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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!zehntel!tektronix!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!fluke!kurt
From: kurt@fluke.UUCP (Kurt Guntheroth)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Gifts
Message-ID: <122@vax2.fluke.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 7-Dec-84 12:03:36 EST
Article-I.D.: vax2.122
Posted: Fri Dec  7 12:03:36 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 10-Dec-84 06:33:55 EST
References: <105@lcuxc.UUCP>
Reply-To: kurt@fluke.UUCP (Kurt Guntheroth)
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA
Lines: 26

A colleague here actually bought vitamins from the company you are
discussing.  The 'gift' he got was a 'TV satellite dish'.  What he received
was a 12 inch diameter aluminum dish with a primitive amplifier built into a
rod protruding into the focus of the dish.  This device is actually used to
receive pay tv broadcasts from towers located in line-of-sight to viewers in
flat rural areas where it does not pay to install actual cables.  The device
has a retail cost (we found it in a catalogue) of about $35 dollars.  This
device may operate on frequencies similar to satellite bands (I don't know.)
It is clearly incapable of picking up satellite broadcasts.  Our catalogue
lists its range as 'about 35 miles'.

Now the scan:  The salesman on the phone assured him that the value of the
least expensive price was around $1700 dollars.  (Obviously untrue).  He
paid by VISA card, because there is a way to recover your money from VISA
within 90 days in case of a rip-off.  Unfortunately, the ripper-off was
aware of this and did not send the merchandise until more than 90 days after
billing.  Naturally, since all the conversations occurred on the telephone
there is no messy evidence.  The company simply denied my colleague's
version of the conversation.

The vitamins are no bargain by themselves either, although they did arrive,
and appeared to be of acceptable quality.
-- 
Kurt Guntheroth
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
{uw-beaver,decvax!microsof,ucbvax!lbl-csam,allegra,ssc-vax}!fluke!kurt