No one actually reads the fine print. You blindly trust that everything is in your favor, and just sign what needs to be signed. I’m not surprised by what I’m about to say and you won’t be either: maybe you should start reading the fine print. What exactly prompts me to say that? Only the woman who read the fine print and netted $10,000. Now that you’re hooked, let’s dig into what happened.
In February 2019, high school teacher Donelan Andrews was purchasing a travel insurance policy through Squaremouth for $400 dollars. Most people would’ve bought the insurance, gotten the policy, and would have never read it.
However, Donelan is “a self-described unapologetic nerd who said she always reads the terms, whether it’s a digital software user agreement like the ones most of us breeze by before ticking the box, or a travel insurance policy,” said Tampa Bay Times.
So, Donelan printed out the policy and began to read it. On page seven of a 4,000 word document, a section called “Pays to Read,” right in between jargon only lawyers understand said, “In an effort to highlight the importance of reviewing policy documents, we launched Pays to Read, a contest that rewards the individual who reads their policy information from start to finish. If you are reading this within the contest period … and are the first to contact us, you may be awarded the Pays to Read contest Grand Prize of ten thousand dollars.”
Squaremouth had hidden the instructions to claim the prize, never actually anticipating that someone would win. The contest was supposed to run all year, and the company’s plan was to donate the $10,000 to charity if no one claimed it.
It was an idea the company had been planning for years, making sure that they handled it carefully so that no one could buy an inexpensive policy and claim the prize easily. Only six people in the company knew of the contest and had been sworn to secrecy.
Donelan, however, emailed the company and she got a call the next day confirming that she’d won the $10,000. What was supposed to be a year-long contest, planned carefully for years, ended in just 23 hours. All because one woman chose to read the fine print.
As for Mrs. Andrews, she’ll be using her money to go to Scotland for her 35th wedding anniversary.
If you’d like to hear more about this great story, watch the video below!
