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Over two years ago, on August 5, 2006 I posted a couple scans of an advertising come on as well as a transcript of the text. That post shows up on web searches and has received a few comments from other folks curious about who was behind the card. One or two claim to have been salesm...er, Marketing Directors, for the company. Of course there have been the occasional defenders of the company as well. No big deal.
But in last few weeks this post has gotten more replies than usual. One joker made the mistake of posting how he worked for the company in one post, and then a bit later posting how he was a customer of the wonderful place - from the same IP. Since I pointed that out the IP addresses are no longer even similar. But the recent spate of anonymous defenders urging me to "do something beneficial" and seems more than mere coincidence. ("Once is a fluke, twice is coincidence, three times is a trend.") It smells of astroturfing to me. Considering the nature of the "advertising" that prompted the original post, I am not at all surprised. Well, I sort of am. All this attention given to a 2+ year old post? Is my little post that big a deal for them? Wow. How delicate and desperate is their situation if that old post is a somehow a threat?
(Un)holy spam!
28 May 2008 20:50
One of the things lurking in the mail was a letter addressed only to "Resident - To A Friend." This, of course, screams scummy advertising almost as loudly as the excessively bolded and multiple RED underlined text try to proclaim churchly miracles and the like.
This is the Prayer Rug Scam of the alleged "Saint Matthew's Churches" which exist as little more than a PO Box in Tulsa. The nonsense was sent from someplace in Granite Falls, MN.
Everything inside follows the theme: Text that screams like a bad televangelist (okkay, one that's even worse than the usual run of the lot), a paper "Prayer Rug" that's supposed to have some miraculous ability to change image (I haven't bothered with seeing if it's any particular optical illusion or just a matter of faith and placebo effect) that while mere paper is so important it must be returned to be passed on - never mind postal regulations (They send it to you, unsolicited, it's yours to do with as you see fit.) And a "prophecy" to be opened after other gyrations (ones that mark you as a sucker and get them your name and address) have been done. This is mainly filling out a sort of religious/prayer form letter. Which just happens to have a spot for a contribution. Unfortunately as there is nothing being explicitly sold, it doesn't qualify for the Form 1500 treatment it so richly deserves.
The obvious thing is to do is just recycle it. There's no personal information at all, so there's no point in running it through the shredder. The evil thing to do would be fill in someone else's information. I don't see much point in that sort of trollish crap, and even if I did there's nobody who is both on my fecal roster and whose address I happen to have about. I'm getting the feeling that I'm overlooking something. The "can't leave nothing alone" gene is twitching, as this nonsense just begs for some sort of shenanigan. Alas, nothing comes to mind.
Spamusement
24 January 2007 15:33Every once in a while I get an anonymous comment that is just link spam. Nobody but me sees these as I have things such that anyone not my "friends list" can leave a comment, but those must be reviewed by me before being made public. Almost all are made public. Spammers and trolls are the exceptions, of course.
Today another spammer tried, pushing a web site of no interest and less merit. But that's not the funny part. The funny part is this bozo (which is likely a script, but still bozotic) picked this post about scammy advertising to try to do his scammy advertising. Well, that's appropriate. And also deleted.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yesterday's mail included Yet Another Credit Card Come On. This one reached a new depth of sleazy. Not only did it have the usual introductory rate (which lately seems to be only for balance transfers) but it boldly claimed a 7.99% fixed rate after that. Almost. There was a tiny, faint gray superscript 'a' after that. Uh huh.
Checking the notes, and there are a few, note 'a' says that the rate is fixed - every month. It can change once a month. Gee, that's a funny way to say variable. It's one of those things that while technically correct and seems to meet the legal requirements, sure doesn't look too ethical to me. And another one meets the shredder.
Some folks, too full of balloon juice for anyone's good, have been scaremongering about the possibility of a draft, suggesting it was some plan of President Bush and pointing to a long-stalled House Bill (HR 263) started as a political stunt by Charles Rangel (D).
Today it was brought out of committee and voted on. It was defeated. Charles Rangel, the joker who instigated the stupid thing, voted against it thus confirming it was merely a political stunt and not something he actually believed in.
Was this a devastating blow to President Bush or the Republicans? Not at all. It was voted down 402 to 2. 402 to 2 is hardly a split down party lines. It was the House Republicans way of putting a solid end to the silly rumors. The defeat of this bill was welcomed by the President who said in a statement: "If this bill were presented to me, I would veto it."
Express
Doesn't that imply speed? Like Pony Express, the fast for its day delivery service, or Express Lane which is supposed to be faster than those other lanes?
Well, the United States Postal Service has revised the definition. Express Mail used to mean that if you sent something today, it'd get where you wanted it tomorrow. Not anymore. I had to Express something today[1] (because Airborne Express - there's that word again - wasn't swift enough to follow simple directions about where to pick up that something... but that's another rant).
Other package delivery services use Express in their name to indicate speed. It's not Federal Someday Get There, it's Federal Express. Why? It's a next-day service! Sure, you can now get a cheaper, slower FedEx service, but they still offer the point of their name: Getting stuff places fast. Airborne Express, had they been smart enough to understand a simple location description, would have gotten the parcel where it needed to be next-day. But since they weren't competent enough to handle a simple pick-up, I got to have this exchange at the Post Office:
Clerk: When do you want this to get there?
Vakko: Tomorrow.
Clerk: I can get it there Saturday.
Vakko: Saturday isn't tomorrow. Isn't the whole point of Express mail to get something there tomorrow?
Clerk: No, it's to have it tracked. (Or was it confirmed delivery)
Vakko: Nice of USPS to change the definition after telling everyone it was for speed.
Clerk: Do you still want to send it Express?
Vakko: *grumble* Yes... *what choice is there?*
What's annoying is the quiet redefinition of "Express." If it's just delivery confirmation, then call it that. If it's second-rate package tracking, than call it that. First rate tracking is what Registered Mail gets. But Registered ain't Express. Since they are not offering a truly Express (fast!) service, they have no business using the name and implying that that is what they have. Bait-and-switch seems a good description of what USPS is doing with its alleged Express Mail service. It's one thing if USPS simply can't do what other places do. I can accept that. But being lied to is another matter, and using the term Express Mail for two-day delivery is a lie.
So now, because of a bungle by Airborne Express and the false advertising of USPS, I've wound up having to pay $17.85 for inferior service.
[1] I had not known that this item needed to be shipped until last night. Had I known about it earlier, I would have sent it earlier.
They call this one an "Up front reward" and claim not to have some complex reward program and no teaser rates. The bait is a "free" Dell Dimension 2400 desktop computer. But there are a few catches. "Free" is not free, of course.
To get the computer one must transfer balances to get at least $5,000 on their card - and then keep a balance of at least $3,500 for at least 18 months... at 9.99%. That's also a variable rate. But what if you don't have that much to transfer? Why, there's always a cash advance (up to $2,500) option to boost debt and cash advances get that higher rate of not less than 19.99%. They point that this would be a saving if I transferred my higher rate balances. I pride myself in not having higher rate balances. My reward is very simple: not making interest payments.
It gets even better. The system they picture has a flat-panel display, which is an option. The DVD drive is also an option. Naturally both options cost more money.
Of course this offer is only to "credit-savvy individuals" who have earned it. Well, this credit-savvy individual knows better than to fall for this. It costs more in interest than simply saving up and buying the machine. And for that, I could certainly do better than a mere Dell if I wanted to get another computer.
Topping it off is the result of Googling:
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2004/03/29/story2.html?page=1
Verdict: Universal Savings Bank, meet Mr. Shredder.
