Results: Newfoundland woman claims $100 Tim Hortons prize lost after posting photo on Facebook

ST. JOHN’S, N.L.—A woman who posted a photo of her prize-winning Tim Hortons cup on Facebook has said she will be able to claim her $100 prize after all. Margaret Coward of Conception Bay South, N.L., said one of her 900 Facebook friends spotted the security number on the rim of her cup in the photo she posted and claimed the $100 prize ahead of her. “My main thing out of this is not to try to get $100 Tim’s card, it’s (to tell) people: be aware,” Coward told the Star in a telephone interview Tuesday morning. She said a Tim Hortons customer service manager contacted her this week and said that she was “the rightful owner” of the winning cup. Coward said she plans to fill out a form and send the winning rim to the company to claim her prize. “We introduced the PIN code feature to allow winners the chance to collect their $100 TimCard prize online, as an alternative to mailing in the winning tab,” Jodi Bond, director communications at Tim Hortons, told the Star in an email. “As these are unique PIN codes, we do not encourage our guests to post images of their tabs on social media until they have redeemed their prize.” Coward originally said she didn’t know the Roll-Up-the Rim gift card award could be claimed online. Soon after she posted the photo, she called the local Tim’s outlet to get a winner’s form — but she was told it would be easier to claim the prize online. But when she tried to register, she learned the prize was already gone, and a company official later told her the email address of the person who claimed the prize couldn’t be revealed for privacy reasons. Coward told the Star she doesn’t know which of her friends took the prize. She said all she wants now is for others to know not to post their winning cups online. “The main thing is don’t post your winning cup and just be careful of what you post because sometimes your friends aren’t really your friends,” she said. “There’s something to be learnt and I’ve learnt.” And what does she plan to do with her winnings? Take her husband and three children out for lunch – her treat.