They’re In the Money, Then Out the Cash

Convinced that they had won a $2-million sweepstakes offered by a California mail-order company, Kathy and Dale Work bought a pickup truck and a new car and were about to quit their jobs. Then they learned they hadn’t won a thing.

“I guess it seems like we’re a couple of country hicks,” Kathy Work said. “We’d made all kinds of plans. I don’t know what we’re going to do now.”

The United States Purchasing Exchange, a Pacoima-based company sponsoring the sweepstakes, said Work has not won anything--at least not yet.

Complaints to Postal Service

The U.S. Postal Service said Wednesday it had received complaints about the company and had forwarded them to the Federal Trade Commission for investigation.

A man who answered the telephone at a USPE telephone number said that the sweepstakes is still in progress and that Work is one of thousands with a chance at the top prize, said to be more than $2 million. The man would not give his name and would not respond to other questions.

Work is not the first person to be confused by the sweepstakes. A woman in Allegan County, Mich., said she recently quit her job and vacationed in Las Vegas before learning she had not won $1.7 million, as she thought.

Michael Flitcraft, a truck driver in Chardon, Ohio, said he thought he had won the contest after receiving a letter from the company Monday.

Richard Eppstein, president of the Toledo chapter of the Better Business Bureau, said the bureau has received at least 20 complaints about USPE’s contest in the last few years.

‘Mail Is Just Chock Full’

“The mail is just chock full of these kinds of sweepstakes,” Eppstein said. “And they are so . . . worded that some people think they have won something when they have not.”

Linda Russo, occupational support specialist with the U.S. Postal Service in California, said, “We have received a lot of complaints about the company, mostly from people who had not received merchandise they ordered from the company.”

Dave Plottner of the regional office of the Federal Trade Commission in Cleveland declined comment on whether the agency is investigating USPE.

Work, who lives in Stony Ridge, 10 miles southeast of Toledo, said she received a letter from the company in October that read: “We are pleased to inform you that you have been designated to receive certified bank checks from the United States Purchasing Exchange for $1,894,876 . . . your winnings in our multimillion-dollar sweepstakes when you are the grand prize winner.”

A few weeks later, another note said her winnings stood at $2,024,464.

Then she received what she thought were two checks: one for $2 million and one for $24,000. She was asked to endorse them and send them back to the company, along with her Social Security and bank account numbers.

Thought of Millions

At that point, the Works thought they were millionaires.

However, the company’s mailing said: “Certified bank check for this amount . . . will be drawn and issued to Kathy Work upon verification that the Kathy Work entry has been selected by the independent judging organization as the prize winner, in accordance to the rules and regulations set forth and established.”

The mailed material does not indicate when the sweepstakes winner will be announced, Work said.

Work, who has three children and runs the Country Girl beauty salon in her home, said that she planned to close her business and that her husband considered quitting his job as a crew chief at Manville Corp. in Waterville, Ohio.

“It doesn’t look good, but I’m happy inside,” she said. “I know good is going to come to pass.”