No Soliciting...

On or about July 29, 2011, I got a solicitation in the mail from a local car dealership. The solicitation told me that  I am "guaranteed" to win a prize of at least $49.00. Being a lawyer, I was interested. I read the fine print, and found that all I needed was a driver's license and social security number. Also, I had to show up to claim the prize.

When I get to the dealership on the morning of the first day of their prize giveaways, I was greeted by three young men wearing UNH t-shirts. The young men asked me if I got the same solicitation in the mail, and I said yes. The three men went into the dealership before me and one sat down to be "registered". I was able to watch the registration process.

The salesman at the dealership (doing the registration) asked the young man from UNH for his driver's license. The young man handed it over. The  salesman then asked for the young man's phone number. The young man gave it up without hesitation. The salesman then asked about what kind of car the young man drove and whether he wanted to upgrade to a bigger model or to a sportier model. The salesman gave his lecture, which sounded prepared, about all the sales that were going on and all the prizes that the young man could win. Finally, the salesman told the young man that another salesman would be happy to show him around the lot.

Then, I sat down. I gave up my driver's license. When asked for my phone number, I requested to see the portion of the solicitation which required this. The registrar was unable to procure this. He again asked for my number. I told him that all that was required of me was in the solicitation. He seemed upset and filled out a certificate for a free oil change and inspection. See below.

I called today, August 17, 2011 to check if my Subaru would be covered, and a man from the dealership said yes.

On my way out of the dealership after getting the certificate, two of the young men I had seen were waiting for their friend who was still in the lot. They asked me what happened. I told them that I offered only what was required of me and showed my certificate. The two young men looked upset that they had been "sold" at least to the point of waiting in expectation of "prizes". They started to walk towards their friend on the lot - they looked upset, and seemed to want to leave.

All of the papers that were mailed to me are below, followed up with the certificate that I got, which says it has no value.

 

For the record

A few weeks ago, a guardian ad litem (GAL) was deposed at my law office. In preparing for this deposition, my office acquired a digital copy of the audio record of a hearing in the same matter. Once we acquired the CD that the audio was fixed on, I figured we could just put it into a CD player in a computer and listen. Instead, the envelope that the court sent the CD in had a single sheet of directions... Find them below.

As a relatively sophisticated computer user, I was able to follow the directions, but it still took me some time. Having to register with a website in order to listen to a 30 minute hearing (once) did not seem necessary. I don't understand why the court system keeps its audio records in a proprietary format. If "For the Record" the company were to go out of business, would that render all of the court's audio records useless?

The player is good - it keeps track of the start and end times of the hearing. So, ten minutes into the recording, you can tell the corresponding time was ten minutes into the hearing - if the hearing started at 10:00 am, the player will display 10:10 am. Aside from that, I'm not impressed... Give me VLC.