When I first saw word of the freeipods.com gimmick, it reminded me much of a site, the name escapes me, but it was a raffle for various Macintosh products including iPods. You buy one of x number of tickets in hopes of getting a nice new Apple product. Although iPod's are much cheaper than say even an iMac, the thought of winning an Apple product definitely turns heads, especially this Mac geek.
If it hadn't been for the few articles from Wired and other sources I probably would have quickly discounted the site and never gave it a second thought. However, still not a sucker for such sites I decided to test it out for myself, another person's view on the matter.
On September 8, I registered with freeipods.com and took advantage of one of the offers, which happen to be the Netscape Internet service. The first month was free and $9.95/month thereafter. I figured worst case I'd pay $9.95 and a small price to pay for a $299 iPod. Next, I was required to devise a scheme to convince five other people to do the exact same thing. For some people, they might think it's an easy task to get five people, but not so fast slick. It is an uphill battle.
Since I was doing this investigation for the community I decided to call upon the community to help out. The response was pretty good. During the first two weeks, nearly twenty-five people signed up, but only two people completed any offers. Since registrations where stale and nothing moved for a week or so, I decided that freeipods.com had probably did me like they have many others, I felt duped. I had signed up, two others had signed up, three people total, no iPod, and you go on.
Then one day, one of those who registered contacted me and said it had been nearly fifteen days, they had completed an offer but had not got credit for it. I advised they should contact freeipods.com to get it cleared up. Within a day of contacting them, they now had credit and I was at three. I should note here that when I signed up for the Netscape service, my credit showed up the next day to my surprise.
Over half way to the goal and thinking that possibly a story remains I decided to list the call for volunteers to help out and see if we could do a complete story on freeipods.com. Five more people, totaling thirty, signed up and of those five, two completed offers. I was at my goal. I was rather excited non-the-less.
The next process was quick yet a little disheartening. Now that I had five folks who completed offers and I had my own completed offer, I figured it was just a matter of them sending it to me. However, I now had to submit myself to be subjected to a review of my account, those who I had referred and those who I referred, and who they had referred. Not really sure what all that mean, I put in my request. They advised it would be around five business days to complete, which only took three days. By this time, I'm thinking, how many hoops do I have to jump through now? The good news is I passed the review and now I could place my order.
I placed my order for the new 20GB iPod, I didn't really figure there was a choice. I had only recently owned on iPod that was a hand-me-down from a friend who had got a new iPod and opted to "pay" me for some technical service with the iPod instead of cash. It was a second generation iPod and was a good way to see if indeed I'd even use one. The verdict in that situation, I was sold.
Once I placed my order, it took around five days before the status changed on Oct 15 that it was sent to the vendor, waiting on the product. I have no idea if I will get it in the next two weeks or the next two years. I'll keep you posted.
The one thing I was disappointed in, but I understand their reasoning is they never notify you that you reach any milestones. For example, once I had five people, they never notified me. When I had completed my review process, they never notified me. They did send me two emails, one which I registered to verify my email address and another to confirm my order with them for the free iPod. Of course, I did get other emails, many more emails, in the spam bucket after signing up. Although I can't pinpoint it to them exactly, it was a rather odd coincidence.
All in all, if they deliver the iPod, all I can say is that they are legit and thank all of those who did participate. I did forget to cancel my Netscape subscription, so I did end up paying $9.95 for the iPod. But it is now canceled.
UPDATE:
Well, on November 11th freeipods.com notified me free iPod had shipped. Although, I was busy with other things and didn't see the email. On Friday, Nov 12, I found a knock at my door and it was the FedEx man. I wasn't expecting him, but I knew exactly what it was when I opened the door.
Another success story for freeipods.com. Yes, many people still disagree with what they are doing and their methods, but the real question I wanted to know, is this site reputable, do they actually deliver?
YES.
Pictures: http://demo.macosx.com/gallery/freeipod
If it hadn't been for the few articles from Wired and other sources I probably would have quickly discounted the site and never gave it a second thought. However, still not a sucker for such sites I decided to test it out for myself, another person's view on the matter.
On September 8, I registered with freeipods.com and took advantage of one of the offers, which happen to be the Netscape Internet service. The first month was free and $9.95/month thereafter. I figured worst case I'd pay $9.95 and a small price to pay for a $299 iPod. Next, I was required to devise a scheme to convince five other people to do the exact same thing. For some people, they might think it's an easy task to get five people, but not so fast slick. It is an uphill battle.
Since I was doing this investigation for the community I decided to call upon the community to help out. The response was pretty good. During the first two weeks, nearly twenty-five people signed up, but only two people completed any offers. Since registrations where stale and nothing moved for a week or so, I decided that freeipods.com had probably did me like they have many others, I felt duped. I had signed up, two others had signed up, three people total, no iPod, and you go on.
Then one day, one of those who registered contacted me and said it had been nearly fifteen days, they had completed an offer but had not got credit for it. I advised they should contact freeipods.com to get it cleared up. Within a day of contacting them, they now had credit and I was at three. I should note here that when I signed up for the Netscape service, my credit showed up the next day to my surprise.
Over half way to the goal and thinking that possibly a story remains I decided to list the call for volunteers to help out and see if we could do a complete story on freeipods.com. Five more people, totaling thirty, signed up and of those five, two completed offers. I was at my goal. I was rather excited non-the-less.
The next process was quick yet a little disheartening. Now that I had five folks who completed offers and I had my own completed offer, I figured it was just a matter of them sending it to me. However, I now had to submit myself to be subjected to a review of my account, those who I had referred and those who I referred, and who they had referred. Not really sure what all that mean, I put in my request. They advised it would be around five business days to complete, which only took three days. By this time, I'm thinking, how many hoops do I have to jump through now? The good news is I passed the review and now I could place my order.
I placed my order for the new 20GB iPod, I didn't really figure there was a choice. I had only recently owned on iPod that was a hand-me-down from a friend who had got a new iPod and opted to "pay" me for some technical service with the iPod instead of cash. It was a second generation iPod and was a good way to see if indeed I'd even use one. The verdict in that situation, I was sold.
Once I placed my order, it took around five days before the status changed on Oct 15 that it was sent to the vendor, waiting on the product. I have no idea if I will get it in the next two weeks or the next two years. I'll keep you posted.
The one thing I was disappointed in, but I understand their reasoning is they never notify you that you reach any milestones. For example, once I had five people, they never notified me. When I had completed my review process, they never notified me. They did send me two emails, one which I registered to verify my email address and another to confirm my order with them for the free iPod. Of course, I did get other emails, many more emails, in the spam bucket after signing up. Although I can't pinpoint it to them exactly, it was a rather odd coincidence.
All in all, if they deliver the iPod, all I can say is that they are legit and thank all of those who did participate. I did forget to cancel my Netscape subscription, so I did end up paying $9.95 for the iPod. But it is now canceled.
UPDATE:
Well, on November 11th freeipods.com notified me free iPod had shipped. Although, I was busy with other things and didn't see the email. On Friday, Nov 12, I found a knock at my door and it was the FedEx man. I wasn't expecting him, but I knew exactly what it was when I opened the door.
Another success story for freeipods.com. Yes, many people still disagree with what they are doing and their methods, but the real question I wanted to know, is this site reputable, do they actually deliver?
YES.
Pictures: http://demo.macosx.com/gallery/freeipod
