Beyondthelensdraws Reviews 11

Another 1 star review for the criminally fraudulent Carl Thomas and his Beyond the Lens draws scam.

I won a prize in mid April. Emails since then have largely gone unanswered save for one or two delaying emails saying that he would send the prize and sort the issue.

It's nearly August now, and he has taken down both the website and the Facebook page. Needless to say I never received the prize I won.

His Carl Thomas Photography pages and websites are still up though, and there's enough information there to lodge a complaint with the gambling commission and/or the police for his short-lived fraudulent competition website.

Given the increasing amount of people he has scammed out of money, I am long past any form of sympathy I may have had.

So, whilst you cannot use Beyond the Lens draws anymore, I would urge anyone who is considering dealing with Carl to save yourself the hassle.

Absolute Scam. I won a prize in May which I have not received, and on top of that my numbers weren't included in a draw so Carl promised to send me the prize anyway (Probably as a bribe to not expose his scam competitions). I wouldn't be surprised if other peoples numbers were missed.

He has scammed people out of thousands of pounds in prizes and missed entries.

I have tried to reach out in every form possible but he just blocks me every time.

Won a GoPro at the beginning of May. Have had no contact since the initial automatic email. Total scam. Avoid.

ONE STAR REVIEW ISNT LOW ENOUGH

*** ANOTHER UPDATE 30th JULY, MUCH THE SAME.... THE EMAIL ON THE 16TH WAS BULLS""T TO JUST PACIFY ME. I HAVE SENT EMAILS TO HIM SINCE AND GOT NO REPLY ***

*** UPDATE 16th JULY.... IVE HAD A REPLY, SAYING SORRY FOR THE DELAY & HE WILL GET IT SORTED****

*** UPDATE 2 JULY.....ITS STARTING TO FEEL LIKE I WILL BE NEEDING TO VISIT READING WHEN IM NEXT IN THE AREA !! ***

****UPDATE 25 JUNE...... SENT ANOTHER 2 EMAILS SINCE THIS REVIEW, NO REPLY AT ALL STILL ****

I 'won' a prize on 30th April.
I had a initial reply on 1st of may confirming the prize and that it would be shipped.
Fast forward 3 weeks and saw nothing. I emailed asking if it had been sent (just incase it was lost with the courier) ..... and you have probably guessed... NO REPLY.
I since emailed every couple of days in the hope for a reply.
I finally got a reply on Friday 25th may saying they had been busy catching up and the parcel would be posted out the following week and I would get a confirmation email the following monday..... got nothing again (I figure the email Friday was just bullsh*t to keep me quiet !
I emailed last Friday 6th june, asking the same questions.
Up to yet I haven't had any reply.
I have given them a week to get the parcel to me as its now more than the 30 days they state in their own terms and conditions, if no parcel or explanation. Then i will take matters to the gambling commission etc

I have been blocked from all his social media accounts, which tells a story in its self, as other winners that enquired about delivery times have also been blocked.
I can still see active comments on his pages due to me having a few ghost accounts for this reason on social media

DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY..... OR ANY OTHER COMPANY RUN BY CARL THOMAS,

I feel the man is a conman, I'm just glad I never paid hundreds of pounds to book on one of his photography workshops (carlthomasphotography.co. uk )

I am not angry so much about the lack of winnings, its the lack of response to emails and the sheer ignorance of it all.

I will state again CARL THOMAS & his associated companies are not to be trusted !!!

Terrible . Won a prize..... 6 months later nothing. Don't use them

I won AirPod pro 2s on one of their live draws it took several messages including my husband posting on their live draws video to contact us before they replied to us. We won Apr 23rd didn’t hear back from them till Apr 29th.

We get it sometimes a site isn’t going how one planned but at that point it’s time to stop and accept the losses and settle up with everyone.

Honestly I think they need to stop with their website as a lot of the reviews are what people use to verify if a website is legitimate or not and their trust has been tarnished by them not delivering.

To their credit we have now received the AirPod Pro 2s May 2nd. But again that was only after my husbands word of warning on their live draws video and them blocking his account to try and get rid of the comment.

To Carl do better to your customers deliver on everything owed and then close shop stop putting yourself deeper in a hole.

Awful company. Continually lie about sending out prizes. Wouldn't touch them. Took me weeks of chasing the owner Carl to get my prize delivered. Have reported them to the gambling commission.

A month later, and still no communication from Carl. SCUM
Carl Thomas has stolen money.
Update; 29.04.2025
I have sent many texts, emails, and messages on social media. The last reply was on 24th March. There has been no communication since. The last message I sent was on 21st April. This message was photo proof of a letter being delivered directly to the address of Carl Thomas stating I was willing to take the cash alternative instead of the DJI drone I won & requesting a reply within 14 days. There has been no reply. My next option is small claims court.

Absolute scam. Do not use this site.
Prize never arrived.
They have blocked me in socials.
Reported them to their local council and the gambling commission.

09.03.2026
Still trying to communicate with Carl, still being ignored.

Good odds but have to constantly chase prizes and get lied to about delivery times and days. Took nearly 4 months for my last win to be delivered. Won’t be playing again.

I apparently won a prize. Still not received it 3 months later. The incompetence. Still don't have my prize. They don't even respond to you.
No proof it was ever purchased or sent.
SCAM SCAM SCAM ! Don't play.

Do not waste your money with these people, you might be lucky to win, but you certainly would need a whole lot more luck to actually receive your prize.

This is an update to my previous review.

Basically, I did receive my prize, a full 17 weeks after I won the prize.
Just a 119 day wait.

I won a prize worth around £180 as an instant win in their winter competition.
I waited until the competition had ended to contact them, as a lot of competition sites wait until then to contact winners.
I was told by Carl that he would look into it.
I received no follow up.

I asked again in January, and was told that it should have been sent by now… I received no follow up.

Eventually after around 6 emails, Carl confirmed on 12/02 that it would be with me on 17/02…. nothing arrived, apparently it was delivered to their office instead, but it took many more emails and posted reviews for them to finally arrange for it to be delivered with next day delivery on 23/04.

As you can see by the other reviews here, I’m not alone in having to wait, having emails ignored and being fobbed off.

The day I wrote the original review here, I also added a review to their Facebook page.
They then hid the review section from public view and blocked me on Facebook.
At various points I’ve made burner FB accounts to post on their live draws, these comments were also deleted and the accounts blocked.
If you ever watch their live draws, you can see them pointing out the comments and blocking people live on air, some comments get through to the screen, so you can see them.
Not really good practice in my book.

I have my prize now, after nearly 4 months of waiting and chasing up for it, needless to say, I can’t recommend using this site, and I’m glad I don’t have to deal with them again.
I’m sure Carl’s photography business is a good one, and I wish it well, but this side of things isn’t going well.