The Cheap Vacation Home

David and Michel Cole were reading the newspaper after dinner one night when the phone rang. A pleasant–sounding person on the other end of the line told them that people in their community had a chance to purchase brand–new vacation homes for only $15,000. The homes were located in a beautiful wooded setting just two hours by car from where the Cole family lived. In order to take ad­vantage of this very low price, the seller said, the Coles had to make a 20% down payment. The rest of the money could be paid over the next 10 years with no interest at all.

The Coles had been thinking about buying a little place away from the city for brief weekend escapes, and this deal seemed too good to be true. They gave the seller their credit card number for the down payment. The seller promised to send literature about the dream home. Unfortunately, the literature never arrived. When the Coles complained to their state’s office of consumer affairs, they found that others in their community had been tricked too. Fortu­nately, a thorough investigation enabled authorities to locate the persons responsible for this fraudulent sales scheme.

a. What remedies could the office of consumer affairs ask for?

b. What steps could the Cole family have taken initially to avoid this problem?

c. Draft a law that would reduce the chances that this situation would happen again.

Role–play:

Situations:

1. David Cole is speaking to a pleasant–sounding person on the phone.

2. The Coles are discussing the deal.

3. The Coles are at the state’s office of consumer affairs.

Read and translate the dialogue: