Thursday, December 16, 2010

Money For Nothing

They're back, and this time it's money.
The people who brought us the Amish Mantle Fireplaces are now offering new American quarters. These freshly-minted quarters are not circulated, in mint condition, and are free for $12 plus shipping and handling.
Yay!
Act now and get 56 quarters (that's 14 dollars friends) that may someday possibly be worth something other than $14.
Like hell.
The $12 covers the cost of the Collectors Coin Chest and the entire first year of the aforementioned quarters.
The offer is through the World Reserve Monetary Exchange. Said body is not affiliated with the US goverment and lists an address in Canton, Ohio. If you follow the link you can spend a few minutes reading how they've hosed people out of their hard-earned money.
These jokers make me mad.
Every few months the Edmonton Journal runs a full page ad--as is their right in a free country-- of weasel*-worded nonsense offering a wide variety of completely useless products. The aforementioned heaters, US coins, uncut US banknotes, and some other products that I've blissfully forgotten.
The bottom third of the ad was devoted to where to call and what code to quote when you do so. Not only did it feature different toll-free numbers  for each province and territory, it was noted how many callers in each province qualify to get the free money.
While the first 92, 175 Ontario residents have a crack at it, only 306 people in NWT have the chance and woe betide the good people of Nunavut. Only 227 people can get it for free.
The ad reassured me that 26, 074 Albertans have this glorious chance before the 48 hour deadline is up. There may still be time.
I enjoy these ads simply because I know better than to believe anything about them. I can laugh. But underneath it I know many people believe these are really collectors items and will grow in value.
That saddens me.
They give their charge card numbers to these people with hope, I am sure, in their voices and in their hearts.
From the complaints I read about this and the other products offered they keep charging the card for a wide variety of expenses.
The only free money here is the money the company gets from its customers.

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*I apologize to weasels and all members of the Mustelidae family everywhere. Weasels serve a  purpose. And they smell better than this offer.

10 comments:

The Book Nut said...

Maybe I can give you a small sense of justice. I live in the middle of Ohio's Amish country right near where the guy is that produced those heaters. I agree, they were a huge joke! Anyway, he got so many orders that he moved to a bigger facility and started cranking them out as fast as he could. When people started to catch on that they weren't all they were cracked up to be, his orders dropped off severely. From rumors that I have heard, he has thousands of these things sitting in a warehouse that he can't sell now! :) The only good thing was all the jobs he provided for a while but since it was short lived I'm not sure how much good that really was.

I hate seeing these type of scams and I feel so sorry for those trusting people that think they are getting a great deal! If it's too good to be true, it probably is!

Tabor said...

I hate these scam artists. I am afraid I am very much an honest nut. Give me your honest product for a fair price. That is what really makes the world go round. We need to teach critical thinking skills in the schools and these shysters will get less money.

Leah J. Utas said...

Book Nut, thanks so much for this. It's always good to get info from a local. Sad that people are out of work, but glad the scam isn't doing well.

Tabor, I agree. Honest work at a fair price.
And I agree that we need critical thinking skills. Mine, such as it is, comes from my understanding of words.

the Bag Lady said...

Ah, yes. There are new scams every day.
Worse even than this type are the people who call elderly people, impersonating a grandchild and telling grandma that they are in serious trouble and need money right away! So many grandparents have lost money this way, it makes me furious!
This happened recently to a 91-year old woman of my acquaintance, and it destroyed her self-esteem when she realized she had been scammed! Worse yet? It had to be someone who was acquainted with her because of the details they knew that convinced her it really was her grand-daughter. There are some truly evil people in this world.

Hilary said...

Ugh.. it's no coincidence that "scam" is just one letter off from "scum."

And speaking of coincidence (or not), the word verification just cracked me up. Another one for the scam-watchers.. "grodic"

messymimi said...

I will gladly collect these coins -- myself, whenever i get change and notice one i don't have yet. It is fun to try to find them, and i have an album for each kid so they will all have the full "state quarter collection" the fun and easy way.

Teach critical thinking and finance, while you are at it.

Leah J. Utas said...

Hilary, love the word verif.

Messymimi, that's the way to do it. The state quarter collection is great and worth having, but your way, not scuzzball central's way.

Reb said...

Sadly, there will always be someone gullible enough to fall for scams like these. We can just hope the scam artists will get caught.

Ron Scheer said...

Since we're listing marketing gripes, I would add direct mail. The one person in a thousand who becomes a customer somehow justifies all those clear-cut trees, the energy waste, and the glut of aggravating junk mail.

Leah J. Utas said...

Sadly correct, Reb. We can only hope they'll be caught.

Ron, I don't care for direct mail either. Waste of resources.