Simoniz

The following [below the fold] is from my friend Anthony, who can’t help but buy stuff he sees on TV.

I remember once he purchased those long synthetic dusters… he said they worked great, but part of the process to get them to pick up dust was rubbing the things along your body to work up static electricity. Can you imagine what happens when the initial static wears off?

I could just see him rubbing those long, hideously filthy filament rods over his arms and shuddering… because he’s more like Adrian Monk than any other man I know.

I’d like to warn you about something that just happened to me, so you don’t get taken advantage of like I was.

I recently saw an advertisement on television from a company called Simoniz. They sell all sorts of “amazing” products ranging from hand held battery powered spinning dusters (they don’t work) to soap scum removers. If you ever go into Bed Bath and Beyond, you’ll see their infomercials running on the small TV’s in front of their products. I’m sure you’ve all seen the chubby guy with the beard, looks a bit like Bob Villa, hawking this stuff.

The ad I saw was for a product which could repair minor scratches in car paint, called “Fix-it”.
The product seemed effective and was only about 10 bucks, so I ordered it on line.

Here’s where it gets interesting. When you go through the online order process they repeatedly offer you other products like “polishing mitt” and a “turbo vac” etc. They say all these products are “free”. Just pay the additional shipping.

This doesn’t happen just once, they hit you with about 30 pop up windows while you’re ordering!

I did not want ANY of this stuff so I just kept clicking “no” every time.

Well, when I finally got to the end of the order process, the only thing in my basket was the “Fix-it” scratch remover,
which is about the size of a magic marker. They then charged 10.00 shipping and handling, a rip off, I know, but I still agreed.

Now, when the product arrived yesterday, it was in a box about 2 feet by 2 feet. Inside was, yep-you guessed it, all this useless crap I did NOT want. Polishing mitts, crappy cheap plastic turbo vac, etc. etc. The total was now over $50.00.

I, of course called the company right away, explaining that I did not order this stuff and would not pay for it.

Here’s how they get you: They said it was “free” and that they only charge me shipping (30 bucks!).
I told them I wasn’t paying shipping for stuff I didn’t order. They said shipping is not refundable.
After arguing with a moron for 10 minutes I said “enough’s enough”.

I called my Discover card and asked them to dispute the charges. They informed me that “shipping charges” are “not disputable”. How do you like that?

Discover card further informed me that this is a fairly common scam because the Simoniz company knows that.
They get away with it because there is no refund for “free” products, and shipping is not refundable.

So there you have it. Live and learn. I don’t mind admitting that I got scammed and I pass this on to all of you in the hope that you learn from, and don’t make the same mistake I did.

I’d advise all of you to avoid this Simoniz company completely, and feel free to pass this on to all your friends,

Anthony