 |
| The Hello Kitty(tm) doll |
As I mentioned in my last post, we recently visited a carnival park with lots of rides and games. The games offered lots of chances to "win" prizes, though more often, you lost money. Somehow, I kept relating this to instances where people were fooled by factoring proposals that just looked too good to be true. However, the reality behind these proposals, usually written in the contract, tell a different story. Much like the story I am about to tell you:
The Expensive Hello Kitty(tm) Doll
While we were at the carnival park, my daughter got her heart set on a Hello Kitty doll. Like any father, I did my best to try an win one for her. This ultimately included over paying for the cheaply made doll that doesn't look real to me that I "won" from a really cleaver slick talking man at the park.
The game was simple - you had to hit a figure with a dart and get a price. The carnival slick talking man spoke fast throwing a whole bunch of words at you at the same time. He emphasized that the first two darts where on the house, so you only paid for the last dart. He kept emphasizing how almost everything was on the house. As a businessman, I know that could not be right. As a father, I wanted that darn doll for my little one and wasn;t paying too much attention to him. My mistake! Between his fast talk and my continual misses with the dart, I ended up taking lots of turn before getting the doll. However, since most of these were "on the house" I though this would not set me back much...... until I realized I had to pay $20. Would you pay $20 for this? I have included a picture of this darn doll - I'll leave it to the reader to tell me if it's real and licensed.
What does this have to do with factoring? Well, in this competitive industry it's not unusual to come by proposals that just seem to be too good to be true. Many "a prospect" has fallen for the slick looking proposal without looking at the details that are outlined in the contract. My suggestion - read the factoring contract before signing on as a customer. And be sure to understand it!
