Overpriced CompTek Laptops from Universal Media Syndicate

Well, at least the latest product from Arthur Middleton Capital Holdings (via the Universal Media Syndicate) isn't snake oil -- it's just overpriced, in my opinion, and its price is advertised in a deceptive way. I guess that's a step up for them.

Thursday's Star Tribune included a full-page ad for a "new, easy-to-use laptop computer" from CompTek, but darned if it isn't just another ad from the Universal Media Syndicate, complete with a limited time offer and a "special" claim code. (Click on the image for a larger version.)


Actually, I find this ad less deceptive than many of their others (such as the Universal Health Card), because it at least displays the price as numerals with a dollar sign! But check out the weaselry in the headline:


In case you can't read the smaller, italic type, it ends with "for a final payment of just $188."

That's right -- you send them $188 up front, then after you've had the computer two weeks, you owe them another $188. This is made clearer in the Terms and Conditions box (right under the toll-free number).

Why are they trying to hide the fact that the CompTek costs $376? Well, that's because $376 is a bad price.

A quick check of the Dell website put me onto their Mini 10V, which costs $299 -- with a larger screen and a 50 percent larger hard drive. It also has 1GB of RAM, while RAM is not even mentioned in the CompTek ad... which seems pretty odd.

At this point, I have to acknowledge that Dell charges $40 to get a color case on the Mini 10V, while the CompTek comes in white, pink, yellow or red at no additional cost. So if you assume no one wants a black laptop, the price comparison is $339 vs. $376 -- still about 11 percent more for the CompTek.

I haven't seen much Internet discussion of the CompTek yet, so perhaps this is a completely new product from the princes of puffery down in Canton, Ohio. One item I did see was on a site called The Amish Cook, which took the UMS gang to task for their past scams, and for involving the Amish in their ads. After pointing out the deceptive price listing in the CompTek ad, the post (which -- in case you were wondering -- was written by the editor of the site, not the Amish woman who writes the column for which the site is named) finished with this thought: "At least there is no mention of Amish in the ad!"

An Amish laptop... even the Universal Media Syndicate wouldn't go that far!