Metro FM taken to task for conning listener

A Metro FM on-air quiz winner scold the station and lodged a formal complaint with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) concerning the prize money he won during the breakfast show last week.

Latima Selwane told Sowetan he wanted the R5000 cash he won after getting five questions right on 1st Avenue breakfast show hosted by DJ Glen Lewis. Selwane said nobody took down his details following the scarce win and when he queried with the station about his prize, he was told that the quiz was a ‘fun feature’ .“On 11/04/2016 I called into the breakfast show on Metro FM at 07.30 for a quiz. I won the sports quiz by answering all five questions correctly, I even recorded it … I was congratulated, then a song [was] played … I kept holding but the line got cut off,” his complaint, sent to the BCCSA on Friday read.

Selwane did not give up and tirelessly probed about what he was convinced was rightfully owed to him. “Yesterday I called in on the show but spoke to the producer, and to my surprise, he said ‘it’s just a fun feature’. But when I won the competition, Glen Lewis could be heard [saying], ‘Oh, he lives in Bryanston, so he doesn’t need the money’. The producer then said, ‘please hold’, and I could hear him confirming something with someone in the background then he hung up,” continued the statement.

According to Sowetan, an e-mail was sent by a compliance officer at the broadcaster to the BCCSA, and it mentioned that the station had already started investigating the event internally. Selwane told the paper that he called in because of the prize money announced on air. “I called the station the next day and asked why no one took down my details. Even their website says that if you get five questions right, you get R5000. I should get the money then. You have to wonder if there are others out there who have been in my position,” he said. “After I won, they were all surprised that I got all the questions right. I sensed there could be a problem,” he added.

The breaking point for Selwane was when he got a call from a representative of the station, letting him know that he would be sent a hamper rather than cash. He then jotted down a formal complaint to the broadcasting complaints body. According to the paper, SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said they would respond once the matter was before the BCCSA.“We will respect the outcome from there,” he said.