"Free", "Cash Back", "Rebate", and Alarm Bells
“When you see the words “free”, “cash back”, and “rebate” on a website, alarm bells should ring in your head.”
The Subscription Trap
If you’ve ever opened your credit card bill to find that you’ve inadvertently joined a club you’ve never heard of, at a cost of $10 or more a month, you’re not alone. Millions of Web consumers have been snared by similar tactics. Our tips will help you fight back.
How can companies make more than a billion dollars selling a service that almost no one wants? By signing up millions of members who don’t know that they’re becoming members.
Folks, if you ever do any online shopping at sites like Orbitz, Priceline, Shutterfly, FTD, Hotwire, Buy.com, Classmates.com, Intellius, 1-800-Flowers, MovieTickets.com, Avon, Barnes & Noble, Budget, GMAC Mortgage, Staples, US Airways and Ticketmaster, etc., you need to be aware of certain facts…
“Getting your money back isn’t easy. According to some angry consumers, getting a full refund required writing a letter (the old fashion way) and waiting months to receive a credit card chargeback…
Tom Spring has a “must read” article, published in this month’s PCWorld. Please, click here and read about this scandalous outrage, and the steps you can take to avoid getting snared into a “subscription trap”.
This information is so important, I not only encourage you to read it, but also to forward it on to all your friends and family.
Today’s free download: Microsoft Security Essentials
Free, effective, lifetime antivirus/anti-Spyware. 64-bit. It’s one I use, and recommend.
Copyright 2007-2010 © Tech Paul. All Rights Reserved. 
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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What a wealth of information. Re: Tom Spring, certainly a “must read” rather long, but worth taking the time to read it. These operating scams are so smooth, it is so easy to become one of their victims.
Thanks Paul for another reminder of the necessary vigilance we have to employ to stay safe in todays “wonderful world of technology”
g.
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Gaia,
The article does detail how it works, who’s doing it, what’s being done about it, what to watch for, how to protect yourself, and what to do should such a charge show up on your statement.. so yes, it is a “little long”.
But one really doesn’t expect to get any real information from headlines, sound bites, or two-sentence ‘blurbs’.. does one?
I am pleased to know that one person clicked the link, and learned this valuable information… but my stats indicate you are the only one who clicked the link out of hundreds of viewers. I find this fact very discouraging.
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