When Brian Jackson got an email from Wealthsimple that said he had won $10,000, he was thrilled.
He had moved he and his wife’s direct deposits into their Wealthsimple account, and were using the Canadian financial company’s app services a lot more, hoping it would improve their chances in the company’s “Monthly Millionaire” contest, which gives users the opportunity to win cash prizes, with the highest pot being $1 million.
Jackson had won $3 in a previous week’s draw and couldn’t believe his luck with the additional win.
“I’m just letting it wash over me,” he told CTV News. “I’m like, ‘what am I gonna do with this, bonus money? I’m gonna go on a vacation! I’m gonna pay down all my bills. It’s gonna be great. I’ll tell my wife and she’ll be happy.’”
That excitement was quashed though, when Jackson clicked through to claim his prize. It asked him to spin a wheel on the app, which informed him that he’d won 10,000 bonus entries into the contest.
After several attempts to claim the cash prize, he contacted support. On Friday morning, he received an email from Wealthsimple saying they had made a mistake.
A spokesperson for Wealthsimple confirmed to CTVNews.ca in a statement Friday that the company had sent out an email to a “small group” of contest participants that “incorrectly referenced a prize associated with a marketing campaign.”
“This was due to a technical error, which we identified and fixed quickly,” Wealthsimple chief growth officer Simon Lejeune said. “The app was not affected, and clients can check there to confirm their actual Monthly Millionaire status.”
“We know this is disappointing, and we apologize to anyone who received the incorrect email,” Lejeune added.
Jackson found a Reddit thread where other Wealthsimple users shared their same experience with the contest, with varying degrees of prize money promised. He said the best way for the company to remedy the situation would be to give him the money, though he admitted that would be “a very expensive correction to make good to everybody.”
Instead, Jackson said he would appreciate something “in kind” to remedy what he described as the worst experience of his life.
“If they were to find a way to give me pretty good value, obviously, that would at least make me feel like I got something in return for this crazy emotional journey,” he said.
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