Dafydd Bayliss, 31, was over the moon when he won a BMW M3 or £18,000 cash in an online competition he had been entering for three years – but he is still yet to see the money
A 31-year-old lorry driver from South Wales was left gutted after his dream win turned into a nightmare. Dafydd Bayliss, from Blackwood, was “over the moon” in September when he bagged either a BMW M3 or £18,000 cash in an online competition run by Level Up Giveaways.
As a first-time homebuyer about to complete on his house, Mr Bayliss chose the cash prize, planning to splash out on a new kitchen and bathroom. But three months on, he’s still waiting for his winnings.
Despite promises from the company’s director, Anton Hall, that the money would be transferred within days, Mr Bayliss is still waiting. After weeks of scant communication and broken promises, Mr Bayliss told the BBC he has “kind of given up”, reports the Express.
Today, Mr Hall admitted he’d put himself under “a crazy amount of stress and even debt” trying to keep his company afloat when he should have “just shut it down.”
Meanwhile, Mr Bayliss admitted his hope of ever seeing the prize money has dwindled to just a “5% chance”.
He confessed: “I have just gone numb to it.”
He’s not the only one feeling let down. Several winners have come forward, claiming they’ve been left high and dry by the Sowerby Bridge-based competitions company, which seems to have shut up shop.
Level Up Giveaways’ website went offline in mid-December, and the firm has stopped paying out prizes, reportedly totaling tens of thousands of pounds.
Scott Boyle, an insurance guru from Wakefield won £1,200 to be paid in installments but only received cash for five months before the payments stopped dead.
He said: “It’s disgusting. If I had won a larger amount, I’d be absolutely devastated.”
Sharing similar tales of woe are Phill Harkins from Manchester with his unreceived 20g gold bar, and Belfast’s Mark McCorry, who’s also been left £600 short. Despite seven complaints aimed at Level Up Giveaways since 2022, Trading Standards West Yorkshire have thrown their hands up due to not enough resources.
And even with Action Fraud available, no real action has kicked off yet. The giveaway company, launched in 2019, boasts handing out £5 million in prizes to more than 5,000 winners, but now those gleaming testimonials are turning sour.
But in a statement released today, Anton Hall, said: “I’ve been made aware of some crazy accusation going around and also having not been on social media at all I have seen some crazy comments after logging back in to type this up.
“I’m not going to type out a crazy paragraph or make a long video right now it’s Christmas tomorrow and I was hoping to deal with this in the new year when I had more of an update to give.
“All I will say is I built this company on my own five years ago. I have paid out millions in winnings over the years and changed many lives for the best. Yes this year has been one of the worst for the company and me personally. I’m not going to bore you with my personal stuff because nobody is interested and I’m sick of having to put it out there.
“I’ve put myself in a crazy amount of stress and even debt trying to keep this company afloat when I should have just shut it down years ago when it was running in the minus etc. I have nothing to hide hence just leaving you all to comment and not deleting any of my social media. The website is down because the business isn’t running and I couldn’t keep paying the 4k a month running cost for it.
“As for being called a scammer that is far from the truth, if anything it’s the complete opposite which will come out when it needs to. In situations like this it’s easy to forget all the good I’ve done but trust me this rubbish going around is not as it seems and the people who I have managed to speak to know the full story.
“If you think I’m giving up and running away you are sadly mistaken. As much as this business and all my followers mean to me, my own health and my family mean more and once I’m in a better place I’ll be able to tackle all this rubbish.”