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Citi’s $400 in “Free” Giftcards Offer

October 10, 2011 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

Citibank has been advertising what appears to be a very generous offer to encourage new customers to open a Citi checking account.

$400! That’s a lot better than a crappy toaster typically offered in the 1960s. The question, of course, is what do you have to do to get the $400 in giftcards? A lot.

*MOUSE PRINT:

You have to open a Citigold account.

You have to enroll that account in Thank You Rewards.

You have to initiate direct deposit.

You have to make at least one electronic payment for two consecutive months.

You have to wait 90 days after your qualifying transactions to have the 40,000 Thank You points deposited.

You have to keep the account open at least until the points are deposited.

There are required direct deposit/e-payments each month to get points, with changes starting in December.

If you can get over the hurdle of doing all that and waiting five or six months before your points get deposited (and longer to get your actual giftcards), you’re all set.

Oh, wait. There’s more. The gold account has a steep monthly fee, and what may be one of the highest minimum balance requirements needed to waive the monthly fee.

*MOUSE PRINT:

A fee of $30 a month? (And if you have to keep the account open for five or six months, that comes out to as much as $180 — eating up almost half your $400 in free giftcards.) Or, if you want to get that fee waived, you only need to keep $50,000 or $100,000 in the bank.

Funny thing, taking everything into consideration, that free toaster from the 1960s is sounding better and better.

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Staples Retreats on Free Shipping Threshold Increase

August 29, 2011 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

Back in May we reported that Staples inconspicuously raised the minimum order size to over $75 in order to qualify for free shipping.

In the second week of August, barely three months later, the company did an about-face, just as inconspciously:

*MOUSE PRINT:

The new trigger point to get free shipping is for orders over $45, and that is even $5 lower than their original “over $50” order rule.

So why did Staples abandon the $75 order minimum to qualify for free shipping:

“After hearing customer feedback, we decided that the $45 level is best for our customers looking for fast and free delivery.” –Staples spokesperson.

MrConsumer suspects the $75 minimum to qualify for free shipping must have really negatively affected sales considering the other two office superstores kept their free shipping offer at orders of $50 or more.

Thanks to Clarence C’s eagle eyes for spotting this change.

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The Limits of T-Mobile’s “Unlimited” Plan + Surprise Charges

August 15, 2011August 15, 2011 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

The word “unlimited” is probably the most abused word in the English language when it comes to the marketing of telecommunications and Internet services. Some companies claim “unlimited” calling, when in fact there are limits. Others claim “unlimited” Internet useage, when in fact there are limits.

The latest example of an “unlimited” claim comes from T-Mobile. They are offering a family plan with “unlimited” data, talk, and text for only $49.99 per line, when you get two lines. Here is part of their TV ad:

Unfortunately for TV viewers, the fine print is virtually unreadable because of the busy background over which it appears.

*MOUSE PRINT:

“Includes 2GB of full speed data. After 2 gigabytes speeds reduced up to 2G speeds.”

In essence, the company is saying they won’t cut off your data connection or charge you more if you exceed two gigs of downloading during a month, but they will make the experience unpleasantly slow (“throttling”) beyond that. They have placed a limit on the amount of data delivered at 4G speed you can have. Period.

Too bad they are not a little more upfront about the limit because the $49.99 price is one of the best deals out there for 4G service (even with the limit)… except for one thing:

*MOUSE PRINT:

As noted by Michael L., our first commenter, if you don’t already have a T-Mobile phone, you have to buy one from them at the full, unsubsidized price. That could mean spending as much as $500 for the fanciest phones. A T-Mobile salesperson told Mouse Print* that they spread the cost of over 20 months after making a down payment. The fact that you have to buy a full price phone is not disclosed anywhere in the company’s television advertising, and you have to dig into their website to learn the catch.