"Complimentary Gourmet Meal.......Deal or No Deal?

[Bigkrank]

Got a couple free Olive Garden meals and one at good local steakhouse. No problems. Of course I never gave them my "correct" email or phone number at the dinner. I usually give them the local time/temperature phone number.

 

[RobertBrown]

Jd - I heard the food at those free Gourmet dinners are spiked with a dust that causes the folks consuming the food to be lulled into an agreeable stupor so they are willing to sign anything....Just what I heard....

JD,
I think you should attend....
signed:

Keith A. Barr

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Wife got us into one of those things a few years back. It was at a first class restaurant and the meal was anything that you wanted. I had a nice steak, just the way I like it. The inevitable lecture was not without a lot of boredom and discomfort; the most discomforting thing was that they put you through a little exercise designed to give them enough information about your finances that would provide them with ammo to make a sales pitch. I don't know about you, but my privacy and peace of mind is not worth the aggravation...and that includes the little mini vacations, free wristwatches, etc.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Do you have a healthy retirement plan/investments already? If you do, then it's probably a waste of your time, or a waste of a good meal having to listen to some guy or gal drone on and on.

On the other hand, I had a co-worker invite me to one 12 years ago that turned out to be a good move. I weathered the Great Recession with far less losses than most people, and my Return On Investment is triple what I was doing before. And I got a decent Chinese lunch out of it.

Just keep in mind that any investment can vanish either due to market fluctuations, or government stupidity/malice. But it's like the Super Bowl, you'll never win if you don't play the game.

 

[creekbend]

Don't take the bait (get it - a joke)! It will not be an enjoyable meal and you will be hounded by the sales people.

MoKelly

I agree. Take your wife to Golden Corral on Steak night. Plus, you will have many other items to choose from.

 

[tallyho8]

We went to one of those meetings for a time share that promised a free cruise. When we didn't want to sign up with them they sent in another salesman who tried to convince us for another half hour and then a third try at hard sales with another salesman and we were kept there an hour longer than the time they said we would be there.

We got a certificate for one person in a double on a 3 day cruise from Florida. We had to pay for the taxes and port fees for that person plus full rate for the second person plus airfare etc. That cruise would have cost us about $500 more than a 7 day cruise from New Orleans.

Rip Off

 

[jlawso21]

If you are at a point in life that you have more time than money (retirement) you might consider it.

My wife and I have gone to various sales events over the years, free 2 night stays at vacation spots, meals etc. The last one was at a nice steak house. The meal was good, not great, we did not get to order off the menu, it was a set meal with a choice of steak or fish, or something like that.

When it came to the sales pitch we just declined any request for info. No problem. I have gone on a few of these and when it came time for the close I simply said "Don't waste my time and I wont waste yours". In a couple of cases they gave me the incentive they promised without having to go through the pain of the pitch.

If you are nice usually they will be as well.

 

[cqaigy2]

You think like an economist -- and I mean that as a compliment.

Steve

But is there a thing called a zero sum game?