Verizon’s Storm Challenge NYC goes off without a hitch, other than all the hitches

Well, it looks like the Verizon Storm Challenge went down in Times Square as scheduled yesterday but not everything went according to plan. You remember the deal right? Contestants step into a booth one at a time and a whirlwind of cards is blown around them. Each contestant who can manage to snag at least seven black BlackBerry Storm cards wins a shiny new Storm (once released) and a $50 VZW gift card. According to the accounts of some people at the event, the reps in charge of the booth managed to screw the pooch big time. At the start, things were running smoothly but after a while, no one was winning. We’re talking about a loooooong losing streak here – like, the polar opposite of Nick Papagiorgio. Finally when the crowd got restless enough and it looked like no remaining contestants could possibly win, a rep decided to look into the situation. Yup, you guessed it… There supposedly weren’t enough black Storm cards in the booth. Smooth Verizon, real smooth. Once the realization was made, reps tossed in 25 black cards and the next two contestants in line won. Go figure. The kicker in all this is that the many annoyed people who were still around after learning they participated and couldn’t possibly have won, were not allowed to get back in line and try again! Well, sorry to those who basically got screwed. Hopefully things will go a bit smoother when the Challenge hits the next city in line…

[Thanks, Robert!]