James Delahunty
23 Sep 2004 21:03
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