Get A Free Laptop (but read the fine print)

I am heading home after working out at the Y today when I hear this radio commercial for a free laptop. The commercial goes on to say it won't cost a thing, even the shipping is free. Of course, as the saying goes..... "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is". The commercial gave a website to check out.... crazyfreepc.com. I thought, OK, I need to check this out because I knew there would be a catch.... and there is.

When you go to the website, you will see some high tech laptops, from Sony, HP and even an Apple Macbook Air. Just put in your email, pick out your laptop and away you go..... well, not so fast. Let's look at the fine print:

In order to receive your gift you must: (1) Meet the eligibility requirements (2) complete the rewards bonus survey (3) complete a total of 13 Sponsor Offers as stated in the Gift Rules (4) Follow redemption instructions.

13 sponsor offers...... they even give you a link to check out a sample of the offers. Almost all of them require some sort of purchase (plus S&H of course). I looked at some of the offers.... I took a random 13 offers and the total money spent would be $1200. That is if you remember to cancel your "trial subscriptions" before the real charges kick in. The offers include applying for credit cards, purchases of coffee, magazines, DVDs, CDs, newspapers, insurance and so on.

I wonder how many people actually go through with this, how much do they end up really paying for that laptop. In this day and age, I would think that no one would buy into this scam..... oops, I mean offer. But advertising isn't cheap so there must be people out there who will go into debt, just to get the "free laptop". A quick check in google shows that people are even being harassed on the phone buy this company.

Do you want a laptop? Save for it, place it in your monthly budget; put money away each month and purchase one once you have the money to pay cash for it.