ourdoodah

by Jane Odin

NOTHING IS FREE
Dad drummed into my head nothing is free and I believed him. But somehow that wisdom faded when I found so called “free” anti-wrinkle skin cream samples on the internet. Great! I thought the free-offer was made because the cream was so outrageously expensive a demonstration was called for. Not so! Unknowingly, I ordered 2 different free samples and suffered the same consequence with both – with slight variations.

As soon as they have your charge card # - they gotcha. The charge covers mailing of the sample but when the bill arrived – ooph’s – they charged the cost of the product. The worse is yet to come: I called Master Card and learned the cream company had already charged for a 2nd shipment and the price had gone up $25. At this point I was out $125 for  free sample products.

I immediately canceled my master card, filed a complaint and tried contacting the company by phone – what a joke. All three numbers were answered by a promotional recording and my first email was never answered. When the second, unrequested shipment arrived I mailed it back along with the original “free sample” and sent out a 2nd email explaining my action. My 2nd email was not friendly. I explained my state of mind and threatened to post on every consumer advocacy site. I heard from the company within 24 hours with the update: the charges would be removed.

Unfortunately, I had ordered a 2nd free sample on that fateful afternoon. It arrived in an enormous box with a future bill and instructions. The bill for $180 is all I saw. The instructions said to try the enclosed products and return by a two week deadline or the full amount would be charged to my account. I returned the stuff the next day, grateful my charge-card # had already been changed.

It’s impossible to log off the scam site without shutting down the computer.
This has occurred with every “free sample” site experienced – new windows continue popping up. It’s maddening!

Also, experience says to avoid products hawked in TV infomercials. The inferior quality is guaranteed to dissatisfy. It took several experiences to learn this lesson. And trust me………..no real estate course will teach you how to purchase a house for $300 or make $15,000 a month as an internet entrepreneur. (No I didn’t go for that scam or any of the weight loss deals. There is usually a whole lot hidden in the small print details, harder to attain via TV ads. Instead type the name of the product ie “Video Professor” in the Google search box. This route will access the detailed material.

Recently I was looking for a safe, free DVD on selling on eBay. The relevant sites looked suspicious, having many of the characteristics of the scam sites, so I checked out “terms of agreement” which detailed seven days are given to refuse the product after which a monthly fee would begin etc. Be sure and read “use agreements” and “charges and billing” before giving a charge card number.

When you run across scams and shams offers go to consumer affairs.com,  submit a complaint form and check out scam alerts. Most recently the Federal Trade Commission is involved in the settlement of deceptive advertising claims regarding weight loss supplements. So there is hope in this arena.

Nothing is free is always a good mantra and particularly so in these troubling times. Of course it doesn’t hold true for banks, or mega corporations. For these good old boys – it’s up, up and away with zillions in give-a-ways without over-sight, guidelines or restrictions. But for the rest of us – nothing is free.

The Savvy Consumer: How to Avoid Scams and Ripoffs That Cost You Time and Money (Capital Ideas)

Eyes on the Ball: How to Identify and Avoid ‘Scam Programs’ on the Net

Don’t Get Burned on EBay: How to Avoid Scams and Escape Bad Deals

Tags: and shams, anti-wrinkle skin cream, deceptive advertising, free sample products, good old boys, nohing is free, scam site

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 4:19 pm and is filed under Scams and Shams. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.