LED v Xenon

Question:

Why are LED headlights being used on more cars, since they don't illuminate as well as xenon headlights?

Answer:

LED lights require less energy; that's the big reason why they're showing up on energy-conserving vehicles like the Prius hybrid and the Nissan Leaf. One way carmakers are expected to address the slightly less bright aspect of LED is to use more of them. I'm not sure what that will do to the improved-energy-efficiency equation, but time will tell.

Question:

My mother-in-law received a very official looking document in the mail that said "2nd attempt" on the front and a black, urgent warning that anyone obstructing delivery could be imprisoned. Inside, the message was specific to the car she owns. She was terrified and called the 800 number. It turns out it was some car warranty extension company that gave her the hard sell. Thankfully she had the sense to hang up. But I am enraged that this company, Naviss, is allowed to use these tactics. Do you know anything about them? You have to look really hard at the letter to find the company's name.

Answer:

Naviss is, indeed, a company that sells extended warranties. You're not the only one upset by the bold print tactics and threatening verbiage that seem geared toward making a person read this piece of junk mail or make a phone call they wouldn't ordinarily make.

There's an online discussion from angry consumers: The Better Business Bureau of Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois reports 17 complaints in 2011 (having to do with the "marketing tactics" Naviss employs), and a writer at the Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel was troubled enough to jab at it.

Columnist Sam Venable started off this way: "Just when you think the nation's junk mailers have descended to the lowest rung on the ladder of indecency, they find a way to ooze down even farther." The Naviss mailing, he said, presented in stark black and white, looked like some sort of legal thing, or a factory recall. Venable regarded this "battering ram" approach as something "that probably scares some elderly and gullible people."

Well said. It's a slime ball way to do business.

(c) CTW Features

Email questions to Sharon@ctwfeatures.com