Call the Papers When You See the Ads

Lawyer-blogger Matthew Brenengen posted a comment to my earlier post, Universal Media Syndicate -- Half-Truths, Puffery and Outright Lies.

In the comment, he reports that he called the Pioneer Press after they ran the UMS "free armored safe" ad on Tuesday, March 24. He was referred by the reader advocate to a woman in the advertising department: "She told me that she was concerned that I thought the ads were a scam. She told me that no one else had ever complained about them."

Here's the Pioneer Press phone number: 651-228-5446. Of course, the same ad ran in the Star Tribune the today (March 25), so to be consistent, one might want to contact them as well. Their main number is 612-673-4000 and their feedback form to the advertising department can be found here. And remember -- the worse the newspapers do financially, the more we'll see these ads.

In his own blog post on the subject, Brenengen makes a number of cogent points about the "free armored safe" ad, including this:

...to get your safe, all you have to do is agree to 19 payments of $98 - that's $1862 plus shipping for a safe.... [In return you get] 4,100 coins with a face value of $300. That's right, you get $300 for $2000. That is the definition of scam, con or hoax, isn't it? Folks, there is nothing special about these coins. These are new $1 coins and nickles. If you want your own hoard, go to a bank. They would be happy to sell you a hoard of coins for $300 -- no shipping. If you really want a safe, go to Lowes and buy one for about $100.

When I read the ad, I did the math, too, and came up with the same numbers. In addition to that, the thing that struck me was the weasel language used. Check out this bit of b.s. from the ad:

U.S. Gov't Savings Bonds used to be a favorite way to keep money safe and popular to give as gifts. But no one can take a Savings Bond and go buy something with it.

That's why this hoard of valuable coins gives everyone the comfort of having full control of their money. No matter what, they will never lose their U.S. cash value.

That's right -- the coins will never lose their cash value (minus inflation) but if you buy these coins from the ad, you will have paid about 600% more than their cash value. So it's absurd to hold that out as a product benefit.

Aaargh. Grumble grumble. Enough of this for one night.

Update: I've received a cease and desist letter from Arthur Middleton Capital Holdings, challenging my assertion that the World Reserve Monetary Exchange's coin collections are overpriced.

I acknowledge that I do not know exactly what coins are in the the 4,100-coin "hoard" and that some may have collector value over their face value. One specific mentioned by the AMCH lawyer is the 2005 Westward Journey bison nickel; there are two in the collection valued (according to the Guide Book of United States Coins) at 25 cents and 75 cents apiece (depending on their numismatic condition).

Although I would further note that a coin collector going by the name of Hobo on cointalk.com assessed the value of the coins at their face value of $300. (I wonder if he has received a cease and desist notice from the World Reserve's lawyers like I did.)

Which leads me to urge anyone considering purchasing the coin hoard and safe to ask for a complete list of the coins that are part of the offering, along with their current values according to the Guide Book of United States Coins, and even doing some more of your own research on their value, before deciding whether to purchase the collection.