Mars bar rejection leaves bad taste

JONATHAN CAMERON/Taranaki Daily News

THE PRIZE: New Plymouth's John Waters with the free chocolate bar he was refused at Ngamotu Dairy.

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There is no such thing as a free Mars bar at some dairies.

Confectionery giant Mars has millions of chocolate-covered treats up for grabs in the Mars Free Bars promotion.

There is no need to uncover a golden ticket, just the words "Congratulations, you have won a free bar".

And, with one in six wrappers bearing the good news, customers have more than an Oompa Loompa's chance of winning.

However, as New Plymouth man John Waters discovered, not all retailers selling the bars are willing to give customers their winnings.

After attempting to redeem his wrappers at the Ngamotu Dairy on Friday, Mr Waters left the shop with nothing but a bad taste in his mouth. "I was told they weren't taking part in the promotion, despite having marked bars for sale in their dairy," he said.

"I showed them the wrapper, which says you can get your free bar at any participating retailer, but they said they weren't participating.

"If you're selling the bars, you should be redeeming them."

When the Taranaki Daily News took a winning wrapper to the Ngamotu Dairy, we also struck out.

"You should take it to a supermarket," the owner, who wanted to be known only as Susan, said.

"We are still waiting for a rep to tell us we can do the promotion."

Asked why there were marked bars for sale in the dairy if winners could not claim their prizes, Susan said the bars had come from a wholesaler, not a Mars sales representative.

"We just ordered bars and those came," she said. "If someone gives me the bars to give away, I will give them but I had to pay for those bars."

A spokesman from Mars New Zealand said by having the bars on their shelves, the Ngamotu Dairy was a participating retailer.

"There may be some retailers which are excluded but there wouldn't be many," he said.

"They don't lose any money through the promotion because they send the wrappers in to us and we reimburse them."

A lifelong fan of Mars bars, Mr Waters said it was the principle of the matter which worried him.

"How many other shops will be taking the attitude of these guys?"

Mr Waters eventually claimed his free bars at Moturoa Four Square.

"I like to cut them into four and put them in the fridge to harden up a bit," he said.

"Then I have a couple of pieces at night."

- © Fairfax NZ News