The
letters arrive every so often.
Not
on any regular schedule or pattern. But frequently enough that
they have become recognizable envelope in the mailbox.
Letter
itself is offering me a deal on extended vehicle coverage for
service and repairs. Claims that my vehicle is about to move into
the expensive and costly and horrendous zone of no coverage, and…
well…
Does
anyone respond to this stuff?
I’m
just wondering. Because I kind of always knew I might be (and
likely was) responsible for the cost of repairs to my vehicle.
It never really occurred to me that such a thought should be as
scary and shocking as the letter attempts to convey.
Honestly,
for all I know, the company involved is actually a reputable and
solid organization. I doubt it, but I have no evidence one way
or another. I also don’t plan on looking them up. In fact, I’m
not even going to identify them further since this is more of
a sweeping question about what makes us react in certain ways.
Instead… just from a quick review…
The
letter wants to me act quickly, act now… no, act yesterday…
because my vehicle is no longer covered for service, Warranty
is done. I’m on the hook for repair costs.
But
the letter doesn’t tell me what kind of vehicle is involved. Just
says it’s my current vehicle. Plenty of get moving and call this
number moments on the form, with fonts italicized and words in
bold and even red letters. They even tell me multiple times that
my status is “Approved” – which sounds pretty official and legitimate
to me.
Mail
like this upsets me. I think part of the annoyance is that I even
have to go through the effort to shred the materials since they
managed to obtain my name and address, and of course, better safe
than sorry. But there’s more…
Do
you ever take some time to look over junk mail? Something beyond
the quick read that tells you to place it with the bills, toss
it in the trash, or add it to a pile for a more attentive reading
later?
Sometimes,
I do.
Most
of the time, it’s nothing. Local business looking to get my attention
with a contest or giveaway. Maybe a company I ordered something
from that is reaching out with an offer to try and get me shopping
for more. Possibly a fundraising organization of some type looking
for a donation.
Normal
stuff.
But
then there’s mail like this offer. Asking for money and promising
something, but if you even slightly arch an eyebrow and look for
details you end up with more questions and fewer answers.
There
was no return address listed. Not on the envelope. Not in the
main parts of the letter. Only if you went to the end of page
two, into the smaller font section set aside from everything else,
would you see a reference to a different doing-business-as situation.
What
company offers me blank vehicle coverage without knowing what
kind of vehicle they’d be covering? Not to put too much thought
into this, but it feels a bit like giving your address, social
security number and mother’s maiden name to someone that you weren’t
expecting a call from that registered as a blocked number on your
phone but you answered it anyway. (But hey, they sounded awfully
nice and trustworthy.)
A
few weeks ago, a somewhat close to me car dealership sent out
mailings and it arrived at our home. Offered me a guaranteed winner
situation with items like cash, a television, or a laptop just
for stopping in and taking a test drive. I looked that letter
over up, down and sideways, and debated using a mirror to check
it for backwards statements. It seemed to me like the worst I
could do was $200 for stopping in. I didn’t go. Felt like I had
to be missing something. And if I wasn’t, the idea of the sales
pitch I would be getting before $200 was placed in my hand didn’t
seem all that appealing. Too good to be true generally is.
The
end result is simple… I’m nearing a point where the mail I get
that I need is outnumbered by the pieces of mail that I unquestionably
don’t. I remember being overseas once and seeing a “no junk mail”
sign attached to home mailboxes. I wonder if there’s some sort
of coverage like that for us. Chances are there could be, but
just my luck, my status for it isn’t approved.