Let's Make a Deal....Or Not

It never ceases to amaze me how idiotic some companies must think that we are. I got an offer yesterday from Cingular, my wireless carrier. The letter begins something like, "To show our appreciation for being such a loyal/great/excellent/etc Cingular customer, we'd like to make this offer to you...."

Enclosed are pictures of a couple of slick phones--one of which is a Blackberry and the other is one of the popular models with cool features, I guess. Anyway, the letter goes on to offer me the latter phone for FREE! or a hefty discount on the Blackberry model. In return, all I have to give them is.........an additional line of service on my account and I'm guessing a 2-year contract. What a deal! Let's see--$9.99 for an additional line, plus tax, is $10.91. Times 24 months, is only $261.84, and that's not counting all those FCC charges, inter-state bridge/toll excise taxes and crap that seems to increase your bill by like 15%. But the whole tone of the letter was "Thank you for being such a loyal customer" and "Don't wait to take advantage of this great deal!."

First of all, Nicholas isn't asking for a cell phone (yet), and even if he was, this deal is a stretch at best. I'll buy on my own terms, thank you.