500.00 Wal-mart gift card

[magic52]

Does anyone know about these gift cards? I delete mine but a friend of mine just took the offer. I felt like it was a scam but I wanted to know what to tell him and I knew someone in here would know about them--Thanks.

[quietvixsin]

First, there are a very few companies out there who actually send out the item offered in the end. These "giveaway" offers are designed to get people's email address to sell to email spammers. Another problem with these offers is that they have tons of "fine print" to read and follow. They make you jump through hoops to qualify for the great freebie they dangle in front of you. By hoops I mean they make you sign up for multiple sub-offers w/ other companies and they make you report proof that you signed up for them and have completed those sub-offers in very specific ways. If you miss any of the documentation on any of those offers, it disqualifies you for the big freebie promised AND you will still be flooded w/ spam email because they now have your email addy and sell those lists all over the globe. The sub offers can vary. Some say they qualify you immediately, others say they will take "xx to xx days" to report. You may have to mail in proof of completing an offer, others may require you email them your validation email or a screenshot. It's all hopelessly confusing and muddled. The companies offering the freebie also don't give you much info on how to contact them if you have a problem during the process. If they do give a number or email address, it's usually very small and hard to find.

I have yet to hear of even ONE person who has gotten the offered freebie in the end. They have told time and again of how they have emailed and/or called to try and track when they were getting their item and have gone through hell and back to even get a real person to respond or answer. Then they are told across the board they they didn't qualify for it because they missed X step, etc. These offers are a big waste of time.

My last warning about these type of offers is what is called "Slamming". In the sub offers you are forced to sign up for there is also alot of fine print. Usually the print is so small that it is not readable by a person w/ average eyesight OR it is buried in a bunch of other mumbo jumbo so the user doesn't see it. The customer still thinks they are on the main offer screen and have gotten used to clicking YES and NEXT, so they continue to do so. Before you kow it they have authorized purchases and changes they never knew they had. They end up doing things like changing your long distance provider, or signing you up for something using your personal info and/or credit card number, etc. The user often doesn't even know this has happened until they look at their credit card or bank statement way down the road. I have heard literal horror stories of how people have been charged XXX amount of dollars a month for a year or more..... or a higher amount on a less regular basis, and never caught it. It is very hard to track down where the charges came from and to get them stopped and/or reversed. Many people have ended up being out hundreds of dollars. And believe or not, alot of these activities are not even against the law because the IP address and other identifying info are captured during those sign ups and if they can prove that it came from your pc and you clicked YES or NEXT, you are liable for those charges. Some have gotten lucky and their banks or CC providers have provided credits as a courtesy but they don't HAVE to for the most part.

[ttistin]

dh signed up for one of these, he went through the whole mess with signing up with this and that and in the end we got more bills and NO gift card. kept telling us we hadn't completed the steps, but we did.

[magic52]

Thanks for the answer to my question quietvixsin.

[kelblend]

I've read some of the fine print and from the offers they say you have to do it seems you have to spend a ton of money to get that freebie. Tell your friend not to do it.

[squirt661]

Excellent advice given by all posters. Kudos to all of you. Just another skam/spam experience if one did not know.