Mouse Print* – Page 249 – Exposing the strings and catches buried in the fine print.

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Save-a-Lot’s Deceptive Facebook Promotion

October 20, 2011October 17, 2011 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

Save-a-Lot is a limited assortment supermarket with great prices compared to conventional supermarkets. In an effort to reach more people, it has been running a promotion whereby if you “like” them on Facebook, you will be given $5.

A corresponding promotion has also been sent via email to customers promising a $5 off coupon. After contacting their customer service department to find out if the offer had any strings attached (and not having received a response), MrConsumer decided to “like” them on Facebook anyway.

And here is what they give you and disclose ONLY AFTER you “LIKE” them:

*MOUSE PRINT:

The coupon requires a $25 minimum purchase in order to get the $5 off.

So the offer really is (1) “Like” us on Facebook, and (2) Spend $25 at our store, then we will give you $5 off. That is a far different offer from being promised a straight $5 off in exchange for giving them a Facebook “like”.

It is not like Save-a-Lot doesn’t know how to disclose the fact that their offer is contingent on making a $25 purchase. Here is how they promote the same $5 coupon BEFORE you join their shopper club (demonstrating that when they want to disclose the $25 purchase requirement in advance, they know how to do it):

Mouse Print* asked the company why they omitted the minimum purchase requirement in their advertising, whether they would fix their ads now that the issue has been brought to their attention, and whether they would give those who signed up already a real $5 off coupon.

Their media person replied:

“While we understand there may have been some miscommunication regarding the terms of the offer, it was never our intention to mislead our customers. In fact, the offer is in line with our other offers, and we have received an overwhelming positive response to the $5 off $25. However, we will do our best to correct the issue.”

UPDATE:

Save-a-Lot just updated their Facebook promotion to tell it like it is UPFRONT — that the coupon the customer will receive requires a $25 purchase to redeem. Hats off to Save-a-Lot for correcting their ad, and doing the right thing.

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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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OnStar Amends Privacy Policy to Snoop (More) on You

October 3, 2011 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

We have all seen the OnStar commercials where a poor soul has had a traffic accident and a reassuring voice comes over the loudspeaker asking the driver if everything is okay or if they need help. That’s the kinder, gentler OnStar.

The more invasive OnStar is the one that is changing its privacy policy and terms and conditions statement, effective December 2011, to do a little extra snooping on its customers, and even on people who discontinue the OnStar service! [Current privacy policy, revised privacy policy.]

*MOUSE PRINT:

In addition to the other reasons they collect data such as diagnostic trouble codes, oil life remaining, tire pressure, fuel economy and odometer readings; information about crashes involving your vehicle, including the direction from which your vehicle was hit, which air bags have deployed, and safety belt usage about your vehicle, they have allowed themselves the ability to collect:

“the location and the approximate speed of your Vehicle based on the Global Positioning System (â€œGPSâ€) satellite network” “for any purpose, at any time, provided that following collection of such location and speed information identifiable to your Vehicle, it is shared only on an anonymized basis.”

Some critics suggest that GPS information is never anonymous, because GPS coordinates can pinpoint places such as your home address.

*MOUSE PRINT:

They also disclose for the first time that they keep tracking your car even if you cancel your OnStar service.

“Unless the Data Connection to your Vehicle is deactivated, data about your Vehicle will continue to be collected even if you do not have a Plan. It is important that you convey this to other drivers, occupants, or subsequent owners of your Vehicle. You may deactivate the Data Connection to your Vehicle at any time by contacting an OnStar Advisor.”

On September 27, after much public criticism and a call for an investigation by a New York congressman, OnStar decided to retract this part of their planned changes to their policy.

All the other changes will be implemented including that they now say they can share your data with their own affiliates for “marketing purposes,” and have removed the section about requiring your consent first:

“ONSTAR WILL NOT OTHERWISE DISCLOSE, SELL, OR RENT INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOU OR YOUR CAR TO THIRD PARTIES FOR THEIR INDEPENDENT USE WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT.”

OnStar certainly provides great lifesaving services, and while their privacy policy gives you the ability to opt-out, their data collection practices and plans to give or sell your data to law enforcement agencies and marketing companies may nonetheless be disturbing to some. One such person is Jonathan Zdziarski, who discovered these changes and writes persuasively about it.

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