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FIB - Scams 101 - Ye Olde Archives
Posted By: Kelly Sutton <ladypenguin@hotmail.com> In Response To: Little difference from the "Pre-Internet" rip-off artists... (Dennis Bevers)
Tuesday, 30 November 2004, at 11:57 p.m.
Dennis,
You're right on target, as usual.
An interesting story I learned through Watkins had to do with J.R. Watkins, the founder of the company back in 1868. He had started the company with a recipe he had bought from a Dr. Richard Ward for a pain relieving liniment. He took the recipe home, and started making up batches of this liniment on a wood stove, bottled it in his woodshed, and then took it out to the public to sell.
Because there were so many "snake oil salesmen" out there in those days, those who would sell these concoctions that supposedly would "cure" everything from baldness to cancer, he decided that he would separate himself and his business from those shysters...and how he did this was by getting his glass bottles made up with a "Trial Mark" on the backs of the bottles. Because people were naturally skeptical,(hey, if you'd bought some kind of worthless concoction from one of these snake oil salesmen, maybe not once, but maybe even more than once, sure, you'd be skeptical too!) he told people that they could take his bottle of liniment and try it, right down to the Trial Mark. On his next trip around, if they didn't like it, or didn't think it worked, whatever reason, he'd refund their money on the spot. By doing this, he created the world's first documented money back guarantee. Watkins bottles still have the Trial Mark on them, to this very day, 136 years later, and still honor that money back guarantee. If you're not satisfied with a product, for any reason, return it to your Watkins associate for a prompt refund.
We all know that P.T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute"... and if you think about it, scams have probably existed as long as there's been unscrupulous people on the planet. Thankfully, not all companies operate in this manner. I imagine that Kaiser and Blair is a company that probably offers a similar guarantee to Watkins. Most decent companies do.
Thoughtful, appreciated Christmas gifts for everyone on your list! Check it out!