Madam, The article you published in this week's Gazette with reference to the house raffle is very disturbing. I, along with many others, bought tickets for this raffle in good faith, particularly as substantial sums of money were to go to two very deserving charities.
What a disaster the whole affair has been. In my case I have written e-mails that have not even been read properly before a standard printed reply was returned.
Pertinent questions have not been answered.
I have sent three recorded delivery letters to the raffle's promoter, Mel Yates, and only one has been accepted.
A copy of the rules has been requested and refused. I was told to contact the solicitor concerned, but no name or address was supplied.
I have managed to track down the solicitor myself, but he told me he was no longer retained by Mr Yates, asked why I wanted a copy of the rules, and said he would have to get Mr Yates's permission to send them to me.
Mr Yates told people he was financially comfortable and did not need the money! What a way to treat his ticket holders.
I would still be so pleased to have my ticket money returned that I would send it directly to Marie Curie Cancer Care. This would be a donation of the total cost of the ticket, with no deduction for costs.
Name and address supplied
Editor's note: The Gazette has learned that the competition's customer service e-mail address, [email protected]">[email protected], no longer exists. However, as stated in last week's edition, this newspaper has obtained a copy of the raffle terms and conditions, and will supply them to readers on request.