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Follow-up: Deal or No Deal’s Surprise Texting Charges

deal or no deal Five years ago, Mouse Print* railed against a promotion run on NBC’s Deal or No Deal game show (see original story) whereby viewers could win $10,000 or $20,000 if they correctly guessed which of six briefcases the money was hidden in.

The problem was this: in order to play, you had to text in your answer with your cellphone, and only in fine print was it disclosed that each guess would cost you 99 cents as a premium text message charge. NBC raked in some $45 million from this promotion.

Under the laws of most states, any private venture where you have to pay a price for the chance of a prize is considered an illegal lottery. There was also an inconspicuously disclosed means to play for free. However, since that method required Internet access, and at that time about a third of homes did not have Internat at home, such a free means of entry might not have been sufficient to take the promotion out the realm of being a lottery.

Now, five years later, after NBC and the show’s producers were sued (as well as Fox for its lottery-like promotion on American Idol), the companies have settled the cases.

Everyone who paid 99 cents per call is now entitled to a refund.

*MOUSE PRINT:

For the Deal or No Deal Lucky Case Game, which aired between December 2005 and February 2008, you can file your claim here.

For American Idol’s Challenge Game, which aired Feb. – May 2007, you can file your claim here.

The filing deadline is August 10, 2012.

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Scott’s Tube-Free Toilet Paper Trick

In the never ending ways that toilet paper manufacturers have found to downsize their products, Kimberly Clark, the maker of Scott Tissue, came up with a new one.

Lauren B., a regular Mouse Print* reader, says she tried Scott’s new tube-free Naturals toilet paper and her whole family swears there is less on each roll.

A quick look at the packages of Naturals with tubes and Naturals without tubes reveals they both have 440 sheets per roll, the sheets are 4.2-inches by 4.0-inches on both, and both packages contain a total of 205.2 square feet of paper. It turns out that Lauren mistakenly thought that all Scott toilet paper had 1000 sheets, irrespective of the variety being sold. But her inquiry raised the question of whether the only difference in the case of Scott Naturals was that one had a tube and one did not.

As it turns out, a little secret was hiding in the fine print.

*MOUSE PRINT:

The tube-free version is only one-ply, and tube version is two. That difference would also suggest that you might have to use more sheets of the single-ply version than the two-ply one.

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Unexpected Rebate Twists

More and more manufacturers and retailers are finding ways to save money on rebates.

Example 1:

Menards, a home improvement chain, is offering an 11%* rebate on everything:

That asterisk after the 11% goes to their fine print disclosure:

*MOUSE PRINT:

“Rebate is in the form of merchandise credit check.”

As Nadine B. told Mouse Print* when she saw their ad, “the fine print says that it’s not cash, as most of us expect with a ‘mail-in rebate.’ It is for merchandise credit, meaning it can only be used for future purchases at Menards.”

While this type of rebate is common at office supply stores like Staples that send out reward checks good only toward future purchases at the store, it is rare to see it in this type of store.


Example 2:

To encourge people to try Grain Berry products, the company is making a buy one, get one free offer via rebate, with a twist.

*MOUSE PRINT:

You’ve got to include the envelope and postage to get your free coupon.

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