In October of 2005 I went to the Twin Cities Bridal Association Wedding Fair.
I signed up for a few sweepstakes here and there, and there was this one that I signed up for that I completely regret signing up for!
It was for... some sort of dishware or pans, right? They're called Royal Prestige (or another biz name: 21st Century Brides).
Well they've called me a few times over the past couple of years to tell me that I've won a 3 day vacation for signing up-- all I have to do is go to this meeting and I don't have to buy anything. I ALMOST went to a meeting with Aaron the first time around, right? Well, then I did some research on the company, and it had SCAM written all over it. You should have seen the reviews on these people. Wow.
The reason I bring this up is because I just got another call TODAY.
"Hello Ginger? I'm calling to tell you that you won the sweepstakes you signed up for at the Fall wedding fair!"
"Oh.... mmm..."
"You don't sound too excited that you've won a 3 day vacation!"
"Yeah... I went to the bridal fair two years ago, and have gotten this call multiple times, and I know what it's about. I'm just not interested."
"Ok, thank you."
(Well, at least he didn't give me a hassel about it. One time the caller was like, "You've heard bad things about it? Well I'm new... what have you heard?" I told him to get a better job so he's not working in the scam industry.)
If things sound too good to be true, they are too good to be true. Such as when a photographer purchases a camera online for $300 cheaper than the other online stores are selling it for. When I was purchasing some of my first equipment, I emailed Brad and asked, "What's wrong with this situation... why is the camera this cheap?" He then referred me to: resellerratings.com. -- If you read the reviews of the 1-3 star sellers, you would never even consider purchasing a camera for that cheap.
I use resellerratings.com as well as B&H photo for most of my purchases. Occasionally, I will buy things from National Camera and Best Buy as well.
If you do your homework, you can often find good deals from reputable sellers.
There are honest contests and sweepstakes as well. Just be smart about which contests you enter!
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I got invited to one of their meeting things and we actually went. They just about kicked us out though because my hubby and I kept saying (loudly I might add), "Everyone here is either a doctor or a lawyer. Why in the heck did WE get invited?" They weren't please with us and we haven't gotten calls since. They did try to get you to finance their cookware. A loan? For cookware? Now that's just crazy talk!
awesome post ginger. thank goodness i learned that lesson back before i started my business!
I just got a call the other day saying I won a 3-day vacation! All I need to do is sit through a 90-minute video......hmm...Yeah, I told her I might call back. haha
My husband and I totally fell for this when we were planning our wedding 8 years ago. Unfortunately, we did buy the dumb cookware. What suckers we were! I ended up selling it on craigslist and made a few hundred bucks back. What a horrible, rotten thing to experience!
great advice ginger.
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