Nestle apologises for ‘hole-ly unacceptable’ 17 year Polo mint prize delay
Confectionary manufacturer Nestle has made a belated payment of £10 to a prize winning customer who found a green polo mints in a pack of the mint treats – 17 years after the event.
James Barnard was aged just 11 when he stumbled upon the promotional mint in 1996 and immediately claimed his cash prize of a tenner by posting off his mint with an accompanying letter.
At the time Nestle was running its ‘Golden Polo’ competition which offered cash prizes to people who found polo mints in hues other than plain white.
However, in Barnard’s case, the money never materialised and was promptly forgotten about.
Now aged 28 Barnard remembered the competition and elected to make a complaint last week about the oversight – and this time netted a more favourable response.
In his letter Barnard wrote: “Can you imagine what £10 is like to an 11-year-old boy?
“This meant a new battery pack for my Gameboy. I didn’t eat it (although I did lick it to find out what a green Polo tastes like) but I read the instructions and duly posted it off to Nestle to claim my reward.
“Do you know what a tenner in 1996 is worth these days? £15.90 but that’s not the point.
“Ten pounds of entertainment to an 11-year-old boy is utterly priceless.
“Instead you left me with a subconscious feeling of loss, a void in my life, like the void in the centre of your sweet.”
This plaintive plea saw Barnard receive a complimentary pack of Polos alongside his ten quid and an apologetic letter,in which a Nestle spokesperson wrote: “It is hole-ly unacceptable and thankfully a very rare occurrence and we can only apologise for it taking so long.”