Earlier last month, a travel insurance business started including instructions for collecting the reward in the policy paperwork for every Tin Leg cover it sold.
Because they didn’t expect anybody to discover the “pays to read” portion tucked between legalese on page seven of the almost 4,000-word document, the corporation intended to run the contest for a whole calendar year. Unless it was spotted, the $10,000 would be donated at the end of the year to a charity.
They did not, however, account for Donelan Andrews, a retired high school teacher, who sprang a surprise on them. Unapologetic “nerd,” who claimed she always reads the conditions, whether they’re digital software user agreements like the ones most of us quickly mark off, or travel insurance policies, like the $400 one she got via Squaremouth on the day the contest started.
Andrews sat down to study her policy as soon as she had printed it out and stapled it together. She eventually came across a portion that said, “As a way of emphasizing the significance of thoroughly reading policy papers, we’ve introduced Pays to Read, a contest that pays those who do so. It’s possible that you may win $10,000 if you’re reading this during the contest time and are the first to contact us.”
The policy then specified an email address to contact in order to collect the reward, which Andrews did straight immediately using the email address indicated on the policy. The next day, she received a call from someone telling her she’d won the $10,000. It had been 23 hours since the start of the year-long competition.
It’s because she went to the University of Georgia and majored in consumer economics that she constantly does it, she claimed. “As a result, I’ve always had a strong desire to avoid being taken advantage of as a customer. I even read the HIPAA form that the doctor’s office provides me with.”
It was a trick she employed when creating examinations for her students: she’d have them circle question number five three times and gain an additional 10 points if they’d read the entire thing.
That means I have to put my words into action.”
It took some time for the contest to be implemented, according to spokeswoman Jenna Hummer at Squaremouth. The company’s CEO got the concept for the event some years ago. Due to the possibility of a leak, anybody might have purchased a cheap insurance policy and claimed the reward. Only six employees, all of whom had signed confidentiality agreements, were aware of the situation.
It is estimated by Hummer that just 1% of their consumers really read their rules. Before Andrews came forward, Squaremouth had sold roughly 73 policies that included instructions on how to collect the award.
Andrews hopes to use the prize money on a vacation to Scotland for her 35th wedding anniversary, which is coming up shortly. A further $5,000 was awarded to the two high schools where Andrews works to boost their library resources, and a further $10,000 was donated to the literacy organization Reading is Fundamental in recognition of her prompt claim to the prize.
