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7 Rip-Off Tip-Offs

rd.com — Last year, Americans frittered away more than $1.2 billion on dubious deals, an average of $2,057 for every consumer, according to the Federal Trade Commission. How do you tell the bargains from the boondoggles? Here's a look at seven offers that often don't pay off, plus smart ways to save your hard-earned money....

Bury

skored 27 days ago, made popular 26 days ago

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mantony, on 07/24/2008, -0/+13pay day loan's are legal but loan sharks are scum hmmm
- mydigga, on 07/25/2008, -0/+5The best hustlers always find a loophole.
  - oldgal, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Take a look at your bank's cash advance. They are legal too, but definitely not in the best interest of anyone who needs it.
- jeremyduffy, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4Pay Day loans are legal loan sharks. They are scum and should be put out of business everywhere (like this small town did: http://www.jeremyduffy.com/small-town-kicks-out-pa ...
  - wintermute0, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1They go out of business if people don't use them.
    
    By, say, keeping enough money for rent stashed away for emergencies, or maintaining their credit well enough to have a credit card tucked away for rough months.
diggdiggdug, on 07/24/2008, -1/+16I hate rebates.
The main reason companies do rebates is because statistics show people will either not send them in at all or they will make an error in filling out the paperwork. Either way they will not pay you.
In case you have not noticed rebate forms are harder to fill out now with more requirements like an e-mail address. If you do not respond to their e-mail then they don't pay you. gmail spam protection is excellent. To good in this case.
- jeremyduffy, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4This is absolutely true (in my opinion). I worked at retail stores for years and there was no way someone could get through all the rebates in the time period that they had available. I started filling out all the forms, removing the UPC codes, and addressing them all for my customers in the store before they left. This was a huge pain on the combo computer-systems rebates, but it would have been even worse for them.
- InsaneOni, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Well...I'll take the opposite position. Although everyone always says that rebates aren't worth it, I've probably saved over $1000 in rebates. I have NEVER had a rebate refused and only once have I forgotten to send it in on time. As long as you can wait to get the money back, it's a good deal. You just have to be smart enough not to mess up the paperwork (how hard is putting down your name and address?) and you're golden. A word of warning though, you might want to google the company the rebate is through, some are worse than others. I tend to avoid the ones who get a lot of complaints.
MacBookForMe, on 07/24/2008, -2/+3City Fat Cats
whatno, on 07/25/2008, -1/+4"Lewis, who admits she hadn't read her contract, was even angrier when she realized how much she'd wasted on premiums. "I'd been paying $5 a month for two years. Tack on the deductible, and I was out $170 to cover a $99 phone," says Lewis. After she found the same pink phone on eBay for $50, she canceled the insurance."

Shouldn't it be common sense to read contracts and understand what you're agreeing to before you agree to it?
- jeremyduffy, on 07/25/2008, -1/+6It's called sales and marketing. I suckered people into extended warranties for years because I used the right words and strategy. I did it because some manager sold me on how good they were for the customer and, at the time, I believed it.
  
  Why else would people pay for Onstar, credit monitoring, or any American car? Yup, clever marketing and salespeople.
- oldgal, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2Getting the right magnifying glass that works for the print size, then reading them, and understanding them are non trivial. The only safe way to do it is to have a lawyer take a look, and that isn't practical either.
Psi57, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4I've only had success with mail-in rebates...

But then its been from Corsair, EVGA, and Western Digital through Newegg. Even though the actual rebate process is outsourced, it still went smooth and I got correct checks for everything.
- buba1243, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2I just had one fail from Newegg. Bought my HDMI cable for $9 with a $9 rebate they rejected it saying the UPC wasn't correct funny how that worked. Not to angry since it was $9.
jman583, on 07/25/2008, -2/+3I remember when Office Max gave away stuff (CDs, CD cases, pens, tape, floppy disks) for free, after rebates. Before they stopped doing it, I had gotten about $50 of stuff for free. It was awesome.
crazycarlmar, on 07/25/2008, -0/+98) If it seems to good to be true, then it is.
jeremyduffy, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4Why insn't credit monitoring or insurance like Lifelock on that list? At least with an extended warranty you have a chance of getting your money's worth compared to credit plans.
- deadlift, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Credit monitoring is big business (for the actual amount of service being returned). There will be a fresh plethora of newly legal people to market to every single day.
iDigg, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2Funny that Reader's Digest published this, because in Switzerland, they send you some phony "you've won 500'000'000.- ... you just have to..." mail with every issue of their magazine.
robinthehood, on 07/25/2008, -2/+1Simple rule for everyone:

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
- hobophobe, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1That simple rule sounds too good to be true :(
jstem1994, on 07/25/2008, -0/+34 pages for 7 rip-offs...... All text.
robinthehood, on 07/25/2008, -3/+10Oh and I love this from the article:

"3. Mail-in Rebates

Dane Madsen loves a bargain, so when he spotted a $100 rebate offer on $699 Lenovo laptops at Office Depot, he bought two."

ok. Here we have the underlying problem in America. This idiot probably didn't even need ONE laptop, but he loves a bargain so he bought TWO!

Just because I see a deal on something I don't buy it. Jesus Christ people, know what you NEED before wasting money on what you WANT.

This idiot deserved to get *****.
- kayfouroh, on 07/25/2008, -1/+4Hey dumbass,
  
  Did you ever stop to think he was buying one for himself, and the other for another person?
  
  Maybe he was actually in the market to buy a laptop and jumped on this deal.
  
  Not everyone in America is a dumb fat money-wasting cowboy.
  - robinthehood, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Well you might be right about the cowboy part...
  - Halfdane, on 07/25/2008, -0/+0Actually kayfouroh is correct he was buying them for himself and someone else, My niece. You see he is my younger brother and he hoped to get two laptops at a bargain. You would figure that a national chain would be rather up front and more customer oriented. Guess not.
smacksaw, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3Ripoff #8: The last 2 pages not being a single page.

I think they should have devoted an entire page to DirectBuy. The two biggest scammers on TV right now are them and Extenze.
- deadlift, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1You have experience with DirectBuy & Extenze, I presume, since you made these statements?
  
  ;)
Sub7, on 07/25/2008, -4/+47 Rip-Off Tip-Offs ...for the totally ***** stupid people out there.

If you need this advice you shouldn't be allowed any money in the first place.
mloiterman, on 07/25/2008, -1/+7Dugg for the celebratory dinner at Red Lobster.
- CedEx, on 07/25/2008, -0/+0As if you could get Red Lobster biscuits anywhere else?
  
  They are so good, they must bake them with love.... and crack. But mostly crack... and love.
pdizz, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4"Watch out for rebate checks that are designed to resemble junk mail; some consumers have tossed them by accident. Companies no doubt count on that."

These people are sleaze-geniuses. Every day I hear of new clever ways of scamming people and while it upsets me I cant help but admire the creativity.
- deadlift, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Thanks
- InsaneOni, on 07/25/2008, -1/+1Um...they only look like junk mail if you're
  
  A) a retard
  B) a complete MIR newbie.
  
  I've never seen a MIR check that I thought was junk mail. The 3 tear off sides usually tells you it's a check.
ikcamar, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2I've gotten several extended warranties from Carmax. One of them paid off big time. A new $2700 transmission job plus car rental, AND a $1500 cooling system replacement on the same car in the extension period. A Jeep. But what does this say about Carmax's carefulness in prepping the vehicle? Or Jeep?
teamgwho, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2They left out another huge one: two actually. Times and timeshare renter companies,

If you like going to the very same place every year, great. Otherwise be prepared to find trading off to where you want, when you want very difficult. "But you're a red week owner!" yeah, and so is every other dickwad who bought a time share. Add the yearly "maitenance" fees and the membership to Interval or RCI and you're still spending hundreds every year on top of what you paid for your timeshare. That said, they are 100x better then a hotel, but if you really want one,you can get them used off Ebay for 30% of the original price.

Then there are the companies that want to rent out your week.You pay them $300-$1000 and they'll rent out your week! People are just waiting to rent your week! Ummm... yeah sure they are.scam-scam-scam. Unfortunately if you own a time share, expect to get calls from these scumbags on a regularbasis.

Avoid-avoid-avoid.

//yes I own a timeshare.

//no I don't regret it, but I am unhappy with the difficulty in trading when I want to

//no, I've never fallen for the rental company *****

//anybody want my 2008 week? Must use by November 1, 2008. Seriously.
- ajpalma, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1agreed, I know a few people who have fallen for these, some are worse than others.
  they kinda fall under the high pressure sales pitch thing
- darkciti2, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1I'm selling timeshare slices for my Tesla roadster, if anyone's interested.
  It's a bargain at only $450/month (of course, you only get it for 3 months of the year)
  ;)
teamgwho, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1I agree with the part about extended warranties with two exceptions. Computers and cars. I've always gotten them and it's always paid off.I'm kinda hard on things and that's something everyone should take into account. If you drive like a grandma and only put 6000 miles on your car a year, you don't need an extended warranty. If you drive 20000 miles with both feet to the floor it's a good idea.
Barovelli, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2Red Flags to Watch Out For
Add any product or service that repeats it's phone number or url more than 2 times in a commercial.
- ajpalma, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1or when the url on the bottom of the screen has a rediculous number at the end of the url when then main advertisment isn't advertising the number on it when they say it.
PrplHaze, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Whaaaat?!! You mean someone giving me money when I have only the promise of paying them back later with my paycheck is not a "good bargain"? How is anyone supposed to live "last paycheck" to "last last paycheck" these days?
InThePants, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2If you get an extended warranty on your car make sure you drive the ***** out of it.
hughtopia, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Pet insurance saved our bacon on several occasions. I just wish we had it for our old bulldog who tore his ACL to the tune of $2,000.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P58id8n1xIo
- CedEx, on 07/25/2008, -0/+0My dog had a patella subluxation which cost about $1200 to fix. I didn't have pet insurance, but it still worked out to be cheaper than if I had bought it.
  
  The $1200 works out to be 60 months worth of premiums at $20/month. My dog is closing in on 14 years old, and other that the patella, he's fine, albeit, he sleeps all day now and is awake all night.
  - hughtopia, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1True, but that's just like any insurance. Depending on when an event happens you can either get the long or short end of the stick. My dog was 3 1/2 when he tore his ACL so I would have come out WAY ahead.
    And just think of how much you spend on car insurance for how often you actually have an accident...
Hotrox, on 07/25/2008, -1/+0"A fool and his money are soon parted."

While I'm disgusted that people would take advantage of others in these ways, I've come to accept it as human nature. I can't feel sorry for the people who lost their money on these scams. It's because of people like this that these types of scams are profitable/prevalent.
katich, on 07/25/2008, -1/+0Oil prices have declined over the past week on profit taking and also on expectations that a slowing economy will result in lower demand and changed driving behavior. Get detailed at http://xil.in/5952/ .
realchris, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Pre-Paid Legal should be on this list.
TradeMaster007, on 07/25/2008, -0/+0I can't stand Cell Phone Insurance, I just don't get it! It really is the biggest scam I have dealt with yet. I guess you're damned if you do have it, Damned if you don't have it.
coolchu001, on 07/25/2008, -1/+1Dane Madsen loves a bargain, so when he spotted a $100 rebate offer on $699 Lenovo laptops at Office Depot, "he bought two. " ......Most rebates are only for 1 product, sometimes if you send in two, BOTH will get rejected, the guy shouldn't have been so greedy.
jcand, on 07/25/2008, -0/+0Re: Extended Warranties - When they try to offer them at the checkout stand, I ask them to read them to me (forgot my glasses) with all the fine print. They usually lose interest pretty quick. lol
reaperhatch, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1gas prices, us dollar value, federal reserve, war, aspartame
jdago, on 07/27/2008, -0/+0good reading. i hate to admit it but i have fallen for a few myself. but they were life lessons. its sad theres always someone out there that will be glad to take advantage.
JeffShap, on 07/28/2008, -0/+0There are way too many scams out there on the net, this guide is helpful. Check out my submissions for some more good info on avoiding scams and being profitable: http://digg.com/users/JeffShap/history/submissions
beauley, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1We are virtually all bombarded with marketing ads of all types on the television. Some are actually of some minute value. Those paying for the televising of these commercials spend quite large sums of money and they certainly try to get their money's worth. The question is...how much of their message conveys real "truth in advertising"?
http://www.gomestic.com/Consumer-Information/Shoul ...
Should We Question Diet Commercials?
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7 Rip-Off Tip-Offs

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