Car dealership’s mailer rubbing some the wrong way

CHARLOTTE — Rachel Moran says she got the mail and thought she won big.

In her mailbox was a mailer called the “Prize is Right.” It’s like a scratch-off game, saying to pull open the tabs and match across to win. The mailer says to call a number, enter your confirmation code, and “come on down to Dutch Miller Kia of South Charlotte to claim your prize.”

“Naturally, I was skeptical about it,” Moran said.

Moran says she read the fine print and didn’t see anything suspicious. So she played along.

“It’s like, ‘Wow, this actually matches,’” she said.

Moran told Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke that it looked like she had won $5,000. So she says she followed the steps and went to the dealer, but no one would give her the money.

“It just became, ‘How can we get you in a car? How can we get you to buy a new car?’” she said. “I feel like I was being taken advantage of and just deceived.”

The fine print says you have to “compare your confirmation code to the prize board” at the dealer to win a prize. In other words, the actual dollar figure on the mailing -- in Moran’s case, $5,000 -- doesn’t mean anything. Dutch Miller Kia explained to Stoogenke that it’s all about the confirmation code. If that matches the prize board at the dealer, you win one of four prizes.

“I’m like, ‘What about this $5,000 that it says we won? Where is that?’” Moran told Stoogenke. “And they said, ‘Oh, well, since your confirmation code doesn’t match the confirmation code here, you don’t win.’ It’s like, ‘OK?’”

The dealer told Action 9 it takes integrity very seriously, saying it sent out 50,000 flyers and has had very few complaints. The dealer told Stoogenke, “This promotion has been vetted by specialists ensuring its proper and ‘scam’ free approach.”

The bottom line with any prize or sweepstakes game is to trust your instincts; if it feels too good to be true, it probably is.

(WATCH: ‘It’s been frustrating’: Dealership pulled bait & switch on car, customer claims)

'It’s been frustrating’: Dealership pulled bait & switch on car, customer claims

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