Where’s my sushi, Nick?

OK, remember what I said the other day about treating everyone nicely (yes, Kit, including hipsters)?

The one exception is Nick from Ameriprise Financial. “Who’s Nick from Ameriprise?” you may ask yourself.

Answer: He’s the guy who called me to tell me that he’d plucked my business card out of the fishbowl at Kamon Sushi, entitling me and nine of my friends to a complimentary sushi lunch.

I immediately called my hubby, and we brainstormed on our favorite sushi eaters who would be on the invitation list (yes, you were all on the list), and we compared Outlook calendars to coordinate good days for our complimentary lunch.

When I called Nick of Ameriprise back, he told me that certain days worked better for him (ones that did not match up with the dates that Mr. NonRunner and I had initially selected), so I told him I’d call him right back with another set of possible dates. “And oh, by the way, my husband is in the financial field too!” I chirped just before hanging up — which may have been my fatal mistake.

I have not heard from Nick of Ameriprise since, despite numerous voicemails (he never answers his phone, unless he has a dedicated phone line strictly for people calling to collect on their sushi lunches.) According to my notes, the original phone conversation with Nick of Ameriprise took place on May 25th, well over a month ago.

So, the gloves are off, and I’m officially ticked off at Nick of Ameriprise. It’s not that I can’t buy my own sushi, as that’s a regular staple in RunnerGirl’s lunchtime fare, but don’t offer up a free lunch if you’re not going to follow through with it, Nick of Ameriprise.

E-mail me if you’d like his number to harass him — raggers can get my address off the update that DMZ sent out a couple days ago.

9 thoughts on “Where’s my sushi, Nick?”

  1. What a scam! You should tell the sushi place to remove that guy’s fishbowl drawing from their counter. It’s obviously free advertising for him and you probably have to go to some dumb seminar or something to collect it, like how you get a free night in a hotel if you go to a day-long pitch for a timeshare. A similar drawing is up at the Mel’s counter and when you look closely at the fine print the lunch is complimentary “when attending one of the seminars” hosted by Ameriprise. Scammer! Urgh! I bet he called every person who put his or her name in that bowl. Fight the power RG!!!

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  3. I don’t want to start a fight with both runnergirl and HeyMeg but you have to admit that this is funny to some degree. I’m coming at this from the marketing side of things so bear with me. There is no such thing as a free lunch. I’m sure you know that. The fishbowls (and any type of contest displayed in a public place) are there to attract people to a sales pitch, nothing more. Unfortunately, as you stated, saying that your husband was in the same industry was your fatal mistake. If you really want to mess with these types of sales tactics, there are plenty of fun ways to do it. (email me privately) Still, Nick owes you the lunch at this point since the name of his company is out there getting the negative publicity.

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  5. I did ask him where and when his sales pitch would be in relation to our lunch, and he said that he just showed up at the end to pay the bill and would say a little about his business. It seemed too good to be true, and now I know that it is. Darn it, and I was really looking forward to having that sushi roll that they torch just before serving.

    Oh well, I’m not nearly as disappointed as I was in 1992 when I was first out of college & working for Enterprise Rent a Car (the economy stunk, what can I say?), and one of the insurance adjusters who sent us business was WAY cute & was also a Cal grad. I was stoked when he asked me out to lunch & even bought a new outfit to wear. After an hour of much flirtation & great conversation on our lunch date, he said, “Well, the real reason I asked you to lunch is..” and launched into his Amway pitch. I went back to the office in tears.

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  6. Oh, I totally agree that it’s a funny situation & I understand the marketing tactics behind it. He just needs to keep his word regardless of what my husband does for a living, especially since there was no fine print on the fishbowl.

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  9. i was invited to one of these free ameriprise lunches. my rep was really nice and talked for less than five minutes. he didn’t pressure anyone, but just gave an honest description of his service. maybe “nick” is a bad apple, but in general i wouldn’t call this practice a scam. i had a good experience

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