Blogbuzz

I think that anyone that’s been online for more than a few weeks has probably seen those emails that promise a free Del XPS Laptop. I got four of them in my email just this morning and decided just for the heck of it to take a closer look at their “offer”. I was not surprised at what I found.

This particular offer took me to “GadgetCenter.us.com” Where the first text (actually it wasn’t text, it was an image with text painted into it) on the page said “Answer this brief survey and receive a free laptop”. Under that in smaller type it said “participation required, click here for details”.

Here’s what you have to do to get that “Free” laptop:

1) Be a U.S. resident at least 18 years of age or older
2) Register with valid information
3) Complete 2 Silver offers, 2 Gold offers, and 8 Platinum offers
(Of course, most of these “reward offers” will either require a purchase or apply for, qualify for and receive a credit card which you then have to activate by making a purchase, transferring a balance or taking a cash advance)
4) Then you have to refer not one but TWO unique households, that also complete the program requirements
5) Finally, you have to do all this within sixty days of signing up.

Obviously, they’re making their money from the “reward offers” that they require you to complete. This has got to be one of the sleaziest ways to make affiliate money that I’ve ever seen. They get people completing offers like mad trying to qualify for that laptop, knowing full well that very few (if any!) will ever manage to complete all requirements, especially the one where you refer two unique households that ALSO complete all requirements. That requirement alone makes certain that they’re NEVER going to have to come up with that free laptop!

Conclusion, train your email program’s junk filter to nuke this sucker and avoid “offers” of this kind like the plague that it is. Frankly, you’d be ahead of the game to just buy the freakin laptop in the first place. For that matter, in my opinion you’d have a better chance of getting a free laptop by writing Dell and asking for one than you would by driving yourself (and your friends and family) nuts trying to complete these impossible requirements.

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