Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

thehustle.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 471 posts

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#121

Post by sueders101 »

fwdpropaganda wrote: post #112
sueders101 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget to consider the revenue side of the equation. I imagine these promotions wouldn't exist if they didn't make money, for at least a few, business entities in the chain. If they have: 0.3% conversion; $25,000 average price; 20% margins Which aren't unrealistic numbers for timeshares. They break even at $15 cost per lead when ignoring call center costs and other overhead. It's pretty easy to find people to w…

> I imagine these promotions wouldn't exist if they didn't make money That was my point.

Ah, I misunderstood. You mentioned a $6 CPL as seeming like 'too much' and in my experience it wouldn't be. I've seen targeted data request campaigns hit that with generic survey data gathered from completely unrelated businesses/industries.(Partially qualified warm transfers usually costing at least 4-5 times that) Especially when factoring in the ease of, and revenue gained from financing deals. After accounting for, what has to be, one of the lowest costs for re-possession out of any industry; I wouldn't be surprised if they made more money from loans that defaulted/sold to collections than anything else.

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#122

Post by justinclift »

invalidusernam3 wrote: post #70

I remember a few years back walking on the beach with my dad and some similar time share scam people asked us if we wanted to enter a competition. We were handed two scratch cards with various prizes; cash, a holiday or the grand prize of a car. Obviously all the scratch cards were winners for the holiday. My dad scratched his card and said "Oh great, I won the car!" The scam guys eyes opened wide and he had a confus…

> The scam guys eyes opened wide and he had a confused look on his face and asked my dad to show him the scratch card. Obviously it was actually for a holiday, but it was great seeing the confusion in the guys face since he knew there was no car.

As a lark, it would've been super funny to create a realistic winning "ticket" for the car and substitute that in place to see the reaction.

Obviously it would require some prep work... but for kicks it would appeal to some. ;)

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#123

Post by sumedh »

glenneroo wrote: post #110
m_fayer wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A decade ago I would have thought your comment was over the top. Then I moved to Germany. And was surprised to find an utter lack of spammy phone calls, no crowd of ubiquitous scammers vying for my attention, no surprise mystery medical bills, nothing. I was with my German girlfriend in a department store once, she tore a little slip off the stockings she was buying, put her name and email on it, and dropped it into…

I have more or less the same story moving to Austria. I get spammy calls but they are actually legit surveys (quality of life, political leanings, newspaper preferences, etc) and only because I gave up my phone number at a party many years ago and haven't bothered to have it removed. I get once of these survey calls about every 3-6 months and if I'm not in the mood I just tell them I don't have time and they never ca…

> rather it's directly connected to your bank account,

So a debit card?

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#124

Post by ataturk »

This, in a nutshell is what is wrong with America (and the West in general)--everything is a scam! When nothing is real, it changes people's behaviors and expectations. It sucks, quite frankly. In a country as rich as ours, it should be possible for poor people to legitimately win a car. Instead, they are endlessly suckered by these fly-by-night vampires who do nothing but tear at the fabric of civilization. Malls suck, btw, which is why nobody goes to them anymore. It could have been different.

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#125

Post by feintruled »

TheReveller wrote: post #65
throwaway0255 wrote: post #19

I used to know someone who worked for one of the companies behind those "We'll Fix Your Credit Score, Call Us" and "We'll Buy Your House, Call Us" signs on the side of street intersections (among other things), and I asked her to explain to me how those signs could possibly make any money. The way she explained it was (mostly her words), way less than 1% of people are dumb enough to dial the number, but of the people…

This is similar to the reason that household brands have such terrible packaging design. It's a form of price differentiation - if you can afford the more expensive version you'll avoid the ugly one just because it doesn't look nice.

I've always been amused by Sainsbury's tactics - as well as the bland and unattractive packaging for their value brands, they also add a little passive-aggressive slogan that slightly throws some shade on their own product (and perhaps by association, you). For example, value wipes have "Not quite as thick, but cleans up quick". Value peas have something like "A little smaller, but just as tasty!"

https://thetab.com/uk/cambridge/2015/06/08/apologetic-sainsb...

Emphasising "less" and "small". I guess the slogan they really want is "You are too poor to afford the good stuff".

(Of course the joke is all the products are indistinguishable out of the packet as no doubt they come from the same production lines and they aren't likely to tool up to make deliberately inferior versions if that would cost extra).

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#126

Post by smacktoward »

coldtea wrote: post #32
Animats wrote: post #9

Since this is a California on-site thing, California sweepstakes law applies.[1] - "The exact nature and approximate value of the prizes must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously when they are offered." - "The law prohibits the company from misrepresenting the odds of receiving any item offered." - Prohibited: "Failing to award and distribute all prizes of the value and type represented." Online complaint form here…

> Prohibited: "Failing to award and distribute all prizes of the value and type represented." They can't mock-award it to someone of their own?

Ah, the old prize soap racket: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soapy_Smith#Prize_package_so...

A classic!

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#127

Post by justinclift »

pwg wrote: post #99
quickthrower2 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the scam? "Free flight" if you buy the timeshare or something?

Roping the unsuspecting into an incredibly expensive time-share using hard-sell boiler-room tactics without ever being up-front about the true costs. I sat through one of these once, curious about how it was going to go, and with the intent going in of not ever buying anything anyway. They present the timeshare as if it costs only pennies a day, and never admit to the true cost unless pressed very hard (and even then…

As a thought, you might find Robert Cialdini's book "Influence" useful:

https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Rober...

He gave a talk covering the same subject matter too, which is faster to grok if that's your kind of thing.

After reading/watching this stuff, these kind of scams become incredibly transparent. And it's fairly ugh to see fellow humans subsequently get sucked in by them.

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#128

Post by jdietrich »

NLips wrote: post #28
dingaling wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the text you send will be to one of those premium rate numbers One of the curious laws in Northern Ireland requires postal entry to be an option for all submission competitions hosted here. So QRadio station advertises its 'win free money' competition, entry by a text message costing £1.50, but also has to state that postal entry is possible. I really should write a letter. NI law also prohibits requiring purchase…

Not sure whether what you're describing is different; I understand UK law is that you have to have free* entry as an option otherwise it's gambling, and the company has different regulations plus a bunch more tax to pay. Most companies therefore include a free option so they can avoid being classed as gambling. Many actually have it online since that's cheaper to run than reading post! Of course, the URL is not easy…

>I understand UK law is that you have to have free* entry as an option otherwise it's gambling

The 2005 Gambling Act allowed a much wider range of promotional prize competitions and draws. If the question is a genuine test of skill, you don't need a free entry option (except in NI). If you do include a free entry option then you don't need to bother with the trivial multiple-choice quiz, but the free entry route needs to be publicised with equal prominence to the paid entry route.

http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PDF/Prize-competitions-...

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#129

Post by beaconstudios »

peteretep wrote: post #84
beaconstudios wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

for an alternative viewpoint, I'm from the UK and I see these car sweepstake scams all over the place. I think the region you're in has a strong impact on what the police's priorities are, due to different leadership.

> I see these car sweepstake scams all over the place Are you sure it's the same scam? A car sweepstake is a real thing outside of the particular scam mentioned.

I haven't checked the T&Cs, but it has all the same traits - set up in an outlet village, car being presented with "you could win" banners, aggressive salespeople pestering passers-by to sign up with their personal details. The aggressive sales tactics especially are a bad omen in my eyes.

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#130

Post by JumpCrisscross »

Animats wrote: post #9

Since this is a California on-site thing, California sweepstakes law applies.[1] - "The exact nature and approximate value of the prizes must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously when they are offered." - "The law prohibits the company from misrepresenting the odds of receiving any item offered." - Prohibited: "Failing to award and distribute all prizes of the value and type represented." Online complaint form here…

I'm frankly surprised these aren't being blown out of the water by litigation. One might even be able to make the argument that the mall operator, timeshare commission payers, et cetera are complicit.
Post reply on HN