MAXIM Cover Girl

When you sign up for Maxim Magazine's Covergilr Competition , you think you can win for free because their rules say that a purchase will not improve your chances of winning. This is material deception.

In my experience, only if I purchased votes for the model she advanced. A real competition does not promote buying magazine votes in order to advance. The rule's language is confusing and misleading, in my experience, they use what's called dark tactics , like urgent countdowns, where the unlimited number of paid magazine votes count double to get you to spend more. They use general sweepstakes rules that protect themselves from liability, for example, you can't file a class action suit against them, you have to go through arbitration , instead of taking them court, except for in some cases, you can do a small claim, but it has to be in California only ( to discourage you from suing if you happen to live out of state).

If you try to sue, they threaten you saying that you will have to pay for their legal fees. They also tell you the purchaser, that you don't have a case because you're not the model ( you didn't sign the contract). They tell you that they didn't force you to buy anything, but they reel you in with the no purchase needed to win, but once you are in, you can't advance unless you pay for magazine votes, all done under pressure tactics. See image in this review.

In my experience. their practices felt fraudulent and deceptive , and the representations seemed misleading and like false advertisement to me. Notice I keep saying in my experience. They threatened to sue me in a previous review because I was stating it like it was objective not subjective.

Like it really matters. They made me remove it like it was resolved, but it wasn't , hence why I'm writing again. I have decided to take them to small claims court and I hope not only to get a full refund , but to get the judge to stop them from operating this obvious pay to win scheme, so others are not financially hurt , like me. I have joined many Facebook groups , where I daily and constantly voice my opinion of the competition , just so I can warn others.

I have reported them to the better business bureau., the states attorney's office in my state and their state , the federal trade commission , and other consumer protection agencies.

I consulted with an attorney who told me that if I win the case based on the above mentioned , the whole contract is void, so I can possibly start a class action suit against them. I'm going to try to help other future contestants of the Maxim Magazine CoverGirl Competition.