tim@minn-ua.UUCP (Tim Giebelhaus) (02/15/84)
A few weeks ago some place called Prize Headquarters told me that I won a diamond ring and could I please send them $2.00 for the cost of shipping. Well, I figured the ring would be worth about $1.00, but if nothing esle, I could give it to my 5 year old cousin who would be thrilled to have thing even resembling a diamond ring. Now the place wants me to send them another letter for address varification. They sent me so much junk already that I gave up losing stamps. The last time they wanted me to subscribe to some strange magazine. Anyone know this place? As of my last back statement, they still haven't cashed the $2.00 check. I am getting alot of even worse junk lately. One place actually asked me to send cash through the mail... sure! I just got a VISA. Do you think they are selling my name?
lute@abnjh.UUCP (J. Collymore) (02/17/84)
Regarding Tim's problem with the $2 diamond ring company. Never believe that you can get SOMETHING for nothing! Those ads are come-ons (if you're a sportsman, you may prefer the term "lures"). Once you bite, they waste no time trying to reel you in. I have made it my practice to trash any unsolicited mail that's trying to make me an "unbelievable" offer. Remember: "If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is!" AND TANSTAAFL (Translation: "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch!") Good Luck. Jim Collymore
tim@minn-ua.UUCP (Tim Giebelhaus) (02/18/84)
I didn't really expect anything that I did not pay for. My only loss was two or three 20 cent stamps. It seems that they are not going to cash the two dollar check. I filled in the FOR: part on the check for a "diamond ring." Here is a letter that I got that explains this place. Thankyou for sending it. >References: <980@minn-ua.UUCP> >Status: RO > >The outfit you are describing just had an investigative feature done >on them by Channel 2 News here in NYC, and there seem to be charges pending >against them from the New York State Attorney Generals office, or some such >legal entity. The ring, if you ever get it, has the most miniscule >diamond speck you can imagine, set in a glass surrounding to make it look >like a decent size, and the ring itself has a total worth of about $.50 >(according to the appraisal in the expose'). They (Prize Headquarters) >are doubtlessly the ones sending all the junk, but you can file some >kind of form with the Post Office refusing delivery on all junk mail. >This will stop the annoying flood. Good luck! I am a little dissapointed. I was expecting a $1.00 ring and I will only the a $0.50 ring... unless I get nothing. I don't really care either way.
rs55611@ihuxk.UUCP (Robert E. Schleicher) (02/20/84)
Speaking of "too good to be true" promotional gimmicks, just about everyone has at one time or another received a letter saying "You've won one of the following prizes; to claim your prize, all you have to do is to attend our sales presentation on lovely vacation home sites in Podunk!" The latest one I've gotten listed prizes that all seemed relatively decent, such as a car, an APPLE computer, a microwave, a "sport boat", and $100 cash. At first glance the $100 looked like the worst prize. However, these things now have to list the odds of getting each prize, and upon looking over the fine print, it said that the 99.9% probable prize was the sport boat. Apparently this boat was not some speed boat, but rather a miniature radio-controlled boat, with a suggested retail price of $49.95, but probably costing about $15-$20. This kind of thing is typical. The junk prize is usually not the one that appears worst at first glance. It's usually something that is not described too completely, and thus could be anything from junk to a fabulous prize. Another example is another one of these real estate deals that had "gold ingot" as one of the prizes. Seems pretty good, huh? Wrong, precious metal breath! This "ingot" was about .5 gram, and worth about $7. Bob Schleicher ihuxk!rs55611 AT&T Bell Laboratories
rew@hao.UUCP (Russell K. Rew) (02/21/84)
[]
Another similar letter I got recently seemed to be depending on the
average consumer's inability to take cube roots, as one of the four
prizes offered was a "frost-free refrigerator with a capacity of 721
cubic inches". This sounds too good to be true until you try taking
the cube root of 721 to get a rough estimate of the size of this
"refrigerator".
--
Russ Rew
{hplabs,nbires,brl-bmd,seismo,menlo70}!hao!rewmark@cbosgd.UUCP (Mark Horton) (02/21/84)
Yeah, you gotta read the odds and you'll know which prize you got. We received two of those things recently. One listed several things whose value was claimed at over $100, and $100 in cash. The odds showed we would get the luggage, claimed to be worth $150, but no doubt costing them far less. Then we got a second one (I'm quoting from memory here) where the cheapest prize (other than $100 cash) was a Timex Sinclair computer, claimed to be worth $250. (I'm not sure what Sinclair makes that lists at $250, but it got me to look closer.) Then we looked at the odds, and discovered that the sum of the odds listed was something less than 5%. Rereading the text of the article, it indicated that we MAY have won one of the prizes listed! That's right, most people get ZIP for sitting through the presentation. My father-in-law went to one of these things, figuring he'd get a walkman for his time. He wound up leaving without even the walkman, deciding that the bull he had to go through to get it was not worthwhile. In essence, the ad he had been mailed was false - he had to do more paperwork (or something - I can't remember the details) than he'd expected. Mark
hutch@shark.UUCP (02/21/84)
< chomp line > The "cheeselovers" crew told us we won their marvelous diamond ring, which seems to be one of these. A friend told us he had gotten such an offer, along with a pair of earrings. The diamonds were all 1/4 point, which is somewhere around a tenth of a carat (I think) BUT they made great gifts for his eleven year old daughter. Just think, real diamond jewelry that it won't hurt to lose because it isn't terribly valuable. Hutch
ews@hammer.UUCP (02/22/84)
[Bug ate my last message - it's really there, but got put in the Ref... line] A point is 1/100 of a carat. Current retail prices for reasonable quality small diamonds (SI2 up) is on the order of $10 per point. The 1/4 point diamonds are certainly industrial grade, and practically free (they're used as abrasives). Ed Sznyter tektronix!tekecs!ews
tim@minn-ua.UUCP (Tim Giebelhaus) (02/23/84)
Mark's article describes it pretty good. They kept wanting me to answer more of their letters to get the ring. I gave up when they sent the third one. A new peice I got was to save the abandened pets in PA. They were offering prizes for contributing so much. I used to like recieving mail. Is there anyway that I could find out who sold my name? I like the junk mail that the food store and my congress man send, so I don't want to stop all my junk mail... just the mailing list for fraud.