Iced coffee fans receive apology after cash prize blunder

A $1000 cash prize competition has gone horribly wrong for popular iced coffee brand Dare.

Loyal customers say they'll abandon the brand after the bungle on Wednesday.

"How do you accidentally tell a bunch of people you've won $1000?" angry consumer, Kefie Blair asked A Current Affair.

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The competition, called "Daremergency", puts entrants in the running to share in a million-dollar prize pool, but a technical error means they'll never see the money.

"$1000 is life changing money for some people," Blair said.

The Melbourne PhD student entered four times and eventually received an email to say she'd won $1000, only to be told hours later she hadn't.

"You can't just dangle that over people's heads in a cost-of-living crisis and then go, 'sorry', eight hours later," Blair said.

Dare, owned by food giant Bega, emailed back Blair explaining the technical error but offering nothing in return.

"Bega's revenue last year was like $3.5 billion, like this isn't going to bankrupt you to just do the right thing and correct the mistake you've made," Blair said.

In a statement to A Current Affair the company changed its mind, offering affected entrants a $50 e-gift card, equivalent to about a dozen bottles of the popular cold drink.

"We sincerely apologise for a technical error that resulted in incorrect provisional winner notifications being sent to some participants in our recent Daremergency promotion," a spokesperson said.

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"This issue was due to an unexpected system malfunction (with a third-party provider) and we are actively investigating the cause to ensure it does not happen again.

"We can assure you that this is an isolated issue that has only impacted a very small portion of our Dare consumers who drink the brand on a daily basis.

"However, we also acknowledge the disappointment that this has created, and we are in the process of giving each of them a complimentary $50 e-gift card."

Watch the full video in the player above.

FULL BEGA STATEMENT

We sincerely apologise for a technical error that resulted in incorrect provisional winner notifications being sent to some participants in our recent Daremergency promotion.,"

This issue was due to an unexpected system malfunction (with a third-party provider) and we are actively investigating the cause to ensure it does not happen again."

We understand this may have led to confusion and disappointment, and we deeply regret the inconvenience caused.

We were made aware of the error on Wednesday 12 February and affected participants were contacted immediately to clarify the situation.

We can assure you that this is an isolated issue, that has only impacted a very small portion of our Dare consumers who drink the brand on a daily basis.

However, we also acknowledge the disappointment that this has created, and we are in the process of giving each of them a complimentary $50 e-gift card.

To date, we are in week two of the promotion and there have been two weekly winners. Those winners have been contacted and have received their $1,000.

While no system is ever completely immune to human or technical errors, we're confident that the measures we've implemented will ensure that winners will be notified correctly moving forward and prevent a repeat of this issue.

Transparency and fairness are our top priorities, and we remain committed to ensuring all of our promotions are run with integrity.