Did you receive a flyer like this in your mail recently from Courtesy Ford in Danville, IL for their ‘Wheels of Fortune’ game? Did you open the slots to see that you are a ‘WINNER’, and that you won $5,000!?
Well, sorry Charlie, you didn’t. You won a $2 dollar Lottery Ticket.
Here’s what happened.
I opened the Wheels of Fortune flyer tabs. I’m a pretty skeptical guy. I know there’s no free money. I read the fine print, though. Nothing seemed unusual. I usually throw these types of things away.
So I called the number for Courtesy Ford in Danville, gave a very nice gentle man the PIN. Oh, verified a winner!! But they didn’t say a winner of what.
The flyer is deliberately and misleadingly designed to make one think that they won $5,000. Pairing the 3 Winner Circle thingys next to the $5,000 CASH! Odds of Winning 1:90,000 makes it look like getting those 3 means you won $5,000. It doesn’t. It is a false associate. There’s no relationship between those and it’s not what it means. I went over to a friends house, and I had her open up the flyer. She had the exact same results, and I asked her what she thought she won. She said $5,000.
But I only found this out after driving to the Courtesy Ford dealership.
I pulled up and there were people waiting outside. The dealership was just buzzing with people at about 6:30p. There was a woman waiting pretty much right at my car. I thought she was a customer just waiting for a ride, but she greeted me and brought me inside.
She asked me questions for 10 minutes…why do you drive this car, how many miles, are you looking for a new car, what would you dream of…sunroof, etc., what would be your ideal car, how many kids.
I was like listen, I’m not looking to buy a new car. Then she got her manager, and he came over.
Similar questions, do you finance, how many kids, how many boys. He literally wrote down how many boys I have…yada yada yada. I told them, I’m not looking to buy a car right now.
Ok fine, the game was over. They told me the only thing I had won was a lottery ticket.
Lame. It’s a scam. You didn’t win, and you don’t need to go to the dealership.