"Free phone" advertising rant

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CharlesH - 21 Jan 2004 23:41 GMT

U.S. wireless providers have had for some time these "buy one phone
get one free" advertising campaigns. Of course, buried in the legal
fine print is "one year service contract required; early termination fee
applies to each phone". They all seem to do this (Verizon Wireless, AT&T,
Nextel), but what really got on my nerves today was a Cingular radio ad,
where the customer is in a quandry about what to do with the extra free
phone they had received. I just wanted to scream "well you will be paying
for the service every month, so you might want to put it to good use!".
Some time ago, I wanted to get a new phone from Verizon Wireless, and the
one I wanted was on such a "buy one, get one free" promo. The salesman
kept pushing me to get two "for the same price"; it took a long time for
him to be convinced that while I had no objection to having two phones,
I had NO NEED for the second service contract :-(. I wonder how many
people are suckered into these "free second phone" scams? :-( :-(

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David - 22 Jan 2004 04:18 GMT

You don't seem to be asking any real questions, so you're just "ranting"
yourself, correct?

> U.S. wireless providers have had for some time these "buy one phone
> get one free" advertising campaigns. Of course, buried in the legal
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> I had NO NEED for the second service contract :-(. I wonder how many
> people are suckered into these "free second phone" scams? :-( :-(

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Carl. - 22 Jan 2004 05:04 GMT

That was what his subject line indicated.

> You don't seem to be asking any real questions, so you're just "ranting"
> yourself, correct?
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> > I had NO NEED for the second service contract :-(. I wonder how many
> > people are suckered into these "free second phone" scams? :-( :-(

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Justin - 22 Jan 2004 16:13 GMT

David wrote on [Wed, 21 Jan 2004 20:18:34 -0800]:

> You don't seem to be asking any real questions, so you're just "ranting"
> yourself, correct?

Did you not read the subject?

Subject: Re: "Free phone" advertising rant

>> U.S. wireless providers have had for some time these "buy one phone
>> get one free" advertising campaigns. Of course, buried in the legal
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>> I had NO NEED for the second service contract :-(. I wonder how many
>> people are suckered into these "free second phone" scams? :-( :-(

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John S. - 23 Jan 2004 15:42 GMT

>I wonder how many
>people are suckered into these "free second phone" scams? :-( :-(

Stop and think about the people that are "suckered" into thinking that they are
getting anything for free!!

Free means without obligation. That in and of itself should allow us to sue
them all for false advertising.

Having to "Sign Up" and have an "obligation" for 1 or 2 years means that it is
not FREE.

--
John S.
e-mail responses to - john at kiana dot net

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plane - 23 Jan 2004 19:54 GMT

> >I wonder how many
> >people are suckered into these "free second phone" scams? :-( :-(
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> Having to "Sign Up" and have an "obligation" for 1 or 2 years means that it is
> not FREE.

In my area, (tn) US cell has always had to do business with this type
of come on. In addition to the one above their current ads promote
1000 min/29.95 in the big print, little print then adds "for 1st three
months with 2 yr contract". In the distant past, my favorite of
theirs, was adding a per minute surcharge to their published
prices---and the constant end of contract arguments--which was the
reason I finally just gave them up for verizon--who ain't as good as
they use to be either.. rant, rant, rant

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DevilsPGD - 25 Jan 2004 15:49 GMT

>>I wonder how many
>>people are suckered into these "free second phone" scams? :-( :-(
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>Having to "Sign Up" and have an "obligation" for 1 or 2 years means that it is
>not FREE.

Free does not mean no obligation in all cases. If you have one phone on
a two year contract, complete the contract without terminating early it
will cost $x. If you add on a second phone, the cost will be $x+$y.

If $y is zero, then it's free.

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DevilsPGD - 26 Jan 2004 10:05 GMT

>Free does not mean no obligation in all cases. If you have one phone on
>a two year contract, complete the contract without terminating early it
>will cost $x. If you add on a second phone, the cost will be $x+$y.

Or put another way, if I offer a free DVD drive to anyone that purchases
a desktop computer from my company, it is still a free DVD drive even if
I don't make it available to anyone that walks off the street and asks
for one without purchasing a system.

The cost for the DVD drive is $0 above the cost of the system. The
system costs the same whether you take the DVD drive or not.

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Jason White - 25 Jan 2004 20:22 GMT

Well, in today's world of "it doesn't exactly say that" it's not false
advertising.

> >I wonder how many
> >people are suckered into these "free second phone" scams? :-( :-(
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> John S.
> e-mail responses to - john at kiana dot net

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