| yo_john117 said: Why do I get the feeling that you somehow think the person buying the 360 would never find out that you have to be in a contract to get that price? It's absolutely no different than any other contract based product or service. That asterix is the norm and you will find out about the 2 year contract before the product is bought. |
In other words, they don't find out about the contract until *after* they have gone to the store planning to buy one, and after they've already made their decision. And while I'm sure people can change their minds after learning of it, many will take the "well, might as well, anyway" attitude that comes with spontaneous decisions.
Usually, when there's a contract involved in a deal, they actually tell you all of the financial elements of it. When they sell you a phone with a "lock-in contract", they tell you the price of the phone, and then the rate charged for the service. So it becomes "$100 upfront + $29 a month for 24 months", or something like that.
Anything less than that, and it's underhanded marketing techniques, intended to rip off customers. And I find it hilarious that people defend this sort of thing. On a side note, I'm also very much against "fine print" - it's a way to hide information from most people until the very last moment. It's OK for there to be conditions on a deal, but if they're not being upfront about it, then they're using misinformation to manipulate the market.
