Aielyn said:
*facepalm* I know what the deal is. I fully understand it. It seems that other people are having trouble reading what I'm saying. It was someone else who drew the analogy of what's going on here with interest payments on a house or car. I'm pointing out the absurdity of that comparison, when those deals are completely upfront, making it clear that you're paying extra to compensate for not paying for everything immediately on purchase. This deal isn't doing that - it's instead using vague terms and implying that you're getting a bargain, when you're actually going to end up paying more than you otherwise would. It would be like a real estate agent going "Normally, this house would only cost $200,000. But today, as a special deal, you'll get the house for $50,000*". "*for twenty years at $2000 a month." |
I was content to leave this topic alone and just say that cultural differeces are the reason why we can't seem to see eye to eye on this thing. I'll just assume that the way real estate sales, car purchases, and more are handled differently in your country and leave it at that. On top of that, it looks like everybody else has already said what I was thinking, anyway. I just wanted to look at the offer and see why you think it's being deceptive:
That's the same ad that was shown elsewhere in this thread. It doesn't say "Normally the Xbox costs $300 but we're giving it away at $99!". It doesn't say "We're giving you Xbox Live valued at $14.99 for free!!" Your arguments are based on seeing something that simply isn't there and isn't even implied. There just isn't room for misinterpretation, here. The small print isn't even that small!
It says "Jump into the Xbox Experience for only $99". That will catch the customer's eye. $99? That's not too bad. Directly beneath it it says what you get--a "4GB Xbox 360 console and Kinect". It doesn't promise anything more. It doesn't promise anything less. It also says tha this deal (it doesn't say that this is a fair deal or a money saving deal, mind you) is with the CONTRACT for Xbox Live Gold at $14.99 a month for two years. Everything else that you've been arguing is simply gaps that your mind has filled in when there is nothing to fill in.
It's not a matter of you being the soul person that sees the reason in this while the rest of the world is just blind. It's not "The earth is round" while we are all saying it's flat. It's a service contract. Just like the one I got from my phone company when I signed up for the internet and they gave me a router. They charged me an extra $10 a month for that shitty router for probably a couple of years. It's the same deal I got when I got a new DirecTV satellite reciever. In addition to being able to watch satellite television, I agreed to "lease" the reciever (there was no option to buy) and I am charged for the hardware each month. When I got the service, I was obligated to keep it for at least one year or pay a massive penalty (over $300 plus hardware, I think).
Anyway, we've beaten this dead horse long enough. The deal is shitty. Anybody that has to go this route probably doesn't need to buy a 360 because they are probably in no position to pay for home internet, Netflix, etc. That $15 a month could go towards something more important. I will agree with anybody that says the deal is no good. I can't agree with your idea that the deal is somehow misguiding and deceptive. It says everything in crystal clear English and it's a model that we've seen time and time again.
And, with that, I'm done.
