Free Not Free

FROM: Zack
DATE: Thursday September 30, 2004 -- 9:17:03 am

You know the sayings. The devil is in the details. There is no such thing as a free lunch. There's a sucker born every minute (or second).

This is just another example of "fine print", the details that companies legally have to tell you but don't really want you to see. I know it's been around forever, but is there more of it out there today, or am I just more irritated by it than I used to be? You can answer only the first part of the question unless you know me.

Now I can understand that, as an example, shipping costs money and that companies would like to recoup that expense, so often you get this "free, you pay only $5.95 (or whatever) for shipping and handling." You know they're making a profit on the shipping. Usually in print ads it is disclosed in fine print literally, sometimes with an asterisk next to the big word FREE, and you have to go hunting all over the page to find out just how not free FREE really is. In TV ads sometimes the announcer says the disclaimer quickly and sotto voce (they do this hysterically on The Simpsons), or even worse, it's shown on the screen but not mentioned out loud; again, in both cases hoping no one will notice. Then you only find out when you call the 800 number, or worse, when the charge appears on your credit card bill. It may not be dis-honest, but it is less than fully honest in my opinion, and sometimes clearly deceptive ethically if not legally.

The one that annoys me is the free 30-day trial for whatever. You pay not only shipping and handling, but also for the product up front. If within the 30 days you are dissatisfied, return the unused portion (at your own expense again), and they will refund you the full amount of the product ONLY. It's a good deal if you like it, but sucks if you don't, because you have the hassle of sending it back, you get socked twice for shipping, and they get to hold your money from day one until they get around to crediting your card. Meanwhile you have had to pay the credit card charge at some point.

This one just happened to me. I like most Craftsman tools, but hate Sears. Sears sucks for so many reasons. I was going to order something from Sears.com while they had this up to $10 rebate on shipping offer going on. But the deal is they charge you for the shipping up front, then once you get the order you have to submit the request for the rebate with your order number etc., and then it takes them 6-8 WEEKS(!) to credit your account or send you a check. Is this unnecessarily complex or what? Instead of just crediting your order when you place it, you have to go through this whole rigamarole that takes up your time and holds your money, and costs Sears money in processing expense as well. What's their payoff? First, the MBAs probably know what percentage of people never file a rebate request for whatever reason (found money for Sears), and of course they get to hold onto the rebate amount for maybe 2 months or so before returning it to the rightful owner. At 100,000 orders at $10 apiece, that's a million bucks to play with.

I don't know if they still have it, but Consumer Reports used to have a "Selling It" back page that often ridiculed in hilarious fashion the scams that companies pull, or try to, in their advertising. It really does pay to read the find print and work out the details, sometimes as much to avoid the anger at being scammed as for the money saved. As always, caveat emptor.

FROM: Joseph
DATE: Friday October 1, 2004 -- 5:03:48 pm

I've gotten 20 free prints from five places. You know the problem with digital? It takes a long darned time to go through all the photos and pick the ones you're going to print. It's almost not worth it, even for free. I sent for 20 just the other day after spending two hours on the computer getting pictures, organizing them, enhancing them a bit, etc. Just give me a roll of film, develop them all, and I'll throw away the ones I don't want.

FROM: Joe
DATE: Friday October 29, 2004 -- 11:46:05 pm

Yes, Sears does suck I work there and they screw my check up everytime so i don't get paid correctly.

FROM: Dave Walls [E-Mail]
DATE: Saturday October 30, 2004 -- 8:07:49 am

Hope you aren't selling typewriters or dictionaries.

FROM: Paul
DATE: Saturday October 30, 2004 -- 8:50:29 am

Me too.

By the way, I should mention that I did finally order the 100 free prints - all at once - at the $3 cost. And I'm pretty happy with the results! The colors on the photos are really quite great, very vivid. Definitely worth three cents.

FROM: milly
DATE: Wednesday July 13, 2005 -- 5:04:57 pm

I used to work for sears and they suck. They over work you and don't even pay you that much. How the hell r u supposed to work in commission for $4.50 an hour and support your family/

FROM: snaily
DATE: Wednesday July 13, 2005 -- 6:42:06 pm

i've never worked at sears but the few times i go in there i notice their merchandise really sucks. no wonder in the old days they used sears catalogs as toilet paper...

FROM: ss
DATE: Sunday May 28, 2006 -- 11:03:18 am

Many people have complained about sear's change in their return policy last year and failing to change the policy stated on the back of their receipts. So if you try to return something after 90 days, even though your receipt indicates "satisfaction guaranteed or your money back" with no time limit stated, you will be denied.

This is sad and shows very poor customer service. sears should honor the policy stated on the back of their receipts. Why should the customer be penalized for sears failing to change their documentation in a timely fashion? As a result I will never shop at sears again, will encourage everyone I know to shop elsewhere and will take opportunities like this one to publicize this issue.

Hey sears, wake up!