Cash a check, join an ISP

Jan 29 12:38 UTC 2000

My 83-year-old father, in NYC, got a check for a big $3.50 from
cyberspace.COM. (NOT .ORG)

If you sign the check, you get $19.95/month ISP service billed
to your phone bill.

There was a brochure but the condition on the check was in
fairly tiny print.

I am not a lawyer but, IMHO, if there are two conditions
in a contract and one is far more important than the other
then the more important condition should not be in much
smaller print than the less important condition.

I am reasonably certain that at least some people signed
up for ISP service who didn't have a computer and don't have
the faintest notion of what an ISP is. I believe my father
might well have except that he's in a nursing home following
a major stroke and I opened the mail. He had probably had
some minor strokes previously and he had certainly purchased
stuff for which he had no use to "help" him get past the
third stage of some sweepstakes.

response 2 of 3:

Jan 29 14:06 UTC 2000

        I've seen several of those checks-that-aren't-checks.  They really
should be made illegal - if you lose the check in a pile of other bills and
find it outside of the context of the other materials it's sent with, it can
be very deceptive.  I'm really surprised banks will cash them, since they're
conditionally cashable only upon listing a VISA number or a home address in
many cases.