Free? Don't Believe ItTuesday, February 28, 2006I received a flyer in the mail from a local car dealership. As usual, it was colorful and had that sense of hype all over it. Even at first glance, my impression was "junk." One thing unusual caught my eye. There was a "scratch-off" contest. You know the kind you scratch off and see if you won something. So I scratched and a number appeared. The instructions said if my number "x" matched the number "y" I won one of five prizes. 1. A flat panel T.V. 2. A DVD player 3. $10,000 in cash 4. A $1000 shopping spree 5. $100 in cash My number matched their number and I began to laugh. I showed it to my son and said lets figure it out. So we read all the fine print, which of course told us most of the story - but not all. Odds of winning for the 5 items above gave us the first clue. For numbers 1, 2, 3 and 5, the odds were 1/50,000. 50,000 the number of flyers mailed presumably. But what about the odds for #4? 49,996/50,000. It does not take a mathematician to figure out that everyone was winning #4. So now this deceptive little flyer became even more intriguing. I called the dealership and asked them how #4 worked. The guy who answered said that if you won that prize you would be given membership to a website and would be able to pick out items for your home like televisions, tools, etc. and only have to pay a shipping and handling fee. Yeah right! If all 49,996 of us claimed $1000 of merchandise, that would be just short of 5 million dollars. To see how deceptive this little game was, we googled #4 to find just such a site. You could select up to $1000 of merchandise and pay a fee for handling and shipping that equaled a minimum of 25% of the merchandise selected. So if we picked all $1000, we would pay $250. That would be a net gain of $750, so there still had to be a catch. The catch was simple. We looked at a guitar they had for sale. It looked to be worth about $75. The price was $385.00. So if we picked the guitar, we would have spent $385 of the $1000 "free money." Our cost for the handling and shipping fee? $75 What a scam. I am sure there are people who fell for this little game. It made me angry enough to post about it hopefully spare someone from getting caught up in this internet scheme. I will never buy a car from that dealership. Anyone who would play games with potential customers won't get my business. It tells me a lot their business. posted at 2/28/2006 08:00:00 AM |
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4 Comments:
That sounds so familiar. I got on some fake charity's "sucker" list once when I bought something from them. The next thing I know they're leaving messages on my answering machine pleading with me to answer the phone because they "knew" I was there and that God loved me. Please. They caught me one day (I knew I shouldn't have picked up the phone) and started with the hard sell. I repeatedly told them I didn't want anything and then they started pestering me for a "donation." They finally wore me down and I agreed just to get rid of them. That's when they told me that they couldn't really take donations, I needed to buy something. Then I got a very evil idea. I told them which product I wanted and when it arrived, I just marked "Return to Sender" on the box and shipped it back to them. You see, they told me the first time I bought something, they told me that if I didn't like it, I could send it back and they'd pay the shipping. Sooooo, back it went. Funny, I haven't heard from them since. Scammers are everywhere, but it's fun when you get a chance to stick it to THEM for a change.
had to chuckle at your google ads below the post advertising for scratch off games. heh heh
The FTC has very specific laws governing the usage of the terms win, won, and free... so you may be entitled to something if they misrepresented.
Anyway, at least let the dealership know that they completely lost out on a customer due to that crap! Maybe they'll think twice next time!
Best,
Aaron
Ananke,
Good for you! Hate predators of all kinds.
Shane,
You noticed? Lol, goes to show you how far a computer program can go. I write about scratch card scams and my sponsors are selling them.
Great commnet!
Aaron,
YOu are right, except they have themselves covered on this scam. They did their due dilligence and paid a good lawyer to make sure they are just over the line.
But they have lost many customers now. Word travels in a blog. :)
Eric
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