Have you seen those internet ads for a free laptop?  You know, the ads that flash and scream:  “You’ve won a free laptop computer!”  While the idea of a getting a laptop for free is great to think about, the reality of it isn’t quite so fun.  There are many details about these free laptop deals that advertisers simply don’t talk about.  In fact, at the end of the day, free laptop giveaways are really just one giant “scam”.  In this article we’ll discuss the nitty gritty details about laptops and explain how we came to that conclusion.

Websites offering a free laptop have a number of steps that you need to follow and complete before you see anything in the mail.  After filling out a form containing personal contact information, you’ll need to complete a number of “offers” on their website.  Usually they break up their offers into three categories:  “Top”, “Prime”, and “Premium”.  Most websites offering a promotional free laptop require you to choose two offers from each category.  These offers range from offers have everything including those from skin care companies, credit score checks, to movie rental.  With each offer you sign up for, you sign some sort of monthly agreement with each individual company.  After the promotional period (typically one month), you start getting billed for the regular price.  If you fail to cancel your subscription, you can quickly find yourself being charged $400 to $500 per month for the services you signed up for for the free laptop.  Once you’ve finally completed the offers from each category, the website will verify your subscriptions.  Once they’ve verified that you’ve done everything, they will send you the free laptop.

The laptop you can get for free with these promotional websites range from the popular Apple Macbook Pro to basic laptops from Toshiba or HP.  The values of these laptops can range from $400 to over $1500.  Of course, if you want the more expensive laptop, you’ll have to sign up with more offers.

Now, let’s discuss how these sites can cheat your money out of your money.  First off, there is no such thing as “free” anything.  There are no such thing as free laptops.  Someone has to pay for the laptop and that someone is ultimately going to be you (plus interest).  When you sign up for those offers with 3rd party companies (aka Netflix, Experian, Club Furniture, etc.) you have either make a minimum purchase or sign up with a monthly program.  Depending on the company you sign up with, you can up having to spend a minimum of $1600.  I don’t know about you, but $1600 plus other monthly payments is greater than $1500 for a “free” Macbook Pro.   Surely, if you wanted a free laptop, you wouldn’t want to have to spend more than you needed to.

This of course isn’t the worst of it.  While paying for products/services that you probably don’t want or need is bad, what these websites do with your private information is worse.  Any website that has to list:  QUOTE: “Your information will be shared with our marketing partners.” is bad news for you and spam emails/snail mail.  Read the privacy policies of sites offering a free laptop computer and you’ll be shocked what they share with their “marketing partners”.  This is list taken from one of these websites of what they do with their information:

We use all of this information in the following ways:
1. to provide you with personalized marketing information via electronic delivery, telephone and/or direct mail;
2. to send you targeted advertising via electronic delivery, telephone, SMS text, and/or direct mail;
3. to contact you for feedback and surveys via electronic delivery, telephone and/or direct mail;
4. to send you general and administrative information about your membership via electronic delivery, telephone and/or direct mail;
5. to provide your contact information to our marketing partners to allow them to send you special offers via electronic delivery, telephone and/or direct mail. This most often occurs when you request that we do so such as when completing an online survey; and
6. to deliver products to you for the purpose of incentive redemptions, contest fulfillment or product review and testing.

I don’t know about you, but I imagine a whole heap of spam email, text messages, and letters in my mailbox from this company.  Like getting phone calls during dinner?  You’ll get them after signing up for your free laptop. I seriously have better things to do than sort with than telemarketers and emails offering services I don’t want.

In conclusion, there is no such thing as a free laptop.  Websites promoting free laptops and stating “it’s easy!” are lying straight at your face.  Besides the fact you’re paying more for your free laptop than its worth, you’re also signing yourself up for a tidal wave of spam mail, email, phone calls, and texts.  If you’re thinking about getting a laptop, you should think about an alternative method (like financing one or paying outright with cash).

This post is tagged with: free laptop, free laptops, macbook pro