Has marketing and customer service become a game of fine print and exceptions?

If you haven’t read this news item, take the time to read it now. At least skim it. Here’s the punchline:

The lawsuit claims that Dell and Dell Financial Services LP engaged in fraud, false advertising and deceptive business practices.

The news is just that, Dell is being sued by the Sate of New York. The lawsuit is driven in part by a claim of deceptive bait-n-switch tactics related to a 0% financing offer – offering 0% financing and switching to a high interest rate loan at the close of the sale…or afterwards.

I have no idea if the claims against Dell are true of not. It’s not the point of this post. The point I’d like to address is the increasing sad state of marketing and customer service. This news of Dell is just a catalyst to share some thoughts looming in my mind.

Marketing today – it actually stated well before today – appears to be driven by fine print and caveats. I know not all marketing is deceptive, but enough is that it feels that way.

Just yesterday I ordered a phone from a cellular company that promoted a free phone…then they slapped an activation fee onto my account at checkout and disclosed the free phone was following a mail in rebate. My free phone cost $75 at checkout. In a month, I should recover $50.

Two weeks ago I canceled a bill pay service only to find out they extended me the courtesy of extending my service another 30 days…they charged me for the courtesy. Mind you I cancelled the service before they billed me for another month as part of a courtesy to clear my account.

A year or so ago I canceled a phone line in my office…the phone company offered me an incredible deal to keep my account, reducing my monthly fee by over half the cost I had paid for years. I asked the customer service rep why didn’t make me that offer while I was customer – I’m still waiting for the answer.

I received an offer in the mail last week for a line of credit I was guaranteed to qualify in receiving. The large print said the credit line was some crazy amount like $50K. The asterisk at the backend of the number led me to small print on the backside of the letter stating the offer was subject to approval. In other words, there was no offer…just an invitation to apply.

Earlier this morning I saw a weight loss product advertised on television. As the testimonials of one smiling skinny person after another glowed about the product, the small print on the bottom of the screen started to build. The print was small enough it couldn’t be read. I have no idea what it said, but am sure it pointed out the testimonial were either paid for or so rare no one could reasonably expect to share their success. Slightly larger print reminded us proper diet and exercise was required as part of the product’s weigh loss program.

Where does all of this leave us?

I believe we’re all jaded. We all look for the fine print, caveats, limitations, and disclaimers when we receive an offer. We expect there to be no such thing as the offer that’s too good to be true. We expect the claims to be exaggerated and the reviews to be fixed. At least I do.

How about you?