Since I was a kid, every World Cup would bring the same ads: If Spain wins, your TV is FREE! For decades, nobody ever won…until this victory. Now Toshiba is trying to weasel their way out of their get-your-money-back promotion.
“Si la Roja gana, tú ganas” said the ad in big honking letters in magazines, newspapers, and TV commercials.
If the Red—nickname for the Spanish soccer team—wins, you win.
Buy a Toshiba laptop with the last Intel Core i5 2010 processor, or a Toshiba TV and, if Spain wins the final we will give all your money back.
That was it. Pretty clear and straightforward… unless you read the small print, which was not available in any of the ads, only in the company’s web site. There, the rules said that you had to register your product before June 17 to qualify. Of course, almost nobody did that, because the ads themselves didn’t say anything about registration or any requirement. It was only: Buy our products and we will give your money back if Spain wins the final.
Pay up assholes.
A lawyers wet dream come true.
What an a-holes, gready peace of shiznitz
I’m surprised that Toshiba didn’t buy insurance to cover themselves. Hell, even the TV show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” doesn’t pay winners. Instead, they dump the risk elsewhere by buying insurance that pays when someone wins.
The Devil is in them thar details.
What a crappy bait and switch like behavior though. Maybe Toshiba and Apple should merge…
New Spanish law: All TVs shall de facto be fully and automatically registered at the moment of purchase. Retroactive to June 1, 2010.
Not surprised. Toshiba has been shady for a long, long time. Back in the early 1970s they were convicted of patent infringement against IBM IIRC.
Still, one should always, always, always read the fine print. If something appears too good to be true, it most likely is.
They should have applied that to the US and they wouldn’t have anything to worry about
There is no free lunch.
Must expect controversy.
Must Read the fine print.
I don’t buy nor will ever buy a Toshiba brand anything.
Toshiba has been off my list ever since they illegally sold technology to the USSR to help make their subs more quiet. F them.
“In 1987, Toshiba Machine, a subsidiary of Toshiba, was accused of illegally selling CNC milling machines used to produce very quiet submarine propellers to the Soviet Union in violation of the CoCom agreement, an international embargo on certain countries to COMECON countries. The Toshiba-Kongsberg scandal involved a subsidiary of Toshiba and the Norwegian company Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk. The incident strained relations between the United States and Japan, and resulted in the arrest and prosecution of two senior executives, as well as the imposition of sanctions on the company by both countries.[3] The US had always relied on the fact that the Soviets had noisy boats, so technology that would make the USSR’s submarines harder to detect created a significant threat to America’s security. Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania said “What Toshiba and Kongsberg did was ransom the security of the United States for $517 million.””
Meh! Just because there isn’t any fine print immediately apparent, doesn’t mean there isn’t any fine print. No such thing as a free lunch as my dad always taught me. Not defending Toshiba per se, but having your trust in a major international corp. abused/broken? That NEVER happens! /s
Nothing is free.
..and only nothing.
“Caveat Emptor” knows no borders on a consumption based planet.
What..not everybody got the memo?
..wait..someone needed a memo?
-s
Link in Spanish – before the final – about “Companies losing if Spain wins”. Most of the companies bought insurance, do not about Toshiba. Anyway, they better pay up everyone who bought or the backslash can be huge.
http://actualidad.orange.es/fotos/empresas-que-pierden-si-espana-gana-el-mundial/promociones-para-atraer-clientes.html
QUESTION:
do any of the advertisements say country of SPAIN ONLY??
If not, this could be a GREAT THING..