Has anyone had a leaflet (or scratchcard) telling you have definitely won a major prize ?*   Then you are asked to call a premium rate number (normally £1.50 a minute for up to 6 minutes) to find out what you have won.

I wonder if a) anybody has tried it, and  b)  has anyone found an alternative to the 0906 number they give.

* Looking at the prizes on offer, it offers £25k cash,  a 42" TV (where would I put it?!!), £750 Premium Bonds, New car or £10k cash), an mp3 player, £250 Argos Vouchers.   What's the betting most people would be offered the (£10 estimate) mp3 player, and there is a rider that all electrical items (including mp3 player) require a payment of £9.95 for insurance and delivery !!

NEVER phone these!!  I occasionally do some of these via the postal route.  Send in a request for a code, with an SAE, which takes weeks to arrive, then you put the code on the form, if you still have it, and send it off again, along with another stamp.  Total cost around a pound.

I've won two holidays so far.  Neither of which I took up, as the first was a cruise for one person, and the other for two, but pay booking fees.  

The trick is to see what most people will win, off the prize list, and exect to get that.  ISTR either the ASA or phonepayplus awarding against one of these recently because the cost of the phone entry was almost double the "guaranteed cash award" that the majority of "winners" would have received!

I have just found the website for the company with a number on http://www.applegate.co.uk/company/13/59/836.htm.   I telephoned them and asked for the "claims hotline".  The woman said, "speaking", and when I said I wanted a Claim Number she referred me to the 0906 number.  I told her I wasn't going to ring that number, so she siad the only other way was to write in.

Sorry, this sort of scratchcard is so obviously a con I can't believe it's being discussed on this website. They should be made illegal in my opinion, as people with, shall we say, slightly lower intellect than anyone using this site - who are also probably the most vulnerable and have the least cash to waste - will be tricked into calling the number, thinking they will gain something of value.

Ultimately, it's not a number you have to call, unlike the doctor or the bank's customer services. Let's stick to finding alternative numbers for services people have to use.