Wenatex? Beds? What?
Every so often I get a letter from Wenatex. I just got another one. I always wonder which mailing list sold them my name before throwing it in the bin, however I opened this one just to remind myself of "what's what". OK, so you get enticed by a free meal at the local Bowlo. Big deal, don't particularly like (or frequent) bowling clubs. They also offer vouchers redeemable for $20 free gifts that I'm certain won't be something I need or want. So in the bin it goes!!
But wait, there's more. Wenatex offers "sleep research" and "trends" information. Yawn. It's working already!! So I googled them and found an amazing wealth of contrasting information. Check this out. Wow.
So either it's a reputable business selling sleep-related products at decent margins through a niche marketing campaign, or it's "a scam". Well it has scam potential, but it's not really a scam per se, although it depends on what you call a scam. Enticement via free gifts is not scamming, at least as long as it's all up front and genuine. There are indeed products to be bought and they appear to be real, although their efficacy is perhaps unproven and may be matched by cheaper alternative retail products.
If there were no products, or the offer was not genuine (such as no dinner at all) then it would definitely be a scam. But this appears, on balance, to be a real free meal, free (if lousy) gift, and a sales pitch for an expensive bedding product.
The pseudo-science that accompanies the sales pitch may be another matter, however. For the record, once more, I tossed it in the bin.
posted by gtveloce @ 5:02 AM
2 Comments:
Jan 2010. We went to the seminar. We got into the hype and although we felt the price was way to high, decided to leave a deposit for the Queen Deluxe System so that we could benefit from the 25% discount only offered on the night. We had assumed that if we changed our mind, end of deal. However, to our horror, we were told when we rang to cancel the order (once we came home and googled Wenatex and came down from the hype of this overpriced product), that our deposit was non refundable. It was there in black and white on the order form, but we didn't see it because we unfortunately got completely over excited and signed up on impulse. I know that this is how I shop, but when you buy from a reputable store, you always have the choice to return the goods or cancel the order.
The option we have now is to spend the deposit ($519.00) on one of their overpriced products. Which leaves me with the option of buying two pillows at $254.00 each (that's minus the discount), or some lame, overpriced Sheraton sheet sets (a crappy 300 thread count), or basic overpriced towels. I am kicking myself! I could have brought two Tempur pillows for less than that. This was one expensive mistake. Hope this helps and warns others. By the way, we found out afterwards, that we could have put a 10% deposit on one pillow and that would have locked in a 25% discount on whatever else we wanted to buy, we could change the order at any time as long as it was done before the order was ready to be delivered and paid in full.
Ouch, expensive lesson learned. Apparently nothing illegal happening here but the way it's done relies on human weakness - impulse - and some clever inducement to make you feel as though you "should" buy something. Looks like if you must succumb to this direct marketing ploy at least take the least expensive deposit option! Thanks for sharing your experience!
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