I got this suspicious postcard

[ironhat]

I got this card in the mail today which says that we have wood a FREE DELICIOUS DINNER FOR TWO (their emphasis). We are to leave our checkbook at home because there is nothing to buy. This is an exciting and fun presentation (their description) on reducing [your] utility bills up t 55% - savings may vary.

Has this 'scam', if it is one, been through your neighborhood? If so, any clue what it's all about? Just running this by the group as a matter of interest.

TIA

[Uncle Cracker]

Get junk mail like this all the time. Usually you end up in the banquet room of some Denny's, eating cold chicken and being tag-teamed by some high pressure sales pitch. I don't need a free meal that bad... And if you do go, they'll keep your info, as well as selling it to every junk mail list in the country.

[ironhat]

<snip>
I don't need a free meal that bad... And if you do go, they'll keep your info, as well as selling it to every junk mail list in the country.

Roger that, UC! I'm just wondering what this one is all about.

[Ed62]

Nope. Haven't heard of that one, but you can bet there's something for them to sell.

Ed

[gwyneth]

As I've mentioned, my dog is listed in the phone book instead of me. He gets a variety of these dinner invitations.

Some are clearly timeshare sales pitches; some are probably business franchise fishing expeditions; and some are probably folks who think they can do a better job managing Junior's investments than he can.

I've been waiting for one that doesn't have any disqualifiers (married, over 55, owner of 20+ acres, or such) so that Junior and I can show up, then watch them try to weasel out of the invitation they sent him.

Any year I'll have enough nerve to take him into the local GM dealer with one of their "Yes! Junior, we guarantee that we can put you into..." mailings.

[Pappy]

My latest "invite" was for a presentation on financial management. I'll pass on the dinner...

[LCHIEN]

if you go they probably have some second story man come in and get your checkbook, knowing you left it at home.

Does anyone really use checks anymore? I now write about 5 or 6 a year.

[Uncle Cracker]

Does anyone really use checks anymore? I now write about 5 or 6 a year.

I write 12 a year (my mortgage payment, because they don't take them online yet).

[jspelbring]

Insulation

My guess would be for that thin, reflective attic insulation. I think they refer to it as a "thermal barrier".

[jking]

I guess I'm old fashioned. I prefer checks for bills that come in the mail (utilities, phone, etc.) I don't like the idea of paying bills online; I also prefer to limit the automatic payments to my mortgage.

On topic, I haven't seen anything like this. A couple of times a year I do receive letter from one of the local HVAC companies offering tremendous savings on a new furnace/ac because he ordered too many & needs to get rid of his excess. It's obviously a marketing ploy, because if it's not, he's a really poor business man. Make the same mistake every year? "Oops, we ordered too many again."

[ironhat]

My guess would be for that thin, reflective attic insulation. I think they refer to it as a "thermal barrier".

Ahhh, yes, Illl bet you're right. I forgot about that stuff. It came around as a multi-level deal some years ago - maybe 10 - and then I saw it in Lowes firly recently. It may work as a reflective surface against radiant energy but the R factor has to be about nil.

[cabinetman]

We get the envelopes that look like a government envelope. They are mostly from car dealers with huge tent sales. Then every once in a while we get one that looks like a check. They make the window envelope look like there is a check inside.

Well, I don't throw them away anymore, because LOML is always sending in rebate cards. Low and behold, sometimes there is a check in there.