We are giving away all of our money in dribs and drabs called monthly fees. There is the cell phone, satellite radio, magazine subscriptions, TiVo, and the champion of all -- Onstar.
As bad as it is to pay a monthly fee for something that you will probably never need and is mostly redundant with a cell phone, the real rant here is Onstar's fear-based marketing. Even before 9/11, companies were acutely aware of the concept that fear sells. Onstar has taken this to a new level. I think we have all heard these commercials on radio and TV:
Onstar: This is Onstar.
Desperate Woman: I locked my keys in the car with my baby, and it is sinking in a lake and on fire! Also, I have a headache.
Onstar: OK, calm down and give me your VIN number.
DW: T36882402895458216829
Onstar: OK, you're all set. The doors are unlocked and I put some aspirin in the glove compartment.
DW: Thank you, OnStar!
So now I am a bad parent and can't sleep at night because I am not protected by Onstar. I think the commercials should really go more like this:
Onstar: This is Onstar
Desperate Woman: Help! My kids are driving me nuts, and we really need a vacation.
Onstar: OK, let me connect you with Travel Services. How much money do you have?
DW: Uh, none. We're actually in debt.
Onstar: You know, if you didn't sign up for Onstar 12 years ago you'd have enough for a Mediterranean Cruise.
DW: Oh.
Onstar: I went ahead and unlocked your car. You should go trade it in for a Hyundai.
That really pushes my button.
BrianM
MikeB
Posts
2 comments:
little game I play- while reading a post I try and guess who wrote it. this time it was easy to guess you Mike. LOL (kids, saving money theme).
While we are on the subject, I think there are plenty of ridiculous monthly fees out there.
The TiVo fee is ridiculous. There is no reason to pay a monthly fee basically for downloading a TV guide into your machine. I understand they do this in order to sell the product cheaper, but it doesn't seem that this model should be viable in the long term.
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