I’d like to introduce the new free images website with new images posted periodically.

The images come from my own collection that I personally took. Even though it took countless hours to capture, sort, cleanup and process all of these images, I thought it would be a good thing if I share them with the world. They are all original, high-resolution, royalty-free, professional photographs free for commercial use. Visitors can subscribe to the blog’s RSS feed and get daily notifications. If traffic to the site proves to be successful, maybe someday I’ll wet my beak by adding a little Google AdSense advertising.

http://www.turbophoto.com/Free-Images/

I thought this was interesting; the screenshots tell all. I started my ‘free’ federal income tax return and at no point did I ever choose the deluxe or ultimate edition or use options specific to those versions. I remained within the ‘free’ return throughout the entire process until the end, where it asked to charge $9.95 and no free option. How nice of them to offer their ‘Totally FREE Tax Return!’

Many restaurants offer little perks if you sign up on their websites, including free appetizers and desserts. Here are some sites to check out…

Cold Stone Creamery: Free Like-It ice cream creation in a cup for birthday (valid within 1 week of birthday)
Moe’s Southwest Grill: Free cup of queso for signing up (valid within 1 week from email)
Buffalo Wild Wings: Free dessert for birthday (valid within 2 weeks from email)
Red Robin: Free gourmet burger for birthday (valid within 2 weeks from email)
Schlotzsky’s: Free small sandwich for birthday (valid within 2 weeks from email)
Del Taco: Two Free chicken tacos for signing up (valid within 2 weeks from email)
Chevy’s Fresh Mex: Free appetizer for signing up (valid within 4 weeks from email)
Claim Jumper: Free small bite desert for signing up (valid within 30 days from email)
TGI Fridays: Free Appetizer or dessert (up to $8) for signing up (valid within 30 days from email)
Carrows: Free dessert for signing up (valid within 60 days from email)
(Info thanks to Tim P.)

There’s so many more of them, basically, if you take the time to get on a restaurants bulk mail list, you’ll probably get some freebies. Most restaurants seem to offer you something free for your birthday, if you ask on the spot. You only risk hearing a weird happy birthday song.

Free food is not always limited to restaurants or your birthday. There’s free food samples at Costco, free taste tests at most ice cream shops, candy shops, and free taste testing at many vineyards, breweries, and at factory tours, such as cheese factories.

Some other random freebies:
Free Disneyland ticket for your birthday in 2009 (http://tinyurl.com/3zjqno)
Free pre-season Portland Trailblazer tickets (for being an email subscriber)
Free tickets to TV shows (if you’re ever in Hollywood) (http://www.hollywoodtickets.com)

Beware of some free offers
Many credit card companies will give you free stuff for signing up, but I don’t recommend it. It’s not worth messing with your credit history and increasing the likeliness for you to pay interest and fees. You will commonly find ‘free’ software through rebates. That’s not recommended either, because you are not guaranteed to receive your rebate. If you have to pay something for something to be ‘free’, it probably isn’t completely free. Learn more free services to avoid…

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Buyer beware is a good mantra for navigating the waters of ‘free’ services. This posting will highlight common ‘free’ offers and will shed light on some of the unethical marketing practices we see corporations engaged in today.

In most all cases, the company offering the ‘free’ service will only offer it free for a short trial period, then will automatically bill you thereafter. Companies will get you in a contractural agreement and will usually make more money off you- more than recovering their cost of offering something ‘free’ for a limited time.

1. Free Credit Reports

Free credit reports are never free. Notice the above signup form from a popular ‘free’ credit report website. It asks for all of your contact information on the first page, then when continuing to the next page (after you already invested the time to fill out the first form), it then surprises you by asking for your social security # and credit card information. This is their initial explanation for that:

Your credit card will not be charged during the free trial period. However, valid credit card information is required to establish your account.

Then, more hidden is the real legal agreement text:

When you order your free report here, you will begin your free trial membership in Triple AdvantageSM Credit Monitoring. If you don’t cancel your membership within 9 days of enrollment, you will be billed $14.95 for each month that you continue your membership. If you are not satisfied, you can cancel at any time to discontinue the membership and stop the monthly billing; however, you will not be eligible for a pro-rated refund of your current month’s paid membership fee.

That hidden legal agreement text no longer calls the service a ‘free trial’, but now a ‘membership’. Nine days is quite a short window of time to ‘cancel’ the membership- in fact, it’s only 1/3 of the way through the ‘free trial’ period. In the rare case a person is diligent enough to call within the limited 9 day timeframe, good luck on finding a live person on the phone. You can guarantee very long hold times, talking to multiple representatives, and perhaps having to call back a few more times just to ensure the service is indeed cancelled. Representatives are trained to do everything possible to not let you cancel, so you can bet it will be a frustrating experience trying to cancel.

It no longer seems worth it after learning the true meaning behind their words ‘free credit report’. It’s almost inevitable that you will pay them money.

2. Free Website Services

Trails.com is one of the most spammy and unethical websites I’ve seen.

Unfortunately, they rank super high in Google under lots of keywords, so they get lots of traffic. What happens is you might find a page like this.

Then, when you click to see the map and directions, you get a free trial signup page…

At the bottom of the signup page, you can also note that you are agreeing to receive spam from third parties, which they waive responsibility for, as well as saying…

For your convenience and to ensure that your access to your Trails.com subscription remains uninterrupted, unless we hear from you, we will automatically renew your subscription(s) at the expiration of the then-current term. If you elected to pay for the subscription with your credit card, Trails.com will charge your card on file for the cost of another term at the then-current rate using the information you previously provided us by phone or on our web site. You will not be notified in advance of your impending renewal.

It’s so nice of them to take, store, and auto-bill your credit card as a ‘convenience’ to you so your service ‘remains uninterrupted’. That’s one way to look at it.

And finally, on the next page, lo and behold, the ‘free’ signup page asks for your credit card. What a surprise.

3. Free Magazines

Free magazine offers are old school now. Yet, the same old marketing trick continues to be used and people continue to fall for it.

Free magazine offers can be found in a variety of places- through websites, direct mail, in magazines themselves, and in odd places like in grocery store halls near the restroom.

The trick is to get you to signup- which may open the floodgate for lots of junk mail- then later surprise you with a bill. Sometimes they will say you get only 1 issue free, but will go ahead and send you a few extra issues of the magazine. They will of course bill you for it and hope you will pay it, perhaps from feeling guilty for receiving the extra magazines.

4. Free Windshield Rock Chip Repairs

You may have seen ‘free rock chip repair’ tents in shopping area parking lots throughout the United States. The trick is they will say it’s free to you, but will bill your insurance if you have full coverage. It’s faulty logic to say it’s free, because you pay for your insurance. It’s also possible your insurance company will deny the claim and stick you with part of the bill or raise your rates.

It it really free? No.

5. Free Computers

Free computer offers still exist today, but this scam was most popular back when CompuServe, Prodigy, AOL, MSN, and other internet dialup subscription services were popular. Stores like OfficeDepot, OfficeMax, CircuitCity, and Best Buy offered huge ‘rebates’ for buying computers with the internet subscription- often claiming to move than cover the price of the computer. The subscriptions were usually 3 year contracts at $25 / mo or so, making a $900 commitment, for example. The rebate was often for $300-$400 or so, making the computer ‘free’, but people didn’t walk out of the store with a free computer. You paid in advance, and later hoped you would receive your rebate.

Of course, rebates are usually outsourced to third party vendors, who often handle the rebate claims carelessly. Ever see your name and address grossly misspelled on a rebate form? Yes, they will do everything possible to not give you your rebate. This allows the retailer to save money while claiming no responsibility when people don’t receive their rebate, since it was outsourced. Unfortunately consumers were led to believe they could get a free computer only through buying dialup internet access- perhaps something they may have thought they would have used anyway, but it cost them dearly.

Some stores like OfficeDepot took the internet subscription trick to a ridiculous point, claiming “Free $300 cash for anything in the store (with internet subscription)”. That’s code for you giving them $600. Incidentally, the FTC investigated OfficeDepot for some of their misleading advertising.

Summary

Those are five ‘free’ services you want to avoid. There are numerous marketing scams to beware of like credit watch services, rebates, free cell phones, free music CDs (i.e. BMG), add-ons, bad contracts, and more. If you mainly avoid anything free that involves signing a contract, you’ll probably be in good shape.