Sandra Yeaman's 365 Project: Day 15 - There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

Image by Theis Kofoed Hjorth via Flickr

Something has been happening to me over the course of the past couple of years that I should have been able to predict. After all, I have a birthday every year, so by this time, my age has put me into a group that means I get invited to enjoy a free lunch – accompanied by a financial seminar – or a weekend at a luxury resort – which happens to be a time-share – or a free seminar on how to set up your own eBay business.

For those who haven’t yet hit that demographic, the offers come in lots of different styles. Here are a few I’ve received.

A free fleece jacket;
Dinner at one of three area restaurants;
Complementary round trip air fare; and
Complimentary seminars.

The ones offering something free don’t tempt me at all. But I did accept an invitation once - to a wealth building seminar. And that’s the one from which I learned there really is no such thing as a free lunch. Afterwards, I realized what subtle techniques persuaded me.

Here’s why I gave in to this invitation.

It wasn’t just an invitation: it was a “Special” invitation.
The seminar wasn’t free, but the suggested “tuition” fee of $149 was waived, on the basis of my status as a special VIP guest.
The presenters weren’t local; the invitation promised Donald Trump’s closest adviser, plus 4 self-made multi-millionaire “experts” were lined up to share the Trump family’s most successful wealth-creating secrets and strategies.
The invitation would not be repeated; it was a once in a lifetime event.
The tickets were numbered, and the numbers on mine were very low, implying that seating was very limited and/or that I was very high on the list of invitees.

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr

The PS clinched it – “you will learn what others have paid over $20,000 to learn. Please RSVP soon as this event will be sold out.”

So I called and made my reservation.

When I got to the event venue, I realized I had forgotten to bring my VIP personal guest tickets. I asked two women who were heading in the same direction if they were also going to the seminar. They were. I mentioned that I wondered if I would be allowed to enter without my tickets. In response, they handed me one of their extras.

The number on the ticket was very low. When I got home I discovered it was the same number as one of my tickets. So much for the invitation being “special.”

The woman who gave me the ticket also mentioned that she had attended the same seminar before. So much for the “once-in-a-lifetime” claim.

Donald Trump wasn't there. That wasn't really a disappointment.

The first speaker’s topic was investment. He threw around a few new terms, like “market fundamentals,” and then he showed us a website he used to analyze these fundamentals. He illustrated his points with screen shots of very persuasive examples of how using this tool could help interpret the fundamentals of stocks. After 45 minutes, he got to the sales pitch. His product – access to and training on the website he used throughout the presentation. The price: $6,000. But, if we purchased the product that day, he was authorized to offer the product at a reduced rate, just $1,999.

And there was a money-back guarantee. Until the end of the second day of training, anyone who purchased the training would be able to decide whether the training was satisfactory and, if not, all the money would be returned. In addition, those who purchased the package that day would receive a password to the site immediately, an opportunity to become familiar with the software even ahead of the training.

Now I know it is probably surprising that someone as well-educated and well-traveled as I would fall for this sales pitch, but I hadn't figured out all the angles yet. I filled out the form, provided my credit card information, and signed up for a training session in two weeks’ time.

As the time for the training approached, I couldn’t attend because I had to travel for a funeral on the second day of the training. I called to reschedule. Unfortunately, there were no scheduled training dates in the future in my area yet, but the representative offered me a 30-day extension of access to the website so that I could continue to familiarize myself until I could attend training.

When I returned from the funeral, buyers' remorse had set in and I decided I wanted to get my money back. When I called, the representative tried to sound sympathetic as he explained that the deadline for requesting my money back had passed. The guarantee was only through the second day of the scheduled training. And that training had happened the weekend before. He pointed out that the purchase agreement I had signed clearly indicated this to be the case and there really wasn’t anything he could do. I had signed the agreement, and I therefore owed the company the money. The company would happily provide the training in the future.

That evening, I read every word of that purchase agreement. I had also received my credit card bill which indicated that the price had been charged the day after the seminar. But the purchase agreement, in addition to stating that I could only receive my money back if I requested it before the end of the scheduled training, stated that my credit card would not be billed until after the training.

Image by NobMouse via Flickr

I called the company back. I pointed out that I did not believe it was appropriate for me to be held to the terms of a purchase agreement when the company hadn’t followed the terms itself. I also pointed out that I thought it would not be in the best interests of the company to have me, a very dissatisfied customer, seated among other customers who may not have had a negative experience yet, but I could help that scenario along. If the company refused to return my money, I promised that I would attend their training in the future, and I would use that opportunity to explain how unhappy I was with the deceptive and high-pressure sales techniques of the company. It took elevation of the issue to several levels above the representative with whom I first spoke, but after consultation with their legal department, the company finally agreed to return my money in full.

Truthfully, I probably did learn at least a few of the secrets of the Trump family’s wealth protection: