Jeep Cherokee $10k drive-away promo ends, social media complaints begin
Jeep Australia’s “World’s Most Remote Dealership” promotional campaign to deliver 10 new Jeep Cherokee models for $10k driveaway from a remote pop-up site has now been run and won — but it appears not everyone is happy with the result.
The left-of-centre launch competition required entrants to download an app which at 9 am AEST today was programmed to release a phone number. The first 10 people to call through were then qualified — in other words, Jeep checked they had sufficient funds to pay the $10,000 by July 11, and a means to travel the the pop-up near Silverton, New South Wales — and told to go pick up their bargain Cherokee Longitude on July 26.
According the Jeep’s Australian arm, the promotion attracted 30,000 calls. Since the announcement of the competition on June 22, more than 49,000 people downloaded the app.
The winning callers were from all over Australia, including Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, NSW and Victoria.
However, it appears the phone number that was scheduled to be released today at 9 am leaked out on a forum last night, leading some entrants to claim there was an unfair advantage given to those who saw it.
At least two Facebook groups have since emerged — at the time of publication they had 197 and 126 members respectively — claiming the app either crashed or they did not receive the phone number from the app. One even threatens a class action.
Jeep Australia’s official Facebook page has also received numerous complaints from frustrated participants.
Speaking with CarAdvice this morning, Jeep Australia director of corporate affairs Karla Leach said the number leak did not affect the result as the lines did not open until the allotted time, and that the huge number of calls caused understandable congestion at the call centre.
“We are overwhelmed with the amazing participation in the Jeep 'The World’s Most Remote Dealership' promotion. There were over 30,000 calls made this morning for the chance to buy just 10 vehicles. So we can understand that some people are disappointed that were not successful,” Leach said.
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