Be careful when doing freebie sites
Frequent readers of this site know that I’ve done a number of freebie sites receiving items such as Xbox 360s (yes I got two free), $1000 gift cards (yep, two of those too), and a slew of Xbox 360 games (just check the Free Stuff or Free Xbox 360 categories out).
Recently I did an offer for PosterPass.com. The deal was get 4 posters for $2 each. It was a subscription based offer but you had the first month to try it out, cancel at any time.
I signed up and about a week later my posters arrived in the mail. Cool. A few days later I called up and canceled my account as I don’t have a need (nor the wall space) to be getting posters every month. No problem… Until I was doing bills the other night and noticed the charge from PosterPass come through on my credit card; $39!!! What the hell?! I called up the next day and asked why I was charged when the initial sign-up stated $9.95. The terms only state that a small shipping and handling fee will be applied. I don’t think it costs $30 to ship 4 posters. The lady on the other end stated that it was a “subscription fee”. What?! You mean I have to pay just to subscribe? I sated that I never would have signed up had I read that or saw that during checkout (which is not stated anywhere). She offered to refund me once I send my posters back, which I am doing ASAP.
As I’ve said, I’ve done a ton of offers. I’ve only got burned once (by my own stupidity – didn’t read the terms, but I was lucky enough to claim ignorance and the charge was reversed). This offer was deceptive all the way through and I’ve alerted the guys at yourFree360Games.com about it.
So be careful when doing offers for freebie sites. Keep all communications. Save a copy of the terms and your order. Keep track of trial times. Read over everything before hitting that “finalize order” button and 9 times out of 10 you’ll be safe.