Get this: All you have to do to get a food processor - absolutely free, no kidding - is to listen to a sales pitch for some real estate in the Poconos. Sound good?
Sound like somebody is going to give you a Cuisinart or some other neat electric kitchen machine worth a couple hundred dollars?
That's what people who showed up at this particular sales pitch thought, but what they actually got was a small glass jar with a hand-operated grater on top. It might be worth $10 (tops).
And then there is the company that promised prospective customers of time- sharing condominiums that after touring the premises with a salesman for two hours they would be given "either a Mercedes-Benz car or an all-terrain vehicle."
Forget the Mercedes. The gift was the "all-terrain vehicle."
What kind of "all-terrain vehicle?" Forget Bronco. Forget Jeep. Forget a motor! What the prospects ended up with - after paying $29.95 "handling, processing and insurance" - was a four-wheeled cart that can be converted into a lawn chair. No doubt it will roll over "all terrains" - if it is pulled hard enough.
Companies that seek to capitalize on the difference between what people think is being discussed, as opposed to what is actually being offered, are nothing new, of course. (Philadelphia Region Postal Inspector David G. Fast says his favorite example is the "Universal Coat Hanger" - guaranteed to fit any coat and sold through the mail for $3.95 apiece. It turned out to be a nail. You bang it into the wall and hang any coat on it.)
But recently this technique has been especially popular with high-pressure salesmen trying to sell real estate in the Poconos and other resort areas. Both the U.S. Postal Inspector's office and the state Bureau of Consumer Protection have received complaints about "gifts" that were nowhere near as lavish as the recipients of sales promotion letters thought they were going to be.
Now possibly you have received one of these letters and have wondered whether you really would have gotten a Mercedes or a fat bankroll if you'd only taken the time to trek to to the Poconos.
I took the time to check with the postal inspector's office and the Bureau of Consumer Protection (cheaper than gas) and discovered that my chances of getting what these letters seemed to promise ranged from slim to none.
The typical letter states that if the couple to whom it is addressed brings it to the real estate sales office, they will receive one of a given list of prizes.
