Beware of "free stuff"
When you see a "Get a FREE* [insert too-good-to-be-true-item]!!!" offer, you probably ask yourself, "What's the catch?". Well, I'm here to tell you.
Before I got suckered into one of these, I was already a skeptic. I knew that no company is going to give away something for nothing. However, I convinced myself that they count on people completing their free trial offers for [insert product or service here] and forgetting to cancel their subscription; that way, they make enough money to afford to give away stuff. I should've done my research rather than relying on my own logic. Here's the real catch...
They firm presenting the offer will most likely give all your personal information to their parent marketing company then start cryptically charging you for stuff you didn't sign up for. They get away with it because YOU can't prove that you DIDN'T sign up, and you volunteered your information to a subsidiary. So it's semi-legal, but completely unethical. When you call to cancel whatever bogus subscription to which you just lost $19.99, they'll send you a refund and "take you off their list", but a couple months later you'll still receive junk mail from them, OR have another charge. The only way to get back at them is to join a class action suit. I've been screwed by companies like this (Trilegiant).
When you find a promo or "giveaway" like this, you can do a bit of Googling to research whichever company is presenting the incentive program you're getting lured into. What you'll usually find is a plethora of forum threads full of horror stories from people who have been scammed, and many invitations to join class action suits (or petitions to start them). What you'll also find on these forums: defenders of the company claiming the legitimacy of the incentive program, along with photographic and testimonial proof of their success in obtaining loot with "no problem at all". Don't be fooled. Many of those folks are paid employees of the marketing company. This was proven on one forum I visited, when one clever scam victim ran a traceroute on one of these defensive testimonial posts...the IP address from which it was posted belonged to marketing company. They're dirty! Don't get sucked in!
Now, all that being said...if you do your research about one of these companies, you just may find plenty of "proof" of their legitimacy (Such as Transcendent Innovations). I wouldn't rule it out, but I'd say "beware". I like to believe there really are still some good and honest people in the world. But even if folks like Transcendent Innovations are really clean and ethical, some of the promotional firms for whom you'll have to complete offers WILL be dirty.
Don't say nobody told you.
Before I got suckered into one of these, I was already a skeptic. I knew that no company is going to give away something for nothing. However, I convinced myself that they count on people completing their free trial offers for [insert product or service here] and forgetting to cancel their subscription; that way, they make enough money to afford to give away stuff. I should've done my research rather than relying on my own logic. Here's the real catch...
They firm presenting the offer will most likely give all your personal information to their parent marketing company then start cryptically charging you for stuff you didn't sign up for. They get away with it because YOU can't prove that you DIDN'T sign up, and you volunteered your information to a subsidiary. So it's semi-legal, but completely unethical. When you call to cancel whatever bogus subscription to which you just lost $19.99, they'll send you a refund and "take you off their list", but a couple months later you'll still receive junk mail from them, OR have another charge. The only way to get back at them is to join a class action suit. I've been screwed by companies like this (Trilegiant).
When you find a promo or "giveaway" like this, you can do a bit of Googling to research whichever company is presenting the incentive program you're getting lured into. What you'll usually find is a plethora of forum threads full of horror stories from people who have been scammed, and many invitations to join class action suits (or petitions to start them). What you'll also find on these forums: defenders of the company claiming the legitimacy of the incentive program, along with photographic and testimonial proof of their success in obtaining loot with "no problem at all". Don't be fooled. Many of those folks are paid employees of the marketing company. This was proven on one forum I visited, when one clever scam victim ran a traceroute on one of these defensive testimonial posts...the IP address from which it was posted belonged to marketing company. They're dirty! Don't get sucked in!
Now, all that being said...if you do your research about one of these companies, you just may find plenty of "proof" of their legitimacy (Such as Transcendent Innovations). I wouldn't rule it out, but I'd say "beware". I like to believe there really are still some good and honest people in the world. But even if folks like Transcendent Innovations are really clean and ethical, some of the promotional firms for whom you'll have to complete offers WILL be dirty.
Don't say nobody told you.