Beware of FALSE adds

[Marty Cozad]

I was about to place an order with a company who said, Buy 4 Aristo cars ,get the 5th free. I've seen that before. But i had a bad feeling about this and e-mailed Aristo. They said if the offer is not on their site then its false. They said to watch out for false adds like that.
i wonder if Marc H. knows about things like this in GRUs mag?.
Page 45, upper right hand side of feb issue.
I have boughten from them before and they are a large company. Now I can't trust the adds.
I do keep all e-mails and file them so folks don't think I am a company basher. But some info needs to be shared.[:(][;)]

[bman36]

Marty,
Thanks for the heads up. Chances are Marc has no idea. It would be very time consuming to review each and every ad for anything mis-leading. Maybe Rene has something on this. Did you contact the vendor to see if they were ready to ship a fifth car to you themselves? Curious as to what they would have to say. Let us know. Later eh...Brian.

[Marty Cozad]

Brian
I was doing busness as usual, asked a simple question, sent the reply of that Q and found out its no good. Now I'm in the dilema. I'm waiting for the company reply tomorrow. It does not matter now, i have the e-mail copies. I could keep guiet but its wrong to lead folks on. If it was a miss print they should have said that in the e-mail. I would understand.

[bman36]

Marty,
I see now what you are saying. It will be interesting to see if they will be willing to send you one anyway or at least offer a refund. If Aristo has no obligation then I guess it's up to them to see how valuable a customer you truly are. Vendor "X" has a great opportunity to make it right when they messed up! Later eh...Brian.

[Rene Schweitzer]

Guys,

I have made a call to Martha Stanczak, the ad rep who handles this advertiser. I've asked her to call them to get more information on this. I'll keep you posted as I get the scoop.

[cacole]

I've had no problems in dealing with St. Aubin Junction in Las Vegas. It's my belief that they can offer whatever they want and don't have to get approval from Aristo-Craft to do so. I see similar offers from other retailers in the HO world, too.

[vsmith]

Is it possible that the vendor is simply trying to clear invintory? hence the buy 4 get one free offer.

I've seen a shop out here offer a Buy the engine and get the matching caboose for free deal. It was legit, they wanted to sell the engines, and they absorb the cost of the caboose in the stores overall profits .

Its their inventory, Aristo gets payed for each item regardless of how the vendor sells it. Aristo really has no power to tell a vendor how to sell a product, as long as the product is payed for and is sold in a manner that will not void warrenty or customer satisfaction. Otherwise will every LHS in america have to get permission by the manufacturers to use their products, say for a raffle prize? Thats nuts.

[Rene Schweitzer]

Talked to Martha. Yes, the retailer can offer their own specials (giveaways, sales, whatever), and they don't need permission from the manufacturer. Like vsmith says, as long as Aristo gets paid for the product in the end, the retailer can run whatever special they feel is appropriate.
The ad did say "call for details," so I imagine if they run out of stock they might end the offer early. SO, if you ever have a question about an ad, your best bet is to contact the advertiser and ask first, before you order anything.

[Marty Cozad]

Rene
Thanks for checking.
I thought i had checked on this the right way.
St Aubins reply was as you said this time about a dealer offer. BUT the other reply did not say anything about a dealer offer. So this is what seemed out of line ,which made me check into it at Aristo. And after AC reply I choose to share what happened cause i don't want new folks leaving the hobby cause of things like this.
Yes it says call for details of which by e-mailing them first and asking Qs is what I was doing.

[vsmith]

Hey Marty,

I'd hurry up with that 4 &1 car order before St Aubins runs out of excess stock !!!

Good Luck with it, Vic[8D]

[Marty Cozad]

Thats the problem, i still want the cars, after tomorrow's replies from both companies i will know,,,maybe. Is this the "real" world? I'm so hooked on this hobby its ,,"sick". I'm sick. wheres my principles???

[vsmith]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Marty Cozad

Thats the problem, i still want the cars, after tomorrow's replies from both companies i will know,,,maybe. Is this the "real" world? I'm so hooked on this hobby its ,,"sick". I'm sick. wheres my principles???

Always remember the wisdom of Marx....Groucho that is..

"These are my Principles... If you dont like them, I have others..."[D)][:-,][(-D]

[Anonymous]

What was that quote from my comsumer ed class caviat emptor, buyer beware...