Scammy mail: The K-Designers example

I've mentioned this bit of scammy advertising (here and here) that attempts to trick the recipient of a post card into calling a number so as to bypass any Do Not Call listings. Since then, I've gotten yet another card from these jokers.

This time I didn't just toss it. Instead, I've scanned it so it can be an example for me to point out a few things. Also, I'm transcribing it so that search engines can find this entry and match it to any inquiries based on the text or phone numbers.

( "Steal" these images. )

The full text of the back of this alleged post card is as follows:

I've been unable to reach you about a free gift. Please call 1-800-728-3902 within the next five days to find out how to receive your FREE George Foreman Grill.

Chris Johnson

Awards Coordinator

And just to make it a bit easier for searches, that phone number not to call is 18007283902 or 8007283902 or 1 800 728 3902 or 1-800-728-3902 or 800-728-3902.

For anyone who didn't bother with the links and wonders just who these jokers are and what this about, this is from K-Designers and they want people to call them so they can try to sell siding. Supposedly if you endure their sales pitch(es) you will actually eventually get a grill. Gee, why don't they say who they are or what their product is before people call?

Looking around the net some, it seems they went with this gimmick when Do Not Call went into effect and they couldn't interrupt your supper anymore. That should give some idea of how ethical these jokers are.

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UPDATE 03 November 2008:

In the space of a few minutes from 3:23 CST to 3:31 CST (by LiveJournal's clock) today there were several posts all from IP Address (140.239.81.98) each claiming to be a different satisfied customer, in at least three different states. All from the very same IP address. All in a few minutes. What does that mean? One person, using the same computer, pretending to be multiple people. This is called Astroturfing as it is an attempt to appear to be a grassroots thing but is, like astroturf, not the real thing. This is the second time someone at a single IP claimed to be multiple people, all of whom happened to be defending K-Designers. I hardly need to say what this says about the company, or at the very least about some of its employees.

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UPDATE 22 AUGUST 2009

They have a new card now. It's still a "free gift, call us" ploy, but at least now the card has K-Designers' return address as an identifying mark.

No XM for a couple weeks.

Jay got me an XM Skyfi2 receiver for Christmas and also the mobile mounting kit. As it was Winter in Minnesota and the garage is not heated, I put off installing the mobile kit until Spring. This Spring I eventually got it all set up and it worked fairly well. It did everything it was supposed to, with one annoying glitch.

Every once in a while, it would forget its settings. I'd start the car and the XM set would not turn on. When I turned it on, it was like it had just been authorized but not yet programmed. I tried to diagnose just when this amnesia would occur, just in case it was something within my control, but no pattern emerged.

I'd had enough of this. I read the warranty and had Jay call about the problem as the warranty required the purchaser be the one to make a claim. Three phone calls later he had a ticket number and a return authorized. We packed up the Skyfi2 today and it'll be mailed off Monday. In a couple weeks the replacement should arrive and hopefully I can program it once and be done.

I've gotten very used to having XM in the car, so I know I'll miss it. But I still have the AM-FM broadcast reciever, the mp3 player, and the tape deck, so I'm not exactly hurting for audio options.

Decked out. Or not.

I have a number of audio cassette tapes of varying quality. A few were commercial recordings and of those most have been replaced by CDs which have since been ripped to mp3. Most are things taped off of FM broadcasts, generally from the Dr. Demento Show, but also from other sources. I'm not sure how much, or perhaps how little, of all this I could find now in a more modern format.

A while back I decided to digitize the contents of the tapes and make them more accessible. To that end i purchased a used cassette deck. It worked, but not today. Today I switched it on and it lit up, but PLAY, FAST FORWARD, REWIND, and RECORD do nothing. Before this there was DC offset problem on one channel, so now it's at least two problems. Pulling the cover off, the power transformer was fairly hot. hotter than I think it ought to have been. This deck is a Technics M234X which was made in 1983 and I don't know its history. And how much effort do I want to put into this thing, without any manual or schematics? I might look at at a bit, but at this point I'm figuring it's broken enough that I can't hurt it. If I break it, well, it was already broken. Big deal.

However, what I want is a working tape deck. It doesn't have to be fancy. It has to play tapes, and it has to have outputs that the computer sound card can deal with and that's pretty much it. A counter would be nice. I don't need anything fancy, like a remote control or autoreverse. In looking around, it seems that audio cassette decks have not quite followed the price trend of VCRs.

Any recommendations for a good basic (and inexpensive) audio cassette deck? Or where to look for such? Preferrably a place I can just drive to, rather than a web site that wants me to register before letting me do anything. I've already avoided pricegrabber.com and I'd rather not do this on ebay if I can help it.