Jimmy Buffet once sang ... "Now you may be thinking that I was had..." but I was the one who had been had, and it wasn't Jimmy Buffett's fault! In times of telemarketing, this probably happens a lot, but this really caught me off guard. Sirius wouldn't let me follow online instructions and made me call the 800 number for help. What happened next really fried me!
I had nearly $400 worth of work done on my old Ford and a few days later a post card appeared in my mail box. I almost tossed it as junk, but the words "FREE" and "SIRIUS" caught my attention. It thanked me for being a loyal customer of the Ford dealership and as part of their appreciation they were giving me two free months of SiriusXM Radio for my car. Wow.
So I went to the web site, filled out the form, put in the special code, and hit enter. The next screen said :
Sorry, an error occurred and we cannot fill your order now, please call 1-800-blah-blah-blah.
I remembered Jimmy's words, "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On" -- So I called. The voice said
AN AD STARTED RUNNING. When that was done, another ad started running, this one for Target. When that was done, another ad started running for Lincoln. When that was done, another ad started -- but I hung up.
So I took my phone and walked out to the car, fired up the radio and dialed the 800 number that appeared on the screen. I immediately got an operator who helped me by walking through the sign-up process. Strangely enough, the offer had already gone through. She said
Sure enough -- lighting up the radio, hitting 24 launched Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville loud and clear! I knew immediately I had been had. Without losing a breath, the lady started rattling off "deals" that I could sign up for right now, and it was a battle to get her to let me hang up.
It's all over now, but all I have to say is that's a pretty sleazy trick to play on a customer. For a few cents, they risk bad press? Oh well. Good advice, Jimmy:
If a hurricane doesn't leave you dead
It will make you strong
Don't try to explain it, just nod your head
Breathe in, breathe out, move on!
Thanks for reading
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