Facebook hoo haa

I tried making head or tail of it yesterday. Whilst whoever it was shouldn't have bid, QVC should not have accepted the blinking bid either.

However to my mind ... what the hell ... if it was a fair fight and the winning bid was the highest so be it. Its all money for charity. I don't much care who's pocket it came out of.

The reason the QVC "staff" aren't allowed to bid is to make sure there's no question over them being given preference or an advantage.

I agree the charity has lost out because QVC have pulled it but if the highest bid was genuinely the highest bid then no one got preferential treatment. The trouble is proving that it was genuinely the highest bid, hence the rules.

I don't think the QVC staff should be allowed to bid because it is open to people thinking something underhand has gone on. But just because allowing staff to vote is open to abuse it doesn't mean there was any.

Isn't there a moral obligation to ensure BCC does not lose out on the money it would have received if this auction had been run properly?

I read about this fiasco elsewhere.

The one thing that confuses me though is the bit where the statement says that they were "unaware of the terms and conditions preventing QVC employees from entering charity auctions." I'm sure I'm not unusual in the fact that I always read the T&Cs before doing anything ....... whether it be a competition or buying something so how come they were all 'unaware.'. It all sounds a tad odd to me, but I do think that the amount that was bid should go to the charity irrespective of whose pocket the money comes.

It is indeed a balls up.

It's unclear to me whether it was Debbie Flint or her sister. But whoever it was made a serious and generous bid. It wasn't like they got it for a fiver. £3000 is a lot of anyone's money. If it was in error ... why not offer it to the next highest bidder? Or auction it on Facebook?

The bidder is unlikely to pay that amount and walk away with nothing. And legally its not simple for a limited company just to give that kind of money to charity. The tax man don't like it.