If there's one thing Yanks are good at its ....
May 8th 2007, 3:46 pm
#1
Thinking about it
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: Mid-West
Posts: 9,435
If there's one thing Yanks are good at its ....
...offering value to consumers.
Yeah, so there'll always be people around to rip you off but there are also some blinding deals.
Take the airmiles credit card - 1 mile per dollar spent over here with some special offers offering even more miles.
Now look at the UK version...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6619023.stm
Amazing value being offered to UK consumers...
Yeah, so there'll always be people around to rip you off but there are also some blinding deals.
Take the airmiles credit card - 1 mile per dollar spent over here with some special offers offering even more miles.
Now look at the UK version...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6619023.stm
Amazing value being offered to UK consumers...
LLOYDS TSB SCHEME
Airmiles Duo: Offers one Amex card and one Mastercard
Amex card: One Airmile for every £10 spent
Mastercard: One Airmile for every £20 spent until 30 November, one Airmile for every £50 spent thereafter
NATWEST CHANGES
Airmiles scheme: One mile for £20 spent - ends from date of June statement
Airmiles Mastercard: Stops working altogether from 31 July
YourPoints scheme: Starts from 1 June on offer to existing Airmiles scheme members - costs £3 a month unless you spend at least £1,000 a month
Airmiles Duo: Offers one Amex card and one Mastercard
Amex card: One Airmile for every £10 spent
Mastercard: One Airmile for every £20 spent until 30 November, one Airmile for every £50 spent thereafter
NATWEST CHANGES
Airmiles scheme: One mile for £20 spent - ends from date of June statement
Airmiles Mastercard: Stops working altogether from 31 July
YourPoints scheme: Starts from 1 June on offer to existing Airmiles scheme members - costs £3 a month unless you spend at least £1,000 a month
May 8th 2007, 5:59 pm
#2
Pass me the Marmite..
Joined: Feb 2004
Location: Atlanta, GA.
Posts: 864
Re: If there's one thing Yanks are good at its ....
Yep, agree there. I wish there customer service would back it up... Here's a funny story...
In Sept 2006 I brought a FREE Sirius radio. It was free after the first 6 months assuming you signed up and paid for one year of programming.
The model that was free, that they sent was an old ugly model so I brought a newer slimmer type direct from Costco that netted out to be free as well.
I returned the first one to Sirius immediately.
Now, yesterday, exactly 6 months later, I get a letter from Sirius saying I owe them $149.99 which they've taken from my credit card because I didn't activate the first unit under the terms of their free offer !!
I call the number on the letter, only to be told after about 20 minutes of verification crap that I had to call the e-commerce number and no, they couldn't transfer me.
I called the new number and after 15 minutes they told me I had to call the first number again and no, they couldn't transfer me.
I got through to someone else at the first number and they asked me if I had a tracking number from 6 months earlier. Nope, of course I didn't. Well, without a tracking number how are "we supposed to know you sent it back".. Even me purchasing and acitivating the system from Costco wasn't enough proof (I have 2 sirius radios and definately do NOT need 3 !!!).
After a total of about an hour they said they would go look for the returned unit. I am to track down whomever I shipped it back with (bugger if I remember)..
Yep, I love good deals... Especially "free".. Good timing on the thread since I got the letter yesterday
God Bless...
In Sept 2006 I brought a FREE Sirius radio. It was free after the first 6 months assuming you signed up and paid for one year of programming.
The model that was free, that they sent was an old ugly model so I brought a newer slimmer type direct from Costco that netted out to be free as well.
I returned the first one to Sirius immediately.
Now, yesterday, exactly 6 months later, I get a letter from Sirius saying I owe them $149.99 which they've taken from my credit card because I didn't activate the first unit under the terms of their free offer !!
I call the number on the letter, only to be told after about 20 minutes of verification crap that I had to call the e-commerce number and no, they couldn't transfer me.
I called the new number and after 15 minutes they told me I had to call the first number again and no, they couldn't transfer me.
I got through to someone else at the first number and they asked me if I had a tracking number from 6 months earlier. Nope, of course I didn't. Well, without a tracking number how are "we supposed to know you sent it back".. Even me purchasing and acitivating the system from Costco wasn't enough proof (I have 2 sirius radios and definately do NOT need 3 !!!).
After a total of about an hour they said they would go look for the returned unit. I am to track down whomever I shipped it back with (bugger if I remember)..
Yep, I love good deals... Especially "free".. Good timing on the thread since I got the letter yesterday
God Bless...
May 8th 2007, 6:35 pm
#3
Septicity
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 23,762
Re: If there's one thing Yanks are good at its ....
Yep. America has the best financial products in the world....but also some of the worse. Caveat emptor is a prerequisite for surviving over here.
May 8th 2007, 7:51 pm
#4
Thinking about it
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: Mid-West
Posts: 9,435
Re: If there's one thing Yanks are good at its ....
Yep, agree there. I wish there customer service would back it up... Here's a funny story...
In Sept 2006 I brought a FREE Sirius radio. It was free after the first 6 months assuming you signed up and paid for one year of programming.
The model that was free, that they sent was an old ugly model so I brought a newer slimmer type direct from Costco that netted out to be free as well.
I returned the first one to Sirius immediately.
Now, yesterday, exactly 6 months later, I get a letter from Sirius saying I owe them $149.99 which they've taken from my credit card because I didn't activate the first unit under the terms of their free offer !!
I call the number on the letter, only to be told after about 20 minutes of verification crap that I had to call the e-commerce number and no, they couldn't transfer me.
I called the new number and after 15 minutes they told me I had to call the first number again and no, they couldn't transfer me.
I got through to someone else at the first number and they asked me if I had a tracking number from 6 months earlier. Nope, of course I didn't. Well, without a tracking number how are "we supposed to know you sent it back".. Even me purchasing and acitivating the system from Costco wasn't enough proof (I have 2 sirius radios and definately do NOT need 3 !!!).
After a total of about an hour they said they would go look for the returned unit. I am to track down whomever I shipped it back with (bugger if I remember)..
Yep, I love good deals... Especially "free".. Good timing on the thread since I got the letter yesterday
God Bless...
In Sept 2006 I brought a FREE Sirius radio. It was free after the first 6 months assuming you signed up and paid for one year of programming.
The model that was free, that they sent was an old ugly model so I brought a newer slimmer type direct from Costco that netted out to be free as well.
I returned the first one to Sirius immediately.
Now, yesterday, exactly 6 months later, I get a letter from Sirius saying I owe them $149.99 which they've taken from my credit card because I didn't activate the first unit under the terms of their free offer !!
I call the number on the letter, only to be told after about 20 minutes of verification crap that I had to call the e-commerce number and no, they couldn't transfer me.
I called the new number and after 15 minutes they told me I had to call the first number again and no, they couldn't transfer me.
I got through to someone else at the first number and they asked me if I had a tracking number from 6 months earlier. Nope, of course I didn't. Well, without a tracking number how are "we supposed to know you sent it back".. Even me purchasing and acitivating the system from Costco wasn't enough proof (I have 2 sirius radios and definately do NOT need 3 !!!).
After a total of about an hour they said they would go look for the returned unit. I am to track down whomever I shipped it back with (bugger if I remember)..
Yep, I love good deals... Especially "free".. Good timing on the thread since I got the letter yesterday
God Bless...
I'd contact my cc company if I were you.
May 8th 2007, 8:07 pm
#5
Boomshacalaca!!
Joined: Dec 2005
Location: South of the North Pole.......Colorado
Posts: 5,066
Re: If there's one thing Yanks are good at its ....
...offering value to consumers.
Yeah, so there'll always be people around to rip you off but there are also some blinding deals.
Take the airmiles credit card - 1 mile per dollar spent over here with some special offers offering even more miles.
Now look at the UK version...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6619023.stm
Amazing value being offered to UK consumers...
Yeah, so there'll always be people around to rip you off but there are also some blinding deals.
Take the airmiles credit card - 1 mile per dollar spent over here with some special offers offering even more miles.
Now look at the UK version...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6619023.stm
Amazing value being offered to UK consumers...
May 8th 2007, 8:38 pm
#7
CA to TX to Jamaica
Joined: Jun 2003
Location: Location, Location.
Posts: 4,887
Re: If there's one thing Yanks are good at its ....
The thing to look out for are the opportunities where you double or even triple your frequent flyer air miles.... this happened years ago with Pan Am when they did their miles program; to drum up biz, they ran a month special where they would double your account's airmiles etc whenever you flew roundtrip with them during that month.... the brainiacks at Pan Am forgot that, as it turned out, you could also fly from San Fran to Oakland on Pan Am for next to nothing rntp back then.... so heaps of people would fly across the bay, and in doing so would double their mileage each time they hoped across the bay...Oops; it cost Pan Am a fortune.
May 8th 2007, 9:15 pm
#8
Unmitigated Gall
Joined: Dec 2006
Location: it's still too dark to tell
Posts: 16,162
Re: If there's one thing Yanks are good at its ....
I might be somwhat of a cynic but in my experience things that are truly free are only free because no one would pay for them. Companies are in business to make money and you can't make money giving things away for free.
But like I said, I always avoid the shortest line at the grocery store because there must be something wrong there.
But like I said, I always avoid the shortest line at the grocery store because there must be something wrong there.
May 8th 2007, 9:37 pm
#9
BE Site Lead
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: MA, USA
Posts: 92,170
Re: If there's one thing Yanks are good at its ....
I might be somwhat of a cynic but in my experience things that are truly free are only free because no one would pay for them. Companies are in business to make money and you can't make money giving things away for free.
But like I said, I always avoid the shortest line at the grocery store because there must be something wrong there.
But like I said, I always avoid the shortest line at the grocery store because there must be something wrong there.
May 8th 2007, 9:53 pm
#10
Pass me the Marmite..
Joined: Feb 2004
Location: Atlanta, GA.
Posts: 864
Re: If there's one thing Yanks are good at its ....
My saying is "nothing is free"... The thing with the Sirius was I was going to get one and sign up anyway so to me, it really was free
Buggers though. The fact the 3 different call centers of the same company could not transfer me leads me to believe they will never find my "returned" item. I will find proof of shipping eventually and nail the little tinkers !!
Buggers though. The fact the 3 different call centers of the same company could not transfer me leads me to believe they will never find my "returned" item. I will find proof of shipping eventually and nail the little tinkers !!
May 9th 2007, 12:38 am
#11
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2007
Location: NW Chicago suburbs
Posts: 11,253
Re: If there's one thing Yanks are good at its ....
My saying is "nothing is free"... The thing with the Sirius was I was going to get one and sign up anyway so to me, it really was free
Buggers though. The fact the 3 different call centers of the same company could not transfer me leads me to believe they will never find my "returned" item. I will find proof of shipping eventually and nail the little tinkers !!
Buggers though. The fact the 3 different call centers of the same company could not transfer me leads me to believe they will never find my "returned" item. I will find proof of shipping eventually and nail the little tinkers !!
May 9th 2007, 12:48 am
#12
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Dec 2006
Location: Nova Scotia Canada
Posts: 27,078
Re: If there's one thing Yanks are good at its ....
Yes..I was very surprised when we opened our account in Florida. Free checking, no charge for bank transfers from the account, no ATM fees and they pay me for using my debit card. Beats the crap out of Canadian banks.
