Monday, January 8/07

During the last part of December and in early January, appeals from non-profits nearly dried up. In their place, credit card companies turned up the heat.

MILES OF SIMILARITY
One day's mail was particularly interesting – I received two unaddressed #10 packages.

The teaser on the first envelope I picked up read, "Earn 100 Bonus AIR MILES reward miles. See inside for details." The other read, "Receive 7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles."

What's so interesting is that they were both from American Express.

Inside, each package featured an application form, a BRE and a two-page letter with a blank credit card affixed. The Air Miles one also had a buck slip promoting the offer of free Air Miles.

Another interesting thing is that they sent out two separate packages, I guess to test which appeal works best. But because (i) they have different teasers, (ii) one envelope is in blue plus black while the other has only black print and (iii) one has a buck slip while the other doesn't, they're not going to get a totally valid comparison.

If I were them, I would have made each package identical, with the offer being the only variable. That way they'd know precisely how much more appealing one offer was over the other.

Also interesting – they're offering bonus miles instead of pushing a low interest rate for switching balances. You'd think that would be a natural when people's holiday spending bills are coming in. A supposedly-low interest rate is mentioned in the letter, but the real bait is the miles.

Strange.

I HATE FALSE FINANCIAL TEASERS
MBNA is at it again, sending me packages with "ACCOUNT INFORMATION ENCLOSED" on the envelope.

Naturally I open it up in case it's important info about my card. And naturally I'm ticked when I discover that all they're doing is pushing their line-of-credit cheques.

And they wonder why I'm using their card less and less?

TRADEMARK CHICANERY
When I first took out a trademark, I received some very official looking documents from some very official sounding departments. One was so convincing that I contacted my lawyer, who informed me that it was just a scam.

I received another one last week, this one from the United States Trademark Center, making it look like I needed to send them $385 if I wanted to protect my trademark. They've covered their butts by stating that, "This is not a government document" and that, "This is not an invoice."

HOWEVER, in the same breath, they say,"Include payment with form." If that doesn't sound like something you say on an invoice, I don't know what does.

First tip for 2007 – if you trademark anything, use a lawyer specializing in the field (mine is Eric Swetsky in Toronto if you want a recommendation). And make 100% sure that any requests for payment are coming from legitimate sources.

Actually, make 110% sure.

$500,000 RICHER
My wife received a letter from Readers Digest informing her that she's now a "potential finalist to win an instant $500,00.00 in the third and last stage of the 71st national sweepstakes."

Being a "potential finalist" has got to be a pretty big deal, don't you think? I mean, how many other "potential" finalists could there be? Let's see, if they contact 14,000,000 people that would make...yes, 14,000,000 potential finalists.

Since the offer was left on my desk instead of being mailed back, I presume that my wife has decided against fulfilling her potential to win half a mil.

Someone else is going to pass this time around too. His name is...

Dr. Bob