Retail

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Bucking the Trend, This Company Upsized its Products

Since Mouse Print* began in 2006, we have featured product after product that has been downsized. Manufacturers remove an ounce here and there, and for paper products, they shave off fractions of an inch in width or length, or reduce the number of sheets provided.

Now comes Ken’s Steak House salad dressing. Looking at the picture on the left, the bottle on the left appears bigger than the one on the right, and one might conclude that they too have just downsized. Surprise, the opposite is true.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Ken’s actually added an ounce of dressing to their traditional eight ounce bottle when they made the switch from glass to plastic bottles. This was a deliberate move by this family-run company to buck the downsizing trend.

Too bad they missed the opportunity to tout the fact on the bottle that they are now giving the consumer more at the same old price. (They had limited space, and couldn’t figure out how to best communicate that fact according to a spokesperson for the company.) In the comments below, feel free to offer your suggestions.

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Infomercial Pricing: Just Pay $10 + P&S

DepilSilk We have all seen infomercials like this: pay just $10 and we will send you a bottle of this wonderful stuff.

But wait, there’s more. If you order in the next X minutes, we’ll double your order absolutely free. Pay just $10 (and then the announcer mumbles… “plus separate processing and handling”).

But wait, there’s more. If you order right now we’ll send you a luxurious satin bathrobe and hair wrap absolutely free (just pay processing and handling).

“You get it all for only $10.”

Oh, really?

Even looking at the company’s website where you place orders, it was unclear how much the total order would be, since all the shipping and handling charges were not spelled out.

Even the company’s telephone order taker had to take out his calculator to figure it out.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Advertised price: $10
P&H first bottle: $6.99
P&H free bottle: $6.99
P&H robe/turban: $9.99
TOTAL PRICE: $33.97

That’s a far cry from “just $10”.

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The World’s Shortest Return Policy

If you buy an app from the Android Market to put on your cellphone or tablet, you do have return rights in some cases. This is helpful if the app does not work, is not compatible with your device, or it is not what you expected.

There is, however, a very unusual catch.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Returning apps

Refund policy

You have 15 minutes from the time of download to return an application [color highlighting added] purchased through Android Market for a full refund. You may only return a given application once; if you subsequently purchase the same app again, you may not return it a second time.

How to return an app:

From Android Market on your phone, visit the My apps page, and select the application you’d like to return.

•Applications that are eligible for return are marked with a ‘Uninstall & Refund’ button. Please note that after the 15 minute return period has expired, all sales are final.

From a practical standpoint, it is almost impossible to fully test some apps in such a short period of time, so your return rights are for the most part illusory. Even if you could fully test an app in 15 minutes, it might take that long to figure out the procedure to request a refund because you probably never paid attention to that when you first purchased the app.