Where do I begin? I guess I should start with what happened a week ago today.
I’ll make it short and sweet. Francis accidently spilled her milk on our relatively new (6 month old) Apple ibook. I tried to save it, but failed. Took it to Apple, paid a lot, and got a call today saying it’s ready to be picked up. It sucked. It was expensive. Fortunately they recovered all data. And life goes on… To add to our no good day, Matt and I sat down feeling quite defeated about the laptop and decided to watch a movie. “What? We accidently sent our wedding video to Netflix? Never to be returned?! Ugh!” That day had officially gone from bad to worse. Again, it all worked out. We called our wonderful videographers a few days later and they are providing us with another copy for less than we paid originally. So that’s a relief.
Then our brand new minivan didn’t start… who knows why. That’s still to be determined. Van is going to shop tomorrow.
Just when I thought the Guldes had lost their magic touch, Matt sent me an email with this link.
It’s a site that explains how a guy got a FREE 15″ APPLE PROBOOK just for signing up for 18 stupid offers – stuff like BMG music, Columbia House DVD and Blockbuster online. And it appears as though it actually freakin’ worked. The process is a bit painful (canceling and tracking all your signups), but this guy, Josh Clark, provides a downloadable Excel tracking document that you can edit with your own info. (And hey, for a $2000 dream computer. I can make the 18+ phonecalls to these companies.) In addition to the information he provides, showing everything he did, you can also read the 300+ comments from other people who are at various stages in the process. Very trustworthy sources have confirmed that this offer is not a hoax.
So as you may have already guessed, I did it. After 3-4 hours of carefully and painstakingly reading through all of the comments and “Terms and Conditions,” I was finished choosing my 18 offers. Until this evening, I’d been waiting for all of my “credits” to come through, but now it’s official. I’m now in the “Verification” stage and soon … FREE laptop, baby! Well, “free” is not exactly correct. After I cancel the 18 different things I’ve signed up for and send back every DVD language tape known to man. I estimate my new $2000 Apple laptop will have cost me approx. $50. If you’re not a Mac person and want a PC, you’re even luckier: I had to sign up for 18 offers, but if you want a PC laptopyou only have to sign up for 10. What a deal.
If you’re interested in doing this, keep reading. If not, ignore everything below and begin crossing your fingers for me. I will be sure to update everyone if and when I actually get my hands on this computer.
Alright, Back to business…Here’s my formula:
First, read Josh’s site. He suggests things like starting a new free email account to use solely for this project. (You’ll definitely want to do that!) and like I said, he has an excel document for tracking everything. After you’ve done that and are ready to take the plunge, read everything below:
Here’s what I’ve learned to get fast/almost immediate credit and get your laptop for about $20, plus the cost of shipping the junk back.
First, make sure you sign up backwards..starting with page 3 then 2 then 1.
Page 3:
Video Professor $6.95
Pitney Bowes $30.00
Onlingo x2 (buy two languages) $6.95 x2
Advantage Language $6.95
Blockbuster $9.95
Sirius Radio Offer (don’t use safari) $0
Auction Toolkit $39.95
Total Cost (after refunds)= $9.95 plus cost to ship junk back
Page 2:
Simply You* $1
GreatFun $1
DisneyBooks $3.95 got total refund
ValueMax* $1
Cosmetique $5.95
*In the fine print you also subscribe yourself to a company called Savingsmart. Be sure to cancel that subscription as well. It is also a $1 (x2).
Total Cost (after refunds): $10.95 plus cost to ship junk back
Page 1:
Completehome.com $1
Emusic.com $0
EverydayValuesClub $1
Total Cost (after refunds): $2
If a www.mattandsally.com reader actually decides to do this, 1) I promise nothing. I don’t have a computer in my hands so I can’t guarantee anything and 2) please call me and I’ll walk you through the process. I think I can save you the hours of reading all of the terms and conditions that I had to do.
Good Luck and Enjoy!
by Sally
Anonymous - I don't know if you already paid to send the Pitney Bowes postage meter…but don't do it! Just call and tell them you are going to cancel and they will send you a prepaid postage label. Just a heads up. =) They will also give you direction on how to get your $30.00 postage refund.
-Another fellow person trying to get a free mac. =)
Kristen - go, sally, go! i'm pulling for you like toothless johnny rootin' for Janie-baby in Hands on a Hard body. It's not like i've watched the movie recently as you would think that i had from my quoting it all the time. it's just that it's so applicable. it's a human drama thing. pups have to stay on the porch.
i'm glad you are getting the dvd of your wedding video back! i had tried to leave a comment on that entry saying i was relieved it wasn't the RJ/chicago dvd — but even that one we have 10 copies in stockpile… so you just holler if sompin' happens. we got yer back.
Michael - so with this offer you didnt't have to get any of your friends to sign
up for the offers? Kyler won a free iPod about a year ago (from
freeipods.com) but he had to get 10 friends to sign up for either BMG
Music Club or Netflix…they also had to put him down as a reference
on the subscription form or he got no credit…all in all it took him
almost a full year to get it done, but he was diligent…and they
mailed him his iPod.
This seems like a much better deal…i sure could use one of those
built in cameras!
good luck!
Sally - You don't have to sign up your friends or anything…and guess what ladies and gentlemen…. I got "Verified" this afternoon so all I have to do is fill out my tax paperwork, get it notarized (to bad I don't live with a notary anymore), and send it off for my fancy new computer. It don't get much easier than that folks.
Also, I found out via the message boards that you don't have to pay to send back any of the packages. You just call and get a cancelation number, write it on the outside of the box and write "Refused. Return to Sender" on the outside and wa-la… the post office returns it for free! This deal is getting better and better. I can't wait to post a photo of it for all of you skeptics out there. 😉
Michael - holy crap.
i'm totally doing this.
Drew, Amber and Megan - Hmm…well you have the attention of my husband, and honey that ain't easy. He is a skeptic to all get out. If you get a computer he is going to try it as well. please get a computer, lie if you have to!
katherine petillo - how about i pay you $100 to sign me up and cancel everything 😉
Kristen - I'm in with Katherine, but I'll pay you $120 to do the same. 😉
katherine petillo - this is getting good. you could pay off the bill on the old computer repair and get a new computer.
Sally - $300 and we'll talk.
Sally - ha… just kidding.
Ladies, it's not hard to do! There is an excel spreadsheet. But yes, time it does take…and some patience. I'm sending my "gift voucher" off today so we'll see how long it takes to get my computer. For those of you who are waiting… this offer may not be here when I get my computer (it's supposed to take 2-4 weeks to arrive) so get it while the gettins' hot.
Michael - you see I just have a bad record with these things…I tried getting both a free iPod and a free razor phone and it ended up almost costing us 300 bucks…so sara told me I could only do it if you talked me through it over the phone…is that offer still open?
Steve - Ok…So, I'm dying to know if you got it yet because I may try it if it really works.