| Are Free Laptops Really Free |
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| Computers - Computers |
| Written by William Arbitran |
| Monday, 26 October 2009 09:02 |
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You may have seen the offers online or even heard them on the radio. Fill out this short survey and get a free laptop. If you've ever clicked on one you know that survey is a rather misleading term.
You may have seen the offers online or even heard them on the radio. Fill out this short survey and get a free laptop. If you've ever clicked on one you know that survey is a rather misleading term. You'll be asked to complete a short and meaningless survey about some topic that their not really interested in, or alternatively, asked to vote which brand product you like more. This information doesn't actually matter to them at all. The next page will have a great deal of fine print if you look for it, and it will tell you how many bronze, silver, and gold offers you'll have to complete to actually get your laptop. The key to this system is the trial offers. The site directs you to try a certain number of trial offers and the companies pay them per customer. The income from this business is plenty for them to ship out the occasional laptop and keep the incentive there. Not everybody sees the fine print here, only the title of the new page their directed to that says they can have the laptop for only a couple bronze offers. While that's technically true, you do only need a few bronze offers, you will also need a number of silver, gold, and sometimes platinum offers as well. By the time you find this out and walk away you may have already accepted a few offers. If you walk away before you've completed all of them the website just got free business. After looking at that multitude of offers you might wonder if it's possible to get the laptop at all. It is, provided the site you chose isn't actually a scam, but your reward won't by any means be free. Trial offers cost money, shipping and handling costs money, and pretty much every offer you complete will be asking for your credit card information If you do decide to do this, keep good records of all the offers you complete. These trial memberships will turn automatically into full memberships if you don't cancel in the pre-determined time, and charge you every month. Read the cancellation policies so you know if it's a phone call, a click on the website, or shipping back their product before the time is up. It is possible to get your laptop for less than store price, but not for free. There will be a fair amount of work involved, and it's up to you to decide if that work is worth the discount. About the Author: Want to know exactly how much that free laptop is going to cost? Visit this site for an estimate of the computer's value vs how much you will pay on average. |