Anyone besides me bothered by all the "free" .......?

I have a question for all you Yahoo-ers out there if you are as bothered as I am by all the different companies on the web who are offering %26quot;free%26quot; whatever, credit score, dinner at favorite restaurant, laptop computer, that all comes with the following %26quot;condition%26quot; that the instant you request the %26quot;free%26quot; report you will automatically be signed up for some dumb, stupid program that you wouldn%26#039;t use in a million years that will not only cost you from $9.95 to $29.95 but that you have to put your credit card and billing info out there for.

How many of you agree with me that it then no longer is a %26quot;free%26quot; item? (The dictionary gives several definitions for the word %26quot;free%26quot;, among them are these three: %26quot;...not controlled by obligation or the will of another; not affected or restricted by a given condition or circumstance; and not subject to a given condition....%26quot;)

So, in my opinion, this is false advertising if the %26quot;free%26quot; item comes with a condition or a circumstance.

Comments?

Anyone besides me bothered by all the %26quot;free%26quot; .......?student loan consolidation

Sometimes they are giving you something small free -- like you%26#039;ll get a free credit report, but then you%26#039;ve got to cancel right away or they sign you up for a credit watch program and bill you for it. However, the minute they ask for your credit card number, you know they%26#039;re going to charge you for something, so don%26#039;t give it to them -- run away! And never trust those free laptop or free vacation things -- if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Anyone besides me bothered by all the %26quot;free%26quot; .......? loan

I agree misleading advertising should be illegal.|||Yes it is VERY annoying. especially for virus scanners. Try searching free virus scans, They all only SCAN your comp, thats all. %26quot;for just 500 payments of 69.99 you can use this crappy scanner!!!...But wait act now and get a free black screen saver!|||Yeah well. I%26#039;d recommend that you keep a very close eye on your bank statements. One of these %26quot;free%26quot; companies started charging $10/month to my checking account and I didn%26#039;t catch it for 5 months. They paid me back, but they have a good cash flow scheme going. I don%26#039;t give any info to anyone anymore.|||misleading advertising should be illegal.|||They are very misleading for a reason, they want your personal information, and credit or debit card number and possibly send you a virus while you are replying! Beware!|||I always wondered if their really were people who clicked on those links for the free laptop or whatever?

Now I know there are. Thank you.|||you get what you pay for,.....there is no such thing as a free lunch,.....|||Well it isn%26#039;t like you have to pay money for it in the end. As long as they can get you to try a companies product, they get paid, and can give you the Mac, or laptop or whatever. In the end it%26#039;s free for you if you know what you%26#039;re doing, so why complain?|||This isn%26#039;t false advertisement. The teaser item IS free. But you sign a ****revocable**** contract in order to receive it.

The issue here is that these companies know that most people will ***forget to revoke*** the contract within the (standard) 30-day period, and get billed. Most people are so focused on the free item that they miss the essence of the contract altogether, which is THE BENEFIT TO THE OFFEROR.

Someone else mentioned - there ain%26#039;t no such thing as a free lunch. It%26#039;s not illegal to let someone make an a-- of themselves, which is why these businesses can make the offers they make, let one sign up, let the %26quot;trial%26quot; period pass, and collect the dollars.

I get so many of these %26quot;free%26quot; $5 checks in the mail it%26#039;s not funny. I%26#039;ve cashed a few and then called in and cancelled the contract after 10 days or so, as it was clearly stated that I could. But i have to sit there and time things until the check clears, yada yada - not really worth my time for $5.