posted
I don't often post or comment over here, so I hope you don't mind this random request for advice. That advice will be highly valued, which is why I'm posting in this forum. This can totally be a Mayfly thread, if people even still use that term.
So, I checked the mail this morning and there was an envelope in it hand addressed to me. It had a CA postmark. I live on the opposite coast. I opened it because it was handwritten.
Inside was a copy of an email from a named General Manager of a Fiat in a town nearby (located in my state, not in CA) to another guy asking that this second guy contact me about buying my car because they have an interested buyer. There were a few "we'll do this or that" statements thrown in as incentive, like giving me a free oil change.
Then there was a yellow post-it note with "[Traceria], please call if you're interested [insert phone number of car dealership]. -[Second Dude's Name]" handwritten on it in pen. (The car dealership's phone number was at the bottom of the email along with the General Manager's other contact information, which is how I knew what the number was for.)
I showed this to an attorney in my office, and the only thing he could think of is that this dealership might have some kind of company they use to try to find people selling cars. He agreed, though, that it's quite disturbing that they got my information and the specifics of my car. It lists my full name, obviously, they have my address, and they know the make, model and year of my car.
If this was from the car dealership where I've had it serviced, I wouldn't think twice about it because I already get mail, both coupons and information on special offers, but this is a Fiat dealership in another town I've only driven through, and it was mailed from another state that just so happens to be across the country.
Also, I'm not sure if this is pure coincidence or not, but my father-in-law just gave us his old car, which we put in my name. Almost two weeks ago I took it to the DMV to get ownership changed over, and the email in the envelope was dated a week later. My old car has been sitting in our driveway undriven for the past week and a half as we're going to be giving it to a friend in the near future.
I want to call and give them a piece of my mind, but I'm not sure that's the best idea. Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
(Edit for spelling.)
Posts: 691 | Registered: Nov 2008
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posted
Sounds like the dealerships sell information to each other, or share it. I think it's pretty common practice, unfortunately. The letter itself is a total gimmick. Nobody is taking a particular interest in you or your car - just mass marketing with your personal details merged in.
posted
Oh, I hate stuff like this. It becomes a question of sussing out where they got your personal information from.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
I've definitely gotten some that were printed to look handwritten, but this was a first to actually BE handwritten. I have a couple friends who live in California, so I didn't think much of the post mark until after seeing the contents. It's just so sketchy.
Edit to add: Scifibum, I'll have to check out that blog post on my home computer. Dang work computer has it blocked.
Posts: 691 | Registered: Nov 2008
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posted
Just keep in mind that there are machines that can write in pen; written in pen/pencil != handwritten.
The blog post is about an example of the exact same thing you described. It focuses more on ridiculing the sales strategy than on how the information is collected, but it does mention that dealerships pay a 3rd party service to send these out.
It's all just an elaborate gimmick to try to generate foot traffic into dealerships to generate sales. I think the information gets distributed/resold in the same way it does for extended warranty direct mailers.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Most likely your vehicle registrations are considered public information, and your state DMV sells this information (access to their database) to commercial entities. If you ever try getting one of those quick online car insurance quotes, you will discover they are able to "magically" autofill all your vehicle information once you give them your name and address, for the same reasons.
This is just auto-generated junk mail made to look personalized to encourage you to open it. Throw it away and get on with your life.
Posts: 89 | Registered: Apr 2013
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posted
Yeah, scifibum is covering what I was going to say. There are absolutely machines that give the impression of things being handwritten.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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My father-in-law ended up saying the same thing about DVM/dealerships selling information. Feels good to hear it from different sources, though. Thanks all!
Seriously, though, if I had to put money on whether or not this note was handwritten, I would say it was. It's got pen indentations and everything through the paper. If they make machines that can do that and vary handwriting from one use of the letter 's' to the next, they've come a long way since the last bit of junk mail I received.
Maybe what really freaked me out was the fact that I was listening to Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde, and Thursday Next was just noticing all the odd coincidences around her. Seeing as I got a new car and was on the verge of selling my old vehicle when this arrived, we'll just chalk it up to the paranoia caused by the audiobook. Posts: 691 | Registered: Nov 2008
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posted
i have actually sat down with those stupid "post-it" yellow pads in junk mail and literally looked at the 'handwriting' with a loupe to figure out if it was machine-penned.
yeah you can pick them apart eventually, but there's indentation and everything
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
Wow. What I want to know is why? Why go to such effort to make people think this is real? There was NO WAY I was going to even inquire about the deal this thing offered let alone take it. Are there truly enough people out there to make it worth it who would consider it despite the disturbing method?
Posts: 691 | Registered: Nov 2008
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posted
Yes. There are people who will ignore all mail unless they believe a human being wrote to them.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Why go to such effort to make people think this is real?
Because when you do it at a scale of tens or hundreds of thousands and automate the process it's not actually very much effort. All you need is a slight uptick in response rate to justify it.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
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quote:Why go to such effort to make people think this is real?
Because when you do it at a scale of tens or hundreds of thousands and automate the process it's not actually very much effort. All you need is a slight uptick in response rate to justify it.
And in some cases, all you need is to convince the direct customer - the dealership - that this will work, even if it doesn't actually lead to more sales.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
I work in car sales and it all comes from a third party the dealership paid to try and generate foot traffic. Third party companies collect information from a variety of sources, and then sell their lists to dealerships based on certain criteria. Dealerships can choose specific makes and models to have letters sent to, the idea being that they think that your vehicle is one that they either want for their inventory, or is something they think you want to get rid of. The last two times my dealership sent out these kinds of letters I got them for the two vehicles my wife and I own. And yes, the handwritten one is something new they are trying to make the letter appear more authentic to the customer. We just sent out a batch of these exactly like you described, even with a post it note attached. It's just junk mail for you to throw away.
Posts: 13 | Registered: Apr 2013
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