We’ve all seen them. “FREE LAPTOP!!” they exclaim. But is there any truth to their claim?
While the laptop may end up coming to you for free, it’s still gonna cost you. Nothing in life is free my friends. And common sense will tell you that anyways. How on earth could those companies manage to give away free laptops without going bankrupt if they weren’t making money somehow?
Visit any one of those sites and the first thing you’ll have to do is enter your name and email. It’s not extremely obvious, in fact it’s almost hidden, but you’re signing up for marketing material from that company.
Get past that first little hurdle, and you’re on your way to a Free laptop right? Wrong. That’s just the beginning. Now you’re presented with several deals that you can participate in. No Thanks you say? Wrong again. You’ve got to participate in a set number of the deals in order to qualify for your laptop. Most of the deals have set contract lengths as well. Now you’re signing up for subscriptions and credit cards that you don’t really want. The company is making affiliate income off of each and every one you subscribe to.
Oh, and that credit card that you applied for in their deals and got turned down for? That doesn’t qualify towards your free laptop obligations. And don’t expect the company to tell you about it either. Days and months roll by and still you haven’t seen your free laptop. Where could it have gone?!?
In the end, maybe you do get the laptop. But only if you are diligent and keep up your subscriptions that you signed up for. Break one of them before it’s time and you’ll have cancellation fees and most likely won’t see a laptop either.
Very few of these free laptop sites are truly legitimate. They may actually send out laptops, but their business practices are shady at best and really should be avoided.
One deal that does seem legitimate is the “My upfront rewards card.” You sign up for a credit card through Universal Savings Bank, make a transfer of a certain amount($5000) and keep a balance of $3500 for 18 months and you get your free reward. It’s not really free either, but it is from a reputable company.
[tags]free laptop,free laptop deals,laptop deals,laptop hoaxes,laptop,hoax,hoaxes[/tags]
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
I didn’t go for a free laptop, but I did try a similar offer for a free iPod a while ago from consumerincentiverewards.com (I think that was it), only after a friend had successfully gotten a laptop from them.
If you do decide to go for one of these program, here are a few tips: get a Hotmail or GMail account to use for the reward site and all the offers you sign up for (most of the offers also require you to give up your email address). Don’t give them your actual e-mail address as you’ll be quickly inundated with junk.
Only sign up for offers from reputable companies. Often times there will be offers from America Online, The New York Times, etc. Go for those and not some website that nobody’s ever heard of.
Many credit card companies allow you to generate “one time use” numbers from their website, so that you don’t have to give out your real card number. If possible, I highly recommend taking advantage of this whenever buying anything online from a company you don’t fully trust.
Don’t cancel your membership to the offer sites right away. Often if you cancel before they tell the incentive site that you accepted their offer, they will not send the notice at all and you will not get credit. However, make sure you cancel before the trial is over!
I got my iPod for $100 when it retailed at the time for about $350. The only reason it cost me that much was because one of my offers was a TiVo trial, and I decided to keep the TiVo.
It isn’t worth the time or pain for most of these deals anyways. If you really want a laptop, get one that you will know will work and have a warranty. Use a site like techbargains.com or geeks.com and buy a refurbished laptop for cheap.
“My upfront rewards card.”
Nice way to promote a site via a blog. Bash the others, and then sneak in a link to another page with the url.
It’s your blog, but don’t expect us all to fall for that.
I’m not sure what your point is Goodguy. The link to My Upfront rewards card goes to an article on that subject on this blog. The link in that article goes to the visa card site. It’s not an affiliate link, but merely a link to the card site.
So far our immediate family has received 3 laptops, with 2 more on the way, and we have guided two other family members through the process for laptops of their own. Average cost for these laptops is about $150 dollars plus you get a lot of product for your money so net “raw” cash out of pocket has been only about $20 per laptop. No, the laptops aren’t free. But they are awful inexpensive if you have the patience and do your research. Number one tip – always check out all the offer pages before doing enything. Make sure you will be able to find acceptable offers on each page before spending any money.
(Ken’s tips are good wones as well)
Now they even have an offer for the iPhone. They claim that its their very latest offer. I just got a pop in that regard. Its so tempting. God knows how genuine it is
It’s probably along the same lines as the laptop or ipod deals – far from free, but *can* be a good deal if you play your cards right. Beware, and read, read read!
I am typing this on my laptop which I got for free from UpFront Rewards. I transferred the balance from 2 other credit cards and got a free laptop. The agreement was that as long as I kept a certain balance for 18 months there would not be a penalty. Well, I did not have a plan or a way to bring the balance down that quickly anyway and it was a reasonable APR. I found them to be very fair and “upfront.”
I am so SICK of dishonest advertising! All these so-called “free” laptop and other technology deals, which end with you spending big bucks on subscripstions and stuff. I want to walk into all the offices of the people who make and distribute these ads and toss them off the roof of their building! Something should be DONE about this!
I think the best advice to follow in pursuing these deals has already been given – it is an absolute must to read up on the company doing the offer and be savvy with handling your trials and other such things once you’ve signed up for them. We all know that in order to get the “free ______” a person must sign up to receive certain products and services. At this point the responsibility lies in the consumer’s hands – I don’t see how anyone can be angry at poor results unless they have actually been cheated by a company. If someone signs up for a trial and forgets to cancel the offer – oh well, that is not the company’s fault.
As for me, I signed up and received an iPod from freeipods.com a few years back. The iPod cost me absolutely nothing but my time, as I completed a free trial offer that I tracked and cancelled prior to being charged anything. I received my iPod as promised, and have since gotten rid of that iPod and purchased a new generation iPod. Would I do it again? Probably not – the amount of time it takes to complete offers and track them so they may be cancelled on time isn’t worth it to me. I do think that these offers are a good way for some younger people and people with out extra disposable income to get some nice things at little or no cost – but before complaining people need to take the responsibility to research and keep track of their activities.
More recently, my last roommate in college received a free Nintendo Wii (it actually cost him somewhere around $20 after all costs were factored in). I believe the site was something like yournintendowii4free.com or something if anyone is interested.
please make my dream come true by providing this offer!!!
If you visit the middle east, you can see donkeys on their last legs. overloaded and in a pitiful condition. Remember the ‘carrot-on-a-stick’ comes first, the poor donkey never gets to eat it, but it does feel the cruel whips and prods of the sharp stick. These ‘Free Gift’ Offers are made by those same cruel ‘Donkey Drivers’. the only difference is that they now wear suits.
why do you say this about middle east ! ! ! ! !
Do say they are donkeys ?
why do you say this about middle east ! ! ! ! !
Do say they are donkeys ?
Dear Waleed El-Batat, You are correct to censure me, my comment was not specifically with reference to ‘middle east’ donkeys. but about ‘donkey drivers’ in genearal. Please accept my appology if I caused offense. Donkey drivers tie a carrot to a stick, and suspend it just in front of the donkey’s nose. it keeps walking forward with a heavy load on it’s back in the hope of eating the juicy carrot, sadly cruel donkey drivers seldom allow the donkey to eat the carrot. only once in a while to tempt them on. I was wanting to compare these ‘bogus’ free offers of laptop computers etc., with the cunning tactics of cruel donkey drivers. That is all, anybody of any nationality is foolish, like that poor donkey, if s/he falls for these dishonest sales tricks.
Well I found a website after seeing their TV ads, getmyfreelaptop.com
It is from world avenue, and before I did the offer I checked them out! Not only does the state AG in their state (FL) but also the BBB notes that they do in fact give out free laptops…and the BBB has only 19 complaints in the past 3 years on them…tiny tiny amount considering they have network TV ads running… BBB also says majority of complaints have been rectified by W.A.
Anyways after checking I tried it out, I actually completed it fairly quickly and without giving my social security number! (that was huge to me) I spent about $20 because I took a bunch of free trial offers (gevalia coffee, blockbuster, onlingo that I remember) which I canceled before being charged..
Well they really sent me the laptop! No B.S. I use it nearly everyday and am blown away that it was as easy as it turned out…
so I say to you, look around 1st! tons of scam sites, but this one was pretty right on…good luck bargain hunters!!!
Thanks ‘TDR’ It’s good to know there are a few ‘Honest Brokers’ out there. I note with interest that the price of a laptop is lower by the week, so we might expect more fair deals in the future. Big name companies can’t afford the bad publicity, so my advice is stick to those. I expect bulk discount purchase of redundent stock makes these offers viable to big name promoters.
I agree tey should take teh freelaptop adds of the media.
IT IS ALL A SCAM ! ! ! Then you get the actual scammers posting their stuff here for damage control. Stay away unless you want to be SCAMMED ! ! !
Thanks ‘ididurmom’ for that wise word of caution. scammers try every trick in the book. The honest deals are few and far between, and also tie you into a long contract with their service, so you probably won’t save much.
Two years ago I signed up for an offer to get a free 42″ plasma tv with everyfreegifts dot com. Back when I did it, they only required 6 trial offers (it’s not like this anymore). After completing the offers I received a check for the cash value of the tv…$2500. No that is not a typo, that is two thousand five hundred dollars. My brother received the same check and I did the offer for my friend who actually received the tv (42″ LG plasma). I spent a grand total of $26. Not a bad return! Other than this, I also got a 20gb ipod and a Nintendo DS. So these offers are the real deal, you just have to make sure you do some research on the company first.
Alastair the “magnificent”,
Why add injury to insult, then apologize as if nothing happened, and then continue insulting in a more subtle ways in hope some will understand, but not the subject to your attack?
This is dishonest, and rude.
What are you?
Gil Zilber,
May I remind you that a ‘pointing finger’ has three more on the same hand. So which way are they pointing?
Quoting a line from one of Ksbir’s poems, does not exempt you from being considered rude to others on this forum and other ones.
To other surfers:
Just google “Alastair Carnegie” and see what this charachter is about:
Inflamation and insult
That’s all I said
Gil Zilber,
I promise you I did not as you say “quote”. I composed that line especially for you. I wonder where the poet Ksbir borrowed the phrase from. It’s a very ancient expression. I am perplexed as to why you are so offended? I have visited the Middle East. Your comments are not polite, anybody reading them can see you are just an immature youth. Why else would you want to provoke a reaction by deliberately insulting me? Now that laptops are getting so cheap, this thread may lose it’s impact. Do you by any chance offer free laptops in order to entice customers to spend large sums of money? Your hostile reaction, is more revealing than you think, Gil Ziler. The folly of youth!
I will not dignify your fake justification here anymore, as I’ve seen your abuse on other websites, and answering you any further, may incurage the likes of you
Quote:- “…as I’ve seen your abuse on other websites…” Please let me know where? I was not even aware of any intentional ‘abuse’ on even this website. I asked why you were so hostile to me? that is all. Where on this thread have I made an abusive comment? other than suspecting you of immaturity! hypocracy, and lack of good manners. How could you, Zil Gilber, ‘dignify’ anybody? when you display in your hostile comments, such manifest and self-evident lack of dignity?
i need a laptop now for imporant stuff like for school!!!
Jori, you can buy decent second-hand laptops for very little money. Ask neighbours if they want a job done? tell them you want to buy an old laptop for your schoolwork. You might be surprised by the positive response you get!….Good Luck.
The Agrivation on most people is not the fact that there is a “Rewards Program” involved. The fact of the matter is that its false Advertising and is able to be Penalized by law. First and Formost They hardly ever Let you know up front there is a “Rewards Program” involved. In big bold letter they say “Product” Absolutely Free. This is called Impact Marketing. Eventually we get Privy to it. But Thats after sharing most of our information. They are actually betting on no one scrolling all the way to the bottom of the page where it states the requirements. The problem is no ones really persues stopping this. Its like having a Billboard, that only Says “Free Car Wash” only to find out when you get there you have to donate to the Local Cheerleaders for them to wash the car. The average consumer will assume thats its actually just a free car wash. Because of this its illegal. I cant remember where to find it but if you do a search for laws concerning False Advertising you will see it. I remember finding it back when I was 18 Beta testing a game. They get around because you dont have to purchase anything in order get started. And they do have it in fine print. However the Initial Advertising is the one that makes it illegal.
Sorry for the double post. If you want to know which ones are “Possibly” legitimate. look at the banners. If it says *Must complete # offers somewhere small on the banner it “”MIGHT”" be legit.
Somethings in life are too free! Like USPS boxes! >=(
There are plenty of ‘Broadband’ contract deals where a ‘Free Laptop’ is thrown in. These are legitamate incentives. The ISP company takes advantage of bulk purchase, possibly with laptop models nearing the end of their production run. Once a particular laptop has recovered it’s production and tooling costs, there can be dramatic price reductions. Passing these savings on to a broadband customer is good news for both customer and vendor. I have no objection whatsoever to an honest deal. Sadly not every deal is honest, a customer can sign on for a service, and never get his ‘Free’ laptop. Take care! …Stick to the honest deals!