Free iPods, eh?

Alright, time to air my foolishness. I've been hankerin' for an iPod Touch lately (forget the iPhone, I only need -- er, want, the shiny touch screen). So I went about searching for ways to get one "for free". Silly, I know, but it apparently is possible. For some people anyway. I found a blog that's dedicated to getting free ipods. So, I signed up for FlashiPods4free.com, with a referral account.

Now, I've seen sites like this before, and have even signed up for some, but never got beyond that. They all require you to "complete an offer". While most of the offers are trial accounts on some site, they all, invariably, require a credit card number, and begin charging you a monthly fee when your trial is up, unless you cancel your account. And, of course, they all, invariably, require you to call them to close your account. That is how they make their money, you know: you forget to call before your trial expires, they charge you, you call to cancel, they get $xx.xx.

So anyway, I signed up for this site and started looking through the offers. All of them require you to call to cancel your account, except for the ConsumerDirect.com offer. The CD website claims that you can use a link in your member's section to close your account. Furthermore, you're not actually charged anything (your card is "authorized" for $1, but never actually charged) until the trial period is up. Well. I went back just five days after I signed up, clicked the necessary link, and what does it say? "Please call us at blah-blah-blah to close your account." Um, sorry, did you just lie to me?

Anyway, I postponed the call for a couple days (7-day trial, right?). I call on the seventh day to close my account. The CSR is nice, she says her necessary lines to try to keep me as a customer, then informs me that they did charge me the monthly fee today. While I'm thinking Oh, of course, she then informs me that I'm still within the 30-day moneyback guarantee period. Naturally, my spirits are lifted at this news. We proceed to execute the refund process.

Once you've completed the sponsor's offer, you're supposed to see that status on the iPod site. Here after seven days (it was supposed to credit instantly), I'm still showing no offer completed. However, this particular site has a method to do a "Manual Credit Request", provided you have some proof that you signed up with the sponsor. Fortunately, I kept my ConsumerDirect welcome email for this purpose, and I should be fine on that front.

So, interested in getting a free iPod (or other prize)? Or maybe just wanna help me get an iPod Touch? If so, sign up at FlashiPods4free.com, and complete an offer. That's all I need from you. If you want to go for a prize, too, you can choose a "points" or "referral" account when you sign up. If you're a referral account, you need to refer other people to the site. If you're a points account, you need to complete several offers to accrue the necessary number of points for the prize you want. Still skeptical? Check out Mark's free iPod blog. If you have a question about anything, leave a comment on his blog post, and he'll contact you personal to clear anything up (yes, I did leave a question for him, and yes, we ended up clearing my issue up through AIM).