PUNISHMENT FOR CONSUMER FRAUD = NONE

What's the punishment for consumer fraud - - NOTHING!

Before I get started I’m going to apologize to my friend Al Fradenburgh.  Al worked hard for auto dealerships during his life and I respect that.   

I would like to challenge any television station news operation to follow up on this.  Keep in mind you'll need nads the size of Texas because you will, no doubt, piss off a big source of station ad revenue.  

Here we go….

Every couple of months I get an ad or two in the mail from various car dealerships about some major sales event.  There is always a contest involved where you can win 1) a new car, or 2) a fancy cell phone, or 3) a computer or iPad.  In the event you don’t win one of the BIG 3 prizes you can pull a number for a  a $500 Target or Walmart Gift Card.  If you don’t get the right number for the $500 gift card there is a $5 Gift Card consolation prize. 

Somewhere on the ad, in very small print, are the odds of winning.  Always read those odds because you can tell what you are going to win by looking at those odds.  As an example, the odds of winning the car are 500,000:1.  Prizes 2, 3 or the $500 gift card are 250,000:1.  But the odds on the $5 card are, for this example, 1:1.  Do I need to tell you what you are going to get. 

Now I live very close to most of the areas card dealerships so I make it a habit of getting my $5 gift card whenever I get one of those ads in the mail.  

About 6 months ago I started being a bit of a smart ass and when I go to the dealerships I’d tell the person that greeted me I was just there to get my $5 Gift Card.  I even made a bet that the greeters would not take me up on.  I wanted to bet the greeter $10 that I would win a $5 gift card.  I wasn’t surprised when he/she  didn’t take the bait. 

I don’t know why this didn’t hit me before today.  When I went to get my $5 Target card consolation prize I tried to make the $10 wager like I have in the past, which she smartly and quickly refused.  I looked at the barrel when I went to pull my number and then  - POW – realization set in.  If the odds were 250,000:1 on a $500 gift card there would have been 250,000 tickets in that barrel.  Instead there were only about 100.  If the winning number was actually in that barrel the odds would have been 100:1. 

I was once again hit by my smart ass attitude and said to the woman at the desk.  “I’ll tell you what” (paraphrased) “ Let’s check all of those tickets.  If the winning number is actually in there, I’ll give you $600 and if not you give me the $500.”  She smiled back at me and said, “Oh, that would take too long.”  I told her I would help and that nobody was waiting in line so time really wasn’t a factor.  She smiled and declined my offer.  It was then I realized I had this nailed. 

Now to be fair, most car dealers farm out this type of contest, however, if a dealership has knowledge that the game is rigged then you have a legal problem.  

If you look at a barrel with 100 or so tickets in it and the odds are 250,000:1, ummmm, you pretty much know. 

At the beginning of this I mentioned a news media outlet that would follow through on this needs nads the size of Texas.  The reason I made that statement is because car dealers spend huge bucks on ads during news.  A news operation needs to be willing to take a hit on the wallet to cover this potentially huge story.  The payback is the size of the story AND an increase in viewer numbers, if promoted properly. 

Remember I mentioned these contests are, for the most part, farmed out to a third party that prints the ads and covers the costs for a fee. 

So what’s the punishment for running a rigged contest - - apparently nothing - - I’m buying a print shop tomorrow.  Oh, and that consumer protection thing - - not so much.  

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