| d21lewis said: Aielyn, I.....I just don't know what to say. I just want to shake you until ask "Why don't you get it?" Why don't you get it? "Only" is just an advertising buzz word. This is ridiculous. Have you ever seen an infomercial for something like P90-X. It'll say "For four easy payments of only $39.99..." or something. I have given up on you. |
If it said "for $99 plus only $14.99 per month", I'd have been fine with it.
The "only" was against the $99, not the $14.99 per month. And no, "only" is a marketing word, not an advertising buzz word. It has a very solid definition, and has been used for a long time. They are suggesting that it's cheap, yes, and that's the main purpose of the "only"... but when you say "buy a XXX for only $99*", then it's false advertising if it doesn't cost only $99. And this doesn't cost only $99, it costs $99 + $14.99/month.
As I said before, if someone were to say "Come and buy a house for only $50,000*", and then had "House and property for only $50,000 with 10 year power contract at $500 per month", it would be natural for people to be confused, due to the "only". Every single other person in this thread had already read MS's explanation of the deal before forming a judgment, so they already knew the "right" interpretation. I made it a point to not read what MS had to say about the deal, only to look at the marketing of it. The first marketing I saw was that image in the first post, that just says "$99*". Hence my initial reaction based on the asterisk itself. Then, when I saw the docket-type form, it was made worse by the vagueness - I'd assumed that it would just be fine print, and the fine print would make it clear. Instead, the fine print is actually more confusing... but I seem to be the only one who avoided MS's explanation.
yo_john117 - Again, it's not the deal (the contract), it's the marketing. It's what they actually *say* about the deal. I challenge you to find an example of a house, car, etc deal in which they sell it in the same way that MS is selling their deal - that is, using words like "only" against only part of the cost, etc. You'll be hard-pressed, because they always use terms to make it clear, like "downpayment", "deposit", or "up front". And somewhere (often the fine print) they list the "minimum total price" (this is common, for instance, in gyms - where, if you want to cancel before the contract is up, you have to pay out the remainder of the minimum price).
