5 NOV 07: BEATING MR. BIG

A knock at the door woke me up Thursday afternoon. A change of schedule had me working through the night, and sleeping during the day - and I was sleeping so well for several days that I hardly ever heard the computer telemarketers call me.

But this knock was important and valuable. There was certified mail for me to accept - and inside an envelope was a $50 gift card. It was the end of a consumer drama which began in late August, involving none other than Bill Heard Chevrolet. We didn't dare mention it here before now - because single guys like shopping sprees every bit as much as married women.

It all began in mid-August, with one of those promotional mailings from Bill Heard Chevrolet. It promised merely for taking a test drive, I could have a $50 gift card to my choice of eight different businesses. Of course, it would help if Linens-n-Things actually had a Columbus store....

Long-time blog readers will remember how disappointed my late next-door neighbor was, when I took her to Bill Heard Chevrolet for one of these offers [16 Jun 04]. But this one seemed simple on the surface -- have a manager sign the card, and mail it in with a "$3.95 shipping and handling fee." You send all your gift cards by United Parcel Service, right?!

Figuring I'd still have a net gain of $46.05, I went to Bill Heard and test-drove a Chevrolet Cobalt. The car seemed all right - except the color wasn't really cobalt blue.

My Bill Heard Chevrolet salesman wore a name tag with Sacramento, California on it. He explained that was his home town - and he was NOT flown in for this special promotion. You may not know other Columbus car dealers bring in special salespeople from as far away as New England. Does this mean Southern salespeople are too friendly and folksy?

I explained to the man from Sacramento that I wasn't really looking to buy a car right now, and was merely there for the test drive promotion. He then took my mail offer to some manager in a different part of the building - and I wondered if that manager would come out and lecture me about being an irresponsible moocher.

After a lengthy wait, a supervisor came out with a "Gift Card Claim Voucher" form. I had to fill it out, and mail it to suburban Atlanta. Then I'd receive a separate "Gift Card Request Form" to send back with the $3.95 shipping and handling fee. Bill Heard Chevrolet is famous for tent sales - but these circus hoops were arranged in the main showroom.

I took the voucher form home - and only then did I read the details. The voucher form had to be sent "by certified mail only.... postmarked within 21 days from the sponsor's issue date or this offer will become void...." Certified mail?! I mail checks for credit card bills much more expensive than this, and first-class seems to work just fine.

There was also another problem in the fine print. "This gift certificate is only valid if sent in accompanied by the dealer promotional mail piece." That mail piece was dumped in the trash can, at the salesperson's desk. Do I go back to Bill Heard and beg for it - or do they empty the trash every two hours, as fast as they claim to sell trade-ins?

But it turned out I was prepared for potential trouble - because Bill Heard Chevrolet actually mailed me the same offer TWICE within a week. Their mistake or annoyance was my gain....

In another nice break, the salesperson from Sacramento had given me a signed business card. So I stapled it to the backup mailing, combined it with the completed Gift Card Voucher Form and went to the post office. Sending them to suburban Atlanta by certified mail cost $3.23 - but at least the Postal Service was getting my money, not Bill Heard.

All that happened in late August. In late September the "Gift Card Request Form" arrived - and of course, it had to be returned by certified mail as well. It's not like I was sending documents to metro Atlanta, demanding an extra few gallons of water from West Point Lake....

The second certified mailing cost $3.06 - and this time the $3.95 shipping and handling fee was included. So I probably paid for certified mail THREE times, including the mailing of the card back to me. But consider the final score: Bill Heard $50, me $10.24 -- so the payoff was about four to one.

The weeks passed between these mailings, and I quietly wondered if some other catch was going to deny me the gift card. That concern ended on Thursday, with that knock at the door. So Mr. Big Volume lives up to his promotional promise -- if you jump through all the hoops, and get a break or two. This sort of makes Bill Heard Chevrolet like Alabama football.

E-MAIL UPDATE: The non-certified kind brings this item, which I'm guessing stems from Reginald Pugh's Urban League show on WLTZ:

I saw Dr.Phillips on an early Sunday AM taped TV interview..He was pushing for another tax. He talked about all the technology that the last tax brought...Funny the schools have not seen all those promised computers..I wonder why he does not use all the money the state sent for graduation coaches in each school and buy more computers..A person in each high school guidance dept. was pulled out of their job and given the title and job description of "graduation coach." MCSD was the only system to pull this trick..Yes,the state has reprimanded them. In talking about all the things a new tax would do and the old one did Phillips never mentioned the new $26million + administrative building or his salary which is more than the VP of the USA..Have you seen the commercial for local news where the mayor says MCSD is behind in getting ready for the thousands of new students we will get by 2010 from Ft B.?

Yes, I did see that promotional ad. But you may be pleased to know another one-cent sales tax will NOT be used to expand Muscogee County schools for base realignment. Dr. John Phillips wants federal tax money spent for that - to save as many dollars as possible for furnishing a nice new office.

But this e-mail does not mention the Muscogee County School District is not using new tax money to build the new Educational Services Building. It's using a mix of reserved current money and a loan. If enough people join their neighborhood school's PTA, this financing plan might work.

By the way: Governor Sonny Perdue declared Sunday "Hats Off to Georgia Retired Educators Day." Most of those educators probably shook their heads at this -- because they can remember when students were expected to take off their hats indoors.

Our next e-mail comes from someone who asked about our recent time of singing at Cascade Hills Church:

Richard,

That's great, you gotta love singing...but i just get so nervous in front of people. I tried it a couple of times, but I always forgot the words and stuff when it came time to sing. Are you attending CHC on a regular basis now? They certainly have some great programs, and you wont find a better speaker in Columbus.

I think you said you do your laundry at Oakland Park Cleaners didn't you? I think I have seen you in there before but I'm not sure. I don't really get in there much anymore though.

What do you do? I mean other then the blog thing. I just don't know how you find the discipline to write stuff on the blog everyday, I could never be that consistent.

Thanks,

I've been "auditioning" Cascade Hills Church for a few weeks - but the change to standard time will affect that. I believe in keeping a seventh-day Sabbath, and the Saturday service at 6:00 p.m. will start after sunset until the end of January. You'd think a church with theater-style seats might offer a Saturday matinee....

Yes, I do my laundry in the Oakland Park neighborhood -- but the cleaners next door has undergone some changes in recent months. The old manager retired, and the new owner is converting that storefront into a barbecue restaurant. Columbus barbecue soon could be like Baptist churches -- you know, one about every mile.

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