The Pellucid Perspective - November 2013 - (Page 5)

GOLF COURSE MARKETING What's wrong with this picture? By Harvey Silverman I receive emails from a number of golf courses, clients and non-clients alike. I look for good ideas, creativity and trends. I also shake my head at the misspellings and poor grammar that seem to be endemic to our industry. In my experience I've found most general managers know the local or state laws regarding expiration of coupons, vouchers, gift certificates and prepaid packages. There are federal consumer protection laws and a number of states with stricter laws, including California - where the course making the offer that inspired this article resides. With the holiday season coming up and courses gearing up to sell gift cards (you do run a holiday gift card promotion, don't you?), I thought it timely to review what's right and what's wrong. Pictured below was something I snipped from the email of a California course I am subscribed to but will remain unnamed. It wasn't the aggressive offer that caught my eye, it was the poorly written offer details that include an expiration date for the prepaid package. increased). Of course, the consumer would run the risk of the business being gone. Upon closer examination, however, the "27 Hours" availability makes this a daily deal-type offer, similar to a Groupon offer. And in 2012, Groupon agreed to a $8.5 million settlement of federal class action lawsuits. In the lawsuits, the plaintiffs said Groupon violated laws such as the federal Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, which prohibits the sale of gift cards that expire in fewer than five years. The plaintiffs said Groupon "effectively creates a sense of urgency" among consumers to buy its vouchers by offering "daily deals" for a short amount of time, usually 24 hours. "Consumers therefore feel pressured and are rushed into buying the gift certificates and unwittingly become subject to the onerous sales conditions imposed," including a ban on cash refunds and a requirement that gift certificates be used in a single transaction, court papers show. Groupon denied liability in agreeing to settle. Under California law, gift certificates and gift cards can never expire. Federal law sets a five-year period before expiration. There are a couple of exceptions under the federal Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009, and with some state laws as well. Free coupons can expire, but for the most part, if a consumer paid money for a gift card or certificate, it cannot expire in California. The offer above is neither a gift card nor certificate although it could be purchased and given to someone as a gift. It's a bit murky whether this offer can legally have an expiration date (never mind the confusing language - we're assuming the April 30, 2014 date is the expiration). Businesses argue that someone buying the $185 deal could hold onto it for 10 years, when theoretically the deal would be much better (assuming rates had Groupon made a policy change after the settlement, stating in their Terms and Conditions FAQs, "Local and Getaways vouchers are always worth at least the amount you paid for them - even if the promotional value has expired." So while the golf course offer was not a Groupon deal, digging a little further revealed that it was presented by a Groupon clone called Price Looper. But that wasn't easy to find, since the pricelooper.com website displays nothing but a bright green screen (maybe a not so subtle hint that it's making lots of money) with Pricelooper emblazoned across the middle. NOTHING else. No menus. No contact page. Take a look yourself by clicking this link: www.pricelooper.com. So I googled "pricelooper" and found several links to several other deals they had done recently (along with the Facebook www.PellucidCorp.com The Pellucid PersPecTive 5 http://www.pricelooper.com http://www.pricelooper.com http://WWW.PELLUCIDCORP.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - November 2013

TOC
A silver lining in 2013: Golf's largest markets figure out how to beat the weather
What's wrong with this picture?
USGA approval of OnCore hollow core ball technology an interesting development
A new determinant on "weather" golfers play or not?
Golf's interests protected in TopGolf lease agreement
October golf weather impact: 4th consecutive month in positive territory
Orlando: Courses in golf's meeting mecca surviving
Edwin Watts Golf Shopes files for bankruptcy, Watts family hoping to regain control
Pace of play campaigns missing the point

The Pellucid Perspective - November 2013