Hmmm, how do we say this other than "avoid it like the plague!"
Another thought that comes to mind is, "whatever you do, just don't answer the door!"
Let's get the positives out there first. I like Lex de Azevedo, Kurt Bestor, and Orson Scott Card. They are all great. And Richard Rich, how can you not love a former Disney CM?
Also, it is nice to support positives things like these videos. It is good to encourage learning about Nephi, Moses, Joseph Smith, Alma, Abraham Lincoln, and all the other DVDs they have to offer. They are pretty cool, but are they for me? No. Mainly because I don't think they are the most accurate videos and until the church puts out official videos, I'm good. I think I'll just read those things we call books. I can learn from those. I think.
Now the near-endless negatives begin. So it is Monday night and we just put the boys down to bed. It is just before 9 PM and Blaire & I were going to do Family Night together. She's upstairs and I hear a knock on the door. Someone stopped by earlier and I was unable to get to the door because I was tending to Preston, so I thought, Oh, they are back, I better get it, I mean, it must be important at 9 PM on a Monday night (big mistake).
It turns out that it was two guys selling Living Scriptures DVDs. If you aren't familiar, they sell religious and historical DVDs. From the Bible to The Book of Mormon to Thomas Edison. All positive stuff, some is animated, some live action.
So they ask to come in. I, of course, say no because we don't want them. One of the guys then gives the classic line that if they give their presentation then they get credit for it and yada yada yada, it helps them out. He says it will only take five minutes. So being the sucker that I am, I say yes (big mistake).
They come in and try to make small talk and be nice. He states they will only be here five minutes. Then he asks if my wife will come watch a clip with us because they find that it is better to have the couples watch together (I think you mean because they know the wives run the show, so they want them in the room). So I go get Blaire so she can help me get rid of them (big mistake).
Fast forward awhile and there are 40 DVDs, four books, and 18 CDs on our coffee table (don't worry, we don't drink coffee, people just call them that). And seeing the look on Blaire's face, I have some apologizing to do.
They continually try to sell us the products and we continually say no. Blaire asks for a card and they say they don't have them (convenient), because Corporate says they are the human card (how cute).
And get this, we were lucky enough to be offered some really special deals. We're always so lucky. So each time we say no, they offer a new deal.
Cool! More crap we don't need. Now I can take another trip to Goodwill.
So finally after his five-minute sales pitch (which he promised he would honor on three occasions, but did zero times) was done (which in the real world of humans on earth actually equated to 60 minutes), they gave us the final awkward dead silence, then question, "so do you want to buy the package?"
Ummm, yeah, we've said no for the last hour, but now you've convinced me!
Actually we weren't.
They then gave us the free DVD they promised (with my signature to receive offers from them for three years, yay!) and pushed us for referrals.
The problem was that I suddenly forgot where everyone lived. I could only recall the homes they had already been to. Although, don't worry, we did refer them to a nice Mormon family down the road, so I think things worked out for them.
To me, this experience embodies all that is wrong in the Mormon culture. People selling a somewhat decent product by being pushy, rude, and annoying.
But above all, the thing that bothers me is that they are abusing the church and its members. What a blatant attack to "go around the ward" hitting up members for their money. They even asked for the address of the Primary President and any new converts.
Really?!?
Really?!?
I thought to myself, do we have a Primary President? I don't think we've had a convert in at least seven years. So I couldn't give them any names.
Yeah, let's ruin a new member by giving them a sales pitch. Drive out the spirit and get their money! And if you know this series, they don't come cheap. I mean $30 for a DVD? For the last 20 years, overpriced! Who pays that? Apparently Mormons do.
As the sales pitched continued it was like we were in a bad first discussion where one of the elders doesn't know the language so he doesn't talk at all, the other one thinks he is all that, when really he is Greg Ostertag (Utah Mormon reference). Oh, and most importantly, the spirit is not there and they are trying to sell you something. So, not The Gospel.
Do you have any integrity? Talk about abusing The Gospel. Once they realized we weren't going to give them addresses, just some names and with the direction that "they live over there", they suddenly weren't our friends and they left.
It was the best five minutes of my day.
Although we didn't buy the program (which, BTW, is at least $30/month. They conveniently charge you each month and send the DVDs), the one elder, I mean salesman, made it clear that our boys can still be saved without the DVDs. They said kids were being saved before the DVDs came out and still are now. So I guess that was a big relief.
In the end, we had Family Night yesterday and I learned a lesson to say no more often and not let people in our door. I thought I could trust those guys, but I guess not.
I also have a pot of hot boiling water at my door, ready for any future solicitors. If you know what I am talking about, I'm sorry. You must also have experienced the five-minute, sixty-minute sales pitch.
Now if you have the DVDs and like them, I'm sorry. I hope you aren't offended. In fact, Blaire had them as a kid and Patti just gave one to us for the boys. So yay.
But for us, the experience was so bad and left such a bad taste in my mouth, we'll forever be turned off to anything The Living Scriptures puts out. Bad customer service. And the beauty of the modern day that we live in, I can broadcast it and tell everyone I know to avoid them.
So now, all four of my readers out there (yes, we just got one more) can hear about this bad company.
And for this bad experience, I add them to the pantheon of The Ostler Blacklist.
Ohh, and one more thing. If anyone wants to buy a new DVD, mint condition, I will sell it to you for a mere $30. It will make you happier and solve all problems you have. Just let me know ASAP, because the offer doesn't last long and I don't have a business card.
