Everyone grand prize winners in car promotion

updated 8:27 p.m. ET July 19, 2007

ROSWELL, N.M. - Everyone's a winner after a direct-mail marketing company hired by a local car dealership mistakenly sent out 50,000 scratch-off tickets to residents — all of them declaring the ticket-holder the $1,000 grand prize winner. Just one of the tickets was supposed to be the grand prize winner.

Jeff Kohn, Roswell Honda general manager said a typographical error by Atlanta-based Force Events Direct Marketing, which printed the advertisement, had given all 50,000 scratch-off tickets grand prizes.

"Unfortunately, they missed it in the proofreading," said Kohn, who was able to stop an estimated 20,000 direct mailers from being sent.

Kohn said the dealership is "making a full-faith effort" to investigate the mistake, which he said is "not how we portray ourselves or our community."

In a statement, Force Events apologized "for any inconvenience this may has caused car shoppers in the Roswell market" and asked that any questions and concerns be directed to the company.

Force Events representatives are expected to be in Roswell on Thursday to sort out the mess, Kohn said.

Meanwhile, the names, addresses and phone numbers of "winners" who arrive at the dealership were being taken down. Kohn said they will all be invited back to the dealership.

"At this point, I don't know what exactly the company's solution is going to be," Kohn said. "We are not sure how Force Events is going to handle this matter. That's why they are flying out to Roswell and that's why I'm taking down people's names."

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