Kokua Line: How will winners be notified in the vaccination prize drawings?

Question: We are vaccinated and have submitted our names to the prize drawing. How will winners be notified? We have an increasing number of scam calls and do not answer our phone unless we recognize the caller ID that identifies the caller. Obviously, we would hate to miss having our names selected and then miss the notification!

Answer: Potential winners will be notified by telephone, email or both, if they listed both forms of contact on their online entry, said Patrick V. Bullard of Heinrich & Bullard Marketing, who is helping with the campaign to get more people in Hawaii vaccinated against COVID-19. Here’s more from his emailed response:

“We provided the email and phone number options for people to help us more easily ensure we have the proper winner when the potential winner is selected. If they only provided a number then we will call them. If they provided an email then we will do both. The email is suggested but not required to win. It just helps our job of ensuring we can contact the winner quickly as there are more steps we must take to verify them as eligible and as the actual winner.

“If they do not answer the phone we will leave a phone number and email address for them to contact us back. They can verify our business information as well to ensure they are contacting the right party to be safe.

“However, if we do not hear back anything in five days (not business, just five days) we will assume the entrant is not legitimate or has changed their mind about participating and select another winner. (A) key thing to state is if they think they were contacted they should respond promptly after taking any precautions they deem necessary to be safe.”

More information about notification has been added to the campaign’s website, in the “Rules” section.

It now says that “the Contest Coordinating Entity will properly identify themselves when contacting participants and allow for verification. We will not ever ask for any financial information, any personal information unrelated to the CDC COVID-19 vaccination card and … questions will be asked just to verify the person has indeed been vaccinated using simple information on the card such as date, location and lot number. Once we have determined that the person selected was eligible and can be a winner, they will need to sign some documents that will also not contain any personal information other than name and address and phone number and email if applicable.”

The first drawing is scheduled for Friday, for two separate prizes — 100,000 HawaiianMiles and a round-trip for two on Alaska Airlines. Drawings will continue weekly until July 1, for prizes such as restaurant and retail gift cards, a Las Vegas vacation, a one-year car lease and more. See the full list of prizes and rules at higotvaccinated.com, where Hawaii residents age 18 and older who have received at least one dose of Moderna, Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine can enter to win.

Q: Now that the eviction moratorium has been extended until Aug. 6, what is the law concerning rent increases? Can landlords raise rents prior to the end of the eviction moratorium?

A: Generally no. “Pursuant to section 127A-30 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes a landlord is prohibited from increasing rent during the period of the state of emergency declared by the governor,” according to the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs’ Office of Consumer Protection.

However, a rent increase you agreed to in writing before the emergency proclamation took effect last year may still be valid. “In the case of a residential dwelling unit, if rent increases were contained in a written instrument, such as a lease, that was signed by the tenant prior to the proclamation, the increases may take place pursuant to the written instrument,” the OCP says on its website.

Read more at 808ne.ws/tocp.

Mahalo

I would like to thank a young man who helped me Friday with my friend at Safeway. He asked if he could help her get to the car, which I welcomed. All turned out well because of him, so a big mahalo to him. — J.K.

Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.