Mr. Brydges, reached June 24 by telephone, conferred with his wife before ... He also sent a message through the This 'N
One Essay House entry fee returned but several other entrants still waiting by Craig Bradford of The Aylmer Express
At least one entrant in the failed Essay House contest has received her entry fee back but several more have contacted the Aylmer Express saying they are still waiting for refunds despite the contest closing eight weeks ago. The Malahide home and property located at 50279 Talbot Line on the south side of Talbot Line between Aylmer and Summers Corners was the prize in an essay-writing contest that required 3,000 entries at $100 each before a winner could be judged and announced. The funds had to be submitted by certified cheque or money order and payable to Calvin and Diana Brydges. The contest’s second round started on Oct. 1 and closed April 30 without a winner being announced as it fell well short of the 3,000 goal with reportedly under 1,100 entries. Last year Calvin and Diana Brydges ran a contest offering to give their home to the author of the best essay on how winning the home would benefit the writer. The original contest generated 2,192 entries according the Essay House Facebook page, short of its 3,000 minimum by the Aug. 31, 2013 deadline. A second round was begun a month later. Mr. Brydges, reached June 24 by telephone, conferred with his wife before answering a couple of questions. Until now, they have refused multiple times to comment on the contest to the Express. “The reason I’m talking to you now is there are questions out there obviously and it’s time to have them answered,” he said.
Fee return “The fees are now all being returned,” he said, adding the couple’s secret third-party representative was handling all facets of the contest. The Brydges had no knowledge of how many fees had been returned and to whom. “That I couldn’t tell you,” he said when asked how many entry fees had been returned from round one or two of the contest. “The third party is taking care of it.” Mr. Brydges would not divulge the name of the third party. He said their third party “suffered a loss in their family” which had delayed the process of returning entry fees. As for the separate rounds of the contest, the first of which ended on August 31, 2013 and the second on April 30, 2014, both of which without a winner, Mr. Brydges said they had been “bundled together.” He said there was no deadline to have fees returned and none had ever been announced. One entrant of the Essay House contest recently received a partial refund of their $100 fee but only after her boyfriend threatened taking the matter to police. The couple, who live elsewhere in Ontario and asked to stay anonymous, received a money order for $78.93 by registered mail on Wednesday, June 11. They assumed the $21.07 reduction from the original $100 fee was for the cost of buying the money order and for sending an envelope by registered mail. The contest rules originally said $7 of each returned $100 entry fee would be used to pay for a money order and for sending it by mail. Mr. Brydges said he didn’t know about the returned entry fee in question.
“Threatening” He said he and his wife instructed their third party representative to immediately return entry fees to anyone who exhibited “belligerent or threatening” behaviour.
Those fees would be returned by registered mail and Mr. Brydges said he didn’t know exactly what that would cost. Mr. Brydges added the original $7 was a “rough number” or estimate that was picked on how much a money order and stamp would cost to return individual entry fees. He and his wife also instructed their third party to keep records or “proof” of all returned entries fees. Entrants should “exercise patience it will work out in their favour,” Mr. Brydges said. Anyone who threatened him, his wife or the third party would have the extra cost of expediting the return of their entry fee by registered mail taken out of the original $100, Mr. Brydges said. The boyfriend told the Express he first called the downtown Aylmer business owned by the Brydges, This ‘N’ That, on Friday, May 30 and left a message saying he and his girlfriend were curious when the entry fee would be returned. He provided his girlfriend’s name and address. He said he was called back five hours later and a man said he was the third party lawyer and had to go check the Brydges’ files to see if the entry fee had already been sent.
Police complaint The boyfriend called again on Friday, June 6 and left a voicemail in which he threatened to file a complaint with a police service if his girlfriend’s entry fee was not returned by the following Wednesday. He said it should only take three days for the funds to be delivered through the regular mail. He also sent a message through the This ‘N’ That thrift store’s Facebook page the same day. The Essay House Facebook page, which had been the only real communication with the contest, was taken down on May 1. On Wednesday morning, June 11 the money order arrived at the girlfriend’s address. The boyfriend provided a copy of the bank receipt and shipping package to the Express. A man identifying himself as the third party called his girlfriend the day before to say the entry fee would arrive the next day, the boyfriend said. The boyfriend had checked the phone number that both calls he received from the “third party” had come from and said they originated from the This ‘N’ That line. He maintained the voice on the other end of the phone had been the same all along. “When my girlfriend first entered the contest I was pretty sure it was some sort of scam,” the boyfriend said before his girlfriend received the partial refund of her entry fee. He said his girlfriend entered the first round of the contest that ended Aug. 31, 2013 and agreed to have her entry remain in the second round of the contest that concluded April 30, 2014.
TV coverage She first heard about the contest from television news coverage. She called the telephone number listed on the Facebook page for the Essay House after the first round of the contest ended and the man who answered told her she could enter the second round as many times as she wanted. The boyfriend said that conversation was pleasant and polite. She told the man she wanted her previous entry to stand for the second round. She and her boyfriend made sure to check the Essay House Facebook page on May 1 and were surprised that it had already been taken down the same day. That Facebook page has yet to reappear and there is no trace of it through a search of the Internet. A woman from the Niagara region who would only allow her first name, Lauren, to be used told the Express she likely first heard about the Essay House contest through Facebook but wasn’t sure. She entered the first round of the contest by writing an essay and sending her $100 fee and let her entry stand for the second round.
She called the This ‘N’ That phone number on Thursday, June 12 and said she talked to Mr. Brydges who told her the Essay House contest’s third party was dealing with returning all the entry fees.
“A few calls” He told her his store had received a “few phone calls” by individuals inquiring about their entry fees. Lauren said Mr. Brydges took all of her contact information and told her he would give it to their third party later that day. She had not received her entry fee as of Tuesday afternoon after she checked her mail that usually arrives at about noon. “Did you know they are writing a book about the experience?” Lauren told the Express. She said Mr. Brydges told her a publisher contacted him during the first round of the contest. “I sort of got the impression that it would be taken care of soon,” Lauren said about having her entry fee returned after the conversation with Mr. Brydges. “He said they were wading through it.” She said Mr. Brydges “implied” some entries had already been returned, adding “two people were handling returns” but had “day jobs” which was causing a delay in the returns. After the first round ended without a winner, she received a telephone call in September from a woman who asked her if she wanted her submission to stand for the second round. She agreed to that. The woman did not identify herself and said she was calling on behalf of the Essay House owners. “I like to write so it was something that felt natural for me,” she said. “And I thought it was a good opportunity rather than just buying a ticket.”
Defended contest Lauren believed the Essay House contest to be “legally sanctioned” from what she read on the Facebook page and said she would defend the contest and the homeowners when negative comments surfaced on the page. “I’m a little baffled,” she said about her thoughts now about the contest after almost two months had gone by since the second round had expired. “It’s been long enough that there should have been some sort of response. It’s very telling that the Facebook page was taken down. That puts this in the category of suspicious. For now I’m giving them (the Brydges) the benefit of the doubt.” She had visited the Aylmer area before as she and her husband like to travel. If she won the contest, Lauren said she might have kept the property as a second home. “I like the area,” she said. Linda Levesque of the Brockville area entered the first round of the contest and let her entry stand for the second round. She had submitted her entry fee and essay for the first round which ended Aug. 31, 2013. Ms. Levesque last called the Brydges at their downtown Aylmer thrift store on Thursday, May 29. She believed Mr. Brydges answered the phone when she called and Ms. Levesque told him her name and the reason for her call: that she wanted her money back and when could she expect to receive it. She said Mr. Brydges was polite and co-operative during the call and that her refund would be expedited. As of Tuesday, Ms. Levesque had yet to receive her entry fee or hear anything further about it. “I’m trying to determine what to do next,” she said, adding she couldn’t find the receipt from when she purchased the money order for her entry.
House for sale “In my eyes the contest ended when the house was put up for sale,” Ms. Levesque said.
The property was listed for sale by a London realtor on April 7, before the April 30 deadline for the second round. “Now I’m thinking, where’s my money?” she said. “It’s been more than three weeks.” Mr. Brydges told the Express that once it became obvious the second round would not attract the 3,000 minimum entries, he and his wife instructed their realtor to list their property for sale but to take no offers on the house until after the April 30 deadline for the contest. Around the same time the house was listed for sale, the Brydges had another London realtor list their downtown storefront building for sale. “That’s what we wanted in the beginning, to relocate,” Mr. Brydges said. They had been house shopping in Aylmer and were interested in a couple of properties they had seen. Ms. Levesque found out about the Essay House contest through her Facebook friend Bill Sheppard who lives in Aylmer. Mr. Sheppard entered the first round of the contest and let his submission and entry fee stand for the second round. He said he was called in October by a man who said he was from the Essay House contest who asked if he wanted to remain in it for the second round. Mr. Sheppard said he stopped by This ‘N’ That and talked to Mr. Brydges on Friday, June 20.
“Top of the list” “We’ll put you at the top of the list to get your money back,” was what Mr. Sheppard remembered Mr. Brydges telling him. Mr. Sheppard then expected to see his entry fee returned through the mail, “but not too quickly” as Ms. Levesque had requested her money back more than three weeks earlier. He said Mr. Brydges told him a recent death in the family of his third party had caused a delay in entry fees being returned. Mr. Sheppard found out about the Essay House contest when he saw the large yellow sign in front of the home when it was first launched. “I don’t believe I’ll get any money back but at least I gave it a try,” he said. “I’m not sure why someone else wouldn’t come forward to ask for their money back. It makes it look like they (the Brydges) aren’t giving the money back. Everyone should get their money back and it shouldn’t take two months.” Mr. Sheppard said Mr. Brydges was “very nice” during their face-to-face conversation at the thrift store and he had taken down Mr. Sheppard’s contact information. While Mr. Sheppard had kept the receipt of the money order he bought to enter the contest, he couldn’t recall where he had put it. He didn’t know anyone else from the Aylmer area who had entered the contest. Ms. Levesque couldn’t find the receipt she received after paying for a money order to enter the contest.
“Expedited” She said Mr. Brydges told her when she contacted him by telephone on May 29 that he was going to see his third party who was managing the contest that night and that the return of her entry fee would be “expedited up the list.” Ms. Levesque said she was willing to give the Brydges and their third party two weeks to return her money which had already expired without receiving anything. She and Mr. Sheppard had planned to move in together in the home if one of them won the contest. Part 2 to be continued in next week’s Express…
