Trouble brewing over at "free ipods dot com"
I commented on this free iPod scheme before here, go read that first.
Essentially the FreeiPods.com site will send you a free iPod if you sign up for a promotion such as a credit card or a trial period of receiving the New York Times and then get a bunch of your friends to do the same.
At first people questioned whether it was a scam, but after an article in WIRED about the site it really blew up and there were enough testimonials by people who actually got a free iPod to convince lots of others to get in on the action.
According to this new WIRED article, more recently there have been complaints.
However, Wired News has been inundated with complaints about spam, mishandled accounts and shipping delays.
Earlier this month, Jim Youll, a 39-year-old CTO from Cambridge, Massachusetts, signed up with a virgin e-mail address and within hours started receiving spam.
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"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."
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There are several records of complaints against Gratis Internet and its affiliate websites with the Better Business Bureau of Washington, D.C., but they are all listed as resolved.
A spokeswoman said the bureau has received about 30 complaints about the company, but was unable to elaborate. She said to her knowledge, all the complaints had been addressed.
Of course the company denies all the charges:
"We are suspending all marketing via email to our customers, and wanted to make sure you knew this was an important and sensitive issue for us," Martin wrote in an e-mail. "Sending promotions to users is a fairly standard practice for many industries, as an additional source of revenue, but we definitely want to continue to spread a positive and trustworthy image of our company down the road."
They say they've had trouble getting the iPods out due to problems with Apple. Personally, I recommend biting the bullet and buying your MP3 player. But don't waste your money on an iPod, go with the superior and cheaper Dell DJ.