More bad publicity

The heat is on FreeiPods.com
FreeiPods.com is a service that offers users free iPod music players if they sign up for promotions and refer users to the services. However, Wired has reported complaints about spam, mishandled accounts and shipping delays. Some users of the site are complaining about being spammed by the company and also complaining about the amount of time it takes to receive an iPod. One such example is Jim Youll, a 39-year-old CTO from Cambridge, Massachusetts who signed up and within hours received spam in his email account. "This is not an encouraging trend," he said, "and these are not targeted ads. They are garden-variety junk spams."

Aaron Shier, a 19-year-old student from Hamilton, New York waited over 40 days to receive his iPod, but when he got it, it was a Hewlett-Packard make and not the Apple Computers model he chose. "I am still getting spammed and so are the people who signed up for me," he said. "They stay true to their word that they will get you out a product, but their customer service is miserable." Richard Strauss investigated the site before signing up and quoted their terms and conditions as "absolutely incredible". Strauss said the contract allows Gratis to substitute products, ignore complaints and change the number of required referrals. "In other words, they can pretty much do, or not do, anything they feel like doing," he said. "Pretty amazing."

A spokeswoman for the Better Business Bureau of Washington, D.C. , said that there were more than 30 complaints against the company, but all complaints have been addressed and listed as resolved. FreeiPods.com is owned by Gratis Internet who are also behind FreeCondoms.com, FreeFlatScreens.com, FreeDVDs.com and FreeDesktopPC.com. The company is planning to launch more sites within the coming days.

On the Spam side of the complaints, ask any moderator at Afterdawn.com about the huge amount of threads they have had to clear about FreeiPods.com. All of the users here who use other forums have also no doubt seen multiple threads there about FreeiPods.com.

Source
Wired

yay, everyone keep up with the gay complaints and they might as welll just stp sending out ipods to ppl... (i would)

i would have stopped when I saw that god damn online petition

what a whiney jackass that guy is. and who held a gun to his dumb ass to put his primary email address. wow. i hope he trips and breaks his Ipod.

everyone has to realize that the wired article was really what made this really big and eventually canned the eBay offer. it would be nice if they bring back eBay or some other non cc offer.

my friend just said she signed up for the ebay offer.

some people are just...well...stupid (

Here's another article i found from Engadget

http//www.engadget.com/entry/0783446245612191

He got an HP make iPod instead of an Apple one...the whiner.

"Oh, woe is me...I received a $300 dollar mp3 player for free...but it sucks because it's the HP one instead of the Apple...I hate Gratis."

Moron. P

[quote111d0a5a77="sweetened"]my friend just said she signed up for the ebay offer.[/quote111d0a5a77]

She probably is referring to the credit card offer. The old ebay offer was just to sign up for an account and make a bid.

I think what you're seeing now is the "Gotcha" stories. We know how our friends react to the offer when we talk to them, so journalists are this thinking it's a scam and looking for people to justify that.
So now we have people who signed up and are whining because it's taking a while; people complaining because they get spam (read the TOS. This is no shocker); complaining because of the TOS (you read it and you accepted it by signing up. It's a crap shoot.) and journalists are buying into it.
I think that if the BBB only has 30 complaints, that's amazing. More will pile up. But they'll be by the casual Internet users.. the guy you signed up at work; the friend of your mom, etc.
But all you people parnoid about Gratis not sending iPods because they get pissed over people complaining, that's just paranoia. Gratis is making money by doing this. They have several sites, plus additional ones coming. The LAST thing they will do is not send out our iPods because they are relying on us to spread the word about their new sites and to sign up. Considering the amount of backorders, there are a lot of us who would get burned. If we get burned, Web sites like this one start popping up, but against Gratis. And all of a sudden, it becomes very hard for them to make money.
These stories coming out now do not show anything of much concern. As someone who alreadly bought into it, I know what these complaints are about, and can explain them to my referrals.
Oddly, this story doesn't quote any representative from Gratis, so it's not exactly a fair story.

An "Online Petition?"

A petition. Petitions are usually effective in seventh or eighth grade. After that they serve as demonstrations of idiocy.

I love it that the guy in the story read the "Terms and Conditions," signed up, then was shocked when Gratis actually did what they said they would in the "Terms and Conditions." Shocker.

I myself will be sending a (real) letter to Gratis THANKING THEM for the iPod. I feel I should apologize for the thousands of online whiners they've been subjected to.

me too. ONCE i get it P

Wow retards, wtf it is for free and the trash are still complainning. GO BUY ONE IF YOU DONT LIKE HOW THEY DO IT!!! Fucking retards complainning!!!

I must disagree with you all and will probably be flamed for this. Sure it's for free and surely you do get it and do get spam. People should know about all of this when they sign up and those who don't are stupid. However, people have every right to complain when it takes 40 days (or more) for them to get their iPods. The guy who got the HP instead of the Apple got that one because he switched but is an idiot. The right to complain is a constitutional right and people have the right to bitch regardless of whether they are getting something for free. I do not agree with the whole technically I work for Gratis completing these offers because it's stupid but I still think that (no matter who's fault it is that iPods are shipping out slowly) people have the right to bitch as annoying as it may be. Gratis in fact should be the biggest bitchers since eCost is taking forever to ship their orders of iPods even when they do have some in stock, eCost don't first fulfill ALL backorders, they have a certain batch for that and another certain amount for putting on sale on their website. With all that said I got my iPod after 40 days (IP3 on 8/4) and don't quite remember myself bitching. Basically most of the guys that were bitching up there are idiots but you cannot possibly say "how can they bitch, it's free." You make a contract with Gratis (even though according to it they don't HAVE to send out your free item) and once they say they say they will give you a free iPod they are obliged to otherwise it is false advertising and they can get sued. Hehe just a second ago PodWatch popped up telling me one more referral went green for Free Flat Screens (11/8), can't wait to get the 17". D

yonatan you work for Gratis? That is cool of you taking both sides of the arguement and not staying on one side. I still think they are stupid for complainning. Atleast wait 2 months to get the iPod, hell I can live without an iPod for 2 months...

I disagree.

You can't sign up for FreeIPods until you agree to BOTH their "Terms and Conditions" and their "Privacy Policy." Both are available for you to read before you sign up.

By signing up and per se agreeing to their terms, you're taking a bit of a risk. The risk? They can switch their conditions - whenever they want. They can demand you get 50 referrals for a FreeIPod after you got your five.

You take on the risk is because their might be a payoff - a $299 IPod. As far as when you get that IPod, they spell that out quite well

1. Receipt of Product

(a) Gratis Internet does not guarantee receipt of any product regardless of offers completed or referrals accumulated.
(b) We will take measures to ensure that the user receives orders within a reasonable amount of time. However, we do not make any guarantee on delivery time or availability of product.

...and...

4. Availability of Product

(a) This website nor it's parent company, Gratis Internet, does not guarantee the availability of any product on our website; on occasion, products may be back ordered from our supplier or their manufacturer. In cases involving backordered products, we do not guarantee that the products will ship within any given period of time.

There you are. The idea that we can demand they ship our IPods RIGHT NOW is crazy, considering you agreed that they MAY NEVER GET SHIPPED AT ALL.

Spam? You agreed to that, too.

I can't wait to read those stupid BBB compaints....


Kris
"Deserves got nothin' to do with it." - Curly from "Unforgiven"

Stop bitching. You all agreed to this...

3. Emails.

(c) By signing up for this website, the user agrees to receive emails we or another 3rd party may send about special offers on our website, as well as third party advertisements or offers.

6 to 8 weeks...

I've gotten hardly any extra spam due to freeipods.com/Gratis...I can't believe that people bitch so PUBLICLY about it. That guy has way too much free time.

I agree with Ty. Gratis would have more to lose by screwing over their customers than the customer would lose by not receiving their free ipod. And as for publicity... well, no publicity is really bad publicity. I bet Gratis is just becoming more popular with all of these articles.

What would you guys think about banning on complaining? I've considered it before, but this forum would be half as populous as it is now if I did.

No

Admin,
In theory, it's a good idea. But some people just need to let off steam. Why not allow it and maybe others can help put things in perspective for them.
Plus, as is the case for this article, it's good to analyze what's being said; and why Gratis may be doing certain things it's doing.
Just my two cents though.

Yeah, I do receive alot of spam on my hotmail and yahoo account. But you know what...who cares?!? If I get an iPod out of the deal, then Gratis can send me all the spam they damn well please!

Spam or no spam, I still love Gratis for hooking me up with an iPod (at least, I will when it arrives)

[quote7899fda0eb="Admin"]What would you guys think about banning on complaining? I've considered it before, but this forum would be half as populous as it is now if I did.[/quote7899fda0eb]

You'll lose membership to other forums if you ban complaining, or dissing of mods.

I know from experience.

Agreed.....all you need to do is merge the complaint threads into one we can avoid. ;)