You'd Have to be Crazy to Pass Up This Deal!

As I was running errands last week, I felt like a tourist wending my way through a bazaar in Marrakesh, besieged by vendors hawking their wares.

At the mall I ran the usual gauntlet of people selling smokeless cigarettes, remote control helicopters and one-minute back massages.

When I was ready to pay for my purchases at one store, I had to summon up the intestinal fortitude not to open an account with them. Sure, at times the 10 percent savings can be substantial, but there is an inherent down side. First of all, if you’re like me, you might be trying to cut down on credit card use or extra paperwork. In addition, I’ve been told that opening and closing multiple credit cards can reflect badly on ones credit rating. I managed to get out safely, though, and headed over to Home Depot.

I didn’t get far down the aisle before I was approached by a woman with a clipboard asking me what home improvement project I was most interested in tackling. I wanted to say that the only project I was interested in was replacing the 60 watt light bulbs on either side of my front door. However, not wanting to be rude, I explained that I currently had no major projects on my to-do list. She didn’t even try to hide her look of skepticism that my house wasn’t in need of some kind of improvement.

After I left Home Depot, I went to take care of a very simple transaction at the bank. By the time I left, I had not only been talked into a new credit card, I had been scheduled for an appointment to talk with with a financial planner. I had mistakenly presumed that the credit card was just an upgrade to the one I already had. When the new card came in the mail, I promptly canceled it hoping that any damage to my credit rating would be negligible. As for the appointment with the financial planner, I cancelled it the next day and will not be rescheduling.

Unfortunately, this kind thing is happening to me with increasing regularity. When I called Verizon to report a problem, I was warned by the automated message that once the issue had been addressed, they reserved the right to tell me about new offers I surely wouldn’t want to pass up. Usually such offers are free for a period of time, let’s say 30 days, at which point, they claim, customers can easily request to discontinue the service. Obviously, companies are counting on the fact that people will forget to cancel, or will be too lazy to bother, or will have lost the information needed to follow through. Of course, the call to cancel will involve another barrage of offers.

With the memory of that day of errands still fresh in my mind, I have mapped out a strategy for my trip to the mall today. I will not make eye contact with anyone and will walk briskly with my phone in hand. Wish me luck!