Have I Got A Deal For You

“Dad, I won a trip to Disney!”, my son exclaimed as he waved a contest card in the air.  Skeptical of any unsolicited contest winnings that shows up in the mail, I asked if I could take a closer look.  He showed me the game piece with 3 cars in a row and the word “winner” above in bold red text.  Still untrusting, I asked to see the contest rules.

Looking at the prize list, it certainly appeared to be a Disney Vacation.  The only prize to beat that would have been his and her 2018 vehicles or $100,000 cash should we have had 3 stars instead.  While this second-place prize was still exciting, I continued scanning the accompanying flyer for the fine print.

Too Good to be True?

Aha! There it is – an asterisk (*)!  The asterisk will surely bring me to “the catch”!  But there was no asterisk in the fine print.  Just a hanging asterisk following the statement confirming that I am a winner of one of the prizes listed.  Not to qualify for a chance; it clearly stated, “…you are a winner of one of the prizes listed! *”.  Maybe we really won…

So, while there was a prize hotline listed, there was a stipulation that you had to go to the establishment to have the barcode scanned in order to validate your winnings.  Just as well, as I would be more comfortable going to the business location rather than dial in to an unknown number from an unsolicited promotional contest.  However, it was going to have to wait until the weekend, since I had a scheduled business trip to a client site.

The Catch!

As the week went by, I was slowly warming up to the idea that we may have actually won.  Not necessarily getting our hopes up too much, our family was having fun dreaming about visiting the home of The Mouse.  We would talk about it each evening I called home, more so about the trip to the car lot that put on the promotion to claim our prize.

As I walked through the door on Friday evening, my 3 boys greeted me with, “So, are we going to the car lot tomorrow?”  I chuckled and told them of course, however I was still a bit uncertain and wanted to review the contest rules one more time.  So, they followed me into the kitchen and we laid out the game piece and accompanying flyer on the table, studying it intently.  Then I saw it…

It was there all along!  How could I have missed it?  The flyer clearly stated, “…you are a winner of one of the prizes listed! *”.  One of the prizes.  The wording was so perfectly selected, and the prize listing was so perfectly designed with 6 winning combinations perfectly aligned with 6 great prizes, listed in value with grand prize at the top of the list.

It took everything I had to hold back an “I knew it!” that would only add insult to what was about to become a shattered dream.  I calmly explained to the boys about my finding, and that while I believe we still won a prize, I would not be surprised if we left with a grill.  I then went to add that it was probably a small portable grill, most likely no more than a $20 value.  Some might call me a skeptic, but I like to think of it as managing expectations.

But then my 13-year old really opened my eyes and pointed out an even bigger miss that I just didn’t see.  Second from the bottom was a gift card worth up to $500.  Up to!  While I was deep in the analysis of the perfect design of the flyer, almost appreciating the cleverness while detesting the deception, I completely missed the “up to” clause.  Then there it was in the fine print.  All the prizes listed, with the $5 gift card a sure win with 1:1 odds!  At that point, we knew we were not going to Disney on a $5 gift card.

A Learning Opportunity

“We’re going anyway.  I want to see how this plays out.”  Being big fans of business television shows like The Shark Tank and The Profit, my boys agreed and were equally excited to go down to the car lot.  So, we headed out the next morning, with our “winning” ticket in hand.

Since the flyer indicated the promotion as part of their grand opening event, I asked if this was the new place that just opened a month or so ago.  My son replied, “No.  It’s the one next to the place we picked up our utility vehicle.”  Two years ago!  That couldn’t be right.  How can you have a grand opening when you’ve already been in business for so long.

As we continued down the road, sure enough, there is was.  Plastic banner flags flapping in the wind and a lot packed with activity creating a carnival like atmosphere.  Here’s where Dad’s lessons kick in.  As we were turning into the lot, I stated my claim that I bet someone would try to buy my Jeep.  “Why would they do that dad?  Don’t they already have cars?”.  Before I could reply, his brother insightfully said, “So they can sell him another one, then make a profit on his Jeep too.”  A proud dad moment!

Step Right Up and Win a Prize!

A young man greeted us and told us where to park.  He noticed our game piece in hand and asked if we had the flyer that came along with it.  It was then I realized I wasn’t getting that back (it’s a good thing I took pictures of it before we left the house!)  We make small talk as we’re walking to the building.  He asks about my Jeep, when I bought it, then points out that, “The only problem with those Jeeps is that they are 2-door.”  Odd, I never saw that as a problem, but I knew where this was going.

He then opens the door for us, revealing even more activity almost one would expect on Black Friday.  We continue our small talk and I find out that he’s not from the area.  He and a team of folks were brought there from out of state for this event to try to help turn the place around.  My immediate feeling was that my boys and I somehow were transported back to 2009, onto the set of the film The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard where Don Ready (Jeremy Piven) and his band of mercenary sales hacks pull out all the stops to make the sale.

We finally find an open table to sit down at and he begins to take my information down on his lead sheet.  On one side of the sheet is my contact information for my prize and the other is additional information regarding my Jeep.  He goes into this story about a rental car he had on Spring Break and how bad it was to have a 2-door vehicle and then shamelessly blurts out, “So, what will it take to get you out of that 2-door Jeep and into a 4-door.”  Calmly, I made it perfectly clear that I’m not the one buying today.

With a look of disappointment, he just said, “Ok.  Let’s see which prize you won.”  We head over toward the prize table and take a quick pause as one of the mercenary sales guys threw his hands up in the air and exclaimed, “Ladies and gentlemen, I am so happy to be here today!” to help add to the circus.  When we get to the prize table, our sales person takes our game piece, scans the code, takes down a little more information, then passes the screen to me with what looks like a 5-wheeled slot machine.  After telling me to press the button to stop whenever I like, I do so and claim my prize: a $5 gift card and a great story to share on how NOT to do sales.

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