When we traveled to NJ for Eric's wedding in June, we stayed overnight in an hotel. And when I made the reservation, we got some information on a rewards program called Traveler's Advantage, which put us on the mailing list for a few other similar rewards programs.
I am always very cautious about any membership clubs where money changes hands, especially where a free trial is offered to lure me in. I did my homework and discovered that this program (and many others) is run by Trilegiant Corporation (TLC), a company which doesn't seem to have done anything technically illegal, though there have been many complaints filed against it with the Better Business Bureau, mainly to do with deceptive advertising and unscrupulous collections. It seems to be mainly an issue with fine print, where people can very easily get ripped off. I don't blame them for being confused, but neither can I blame TLC for taking advantage of people's forgetfulness and carelessness. After all, that's how manufacturers make money on rebate products: they count on a certain percentage of fallout in the follow-through.
So I agreed to the trial period, and ended up with a complicated set of instructions for gasoline rebates, which I did follow through on, and I did remember to cancel the membership before the free trial period ended. This sort of thing, by the by, is like playing with matches, along the lines of listening to time share pitches with the intention of not buying just to get your free gift: you must have iron determination and nerves of steel or you will get caught. Do not enter into it lightly.
Later, I got another offer for anther one of their fronts, called Great Fun. The premise of this little program is that you sign up (for free, of course), and get a membership card which entitles you to all kinds of discounts on dining and entertainment. Trouble is, once the annual fees start kicking in after your trial period runs out, you'd have to be spending a whole lot of money (and at their participating retailers, too) to justify the membership fee. Five percent off an admission to a particular movie theater bears a striking similarity to using a manufacturer's coupon on a name-brand item: it's probably tricking you into spending more money on something you didn't really need anyway.
After I got all the membership information, I decided that there was no way we could ever come out ahead with this program, and we didn't need any temptations to spend more money on dining and entertainment. I called the company and asked to cancel our membership.
But wait! There's more! After I listened to spiel after spiel about how much money this program could save me, and I insisted again that it wasn't for me, I was offered an extension of the free trial so I could take advantage of one more special offer: a set of rebates totaling up to $40, just for giving Great Fun one more try!
So I waited again, and found that these rebates were even more complicated than the gas forms: there were four $10 rebate forms, to be sent in with any eligible receipt, each one good for only one quarter of the year. So right there, I would have to be a member for the whole year to cash in on this, and not cancel my free membership as soon as I got my payout. Not only that, but the rebate form for this quarter was the entertainment one: I had to send in a receipt over $10 for a movie ticket, video rental, concert, or other cultural event, to receive my $10 rebate.
I thought about that one. I looked up our records in Microsoft Money to verify my suspicion: We have not spent any money in the leisure category for the last three months. No movies, no rentals, no admissions, no tickets. I guess we don't have any fun.
So I called the company back again to cancel in earnest, and explained that it just wasn't the right program for us, because we spend so little on entertainment that the cost of membership wouldn't be justified. When the representative started in with the 'But have you considered all the savings and advantages...?' plea, I replied, 'Let's take the rebate that's valid for this quarter. I don't have any receipts that would qualify. We have not made one single entertainment purchase in three months.'
That stopped him cold, and he quickly canceled my membership for me. He simply had nothing in his notes to counter that scenario.
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Those things always scare the living daylights out of me, and I stay far, far away. DOB, however, loves the challenge of reading the fine print and trying to outsmart them (when there is, in fact, a possibility).
I had a similar spiel-stopping answer for the vacuum cleaner salesmen: I don't vacuum. (Well, ok, once in a GREAT while I do, but we only have carpet in the bedroom and we don't take food in there, so it's seldom needed and I am not one to do unnecessary housework.)
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