The suspect call came in February.
The man on the phone explained that he was a representative of Subway Restaurants Canada and that Bernard, of Summerside, had won their Hungry for Hot, Crazy for Cool Sweepstakes.
‘Yeah right,’ thought Bernard.
“I didn’t believe him at all – and I was getting kinda mouthy with him because I just figured it was a scam,” he said.
The man on the phone laughed and insisted he didn’t want any personal information other than an email address and Bernard’s full name to confirm his prize. He added that he was going to mail some paperwork that had to be signed and returned if Bernard wanted to claim the reward.
After he hung up the phone, Bernard sat back and thought about the call for a while, eventually deciding to call Subway Canada directly.
It took a while, but he was eventually passed all the way up to the company’s director of marketing, who reiterated that this was not a scam and he had indeed won the grand prize.
“Then the shock hit me. My girlfriend was going crazy in the background … I didn’t even really react; it took about a week to set in,” he said.
Several months ago, Bernard had peeled a code off his Subway drink cup and entered it on the sweepstakes website.
His ballot was the lucky one in 5.6 million entries.
The contest offered hot and cold prizes to match its theme with the top prizes being either a beach vacation in the Bahamas or skiing in Switzerland.
Bernard and girlfriend, Megan MacCaull, chose Europe, though they’re skipping the skiing and going sightseeing instead.
They’re flying out Aug. 9 and spending three weeks visiting Switzerland, France, Italy and Germany.
Subway is covering their flights, seven days of lodging and some spending money, totalling about $10,000.
“I’m excited … I’m going to see a lot of things I’m never going to get to see again. I’m not a big flyer – I’m terrified of heights. So this is going to be something new and exciting.”
@JournalPMacLean
The suspect call came in February.
The man on the phone explained that he was a representative of Subway Restaurants Canada and that Bernard, of Summerside, had won their Hungry for Hot, Crazy for Cool Sweepstakes.
‘Yeah right,’ thought Bernard.
“I didn’t believe him at all – and I was getting kinda mouthy with him because I just figured it was a scam,” he said.
The man on the phone laughed and insisted he didn’t want any personal information other than an email address and Bernard’s full name to confirm his prize. He added that he was going to mail some paperwork that had to be signed and returned if Bernard wanted to claim the reward.
After he hung up the phone, Bernard sat back and thought about the call for a while, eventually deciding to call Subway Canada directly.
It took a while, but he was eventually passed all the way up to the company’s director of marketing, who reiterated that this was not a scam and he had indeed won the grand prize.
“Then the shock hit me. My girlfriend was going crazy in the background … I didn’t even really react; it took about a week to set in,” he said.
Several months ago, Bernard had peeled a code off his Subway drink cup and entered it on the sweepstakes website.
His ballot was the lucky one in 5.6 million entries.
The contest offered hot and cold prizes to match its theme with the top prizes being either a beach vacation in the Bahamas or skiing in Switzerland.
Bernard and girlfriend, Megan MacCaull, chose Europe, though they’re skipping the skiing and going sightseeing instead.
They’re flying out Aug. 9 and spending three weeks visiting Switzerland, France, Italy and Germany.
Subway is covering their flights, seven days of lodging and some spending money, totalling about $10,000.
“I’m excited … I’m going to see a lot of things I’m never going to get to see again. I’m not a big flyer – I’m terrified of heights. So this is going to be something new and exciting.”
@JournalPMacLean
