Complaint over TV text poll

CRAIG SIMCOX/ The Dominion Post

RAISING DOUBTS: Losing finalist Clarissa Chandrahasen fears some people have been charged for text votes that didn't count.

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A travel competition run by TV3 may be investigated by the Commerce Commission after a text poll to decide the winner closed earlier than advertised, potentially leaving thousands of voters out of pocket.

Clarissa Chandrahasen, Dan Cullen and Vanessa Gamble were chosen as finalists in the "Send Me To Samoa" competition, in which contestants competed to travel to Samoa to report on the Teuila cultural festival.

They appeared on breakfast show Sunrise on Tuesday after submitting YouTube video entries to the programme.

TV3's website said viewers would be able to vote by text as many times as they liked until 1pm on Tuesday, but Ms Chandrahasen, of Wellington, said she was rung at 11am and told Ms Gamble had been chosen as the winner. "So there were two hours that the poll should still have been going for that didn't count."

Friends and family who texted in after that time were still charged 50 cents a text, she said. "Most people I spoke to spent, on average, $10. My dad would have spent about $40 or $50."

She was disappointed not to have won but said she was mainly concerned that unwitting viewers had been unfairly parted from their money.

"I feel really annoyed on behalf of [people] that spent money on texting in."

She has complained to the Commerce Commission, as she believes the text poll breached the Fair Trading Act by misleading those who voted after 11am.

A spokeswoman for the Commerce Commission said its fair trading division would decide on Tuesday whether to investigate.

TV3 publicity manager Nicole Wood said the 1pm closing time advertised on the website was a typing error and the poll was always going to be cut off at 11am.

The text poll was only one part of the judging criteria, which also took into account the contestants' videos and their on-air performance on Tuesday, she said. TV3 was looking into whether voters were being charged for texts sent after 11am.

- © Fairfax NZ News