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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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Where’s the Juice? (Part 2)

Motts, the apple juice people, have been running a feel good commercial for their Motts for Tots product claiming their product has 40% less sugar than regular apple juice.

Did they come up with some revolutionary scientific discovery to remove sugar from apple juice?

*MOUSE PRINT:

Nope. It was a very natural solution. They diluted it with water. A lot of water. And if parents just grab the product without reading the label carefully, they may think they are doing a good thing for their kids when they are probably not.

*MOUSE PRINT:

The nutrition label suggests it might be diluted with about 46% water (in addition to the water necessary to dilute the apple juice concentrate). They did add a shot of vitamin C, however, to make the product more nutritious.

So since you are now buying a product that is almost half water, they’ve undoubtedly cut the price, right? Nope. A half gallon of their diluted product is the same price as 100% pure apple juice.

Motts is not alone is selling a watered-down product and touting the benefit of less sugar and calories. Tropicana has been promoting its “Trop50” product that way for the past several years.

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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.

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