I am poor. I have very little money. But I'm not here to grovel. I'm here to prove a point. Or play a game. Either one, really.
I have gotten dozens of $10 and $20 checks in the mail from companies who offer stupid programs to protect my credit, insure my home, or whatever. These companies buy your personal information from your credit card company (sometimes these companies
are your credit card company). The trick they use is that they send a check to someone who doesn't have a lot of money. If that needy person cashes that check, then that person is automatically enrolled in some crappy program which usually provides absolutely no value to the poor sap who cashed the check. Then that person is put into a recurring billing cycle which very quickly takes away from them far more money than they got by cashing the check.
This scheme works on two assumptions:
1) That these people need money badly enough to cash the bait check,
2) That they will not cancel in time to avoid being charged (usually a 30-day free trial period), at which time the company will turn that into a profit.
While this scheme is not in any way illegal, it is not very nice. Being mean isn't against the law. That being said, these companies are not exactly models of business ethics, either, as I expect to prove with this experiment.
This is fun because these companies have no morals. They target people who are likely to cash these "bait checks" and then, with a hook in your mouth, they give a tug! They think that since you have little money you will cash the check and forget about it, and I am sure many people do
just that.
You can, of course, use the trial period to cancel your membership in their useless and overpriced scheme, thereby pocketing some much-needed cash.
But not so quickly! They have contingencies in place to ensure that you will get shafted no matter how hard you try to avoid it. I recently went through just such a situation: I signed up by cashing the check, I immediately unenrolled, and then I re-unenrolled, and yet they still charged me and denied that I ever un-enrolled. I got angry, I called my credit card company, and I put a stop to that. I never paid their illegitimate charges but I had to hassle myself on the phone with two different companies numerous times to get myself out of the trap these scoundrels laid for me.
The Experiment
- I will be cashing every single check these companies send me until I have made at least $100, so long as it affords me a legitimate way out without paying. I will put in place numerous safeguards to ensure that I do not have to pay any fees, and I will document my experiment as it goes with as much evidence as I can amass.
- I will scan and file a copy of each check I get prior to cashing it.
- I will also file a copy of each check after it shows up on my bank website.
- At the time of the first check-cashing I will notify the bank teller, in writing, of my experiment. At each subsequent cashing I will remind them what I am doing with all these stupid checks so that they don't think I'm crazy.
- Immediately after cashing each check I will post the scan on this blog. I will also scan and post any rules, regulations, requirements, small print, etc. so that you can see that I am playing by their rules.
- I will then, within 3 days of the cashing of the check, call the phone number listed with the check and I will requst a cancellation.
- I will then blog about my results with their customer service personnel. I expect some resistance and some lies from them at this point.
- I will then call weekly until I am told that my account is cancelled and that I will never be charged. I will blog my results from all interactions with these companies or my credit card company.
- I will keep track of my earning and my expenses as I go.
This will likely be aggravating at times and very aggravating at other times. But I'm a stubborn dude, and I would like to "stick it to the man".
After collecting a few checks I will begin the experiment.
