The TV Sharpers

For months, a flood of complaints about misleading radio-TV commercials poured into the offices of the New York Better Business Bureau and Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorney Edward S. Silver. To nail the offenders, Silver had policemen and policewomen pose as residents of apartments that were wired with tape recorders. The couples would answer the commercials, record the salesman's spiel when he called on them.

Last week Silver charged that at least 15 sellers of vacuum cleaners, food freezers, storm windows, "have gypped . . . our public out of millions." For example, the decoy couples called a station about a sewing machine advertised at $26.50. They were visited by a sharper who confided that the machine was not very good; its needle was apt to snap under heavy strain and could not be replaced. Then he offered a $50 discount on a $189.50 model.

By such tactics, said Silver, the sewing-machine agency was able to peddle 3,500 machines last year, for about $600,000. Only 36 persistent people could be found who had been able to buy the $26.50 model. In another case, an upholstering firm that advertised a $69 renovating job on the air made an average sale of $160 on responses, for a total $117,000 last year. Warned Silver: "People were just inviting the burglar into their homes."

Last week a grand-jury investigation of the commercials was scheduled by County Judge Samuel Leibowitz. And as a warning, the judge "invited" 22 top radio-TV executives to send representatives to watch the proceedings.

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