sewilco@mecc.UUCP (Scot E. Wilcoxon) (06/03/85)
A resort trying to sell various sites recently sent me a missive
which included:
"... What this meant was you had either won the Oldsmobile Cutlass or
one of the other gifts listed below:
GIFTS ODDS RETAIL VALUE
1) OLDS CUTLASS 1/130,000 $10,977.00
2) MEXICO LUXURY VACATION 1,300/1,300 $688.00
3) GRANDFATHER CLOCK ALREADY CLAIMED $149.95
4) $2,500 CASH 3/130,000 $2,500
...
Please note that the 5 foot Grandfather Clock has recently been claimed.
..."
The above part might belong in net.jokes, as I did get a good laugh out
of the wording in the letter emphasizing the Cutlass in three places,
the cash one place, and... the odds for Mexico are 1 of 1. Pretty good
odds :-).
The net.consumer part? "...offer is designed to be of particular interest
to ... married couples ..." and "MEXICO LUXURY VACATION ... 4 days and
3 nights ... One round trip airfare included." The gift to married couples
includes one airfare? They don't mention the hotel cost for a second person,
either.
Scot E. Wilcoxon Minn. Ed. Comp. Corp. circadia!mecc!sewilco
93W15',45N03' (612)481-3507 {ihnp4,mgnetp,uwvax}!dicomed!mecc!sewilcowoods@hao.UUCP (Greg Woods) (06/06/85)
> A resort trying to sell various sites recently sent me a missive > which included: > > "... What this meant was you had either won the Oldsmobile Cutlass or > one of the other gifts listed below: > > GIFTS ODDS RETAIL VALUE > 1) OLDS CUTLASS 1/130,000 $10,977.00 > 2) MEXICO LUXURY VACATION 1,300/1,300 $688.00 > 3) GRANDFATHER CLOCK ALREADY CLAIMED $149.95 > 4) $2,500 CASH 3/130,000 $2,500 > > ... > Please note that the 5 foot Grandfather Clock has recently been claimed. > ..." > > 3 nights ... One round trip airfare included." The gift to married couples > includes one airfare? They don't mention the hotel cost for a second person, > either. There is *always* a catch to these things, no matter *how* impregnable it sounds. There *has* to be, or they couldn't stay in business. Remember they send out thousands of these. They use language that makes you sound special, and then point your attention to the wrong thing so you won't see the catch (in this case, they have you trying to figure out how you're going to get stuck with the clock). Just stay in touch with two things: 1) This is a form letter and there is nothing "special" about you; and 2) they are making money off of those who respond. --Greg -- {ucbvax!hplabs | allegra!nbires | decvax!noao | harpo!seismo | ihnp4!noao} !hao!woods CSNET: woods@NCAR ARPA: woods%ncar@CSNET-RELAY "...I may not be right but I've never been wrong It seldom turns out the way it does in the song..."
doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (06/07/85)
I always figured these mailings were to pre-qualify sales prospects...
The salesmen can concentrate on making their pitches to those people who
will believe 'most anything they're told.
--
Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{ihnp4,seismo,decvax}!noao!terak!doug
^^^^^--- soon to be CalCompmcewan@uiucdcs.Uiuc.ARPA (06/28/85)
> By the way, we got another one yesterday from another place and the three > prizes are 1) $10,000 2) $100 3) Commodore Color PC. (99.9871% odds) > Does anyone know how much the Commodore is worth? (they claim $169) My guess is that this is a Vic-20 (cheapest thing Commodore makes), which is selling now for around $70. Scott McEwan {ihnp4,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!mcewan "Is that you, Henry? Why didn't you tell me you had super powers?!"
hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath) (07/03/85)
In article <44000016@uiucdcs> mcewan@uiucdcs.Uiuc.ARPA writes: > >> By the way, we got another one yesterday from another place and the three >> prizes are 1) $10,000 2) $100 3) Commodore Color PC. (99.9871% odds) >> Does anyone know how much the Commodore is worth? (they claim $169) > >My guess is that this is a Vic-20 (cheapest thing Commodore makes), which >is selling now for around $70. I saw this trick pulled with a Timex-Sinclair. They claimed it was worth $250. Last I saw them around here they were discounted to $20 and no takers.