Is this a scam? Unsolicited Mail...

Gemmzie

I got this mail today from 'The Mount and Foot Painting Artists'

It contains Christmas cards and a small calender which the order form states is worth £5.85.

And it says "I have decided to purchase the set received" with a space to fill in the amount!

But it says not to return unwanted goods. And the letter says "you are, of course, under no obligation to buy or return the set".

What do I do? Is this a scam? Or is it a way of guilt tripping people into buying Christmas cards, I don't want them but feel bad keeping them

Help please

Hariboy

Hello Gemmzie,
I get these twice a year, and just keep them - even send them out to some people who i have forgotten to buy cards for. A colleague in work who also receives these annually, and he actually send off cheques to them. They are not a scam as my company was looking at buying in bulk off them in a bid to look charitable to our clients etc, but then had a turn of heart (probably as they are tight fisted with their cash, even a christmas time) If i where you i would just keep them though, and don't feel bad it's just like any other sales tactic - to try and pull on your heart strings.

WestonDave

Its a very long established organisation that has always followed this pattern - they send out a small pack of cards etc and invite you to pay for them, but never chase you if you don't. Its not high pressure sales just a way of raising profile and obviously hoping that if you like the cards you'll buy more. (By the way its the Mouth and Foot artists - so called because the artists are all unable to paint normally and use their mouth or foot to hold the brush!)

PurpleDuck

I get them every year so I just put return to sender on the packet and stick it back in the post without opening it. I hate unsolicited mail charity or not. My mum works with old people and the packs really cause them problems as they think they have to pay for them or have ordered them by mistake or something like that so they pay for them. I don't agree with this sort of marketing at all. I want charity cards so I get my cards from the Tenovous shop instead. I most certainly don't want to be guilted into buying stuff sent through the post.

superscaper

As far as I know, because they are unsolicited they can't legally demand you to return them. Anything posted unsolicited is legally a gift. They are playing purely on your emotions. Personally I'd either keep them or bin them.

Brainhertz

It's Guilt Tripping.

cheers,
Brainhertz

mclaren_2

also, might i add - ive closly looked at these images, and i am 99% they have been computered. Out of the 8 cards you get, i have 6 defo photoshopped ones.

Alot of old people, as said above, get these, and feel obliged to pay, or think they have to pay..... who gets the money? not a charity thats for sure, you never see any other charity doing this, do you?

comics

Just received a pack from them today and was wondering what to do. Guess I'll just keep them.

There's tugging at heart strings and rip off merchents, this is a case of the latter. £6 for 8 cards and an tiny calendar, the prices were unbelievable (which was why I search in this forum), if they set the cards at a more reasonable price, I may have been somewhat tempted to buy them.

I'm better off going to Asda.

eyelinerprincess

As it's unsolicited mail, you are under no obligation to pay or return the items. This was the advice I received from Consumer Direct in order to deal with another company who sent me something unsolicited then threatened to set debt collectors on me if I didn't pay up.

LittleVoice

Hariboy wrote: »

Hello Gemmzie,
I get these twice a year, and just keep them - even send them out to some people who i have forgotten to buy cards for. A colleague in work who also receives these annually, and he actually send off cheques to them. They are not a scam as my company was looking at buying in bulk off them in a bid to look charitable to our clients etc, but then had a turn of heart (probably as they are tight fisted with their cash, even a christmas time) If i where you i would just keep them though, and don't feel bad it's just like any other sales tactic - to try and pull on your heart strings.

Or perhaps they realised that it wasn't a charity but a business organisation which distributes its profits to the artists.

mclaren wrote:

also, might i add - ive closly looked at these images, and i am 99% they have been computered. Out of the 8 cards you get, i have 6 defo photoshopped ones.

Alot of old people, as said above, get these, and feel obliged to pay, or think they have to pay..... who gets the money? not a charity thats for sure, you never see any other charity doing this, do you?

Absolutely right as they are not a charity.

RadoJo

There appear to be legitimate reasons why this organisation does not have charitable staus - the artists do not want to be considered as charity cases! There is plenty of info here about them http://www.mfpa.co.uk/
assuming this is the same group as the OP was talking about. It seems to be the same as any other business - they send out direct marketing material in the form of a sample of their work.

I don't think there is any element of a 'scam' here, just a marketing technique which could be confusing. Have any of their detractors contacted them and pointed out how their marketing could be confusing to people? I'm sure they would rather know that people see them like this to give them the chance to rethink their methodology.