, I usually get to take home a prize.

However, I once received a call saying I won a 3D 2N Hotel Accommodation, got really excited about it to the point of making plans already like when we will have our Family Staycation because the kids love Hotel stays, only to find out it was some sort of a scam.

I am talking about the Club Ultima and their so-called free accommodation at Crown Regency Hotels. (You may hit search in google and a lot of write ups about this 'scam' will surely pop up)

Going back to this "new raffle I said to have won," the person on the other line said I won a buffet dinner for two at Cafe Astoria. WOW! He said we may avail the prize the next day, waiting period is 6:00 to 8:30 PM.

Okay free dinner buffet sounds great, instant free date with the husband. Yey! Buy aren't raffle prizes redeemable within a certain period of time? Say, I really won a  dinner buffet, raffle prizes like this are usually redeemable not just for a day, but within dates set provided that you will book at least a day before, isn't it?

Still I gave them a benefit of the doubt. Astoria is a well-known establishment anyway, and I really signed a coupon this time, so this might be for real.

The caller then said that I also won a free accommodation to any Astoria Hotel of my choice--either the one in Palawan or their hotels abroad. Big WOW! That's really GRAND! :)

Yet, he added that we just have to watch their 90-min presentation after our dinner to get our Hotel GC. It will just be a presentation showing their different hotels here and abroad to help us choose which hotel we will use our GC with.

Now that makes it sound legitly fishy.

Screenshot of the text message they sent after their call.

Though I wanted to rejoice and call husband in an instant to share the great news, a part of me is urging me to 'double check.'

Thanks to today's technology and to our good friend, Google, it is much easier nowadays to fact-check everything down to its littlest details.

And there it is in front of me, all the write-ups related to my search in just a few clicks...

So, to summarize the articles and blogs I have read, here's what I have learned:

1. The Free Dinner Buffet at Cafe Astoria is REAL!

2. You will be invited and escorted to a certain function room after your meal. (Some are even asked to fill up a certain form asking for personal details including earnings or salary bracket, etc)

3. The presentation isn't intended to help you choose which hotel you will choose to use your GC with but a "timesharing" wherein they will offer and persuade you to get membership of their properties; and this costs like hundreds of thousands! Yes, it's a sales strategy of some sort.

4. You will be able to get the Hotel Accommodation GC regardless if you avail their golden offer or not.

5. Some said they were able to redeem the GC and use the hotel accommodation while others said they weren't.

Well, that I couldn't really tell. Husband and I decided to just not spend a centavo to travel all the way to Hotel Astoria, redeem that Free Dinner Buffet, and deal with all the shenanigans after. Hehehe :)

I actually received 2 more text messages earlier that day following up our attendance, which made it even more fishy because one will usually be notified once re winning a certain raffle and there will be no more follow ups.