{"id":623,"date":"2007-01-08T23:55:24","date_gmt":"2007-01-09T04:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/example.org\/beware_the_free"},"modified":"2007-01-08T23:55:24","modified_gmt":"2007-01-09T04:55:24","slug":"beware_the_free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/?p=623","title":{"rendered":"Beware the “Free” Logsplitter Offers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scam Alert <\/span>     Scam Alert<\/span>      <\/strong>Scam Alert<\/strong><\/p>\n

home-garden-rewardpath.com<\/strong><\/span><\/a> is the latest entrant in the online scam derby. <\/p>\n

Their ad pops<\/del> popped up occasionally in the list of Google Ads on this page. I have reported this company to Google and expect that they will remove this advertiser from their ad base.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: I have blocked their ads from appearing on this site.<\/p>\n

Home-garden-rewardpath.com<\/a>  offers a "free" Ryobi 4 Ton Electric Log Splitter. All you have to do is to take a "survey" or two or three and somewhere in all of this you will get your credit card charged several times<\/em> in order to earn this "free" log splitter!<\/p>\n

It is important to note that this scammer has no connection with Ryobi. They have this notice at the bottom of their webpage:<\/p>\n

\n

Home-Garden-rewardpath Gift Program is not
\nendorsed, sponsored by or affiliated with Ryobi Ltd., Ryobi 4 Ton
\nElectric Log Splitter or any merchant listed above. Such terms are
\nregistered trademarks of their respective owners.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I am also going to send this post to Ryobi because it is very bad PR for them to allow this offer to continue. People will think that it is Ryobi doing the rip-off.<\/p>\n

Has anyone else been scammed by this company?<\/p>\n

If you want to read the steps involved in this "free" offer, here is the data from the home-garden-rewardpath.com website:<\/p>\n

Please note: This is only a small part of the fine print!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

For this promotion, Ryobi\u00ae<\/span><\/sup> 4 Ton Electric Log Splitter, you must complete a total<\/em> of 8 offers as follows: Page 1 – complete any 2 offers; Page 2 – complete any 2 offers; Page 3 – complete any 4 offers to get your gift.<\/strong>
\nYou must complete the Program exactly as indicated on each applicable
\npage of the Site and in the applicable Program Requirements in order to
\ncomplete the Program currently featured on the Site (the \u201cIncentive
\nGift\u201d). If you do not correctly, and fully, complete the number of
\nOffers required on each page, you will not be entitled to a Gift. If
\nyou have any questions, please contact us.\n<\/p>\n

Examples of Offers required by the Program Requirements of our Third
\nParty Partners include, but are not limited to, trial offers, credit
\ncards, free quote requests, product offers, service offers and other
\nlow-cost or commercial Offers. Typically, there are a variety of Offers
\npresented for your selection on the applicable pages of the Site – some
\nOffers require a purchase to be made<\/span>, while others are free trials that
\nconvert to paying obligations if not canceled<\/span> or free applications that
\ndo not require an initial purchase (and can be cancelled without
\nobligation if you do not want to consent to the purchase after the free
\nperiod ends).<\/p>\n

To ‘complete’ an Offer, you must sign up for the applicable Offer,
\nget approval for your application from the applicable Third Party
\nPartner, (where applicable) get activated by the applicable Third Party
\nPartner for such Third Party Partner\u2019s Offer and meet any and all other
\nconditions and steps required by such Third Party Partner for that
\nOffer. For some credit card Offers, the card must be activated by
\nmaking a purchase, balance transfer or cash advance in order for the
\nOffer to be considered ‘completed’.<\/span><\/p>\n

When our Third Party Partners report to us that you have completed
\nthe requisite number of Offers associated with the Program, to their
\nfull and complete satisfaction, which they may withhold for any reason
\nin their sole discretion, your account (\u201cMember Account\u201d) will be
\nupdated accordingly and you will receive a Gift redemption voucher
\n(\u201cGift Redemption Voucher\u201d) from us. It will typically take between
\nfour (4) to six (6) weeks before we get confirmation of your completion
\nof the requisite Offers associated with the subject Program from the
\napplicable Third Party Partners. The Gift Status section of your Member
\nAccount shall indicate the results of this process, so please be
\npatient and be sure to check the Gift Status section of your Member
\nAccount regularly. Be sure to print out and keep the pages showing that
\nyou have signed up for each Offer as you complete same.<\/p>\n

\n

My advice? If you sign up for this free offer, you are incurably gullible.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scam Alert <\/span>     Scam Alert<\/span>      <\/strong>Scam Alert<\/strong><\/p>\n

home-garden-rewardpath.com<\/strong><\/span><\/a> is the latest entrant in the online scam derby. <\/p>\n

Their ad pops<\/del> popped up occasionally in the list of Google Ads on this page. I have reported this company to Google and expect that they will remove this advertiser from their ad base.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: I have blocked their ads from appearing on this site.<\/p>\n

Home-garden-rewardpath.com<\/a>  offers a "free" Ryobi 4 Ton Electric Log Splitter. All you have to do is to take a "survey" or two or three and somewhere in all of this you will get your credit card charged several times<\/em> in order to earn this "free" log splitter!<\/p>\n

It is important to note that this scammer has no connection with Ryobi. They have this notice at the bottom of their webpage:<\/p>\n

\n

Home-Garden-rewardpath Gift Program is not
\nendorsed, sponsored by or affiliated with Ryobi Ltd., Ryobi 4 Ton
\nElectric Log Splitter or any merchant listed above. Such terms are
\nregistered trademarks of their respective owners.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I am also going to send this post to Ryobi because it is very bad PR for them to allow this offer to continue. People will think that it is Ryobi doing the rip-off.<\/p>\n

Has anyone else been scammed by this company?<\/p>\n

If you want to read the steps involved in this "free" offer, here is the data from the home-garden-rewardpath.com website:<\/p>\n

Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1816],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3R4iK-a3","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}