Today I received what appeared to be a letter in the mail.
The return address was PO Box 7110, West Chicago, IL 60186. I live in Pennsylvania.
Both My address and return address appeared to have been hand written. On closer examination it was obvious that it's a typeface intended to appear hand written.
The correspondence inside appeared to be a printout from someone's computer. At this point it was obvious that it was a solicitation to trade in my car for a new one. Interestingly they decided to double down on the deceit. They even used the same handwritten font and overprinted transparent yellow strokes intended to look as if this person had highlighted it with a marker.
I called and asked to speak to the general sales manager. Of course it was at the venue here in Pennsylvania.
I prefaced my point by saying that I didn't want to rant and argue because that isn't going to solve anything and that I hoped he had time to listen to what I had to say.
I told him about the correspondence and that I take from it is that in essence the opening sales gambit I received is a collection misrepresentation of material fact, aka a lie. It was not hand written from someone in Chicago with me in mind and they felt the need to continue the falsehood by way of the overprint faux highlighter on the page. . . it shows that they're really "all in" here; clearly committed to deceiving me that this isn't a mass mailing. I asked him why he thought that anyone would do business with someone who's first act is to lie to the prospect.
He told me that this is basicly SOP in the auto industry; that someone from a large mass marketing service that they contract with has decided that they should appeal to existing customers and that, evidently, to them, the numbers are good with this approach. He was nice about it, though. . . I think it's because he understood what could conceivably happen given the prevalence of social media.
I thanked him for being truthful and replied that that's not entirely the point.
The point is that it isn't the mass marketer's fault. The point is that this company's executive sales manager contracted with that mass marketing service. This person had to know the pitch and had to sign off on it. The issues are one of agency and one of responsibility. Who is it that decided it's okay to deceive prospects as an opening gambit toward future business? Whoever it is, that someone has to accept their role as a decider and a responsibility for having made the CHOICE to lie to customers; to send correspondence that will minimize it's being immediately thrown away without opening because it's junk mail as a function of deception.
Some people may think that's relatively innocuous but why would I do business with a known deceiver?
. . . and in a larger sense when people pick up the morning paper or go to their news site or listen to the radio or turn on the teevee and are exposed to one reason after another why the world is so messed up; why people are willing to treat each other so badly on a mass scale it comes down to this. It's not this ad in particular, it's the prevailing cultural attitude that it's okay to lie and cheat. It's the prevailing lack of respect for people that causes people to be willing to have their very first interaction with someone be a lie and not just a little white lie in passing but a well considered orchestrated attempt to deceive.
. . . just a little something to think about.