Reading the Fine Print—My James Coney Island Experience
Posted on | June 9, 2010 | 6 Comments
Oftentimes coupons for free products do not actually result in a free product (of course that does not mean you can’t score an abundance of free products), a sad fact I experienced just recently. Last Friday I was riding high. Even though I normally do not work on Fridays (I work 4 ten-hour days, Monday through Thursday), I had to come into the office to conduct a special complaint investigation. I woke up that morning 15 minutes before the alarm even went off, and felt awake and alive. The investigation went well enough, and in the midst of trying to sniff out a plume of hydrogen sulfide, I even had some wonderful moments in nature as we were out in the middle of nowhere. I came back to the office, dropped off my gear, and got in my car to head home at 11:00 a.m. And then I remembered that I had a Free Coney Island Hot Dog coupon just waiting for me in my coupon envelope. Why not?
I pulled up to the intercom system and ordered one cheese hot dog. “Is that all?” A lady asked. I said yes, and proceeded to the pay window, or in my case, the pay-with-coupon window. I’ve seen that look before, the baffled expression that the register clerk had when instead of handing her the obligatory credit card, $5.00 bill, or even nickels to pay my $1.83 balance, I handed her a brightly-colored coupon for payment. I just smiled, smug in my all-knowing. And then the window opened again, and she said “Uh, you have to buy a medium or large fountain drink to use this coupon.” My moment was shattered! I did not want the syrupy mountain drink; I just wanted the hot dog. Still, I was all ready there, and I had obviously been in the wrong by not reading the fine print carefully. I ordered a medium sprite. The bill came to $1.94, and we both had a giggle. The coupon was literally costing me extra money to use for a product that I did not want anyway. Because I used the coupon, I had to pay an extra $0.11 than if I had not used a coupon at all, and had just bought the cheese dog. Hmph!
It is not often that I get hung up on fine print; after all, I am a regulator, and so I am pretty good about checking into all of the minor details. But every now and then I get called out by someone, and it is always a feeling of disappoint laced with the regret of wasted time. In fact, the only reason why I just smiled and passed over my credit card to pay the $1.94 bill was because it was ridiculous that the coupon cost me more to use than if I had not used it, and I knew I could write an interesting article about it.
Sometimes the fine print is great—like in contests or sweepstakes when “No purchase is necessary”, or stores who give away products with “No purchase necessary”. But most times, the fine print is not in the consumer’s favor, although this does not mean you will not get a great deal. Here are some common pitfalls in the fine print that should not stop you from scoring a deal, but may change the way that you do it (and it’s always best to look for and find these out before the tally comes up at the cash register):
- Purchase between Certain Dates
- Purchase a Certain Brand, and Type of Product Within that Brand
- Minimum Purchase Amount Necessary
- Free Item with Purchase of Another Item
- Certain ounce sizes or weight sizes only
- On Buy One Get One Free Products, the Free Product is of Equal or Lesser Value
- Coupon is Good for Up to a Certain Amount
- Valid Only at Participating Locations
Most of the time if you just glance at the fine print, you will be fine. But some companies have started to really take advantage of this fine print they are allotted. MousePrint.org writes about a recent K-Mart special where the ad says “Buy any 3 items and get a $10 debit Card”, but the fine print says that your product total must equal $25 (this is an extreme case. In my opinion, this is false advertising). Or check out his article on Comcast’s 2-Yr Guaranteed Rate Increase.
Have you ever been snubbed by the fine print?
- New Coupon Fine Print
- Coupon Fraud Part II
- The Anatomy of a Coupon
- Crazy Fine Print as a Result of “Sales” Every Other Day
- 6 Sneaky Ways Grocery Stores and Retailers Get You to Spend More Money
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6 Responses to “Reading the Fine Print—My James Coney Island Experience”
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June 9th, 2010 @ 10:07 pm
Have you ever noticed when watching a commercial for something and they flash the fine print on the screen and it is so small and tiny that you can only see a blur and while you are trying to focus your eyes on it to read it, they whisk it away, never to be seen again… I hate that!
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June 10th, 2010 @ 8:33 am
Hello finallygettingtoeven! Yeah–that is annoying! One thing I clearly remember is when pharmaceutical companies had to start including that fine print in their actual commercials–I think it was in the 90s, but it was like “take this and you can experience headaches, nausea, blah, blah, blah”. I just stared at the screen blankly–it was so shocking!
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June 10th, 2010 @ 3:57 pm
It didn’t effect me, but I gagged when I read the fine print in a car commercial when I had just gotten out of college. The commercial was talking about a $199 monthly payment for some sort of compact car but the fine print said that it would be for 84 months and a $7500 payment was due at the end. That’s a $24,000 compact car! Eek!
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June 12th, 2010 @ 10:03 am
Hey,
Can you put an “email this article to a friend” link on your site? I keep trying to figure out how to do it. Maybe I’m just computer-inept!! Are you still getting the Sunday paper just for the coupons??
Amanda
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August 2nd, 2010 @ 5:00 pm
When some things about my new roof seemed fishy, I checked the fine print about the warranty the salesman promised versus what the manufacturer gave. Having a 35 year warranty really be 20 gave me a lot of leverage for a 40% discount, and on a metal roof that was a lot of money.
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August 2nd, 2010 @ 5:24 pm
Hello almostanative!
Thank you for sharing. 40% discount on a roof–hurrah!
Amanda L. Grossman recently posted..Negative Externalities of Frugality
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