I recieved a telemarketerish phone call the other day. I had just eaten breakfast and it was a bright sunny afternoon, so I had some pity on the poor phone jockey and listened. It turns out that she was offering to send me a key and I would just have to call back and confirm to get a chance to win a car or $25,000. As a college student who just got my hours cut, this is a decent chance to not have to work for a semester or two.
I got the key and the invitation in the mail today. The key looks to be a standard AC Delco/GM key. There is also a scratch off circle to determine my two bonus prizes.
Reading through the fine print “This contest is DESIGNED FOR married couples and individuals over 21” (emphasis mine). Now I just turned 20 today, but according to the wording, the contest was not designed for me but I am not barred from participation. Do you all agree?
This place is just down the road from my apartment, and the odds of winning aren’t too bad (when compared to the lottery) and at the very least, I should be able to spin this into an hour or two of personal amusement at the expense of others. I do not want to scam or do anything illegal, I simply want to maximize my odds of getting free crap as well as having some fun. I’ll post the name of the company if a mod OKs it.
Have any of you done this? Any suggestions to make this more profitable? More fun? Any caveats that I’m missing?
Of course there’s a catch. And you should not only NOT post the name of the company, I would recommend not posting anything more about this subject at all. Indeed posting too much more information along these lines could well get you banned.
Sounds to me like they’re going to try to sell you a vacation condo or time share or something - the “married or over 21” caveat is their way of weeding out those who couldn’t afford whatever they’re selling. At least, that’s my guess.
Chances are excellent that all you’ll get is a high-pressure sales pitch and a crappy consolation gift. Might be good for a laugh, but don’t start spending the $25K yet…
I’ve gotten several of these “listen to our four-hour sales pitch, get a weekend vacation for two” mailings. Never responded to one, but I’ll bet dollars to donuts the pitch will make a used-car salesman seem like the model of restraint by comparison.
Um, what? He’s not doing anything illegal or even immoral. He’s volunteering to go listen to a sales pitch in return for a chance to win something. He has no intention of buying anything, but that’s all part of the deal. Banned??? What on earth for?
The company in question has been and still is being investigated for thier sales practices. Oddly enough the location I’m attending has recieved the most complaints of any of them. I feel less inclined to not attempt to get as much as I can from this company because of thier shady buisness model. I have also done my homework, what they are selling is total bupkis (sp??), but I could not find any mention of the freebies at thier sales pitch.
I’m well aware that winning the cash or the car is not going to happen (1:600,000 according to the mailer). I’m doing this more out of curiosity and humour rather than greed or ‘get rich quick’. I’ve been let go from my summer job and my school job doesn’t start up for a few weeks yet, so this attempt is just something to keep me busy and amused.
Anyhow, one of my friends upped the stakes. Again I ask your advice:
Is it illegal to poke fun at a buisness while wearing a pink dinosaur suit and sipping water from a flask illegal???
Well, it’s too late now (I only know about this thread because it was referenced in MPSIMS), but, having listened to the audio on your page, I’ll say that you might have fared better if you hadn’t humbled yourself. You started off calling yourself “stupid”, when you should have acted as if there was nothing unusual about a pink dinosaur walking in to hear a sales pitch. Then you essentially begged them to give you a chance, when you should have had the attitude of “Me pink dinosaur! Pink dinosaur want car! Pink dinosaur’s ancestors gave lives for fossil fuels…GIMME CAR! RARGH!” Then they might have given you some kind of prize, just for sheer chutzpah.
If you’re gonna wear the pink dinosaur suit, you gotta BE the dinosaur, man!
Oh, we get these all the time, and have had nearly free vacations by accepting several of these. First off, when the telemarketer calls, I tell her/him that what they are offering is not good enough. Two nights in a hotel and dinner and breakfast for two one of the mornings is not enough, because our three kids will be coming along with us; they have to feed the kids, too. Or throw in tickets to a local attraction, whatever. One telemarketer tried to say she couldn’t give me more because “We used to charge $69.00 for this, and you’re getting it for FREE”, to which I replied “But I wouldn’t have paid the $69.00, and even free isn’t good enough. If you can’t do better, we won’t come”. She ‘talked to her manager’, and did, indeed, manage to do better!
As for the sales pitch, we look up time share condos for sale on ebay in the same area we’re being pitched. The first thing we do is get the salesman to agree that, not only could we sell the thing whenever we want, but whoever we sell it to gets all the benefits. Then, whatever the salesman says (and they are pushy buggers), we’ll say, “Why should we pay you $XXXXX, when we can buy it for $XX on ebay?”
If you’re good at saying “NO”, this is a great way to get a cheap vacation!
When we go to Vegas or Reno you can make a quick $50-$100 bucks this way. Just go to the time-share pitch, enjoy the air-conditioning and free coffee/cookies, say “no thanks” and come back with a voucher for casino chips.
WARNING: Don’t forget to say “no thanks” or you’ll end up with a timeshare, haha. (We actually love ours, but they’re obviously not for everyone.)
The car they’re offering isn’t a Chevy Blazer, is it? I read of one company giving away “Chevy Blazers” and someone ended up with a cheap jacket with a Chevy logo on the pocket.
[Moderator Underoos on]And I would recommend that you leave the moderating to the moderators, Ponder Stibbons. If you think that someone has posted inappropriately, report said post to us using the handy button we have provided for just such an occasion.[/Moderator Underoos on]
He’s not doing anything illegal or even immoral. He’s volunteering to go listen to a sales pitch in return for a chance to win something. He has no intention of buying anything, but that’s all part of the deal. Banned??? What on earth for?